Random Ricoba: Is The New Colossus American Immigration Philosophy or Policy?

Written as a piece to aid in the fundraising for the pedestal (Skerry, 2006) of the yet to be completed Statue of Liberty, The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus has come to play a far more significant role in American literature than Lazarus probably ever could imagine.

Having been raised in an influential and wealthy home of elite but non-observant Jews, Lazarus in much of her early life had never experienced the overt discrimination of many of her Jewish brethren in Europe. In the latter stages of her life Lazarus had became more aware of the struggles of her fellow Jews, and she began to public identify herself as Jewish and became an early proponent of Zionism (Lichtenstein, 1987). It is during this period (the 1880's) she also began to espouse some tenants of Marxism and supported the ideals of early English socialists such as William Morris (Lichtenstein, 1987).

With the presence of these philosophies in mind, Lazarus writes The New Colossus in an imagery that clearly is inspired by the late Neo-Classicism of the day and her own classical education. In her imagery, Lazarus portrays the United States as a new place of refuge to be watched, admired and desired from the ancient lands. She does this, just as John Winthrop did in 1630 with the image of the City upon the Hill, in his sermon, A Model of Christian Charity in 1630 (Beardsley, 1997). Here in this new land, supposedly free from the "storied pomp", those wretched refuse from without are welcomed by a new mother reaching out to them with a new light by a golden shore.

In her sonnet, Lazarus calls on the oppressed to cast off the shackles of the bourgeoisies and the mercantile class and experience the breath of freedom in a new land that eschews classism. The irony of this is that Lazarus from birth had been a member of the bourgeoisies and had experienced all the benefits of wealth and privilege, even being from an elite class Jews, the Sephardic Jews. It is only through her late personal identification with her own Judaism and her own struggles with the dualisms of her own life that she begins to view the world from a fresh light. It is from this new perspective, influenced by the teachings of Marx, and Zionism, that she writes The New Colossus.

Historically, we need to recognize that the imagery of The New Colossus is not nor ever has been official United States immigration policy. It is interesting to note that we have romanticized a poem that for over 50 years of early Statue of Liberty history had been largely ignored. The sonnet was not engraved in bronze until 1903 at which time it was placed in an obscure location upon what is now Liberty Island. Then, it was not until 1945, that the bronze engraving was placed in its current prominent location at the base of the statue, and this was due primarily to the efforts of journalist Louis Adamic (Skerry, 2006). So with this in mind, why is the question asked regarding distortion and abuse of a philosophy? The sonnet while touching is not nor ever has been official declared immigration policy. To assume such is to legitimize an ideal that is not based in our history. A clearer ideal of our immigration history can perhaps be found in the sermon given by Winthrop aboard the ship Arabella in 1603, in which we find the following,

"Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others' necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others' conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "may the Lord make it like that of New England." For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.
So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

And to shut this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel, Deut. 30. "Beloved, there is now set before us life and death, good and evil," in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his ordinance and his laws, and the articles of our Covenant with Him, that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.

Therefore let us choose life,

that we and our seed may live,

by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him,

for He is our life and our prosperity (Beardsley, 1997).

So with the words of Winthrop in mind, I propose that that the question being asked is itself a false premise that promotes a distorted view of history. The question plays more upon the romanticism of the beautiful lyrics and the picturesque sentiment of The New Colossus rather than take into consideration the full scope and account our history and immigration policy. So though I personally do like the poetry and the imagery, as I am sure most Americans do, I must temper my personal view with an accurate historical view. As a Christian it is far more palatable for me to accept the imagery proposed by Winthrop, than it is for me to fully accept potentially Marxist inspired imagery in spite of how attractive, or moving the words of the sonnet may be.

It's not that I don't like the sonnet; rather, I just think the sonnet needs to be understood in context. To assume that the philosophy of the sonnet is policy or ever has been policy is a misunderstanding of our history. To assume that there is a new cultural view of immigrants that does distort or abuse that philosophy is fallacy, since the view expressed in the sonnet is an idealized or romanticized image, rather than an actualized perspective of historical or current American immigration law, policy and attitude.

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