Jacobson Chapter Summary

Jacobson’s point of view is that the American Government felt that it had made a mistake in allowing all white people to become American citizens, which meant that different groups could enter and have a seemingly negative effect on the Republic, and that from 1840-1920 they worked to correct this mistake. Originally the 1790 Naturalization Law gave an “unquestioned use of the word ‘white’” which allowed all Europeans to become American citizens. At the time the American government was open to accepting everyone with the same skin tone, regardless of geographic or religious background. Non-whites were looked down upon no matter their cultural background. (Page 40) Around 1840 the American opinion was still that ‘white’ was good no matter what, but this viewpoint was soon to change. One author said in 1840 that Europeans were white, but in his 1859 postscript “the phrases ‘English race’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon race’ appear in the text for the very first time.” (Page 41) During the period of change for the term ‘white’, often people who qualified according to most people could become disqualified by associating with non-white groups. “This was precisely the case with Italians in New Orleans”. (Page 57) Jacobson used these examples and many more to describe the change over time in the feelings of both the American government and the American people about the definition of whiteness.