[sethrin]

The United States of America had open immigration for the first 100 years or so. Not open citizenship, mind you, but open immigration. It wasn't until after the Civil War that SCOTUS forced the federal government to implement an immigration policy. Until then, this was the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

[bluthru]

Yes, before there were government-funded social programs and we were largely agrarian.