Asylum for Mankind: America 1607 - 1800.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press, (1998). First Edition. Octavo, blue cloth & white boards (hardcover), gilt letters, xi, 353 pp. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: Ever since the Age of Discover, Europeans have viewed the New World as a haven for victims of religious persecution and a dumping ground for social liabilities. Marilyn C. Baseler shows how the New World’s role as a refuge for the victims of political, religious, and economic oppression gradually devolved on the thirteen colonies that became the United States. She traces immigration patterns and policies to show how the new American Republic became an “asylum for mankind.” Baseler explains how British and colonial officials and landowners lured settlers from rival nations with promises of religious toleration, economic opportunity, and the “rights of Englishmen,” and she identifies the liberties, disabilities, and benefits experienced by different immigrant groups. She also explains how the exploitation of laves subsidized the living standards of Europeans who came by choice.