“After independence and union, perhaps the most important accomplishment of America’s founding generation was the preparation of the country to become, in Thomas Paine’s words, ‘an asylum for mankind,’ an unprecedented land of immigrants. The epic migration that followed has no parallel in history and its impact on our national development is impossible to overestimate. Our religion, politics, science, arts, industry and agriculture are the work of a multitude of cultures all united by their attraction to the universal appeal of our national ideals — by the desire to live free and prosperous lives. The fortunes of this heritage are measured in the success of our democratic experiment, and in our unrivaled growth and prosperity.”

—John McCain, July 15, 1996