A Search for the Ideal Society

The influx of around thirty million European immigrants into the United States in the relatively short time of a little more than a hundred years (1815-1920's) created a great challenge for the American people in their efforts to build a strong society. The newly arrived immigrants had the challenge of assimilating into a new culture and the native Americans found the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon culture, upon which they hoped to build the ideal society, challenged by the various cultures of the immigrants. To see how both the native Americans and the immigrants faced this problem, three theories, the total assimilation theory, the melting pot theory, and the multi-cultural theory or cultural pluralism are investigated. My own reasons for thinking that the American society has not and will not become a melting pot and what I think is the best way for a heterogeneous society to strive to become an ideal society are presented in the conclusion.