Scots Americans

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Scots Americans
Ameireaganaich Albannach
Tot population
Scottish Americans
20–25 million[1][2][3][4]
Up to 8.3% of the U.S. population
Scotch-Irish Americans
27–30 million[5][6]
Up to 10% of the U.S. population
5,310,285 (2013 ACS) Scottish
Regions wi signeeficant populations

Predominantly in New England, Appalachia an the Deep South

Plurality in New York, West Virginia, Idaho, North Carolina, Florida an Pennsylvania[8]

English (American English dialects)

Scottish Gaelic an Scots speaking minorities
Christianity (including Presbyterianism, Baptist, Pentecostalism, Methodist, Protestantism an Roman Catholicism), ither releegions (including deism[9])
Relatit ethnic groups
Scotch-Erse Americans, Inglis Americans, Irish Americans, Welsh Americans, Breetish Americans, Scots Canadians, Scotch-Erse Canadians, Scots Australians

Scots Americans (Scots Gaelic: Ameireaganaich Albannach; Scots: Scots-American) are Americans whase ancestry oreeginates halely or pairtly in Scotland. Scots Americans are closely related tae Scotch-Erse Americans, descendants o Ulster Scots, an communities emphasize an handsel a common heritage.[10] The majority o Scotch-Erse Americans oreeginally cam frae Lawland Scotland an Northern Ingland afore migrating tae the province o Ulster in Ireland (see Plantation o Ulster) an thance, beginning aboot five generations later, tae North Americae in lairge nummers in the aichteent century.

Lairge-scale emigration frae Scotland tae Americae began in the 1700s, accelerating efter the Jacobite risin o 1745, the resultin breakup o the clan structurs, an the Hieland Clearances. Displaced Scots gaed in sairch o a better life an sattled in the thirteen colonies, ineetially aroond Sooth Carolina an Virginia, an then further in successive generations.

Nummer o Scots Americans[eedit | eedit soorce]

Nummer o Scots Americans
Year Ref. Population % o the Unitit States population
1980 [11] 10,048,816 Template:Bartable
1990 [12] 5,393,581 Template:Bartable
2000 [13] 4,890,581 Template:Bartable
2010 [14] 5,460,679 Template:Bartable
Nummer o Scotch-Erse Americans
Year Ref. Population % o the Unitit States population
1980 [11] 16,418 Template:Bartable
1990 [12] 5,617,773 Template:Bartable
2000 [13] 4,319,232 Template:Bartable
2010 [14] 3,257,161 Template:Bartable

Colonial period 1700 - 1775[eedit | eedit soorce]

AAccordin tae the Unitit States Historical Census Data Base (USHCDB), the ethnic populations in the Breetish American Colonies o 1700, 1755 an 1775 war:

Ethnic mak up in the Breetish American Colonies o 1700 • 1755 • 1775 [15][16][17]
1700 Percent 1755 Percent 1775 Percent
Inglis an Welsh 80.0% Inglis an Welsh 52.0% Inglis 48.7%
African 11.0% African 20.0% African 20.0%
Dutch 4.0% German 7.0% Scots-Erse 7.8%
Scots 3.0% Scots-Erse 7.0% German 6.9%
Ither European 2.0% Erse 5.0% Scots 6.6%
Scots 4.0% Dutch 2.7%
Dutch 3.0% French 1.4%
Ither European 2.0% Swades 0.6%
Ither 5.3%
Flag of Great Britain (1707–1800).svg Colonies 100% Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg Colonies 100% Flag of the United States (1776–1777).svg Thirteen Colonies 100%

Census[eedit | eedit soorce]

The nummer o Americans o Scots descent the day is estimated tae be 20 tae 25 million (up tae 8.3% o the tot US population), an Scotch-Erse 27 to 30 million (up to 10% o the tot US population), the subgroups owerlapping an no aye distinguishable acause o thair skared ancestral surnames.


The table shaws the ethnic Scots population in the Unitit States frae 1700 tae 2013. In 1700 the tot population o the American colonies wis 250,888, o that 223,071 (89%) war white an 3.0% war ethnically Scots.[15][18] In the 2000 census, 4.8 million Americans[19] sel-reportit Scots ancestry, 1.7% o the tot US population. Anither 4.3 million sel-reportit Scotch-Erse ancestry, for a tot o 9.2 million Americans sel-reportin some kynd o Scots descent.

Sel-reportit nummers are regairdit bi demographers as muckle unner-coonts, acause Scots ancestry is kent tae be disproportionately unner-reportit amang the majority o mixed ancestry,[20] an acause aries whaur people reportit "American" ancestry war the places whaur, historically, Scots an Scotch-Erse Protestants sattled in Americae (that is: alang the North American coast, Appalachia, an the Sootheastern Unitit States). Scots Americans descended frae nineteent-century Scots emigrants tend tae be concentrated in the Wast, while mony in New Ingland are the descendants o emigrants, eften Gaelic-speakin, frae the Maritime Provinces o Canadae, frae the 1880s onwart. Americans o Scots descent ootnummer the population o Scotland, whaur 4,459,071 or 88.09% o people identified as ethnic Scots in the 2001 Census.[21][22]

Scots Americans bi state[eedit | eedit soorce]

Confeerance atween the 1790 an 2000 census
1790 estimates[23] 2000 Census[23]
Ancestry Nummer % o tot Ancestry Nummer % o tot
Inglis 1,900,000 47.5 German 42,885,162 15.2
African 750,000 19.0 African 36,419,434 12.9
Scotch-Erse 320,000 8.0 Erse 30,594,130 10.9
German 280,000 7.0 Inglis 24,515,138 8.7
Erse 200,000 5.0 Mexican 20,640,711 7.3
Scots 160,000 4.0 Italian 15,723,555 5.6
Welsh 120,000 3.0 French 10,846,018 3.9
Dutch 100,000 2.5 Hispanic 10,017,244 3.6
French 80,000 2.0 Pols 8,977,444 3.2
Native American 50,000 1.0 Scots 4,890,581 1.7
Spaingie 20,000 0.5 Dutch 4,542,494 1.6
Swades or Ither 20,000 0.5 Norse 4,477,725 1.6
Scotch-Erse 4,319,232 1.5
Breetish (Tot) 2,500,000 62.5 Breetish (Tot)

36,564,465 12.9
 Unitit States 3,929,326 [24] 100  Unitit States 281,421,906 100

The states wi the laigest Scots populations:[25]

The states wi the tap percentages o Scots residents:

Historical contreibutions[eedit | eedit soorce]

Explorers[eedit | eedit soorce]

The first Scots in North Americae cam wi the Vikings. A Christian bard frae the Hebrides accompanied Bjarni Herjolfsson on his vaige aroond Greenland in 985/6 whit sichted the mainland tae the wast.[26][27]

The first Scots recorded as haein set fit in the New Warld war a man named Haki an a woman named Hekja, sclaves awned bi Leif Eiriksson. The Scots couple war runners wha scooted for Thorfinn Karlsefni's expedeetion in c. 1010, gaithering wheat an the grapes for whit Vinland wis named.[28][29]

The controversial Zeno letters hae been ceeted in defence o a claim that Henry Sinclair, Yerl o Orkney, veesited Nova Scotia in 1398.[30]

In the early years o Spaingie colonisation o the Americaes, a Scot named Tam Blake spent 20 years in Colombie an Mexico. He teuk pairt in the conquest o New Granada in 1532 wi Alonso de Heredia. He arrived in Mexico in 1534-5, an jyned Coronado's 1540 expedeetion tae the American Southwast.[31][32]

Scots-American naturalist John Muir is mebbe best kent for his exploration o Californie's Sierra Nevada muntains in the 19t century.

Tredders[eedit | eedit soorce]

James VI an I, c. 1604
The Americaes in the ring o James VI, 1619

Efter the Union o the Crouns o Scotland an Ingland in 1603, Keeng James VI, a Scot, promuived jynt expedeetions owerseas, an became the founder o Inglis America.[33] The first permanent Inglis sattlement in the Americaes, Jamestown, wis thus named for a Scot.

The earliest Scots communities in Americae war firmed bi tredders an planters raither than fermer sattlers.[34] The hub o Scots commercial acteevity in the colonial period wis Virginie. Regular contacts began wi the transportation o indentured servants tae the colony frae Scotland, including preesoners takken in the Wars o the Three Kinricks.[35]

Bi the 1670s Glesga wis the main ootlet for Virginian tabaccae, in open defiance o Inglis restrictions on colonial tred; in return the colony received Scots manufactured guids, emigrants an ideas.[35][36] In the 1670s an 1680s Presbyterian Dissenters fled persecution bi the Royalist privy cooncil in Edinburgh tae sattle in South Carolina an New Jersey, whaur they kept thair distinctive releegious cultur.[35]

Tred atween Scotland an the American colonies wis finally regularized bi the parliamentary Act o Union o Scotland an Ingland in 1707. Population growth an the commercialization o agricultur in Scotland encouraged mass emigration tae Americae efter the French an Indian War,[37] a fecht whit haed awso seen the first uise o Scots Hieland regiments as Indian fechters.[35]

Mair than 50,000 Scots, principally frae the wast coast,[35] sattled in the Thirteen Colonies atween 1763 an 1776, the majority o thir in thair awn communities in the South,[37] especially North Carolina, awtho Scots individuals an families awso began tae appear as professionals an artisans in every American toun.[35] Scots arriving in Florida an the Gulf Coast tredded extensively wi Native Americans.[38]

Fowk an gospel music[eedit | eedit soorce]

American bluegrass an fowk music styles hae some o thair roots in the Appalachian ballad cultur o Scotch-Erse Americans (predominantly originating frae the "Border Ballad" tradition o soothren Scotland an northern Ingland). Fiddle tunes frae the Scots repertoire, as they developed in the aichteent century, an spread rapidly intae British colonies, awtho sometimes throu the medium o print raither than aurally. Ootside o Gaelic-speaking communities, however, characteristic Hieland musical idioms, sic as the “Scotch-snap,”[39] war flattened oot an assimilated intae anglophone musical styles.

Some African American communities war influenced musically bi the Scots American communities in whit they war embedded. Psalm-singing an gospel music hae become central musical experiences for African American churchgoers an some elements o thir styles war introduced, in thir communities, bi Scots (awtho they war awso mair widespread at this time).[40] psalm-singing, or "precenting the line" as it is technically kent, in whit the psalms are cawed oot an the congregation sings a response, wis a form o musical worship initially developed for non-literate congregations an Africans in America war exposed tae this bi Scots Gaelic sattlers as weel as immigrants o ither origins.

The first foreign leid spoken bi some sclaves in Americae wis Scots Gaelic picked up frae Gaelic-speaking immigrants frae the Scots Hielands an Wastren Isles.[41] Thare are accounts o African Americans singing Gaelic songs an playing Scots Gaelic music on bagpipes an fiddle.

Patriots an Loyalists[eedit | eedit soorce]

The ceevic tradition o the Scots Enlichtenment contreebuted tae the intellectual ferment o the American Revolution.[35] In 1740, the Glesga philosopher Francis Hutcheson argued for a richt o colonial resistance tae tyranny.[42] Scotland's leading thinkers o the revolutionary age, David Hume an Adam Smith, opposed the use o force against the rebellious colonies.[43] According tae the historian Arthur Herman: "Americans built thair warld aroond the principles o Adam Smith an Thomas Reid, o individual interest governed bi common sense an a limited need for govrenment."[44]

Nineteen o the fifty-six delegates wha signed the Declaration o Independence cam frae Scotland or Ulster or, like the Scots-tutored Thomas Jefferson, haed ancestors thare.[45] Ither funding faithers like James Madison haed nae ancestral connection but war imbued wi ideas drawn frae Scots moral philosophy.[46] Scots Americans wha made major contributions tae the revolutionary war included Commodore John Paul Jones, the "Faither o the American Navy", an Generals Henry Knox an William Alexander. Anither person o note wis a personal friend o George Washington, General Hugh Mercer, wha fecht for Charles Edward Stuart at the Battle o Culloden.

The Scotch-Erse, wha haed already begun tae sattle beyond the Proclamation Line in the Ohio an Tennessee Valleys, war drawn intae rebellion as war spread tae the frontier.[47] Tobacco plantations an independent ferms in the backcountry o Virginie, Maryland an the Carolinas haed been financed wi Scots credit, an indebtedness wis an additional incentive for separation.[34]

Maist Scots Americans haed commercial ties wi the auld kintra or clan allegiances an steyed true tae the Crown.[48] The Scots Hieland communities o upstate New York an the Cape Fear valley o North Carolina war centers o Loyalist resistance.[35] A wee force o Loyalist Hielanders fell at the Battle o Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776. Scotch-Erse Patriots defeated Scots American Loyalists in the Battle o Kings Mountain in 1780.[49] Mony Scots American Loyalists emigrated tae Canada efter the war.[35]

Uncle Sam[eedit | eedit soorce]

Uncle Sam is the national personification o the Unitit States, an sometimes mair specifically o the American govrenment, wi the first uise o the term dating frae the War o 1812. Uncle Sam wis based on a businessman frae Troy, New York, Samuel Wilson, whase parents sailed tae Americae frae Greenock, Scotland. He providit the airmy wi beef an pork in barrels during the War o 1812. The barrels war prominently labeled "U.S." for the Unitit States, but it wis jokingly said that the letters stood for "Uncle Sam." Soon, Uncle Sam wis uised as shorthand for the federal govrenment.

Emigrants an free tredders[eedit | eedit soorce]

Tred wi Scotland continued tae flourish efter independence. The tobacco tred wis owertaken in the nineteent century bi the cotton tred, wi Glesga factories exporting the finished textiles back tae the Unitit States on an industrial scale.[50]

Emigration frae Scotland peaked in the nineteent century, when mair than a million Scots left for the Unitit States,[51] taking advantage o the regular Atlantic steam-age shipping industry whit wis itsel lairgely a Scots creation,[52] contributing tae a revolution in transatlantic communication.[35]

Scots emigration tae the Unitit States followed, tae a lesser extent, during the twintiet century, when Scots heavy industry declined.[53] This new wave peaked in the first decade o the twintiet century, contributing tae a hard life for mony wha remained behind. Mony qualified workers emigrated owerseas, a pairt o whit, estaiblished in Canada, later gaed on tae the Unitit States.[54]

Writers[eedit | eedit soorce]

In the nineteent century, American authors an educators adopted Scotland as a model for cultural independence.[35] In the warld o letters, Scots literary icons James Macpherson, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, an Thomas Carlyle haed a mass following in the Unitit States, an Scots Romanticism exerted a seminal influence on the development o American leeteratur.[35] The warks o Ralph Waldo Emerson an Nathaniel Hawthorne bear its pouerful impression. Amang the maist weel-kent Scots American writers o the nineteent century war Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe an Herman Melville. Poet James Mackintosh Kennedy wis cawed tae Scotland tae deliver the official poem for the 600th anniversary o the Battle o Bannockburn in 1914.

In the twintiet century, Margaret Mitchell's Gane Wi the Wind was a lairge pairt o popular leeteratur. William Faulkner won the Nobel Prize in Leeteratur in 1949.

Thare hae been a nummer o weel-kent Scots Gaelic poets active in the Unitit States since the aichteent century,[55][56] including Aonghas MacAoidh[57] an Domhnall Aonghas Stiùbhart.[58] Ane o the few relics o Gaelic leeteratur composed in the Unitit States is a lullaby composed bi an anonymous wumman in the Carolinas during the American Revolutionary War.[59][60] It remains popular tae this day in Scotland.

More than 160,000 Scots emigrants migrated tae the U.S. American statesmen o Scots descent in the early Republic included Secretary o the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary o War Henry Knox, an Preses James Monroe. Andrew Jackson an James K. Polk war whit we now caw Scotch-Erse preses an products o the frontier in the period o Wastward expansion. Amang the maist famous Scots American soldier frontiersmen wis Sam Houston, funding faither o Texas.

Ither Scotch-Erse preses included James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Chester Alan Arthur, William McKinley an Richard M. Nixon. Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt (throu his mither), Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon B. Johnson, an Ronald Reagan war o Scots descent.[61] Bi ane estimate, 75% o U.S. preses coud claim some Scots ancestry.[62]

Sam Houston wis Scotch-Erse (Ulster Scots) descent, an namesake for the city o Houston, Texas.[63]

Scots Americans fecht on baith sides o the Civil War, an a monument tae thair memory wis erected in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1893. Winfield Scott, Grant, Joseph E. Johnston, Irvin McDowell, James B. McPherson, Jeb Stuart an John B. Gordon war o Scots descent, George B. McClellan an Stonewall Jackson Scotch-Erse.[64]

Douglas MacArthur an George Marshall uphauldit the martial tradeetion in the twintiet century. Grace Murray Hopper, a rear admiral an computer scientist, wis the auldest officer an hiest-rankin wumman in the U.S. airmed forces on her retirement at the age o 80 in 1986.[65] Isabella Cannon, the former Mayor o Raleigh, North Carolina, wis the first female mayor o a U.S. state capital.[66]

Automakers[eedit | eedit soorce]

The Scots-born Alexander Winton built ane o the first American automobiles in 1896, an specialised in motor racin. He breuk the warld speed record in 1900.[67] In 1903, he wis the first man tae drive cross the Unitit States.[67] David Dunbar Buick, anither Scots emigrant, fundit Buick in 1903.[67] The Scots-born William Blackie transfirmed the Caterpillar Tractor Company intae a lairge multinational corporation.[67]

Motorcycle manufacturer[eedit | eedit soorce]


Harley-Davidson Inc[68] (formerly HDI[69]), eften abbreviated "H-D" or "Harley", is an American motorcycle manufacturer. The Davidson brithers war the sons o William C Davidson (1846-1923) wha wis born an grew up in Angus, Scotland, an Margaret Adams McFarlane (1843-1933) o Scots descent frae the wee Scots hame o Cambridge, Wisconsin. They raised five bairns thegither: Janet May, William A., Walter, Arthur an Elizabeth.[70]

Aviation[eedit | eedit soorce]

Scots Americans hae makt a major contribution tae the US aircraft industry. Alexander Graham Bell, in pairtnership wi Samuel Pierpont Langley, built the first machine capable o flicht, the Bell-Langley aeroplane, in 1903.[71] Lockheed wis started bi twa brithers, Allan an Malcolm Loughead, in 1926.[71] Douglas wis fundit bi Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. in 1921; he lenched the warld's first commercial passenger plane, the DC-3, in 1935.[71] McDonnell Aircraft wis fundit bi James Smith McDonnell, in 1939, an became famous for its meelitary jets.[71] In 1967, McDonnell an Douglas merged an jyntly developed jet aircraft, missiles an spacecraft.[71]

Spaceflicht[eedit | eedit soorce]

Scots Americans war pioneers in human spaceflicht. The Mercury an Gemini capsules war built bi James Smith McDonnell.[71] The first American in space, Alan Shepard, the first American in orbit, John Glenn, an the first man tae flee free in space, Bruce McCandless II, war Scots Americans.[71]

The first men on the muin, Neil Armstrong an Buzz Aldrin, war awso o Scots descent; Armstrong wore a kilt in a parade throu his ancestral home o Langholm in the Scots Mairches in 1972.[71] Ither Scots American muinwalkers war the fourth, Alan Bean, the fift, Alan Shepard, the seivent, David Scott (awso the first tae drive on the muin), an the aicht, James Irwin.[71]

Computing[eedit | eedit soorce]

Scots Americans hae awso been leaders in computing an information technology.

Scots Americans Howard Aiken an Grace Murray Hopper makt the first automatic sequence computer in 1939.[65] Hopper wis awso the co-inventor o the computer leid COBOL.[65]

Ross Perot, anither Scots American entrepreneur, makt his fortune frae Electronic Data Systems, an ootsoorcing company he estaiblished in 1962.[65]

Software giant Microsoft wis co-fundit in 1975 bi Bill Gates, wha owed his stairt in pairt tae his mither, the Scots American businesswumman Mary Maxwell Gates, wha helped her son tae get his first software contract wi IBM.[65] Glesga-born Microsoft employee Richard Tait helped develop the Encarta encyclopedia an co-created the popular buird game Cranium.[65]

Cuisine[eedit | eedit soorce]

Scots Americans hae helped tae define the modern American diet bi introducing mony distinctive foods.

Fried chicken wis introduced intae the Soothren Colonies bi Scots sattlers. Philip Danforth Armour fundit Armour Meats in 1867, revolutionizing the American meatpacking industry an becoming famous for hot dogs. Campbell Soups wis fundit in 1869 bi Joseph A. Campbell an rapidly grew intae a major manufacturer o canned soups. W. K. Kellogg transformed American eating habits frae 1906 bi popularizing brakfast cereal. Glen Bell, funder o Taco Bell in 1962, introduced Tex-Mex food tae a mainstream audience.[72][73] Marketing executive Arch West, born tae Scots emigrant parents, developed Doritos.[74]

Community activities[eedit | eedit soorce]

Some o the followin aspects o Scots cultur can still be found in some parts o the US.

Tartan Day[eedit | eedit soorce]

Tartan Day parade in New York Ceety

National Tartan Day, hauldit each year on April 6 in the Unitit States an Canada, celebrates the historical links atween Scotland an North America an the contributions Scots Americans an Canadians hae made tae US an Canadian democracy, industry an society. The date o April 6 wis chosen as "the anniversary o the Declaration o Arbroath in 1320—the inspirational document, according tae U.S. Senate Resolution 155, 1999, upon whit the American Declaration o Independence wis modeled".[76]

The Annual Tartan Week celebrations come tae life every April wi the lairgest celebration taking place in New York Ceety. Thoosands descend ontae the streets o the Big Apple tae celebrate thair heritage, cultur an the impact o the Scots Americans in America today.

Hundreds o pipers, drummers, Hieland dancers, Scottie Dogs an celebrities mairch down the streets drowned in thair family tartans an Saltire flags whilst interacting wi the thoosands o onlookers.

NYC is not the anely lairge ceety tae celebrate Tartan Day. Lairge events awso tak place in Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Californie, Chicago, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Québec, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Australia, an New Zealand.

Scots Heritage Month is awso promoted bi community groups aroond the Unitit States an Canada.[77]

Scots Festivals[eedit | eedit soorce]

Massed bands at the 2005 Pacific Northwest Hieland Games[78]

Scots cultur, food, an athletics are celebrated at Hieland Games an Scots festivals ootthrou North America. The lairgest o thir occurs yearly at Pleasanton, Californie, Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina an Estes Park, Colorado. Thare are awso ither weel-kent Scots Festivals in cities like Tulsa, Oklahoma, Atlanta, Georgia (at Stone Mountain Park), San Antonio, Texas an St. Louis, Missouri. In addeetion tae traditional Scots sports sic as tossing the caber an the hammer throw, thare are whisky tastings, traditional foods sic as haggis, Bagpipes an Drums competitions, Celtic rock musical acts an tradeetional Scots dance.

Scots Gaelic language in the Unitit States[eedit | eedit soorce]

Awtho Scots Gaelic haed been spoken in maist o Scotland at ane time or anither, bi the time o lairge-scale migrations tae North America – the aichteent century – it haed anely managed tae survive in the Hielands an Wastren Isles o Scotland. Unlike ither ethnic groups in Scotland, Scots Hielanders preferred tae migrate in communities, an remaining in lairger, denser concentrations aided in the maintenance o thair language an cultur. The first communities o Scots Gaels began migrating in the 1730s tae Georgia, New York an the Carolinas. Anely in the Carolinas war thir hames enduring. Awtho thair nummers war wee, the immigrants formed a beach-head for later migrations, whit accelerated in the 1760s.[79]

The American Revolutionary War effectively stopped direct migration tae the newly-formed Unitit States, maist people gaein insteid tae Breetish North Americae (nou Canada). The Canadian Maritimes war a favored destination frae the 1770s tae the 1840s. Sizable concentrations o Gaelic communities existed in Ontario, Nova Scotia, an Prince Edward Island, wi smaller clusters in Newfoundland, Quebec, an New Brunswick. Those wha left thir communities for opportunities in the Unitit States, especially in New Ingland, war usually fluent Gaelic speakers intae the mid-twintiet century.[80]

O the mony communities founded bi Scots Hieland immigrants, the language an cultur anely survives at a community level in the Canadian province o Nova Scotia. According tae the 2000 census, 1,199 people speak Scots Gaelic at home.[81]

The direct descendants o Scots Hielanders war not the anely people in the Unitit States tae speak the language, however. Gaelic wis ane o the languages spoken bi fur tredders in mony pairts o North America. In some pairts o the Carolinas an Alabama, African-American communities spoke Scots Gaelic, particularly (but not solely) due tae the influence o Gaelic-speaking slave-awners.[82] According tae musicologist Willie Ruff, jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie spoke eften o the Gaelic speaking African-Americans.[83]

Weel-kent people[eedit | eedit soorce]

Preseses o Scots or Scotch-Erse descent[eedit | eedit soorce]

Several Preses o the Unitit States hae haed some Scots or Scotch-Erse ancestry, awtho the extent o this varies. For example, Donald Trump's mither wis Scots an Woodrow Wilson's maternal grandparents war baith Scots. Tae a lesser degree Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Chester A. Arthur an William McKinley hae less direct Scots or Scotch-Erse ancestry.

James Monroe (Scots an Welsh)
5th Preses 1817-1825: His paternal great-great-grandfaither, Andrew Monroe, emigrated tae America frae Ross-shire, Scotland in the mid-17th century.
Andrew Jackson (Scotch-Erse)
7th Preses 1829-1837: : He wis born in the predominantly Ulster-Scots Waxhaws arie o Sooth Carolina twa years after his parents left Boneybefore, naur Carrickfergus in Coonty Antrim.[84]
James Knox Polk (Scots an Scotch-Erse)
11t Preses, 1845-1849: His Scots paternal great x 5 grandfaither, Robert Pollock, emigrated tae Ireland in the 17t century. The family's surname wis later changed frae Pollock tae Polk.[85]
James Buchanan (Scots an Scotch-Erse)
15t Preses, 1857-1861: His paternal great-grandmither, Katherine Blair, wis born in Stirlingshire.[85]
Andrew Johnson (Scotch-Erse an Inglis)
17t Preses, 1865-1869: His grandfaither left Mounthill, naur Larne in Coonty Antrim aroond 1750 an settled in North Carolina.[85]
Ulysses S. Grant (Scots, Scotch-Erse an Inglis)
18t Preses, 1869-1877: His maternal great-grandfaither, John Simpson, wis born in Dergenagh, Coonty Tyrone.[86]
Rutherford Hayes (Scots an Inglis)
19t Preses, 1877-1881: His ancestor, George Hayes, emigrated frae Scotland tae Connecticut in 1680.
Chester A. Arthur (Scotch-Erse, Scots an Inglis)
21st Preses, 1881-1885: His paternal great-grandmither, Jane Campbell, emigrated frae Scotland tae Coonty Antrim, Ireland.[85][87]
Grover Cleveland (Scotch-Erse an Inglis)
22nd an 24th Preses, 1885-1889 an 1893-1897: Born in New Jersey, he wis the maternal grandson o merchant Abner Neal, wha emigrated frae Coonty Antrim in the 1790s. He is the anely preses tae hae served non-consecutive terms.[85]
Benjamin Harrison (Scots, Scotch-Erse an Inglis)
23rd Preses, 1889-1893: Throu his mither, Elizabeth Irwin, his great x 5 grandfaither, David Irvine, wis born in Aberdeenshire, an emigrated tae Ireland.[85][88]
William McKinley (Scots an Scotch-Erse)
25t Preses, 1897-1901: His Scots paternal great-great-great-great-grandfaither, James McKinley, settled in Ireland in 1690.[85][89]
Theodore Roosevelt (Scots, Scotch-Erse, Dutch, Inglis & French)
26t Preses, 1901-1909: His maternal great-great-great-grandmither, Jean Stobo, emigrated tae Americae frae Scotland wi her parents in 1699.
William Howard Taft (Scotch-Erse an Inglis)
27t Preses 1909-1913[90][91]
Woodrow Wilson (Scots an Scotch-Erse)
28t Preses, 1913-1921: His Scots maternal grandparents, Rev. Dr Thomas Woodrow an Marion Williamson, emigrated tae America in the 1830s. Ootthrou his career he reflected on the influence o his ancestral values on his constant quest for knowledge an fulfillment.[85]
Warren G. Harding (Scots an Inglis)
29t Preses 1921-1923: His paternal great-great grandmither, Lydia Crawford, wis born in Midlothian.[92]
Harry S. Truman (Scots, Inglis an German)
33rd Preses 1945-1953: His paternal great-great-great-great-grandfaither, Thomas Monteith, wis a merchant frae Glesga.[93][94]
Lyndon B. Johnson (Inglis, German an Scotch-Erse)
36t Preses, 1963-1969:[citation needit]:
Richard Nixon (Scotch-Erse, Erse, Inglis an German)
37t Preses, 1969-1974: The Nixon ancestors left Ulster in the mid-18th century; the Quaker Milhous family ties war wi Coonty Antrim an Coonty Kildare.[85]
Gerald Ford (Scots an Inglis)
38t Preses 1974-1977: His maternal great-grandfaither, Alexander Gardner, emigrated tae Quebec frae Kilmacolm in 1820.
Jimmy Carter (Scots, Scotch-Erse an Inglis)
39t Preses 1977-1981: His paternal great x 6 grandfaither, Adam Clinkskaill, wis Scots.
Ronald Reagan (Erse, Scots an Inglis)
40t Preses 1981-1989: His great-grandfaither, John Wilson, emigrated tae North America frae Paisley in 1832.[95]
George H. W. Bush (Scots, Erse an Inglis)
41st Preses 1989-1993: His maternal great-great-great-grandmither, Catherine Walker (née McLelland), wis Scots.
George W. Bush (Scots, Erse an Inglis)
43rd Preses 2001-2009: His great-great-great-great-grandmither, Catherine Walker (née McLelland), wis Scots.
Barack Obama (Scotch-Erse, Inglis an Kenyan)
44th Preses 2009-2017: The ancestry o his mither's family is pairtially Scotch-Erse.
Donald Trump (Scots an German)
45t Preses: His mither, Mary Anne MacLeod, wis born in the veellage o Tong, Isle o Lewis, an emigrated tae the USA in 1930.[96]

Vice Preses o Scots or Scotch-Erse descent[eedit | eedit soorce]

John C. Calhoun (Scotch-Erse)
10t Vice Preses 1825-32; staunch advocate o states' richts
George M. Dallas (Scots)
15t Vice Preses 1845-49; former Secretary o War
Walter Mondale (Scots)
42nd Vice Preses 1977-1981: His maternal great-grandparents, Walter Cowan an Agnes Phorson, war Scots.

Ither American preses o Scots or Scotch-Erse descent[eedit | eedit soorce]

Sam Houston (Scotch-Erse)
Preses o Texas, 1836-38 an 1841-44 [63]
Jefferson Davis (Scotch-Erse)
Preses o Confederate States o America 1861-1865
Arthur St. Clair (Scots)
Preses unner the Articles o Confederation 1788

Scots placenames[eedit | eedit soorce]

Some Scots placenames in the US include:

  • Californie
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
    • Paisley
    • Dundee
    • Dunedin, frae Dùn Èideann, Scots Gaelic for Edinburgh
    • Inverness
  • Illinois
    • Dundee
    • Elgin
    • Inverness
    • Midlothian
    • Bannockburn
    • Glencoe
  • Indiana
    • Perth
    • Edinburgh
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
    • Argyle
  • Maryland
    • Aberdeen
    • Glencoe
    • Glenelg
    • Lochearn
    • Lothian
    • Midlothian
    • Muirkirk
  • Massachusetts
    • Melrose
  • Mississippi
    • Aberdeen
  • Montana
    • Glasgow
    • Aberdeen, Montana
    • Inverness, Montana
    • Drummond, Montana
  • New Jersey
    • Perth Amboy (half Scots, half Lenape)
    • Scotch Plains
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Oklahoma
    • Glencoe
    • Guthrie
  • Pennsylvania
    • Devon
  • Sooth Carolina
    • Elgin
    • Lake Murray
  • Texas
  • Utah
    • Argyle (now a ghost toun)
    • Ben Lomond
    • Logan
  • Virginia
    • Dumfries
    • Glasgow
    • Gretna
    • Hamilton
    • Kilmarnock
    • McDowell
    • Midlothian
  • Washington state
  • Wisconsin

See awso[eedit | eedit soorce]

References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  2. Tartan Day 2007, scotlandnow, Issue 7 (March 2007). Accessed 7 September 2008.
  3. "Scottish Parliament: Official Report, 11 September 2002, Col. 13525". Archived frae the oreeginal on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-25. 
  4. "Scottish Parliament: European and External Relations Committee Agenda, 20th Meeting 2004 (Session 2), 30 November 2004, EU/S2/04/20/1" (PDF). 2011-08-14. Archived frae the oreeginal (PDF) on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-25. 
  8.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Church, College, and Clergy, Page 76, Brian J. Fraser - 1995
  10. Celeste Ray, 'Introduction', p. 6, id., 'Scottish Immigration and Ethnic Organization in the United States', pp. 48-9, 62, 81, in id. (ed.), The Transatlantic Scots (Tuscaloosa, AL:University of Alabama Press, 2005).
  11. 11.0 11.1 Empty citation (help) 
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  14. 14.0 14.1 "Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau
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  18. Colonial America To 1763 By Thomas L. Purvis].
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  26. Grænlendinga Saga (c. 1190), 2, tr. Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson, in The Vinland Sagas (Penguin: Harmondsworth, Middx, 1965), pp. 51-2, 107.
  27. Michael Fry, How the Scots Made America (New York: Thomas Dunne, 2005), p. 7.
  28. Eirik's Saga (c. 1260), 8, tr. Magnusson and Palsson, in Vinland Sagas, pp. 95, 109.
  29. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 8-9.
  30. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 10.
  31. Jim Hewitson, Tam Blake & Co.: The Story of the Scots in America (Edinburgh: Orion, 1993), pp. 12-13.
  32. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 11.
  33. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 12.
  34. 34.0 34.1 Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 19.
  35. 35.00 35.01 35.02 35.03 35.04 35.05 35.06 35.07 35.08 35.09 35.10 35.11 Alex Murdoch, "USA", Michael Lynch (ed), The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 629-633.
  36. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 18, 19.
  37. 37.0 37.1 Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 20.
  38. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 41.
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  42. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 28-29.
  43. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 29-32.
  44. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 154.
  45. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 32-38.
  46. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 38-40.
  47. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 13, 23.
  48. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 13, 24-26.
  49. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 28.
  50. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 19, 41.
  51. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 193.
  52. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 194.
  53. Evans, Nicholas J., 'The Emigration of Skilled Male Workers from Clydeside during the Interwar Period', International Journal of Maritime History, Volume XVIII, Number 1 (2006), pp. 255-280.
  54. Everyculture:Scottish American[deid airtin]. Posted by Mary A. Hess. Retrieved January 3, 2012, to 1:25 pm.
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  61. Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 53.
  62. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 60-61.
  63. 63.0 63.1 James L. Haley, Sam Houston, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004
  64. Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 53, 72.
  65. 65.0 65.1 65.2 65.3 65.4 65.5 Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 219-220.
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  67. 67.0 67.1 67.2 67.3 Fry, How the Scots Made America, p. 221.
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  71. 71.0 71.1 71.2 71.3 71.4 71.5 71.6 71.7 71.8 Fry, How the Scots Made America, pp. 221-223.
  72. The California Taco Trail, NPR (April 26, 2012).
  73. Empty citation (help) 
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  76. Edward J. Cowan, "Tartan Day in America", in Celeste Ray (ed.), The Transatlantic Scots (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2005), p. 318.
  77. National Scots, Scots-Irish Heritage Month in the USA,
  78. Empty citation (help) 
  79. Newton, ‘We’re Indians Sure Enough’, pp. 69-83.
  80. Newton, ‘We’re Indians Sure Enough’, pp. 163-175.
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  87. Northern Ireland Tourist Board. discovernorthernireland - explore more: Arthur Cottage Accessed 03/03/2010. "Arthur Cottage, situated in the heart of County Antrim, only a short walk from the village of Cullybackey is the ancestral home of Chester Alan Arthur, the 21st President of the USA."
  88. Empty citation (help) 
  89. [1]
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Further reading[eedit | eedit soorce]

  • Berthoff, Rowland Tappan. British Immigrants in Industrial America, 1790-1950. New Haven, CT: Harvard University Press, 1953.
  • Berthoff, Rowland. "Under the kilt: Variations on the Scottish-American ground." Journal of American Ethnic History 1#2 (1982): 5-34. in JSTOR
  • Berthoff, Rowland. "Celtic mist over the South." Journal of Southern History (1986) pp: 523-546. in JSTOR, Highly critical o theories o Forrest McDonald an Grady McWhiney regarding profound Celtic influences
  • Dziennik, Matthew P. The Fatal Land: War, Empire, and the Highland Soldier in British America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.
  • McDonald, Forrest, an Grady McWhiney. "[Celtic Mist over the South]: A Response." Journal of Southern History (1986): 547-548.
  • McWhiney, Grady, an Forrest McDonald. "Celtic origins of southern herding practices." Journal of Southern History (1985): 165-182. in JSTOR
  • Bumsted, Jack M. "The Scottish Diaspora: Emigration to British North America, 1763–1815." in Ned C. Landsman, ed., Nation and Province in the First British Empire: Scotland and the Americas, 1600–1800 (2001) pp 127–50 online
  • Bueltmann, Tanja, Andrew Hinson, an Graeme Morton. The Scottish Diaspora. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2013.
  • Calder, Jenni. Lost in the Backwoods: Scots an the North American Wilderness Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2013.
  • Calder, Jenni. Scots in the USA. Luath Press Ltd, 2014.
  • Dobson, David. Scottish emigration to colonial America, 1607-1785. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2011.
  • Erickson, Charlotte. Invisible Immigrants: the Adaptation of English and Scottish Immigrants in 19th Century America (Weidenfeld an Nicolson; 1972)
  • Hunter, James. Scottish exodus: travels among a worldwide clan (Random House, 2011); interviews wi Clan MacLeod members
  • Landsman, Ned C. Scotland and Its First American Colony, 1683-1765. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.
  • McCarthy, James, an Euan Hague. "Race, nation, an nature: The cultural politics of "Celtic" identification in the American West." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94#2 (2004): 387-408.
  • Newton, Michael. “We’re Indians Sure Enough”: The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States. Richmond: Saorsa Media, 2001.
  • Parker, Anthony W. Scottish Highlanders in Colonial Georgia: The Recruitment, Emigration, and Settlement at Darien, 1735-1748. Athens, GA: University o Georgia Press, 2002.
  • Ray, R. Celeste. Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South. Chapel Hill, NC: University o North Carolina Press, 2001.
  • Szasz, Ferenc Morton. Scots in the North American West, 1790-1917. Norman, OK: University o Oklahoma Press, 2000.
  • Thernstrom, Stephan, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. New Haven, CT: Harvard University Press, 1980.
  • Zumkhawala-Cook, Richard. "The Mark of Scottish America: Heritage Identity and the Tartan Monster." Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 14#1 (2005) pp: 109-136.

External links[eedit | eedit soorce]