Professor Beverly Gage opens her eight class sequence in Yale's America at 250: A History course with this lecture on immigration, examining the competing visions of the United States as a melting pot that absorbed newcomers and a guarded gate that sought to restrict entry. The lecture introduces the debates over immigration policy and national identity that shaped early twentieth century America. Recorded in Yale's Battell Chapel as part of the DeVane Lecture series, the course is a one time survey of United States history from 1776 to the present taught by three Yale historians, and this class marks the transition from David Blight's nineteenth century lectures to Gage's coverage of the modern era.