<i>The phrase appears at least as far back as 1874, in an editorial published in The Daily State Journal of Alexandria, which praised a bill passed by the Virginia Senate appropriating $15,000 to encourage European immigration.</i><p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, 1874 is also approximately the culmination of the US's policies toward its indigenous peoples -- 1875 marks the concerted campaign against the Apache. <i>A nation of immigrants</i> is a phrase that expresses both the good and the bad of American history.