Isolation meant that the United States did not get drawn into wars
and conflicts in Europe or Asia and was free to develop without outside
interference.
The first major wave came in colonial days. The early republic and
was composed of mostly western and northern Europeans. In the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, large numbers of southern and
eastern Europeans came to the United States. In recent decades, an
increasing number of immigrants have come from Latin America and Asia.
Americans come from a wide variety of cultural and ethnic
backgrounds and, while often valuing the old traditions and customs,
fully support the ideals of the American political culture.
