Reminder that for Benjamin Franklin even German immigrants were not white enough, then look at america now

[Beastimmung]

People of non-WASP (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant) descent were crossing the ocean to start new lives in the new world, and earlier Colonial settlers were none too happy about it. Among them, with ferocious conviction, was Benjamin Franklin, noted inventor, eventual American founding father—and hater of Germans.

In writings from that decade, Franklin shared his concerns about the Germans:

They weren’t as smart as the people already living in the colonies.

“Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation.”

They were unable to adapt to the local values.

“Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it.”

They were endangering New England’s whiteness.

“[T]he Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted.”