Classwork- Anglo Saxons

The inclusiveness of the Naturalization Law led people to redefine “white.” The 1790 Naturalization Law was too inclusive with its definition of “whiteness.” Even Benjamin Franklin argued that America, ” founded by the English, should become a colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of as Anglifying them” (40). There was an increasing “fragmentation and hierarchial ordering of distinct white races(now plural)”(41). The perception of whiteness to Anglo-Saxon in a racial refinement reflects the views of “half-breeds” and “primatives” (41). The naturalization law forced people to rethink their definition of being white.