“The Fall of Ancient Rome and Modern U.S. Immigration: Historical Model or Political Football?”

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Notes

1. Congressional Record Online via GPO Access (wais.access.gpo.gov), 20 July 2006. For a detailed presentation and multivalent analysis of this event in Roman history in context, see Noel Lenski, Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D., Berkeley, CA: Taylor & Francis, 2002; Michael Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric, Cambridge: Taylor & Francis, 2007, 123–143; and, in a popular style, Alessandro Barbero, The Day of the Barbarians: The Battle That Led to the Fall of the Roman Empire, trans. John Cullen, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2007.

2. For another version of this exercise, though less focused on the applicability to political discourse and the classroom, see Norman Etherington, “Barbarians Ancient and Modern,” American Historical Review 116, 2011, 31–57. Etherington examines how ancient Rome was related to pre‐colonial southern Africa in the nineteenth century.

3. We are grateful to many colleagues and students for feedback in these settings and to The Historian's anonymous reviewers for constructive comments. Particularly good advice on an earlier version of this article was offered by Dennis R. Hidalgo of Virginia Tech.

4. In addition to a broad range of anti‐immigration articles and posts blaming immigrants for many of the nation's problems, Vdare.com has a number of specific entries on the US‐Rome comparison. For some examples see Steve Smith, U.S. Chamber Urging Country on Rome's Path to Disaster, available at: http://www.vdare.com/articles/us‐chamber‐urging‐country‐on‐romes‐path‐to‐disaster, accessed 24 January 2012; Sam Francis, New World America Or Fall of Rome Revisited, available at: http://www.vdare.com/articles/new‐world‐america‐or‐fall‐of‐rome‐revisited, accessed 24 January 2012; and Patrick J. Buchanan, Will America Survive to 2050?, available at: http://www.vdare.com/articles/will‐america‐survive‐to‐2050, accessed 24 January 2012. While Smith, Samuels, and Buchanan are particularly hostile to immigration, others take a broader approach to the comparison between a declining Rome and the modern United States; for an analysis of Arizona legislation aimed at curbing illegal immigration, see for example http://mediumhistorica.com/2010/05/06/arizona‐senate‐bill‐1070‐unlawful‐immigration‐and‐the‐fall‐of‐rome/, accessed 24 January 2012. The same may be said of http://americaandthefalloftheromanempire.blogspot.com/, accessed on 24 January 2012, a blog dedicated to the subject of American decline.

5. Samuel Huntington was one of the strongest proponents of this argument, as in “The Hispanic Challenge,” Foreign Policy March–April 2004, 30–45. Huntington followed this up with a monograph, Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2004.

6. Amy Chua provides an overview of the literature on the United States and its emergence as an empire, particularly of those supporting the idea (Amy Chua, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance—and Why They Fall, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2007). Advocates of the United States taking up the imperial mantle are Deepak Lal, In Praise of Empires: Globalization and Order, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2004; and Niall Ferguson, Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2004.

7. Bryan Ward‐Perkins, for instance, helpfully surveys the changing historiography in Bryan Ward‐perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, Oxford: Taylor & Francis, 2005, 1–10 and 169–83. Every volume treating the topic, however, recites this standard litany.

8. Huntington, “Hispanic Challenge,” 44–45.

9. Huntington, “Hispanic Challenge,” 38.

10. Gregory Rodriguez offers several studies to back up this assertion, see Gregory Rodriguez, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2007, 229–234. Some of the best work on this subject, and on immigrants in general, has been done by Alejandro Portes and Rubén G. Rumbaut; see specifically Alejandro Portes and Rubén G. Rumbaut, Immigrant America: A Portrait, Berkeley, CA: Taylor & Francis, 1996, 207–222. The language pattern is common to immigrant groups, but for a unique look at Mexican‐Americans, see David E. Lopez and Ricardo D. Stanton‐salazar, “Mexican Americans: A Second Generation at Risk,” Rubén G. Rumbaut and Alejandro Portes, eds, Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America, Berkeley, CA: Taylor & Francis, 2001, 57–90.

11. See Michael C. Meyer, William L. Sherman, and Susan M. Deeds, The Course of Mexican History, ninth edition, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2010, 553–556.

12. Tancredo left the Republican Party in 2010 to unsuccessfully run for the governorship of Colorado on the American Constitution Party ticket.

13. Tom Tancredo, In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security, Nashville, TN: Taylor & Francis, 2006, 50–51. This work is part of a recent outpouring of popular books dealing with the impending demise of the United States as a result of immigration, multiculturalism, a loss of ethical values, and a variety of other ills. Another strident attack against multiculturalism is Victor Davis Hanson's Mexifornia: A State of Becoming, San Francisco, CA: Taylor & Francis, 2003. Both Mark Steyn and David Goldman discuss the fall of Rome in some detail, see Mark Steyn, After America: Get Ready for Armageddon, Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Francis, 2011, and David P. Goldman, How Civilizations Die (And Why Islam is Dying Too), Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis, 2011. Other works in this genre include Patrick J. Buchanan, The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2002, and Patrick J. Buchanan, Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2011. See also Tony Blankley, The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?, Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis, 2005.

14. Tancredo, In Mortal Danger, 50–51.

15. An intriguing revisionist work on the Pilgrims, Thanksgiving, and the aftermath is Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006. With disapproval, Tancredo describes a movement in Denver inspired by American Indian organizations to rethink Columbus Day as “another example” of the “all‐out war” on Western civilization;see Tancredo, In Mortal Danger, 25.

16. Rodriguez argues that the whole history of the region is steeped in the evolution of multiple heritages, see Rodriguez, Mongrels, ix–xvii.

17. Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150–750, New York: Taylor & Francis, 1971.

18. For instructive analyses that could easily be assigned to inform classroom discussion, see Edward James, Europe's Barbarians AD 200–600, Hanlow, England: Taylor & Francis, 2009, 102–128, 161–73, and 193–214.

19. Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Oxford: Taylor & Francis, 2006, 431–459. Heather put migration on a far larger chronological canvas—and discussed the topic in the context of modern conceptions of European identity fueled by today's EU debates—in Peter Heather, Empires and Barbarians: Migration, Development and the Birth of Europe, London: Taylor & Francis, 2010. On these Late Antique centuries, see ibid., 72–93 and 122–206. In those segments, Heather emphasizes intended interaction as the key to positive transformation of Romans and non‐Romans alike. For an intriguing discussion of Roman identity on the periphery, see Louise Revell, Roman Imperialism and Local Identities, Cambridge: Taylor & Francis, 2009, 191–193.

20. There is, however, the on‐going drug war in Mexico that occasionally spills into the United States or claims the lives of US citizens. The lurid headlines and details of mass graves, decapitations, and murder of innocent civilians further inflame the immigration debate (see José de Córdoba, “Mexican Drug War Yields a Grisly Toll,” Wall Street Journal, 13 May 2012, available at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577402052157957594.html, accessed 31 May 2012). There were 111 US citizens murdered in Mexico in 2010 alone; see Daniel Hernandez, “How Many Have Died in Mexico's Drug War?”, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2011, available at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/06/mexico‐war‐dead‐update‐figures‐40000.html, accessed 31 May 2012.

21. Alejandro Portes, “The Fence to Nowhere,” The American Prospect, 23 September 2007, available at http://prospect.org/article/fence‐nowhere, accessed 25 January 2012. Portes includes the following example to illustrate the point: “In North Carolina, the annual harvest requires about 150,000 agricultural workers. In a recent year, 6,000 openings were reserved for U.S. workers at $9.02 per hour. A total of 120 applied, 25 showed up to work on the first day, and none finished the harvest” (ibid.).

22. For Walter Goffart's argument (even if it is not directly engaged by Ward‐Perkins because it was published a year later), see Walter Goffart, Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire, Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis, 2006. Ward‐Perkins does accurately portray Goffart's earlier fundamental thesis, updated in this 2006 study. The continuing relevance of this changing historiography was noted explicitly in the first line of a review of Goffart's study: “The Roman Empire is being assassinated by barbarians once more”: Brian Croke, Catholic Historical Review 94, January 2008, 131–132.

23. Goffart, Barbarian Tides, 191, 192.

24. Some of the best research on Latino issues in the United States is conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and in a December 2011 study they found that deportations have increased by about 30% since Obama took office (see Mark Hugo Lopez, Ana Gonzalez‐barrera, and Seth Motel, “As Deportations Rise to Record Levels, Most Latinos Oppose Obama's Policy,” Pew Hispanic Center, 28 December 2011, available at http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/12/28/as‐deportations‐rise‐to‐record‐levels‐most‐latinos‐oppose‐obamas‐policy/, accessed 31 May 2012). The vast majority of the 400,000 deported are Latinos and yet the president maintains a high popularity among potential Latino voters.

25. David J. Breeze and Brian Dobson, Hadrian's Wall, London: Taylor & Francis, 1970, 37–38.

26. Susan P. Mattern, Rome and the Enemy: Imperial Strategy in the Principate, Berkeley, CA: Taylor & Francis, 1999, 117–118.

27. Lenski, Failure of Empire, 320–367; Barbero, The Day of the Barbarians, 33–49.

28. C. R. Whittaker, Frontiers of the Roman Empire: A Social and Economic Study, Baltimore, MD: Taylor & Francis, 1994, 202–242, and C. R. Whittaker, Rome and Its Frontiers: The Dynamics of Empire, London: Taylor & Francis, 2004, 204–213. For similar conclusions, see Benjamin Isaac, The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East, rev. ed., Oxford: Taylor & Francis, 1992, 372–418. For a discussion of the historiographical issues at work, see Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Past, 34–70.

29. Whittaker, Frontiers, 219.

30. For some examples of the impact of the border fence, see Oscar Casares, “Border Fence Upends a Valley Farmer's Life,” The New York Times, 26 November 2011, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/us/border‐fence‐upends‐a‐rio‐grande‐valley‐farmers‐life.html, accessed 25 January 2012; Julia Preston, “Some Cheer Border Fence as Others Ponder the Cost,” The New York Times, 19 October 2011, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/us/politics/border‐fence‐raises‐cost‐questions.html, accessed 25 January 2012; and Liz Goodwin, “The Texans who live on the ‘Mexican side’ of the border fence: ‘Technically, we're in the United States’,” The Lookout, 21 December 2011, available at http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/texas‐americans‐live‐wrong‐side‐border‐fence‐christmas‐183312787.html, accessed 25 January 2012.

31. Tancredo, In Mortal Danger, 194.

32. Two excellent legal analyses are [an.], “The Birthright Citizenship Amendment: A Threat to Equality,” Harvard Law Review 107, March 1994, 1026–1043; and Joseph H. Carens, “Review: Who Belongs? Theoretical and Legal Questions about Birthright Citizenship in the United States,” The University of Toronto Law Journal 37, Autumn 1987, 413–443.

33. “Birthright Citizenship Amendment,” 1028.

34. Mae M. Ngai, “Birthright Citizenship and the Alien Citizen,” Fordham Law Review 5, 2007, 2521–2530 at 2521.

35. Ibid., 2521.

36. Cullen Murphy, Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America, Boston, MA: Taylor & Francis, 2007.

37. Ibid., 167.

38. Ibid., 184.

39. Chua, Day of Empire, 29–58.

40. Ibid., 325.

41. Ibid., 337.

42. Juvenal, Satire 3, as rendered in Bradley P. Nystrom and Stylianos V. Spyridakis, eds, Ancient Rome: Documentary Perspectives, second ed., Dubuque, IA: Taylor & Francis, 1995, 170–171.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Frank Argote‐freyre

Frank Argote‐Freyre is an assistant professor of Latin American history at Kean University. Argote‐Freyre received his PhD from Rutgers University in 2004. His first book, Fulgencio Batista: From Revolutionary to Strongman, was published in 2006. His second book, A Brief History of the Caribbean, coauthored with Danilo Figueredo, was published in 2008. He was assistant editor of the Encyclopedia of Cuba (2003).

Christopher M. Bellitto

Christopher M. Bellitto is chair and associate professor of ancient and medieval history at Kean University. Bellitto received his PhD from Fordham University in 1997. He is the author of nine books, including 101 Questions and Answers on Popes and the Papacy (Paulist Press, 2008), and the co‐editor of six collections of essays, most recently Reassessing Reform: A Historical Investigation into Church Renewal (Catholic University of America Press, 2012). His scholarly articles have appeared in the Catholic Historical Review, Church History, Cristianesimo nella storia, Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, Cistercian Studies Quarterly, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching, and other journals.