Simon Schama looks at the bitter conflict over immigration in American history. Who should be allowed to enter America and call themselves an American has been one of the nation’s most divisive issues since its founding, and continues to this day.

The early settlers were immigrants but they saw America as fundamentally a white and Protestant nation. Simon looks at the key events that challenged this view: the annexation of parts of Mexico in 1848 that made 100,000 non-whites American citizens, the immigration and expulsion of the Chinese in the late 19th century, and the massive immigration from Eastern Europe during the industrialization of the 1920s.

Those who have insisted America must stay white if it is to stay true to itself has been defeated by the sheer force of history. John F Kennedy defined America as a Nation of Immigrants in 1964, and Simon presents the view that the election of Barack Obama represents the final triumph of the vision of America as a multi-ethnic nation.