ABSTRACT
Immigrants have contributed to the stability of the American political system. This assertion, the major conclusion of the present investigation, stands in direct and fundamental opposition to the dominant theoretical interpretation of the immigrant experience. Of course abstract notions of political commitment are far from most immigrants’ thoughts. As long as the promise of the future outweighs the adversity of the past, immigrants readily promote the virtues of their adopted home. Having neither the resources nor the inclination, immigrants are generally content to be politically passive residents of their adopted home. But immigrants have a more positive effect on America’s political stability: they are among the most ardent publicists of American virtue, quick to swear fidelity to their country of adoption. In part, immigrant allegiance is the product of what this study has called “the politics of the lifeboat.” Immigrants are also wedded to the American political system because of the opportunity they have to become American.
