English-Americans The largest and most principal ethnic group within the Old Stock are the English-Americans, whose ancestors emigrated via England directly, or via partially English-descended populations, such as the
Anglo-Irish and
Scots-Irish. English Americans as the dominant ethno-cultural group comprised most of the primary 17th century settlers rather than immigrants from the 18th century. Most of these early settlers came from what is referred to as
Southern England. English settlement in what is today America began with
Jamestown in the
Virginia Colony in 1607. With the permission of
James I, three ships (the
Susan Constant, The Discovery, and
The God Speed) sailed from England and landed at
Cape Henry in April, under the captainship of
Christopher Newport, who had been hired by the
London Company to lead expeditions to what is now America. The second successful colony was
Plymouth Colony, founded in 1620 by people who later became known as the
Pilgrims. Fleeing religious persecution in the
East Midlands in England, they first went to
Holland, but feared losing their English identity. Because of this, they chose to relocate to the
New World, with their voyage being financed by English investors. In September 1620, 102 passengers set sail aboard the
Mayflower, eventually settling at Plymouth Colony in November. . English Pilgrims signing the Mayflower Compact in 1620. Of the passengers on the
Mayflower, 41 men signed the "
Mayflower Compact" aboard ship on November 11, 1620, while anchored in
Provincetown Harbor. Signers included
Carver,
Alden,
Standish,
Howland,
Bradford,
Allerton, and
Fuller. This story has become a central theme in the United States cultural identity. A number of English colonies were established under a system of
proprietary governors, who were appointed under mercantile
charters to English
joint stock companies to found and run settlements. England also took control over the
Dutch colony of
New Netherland (including the
New Amsterdam settlement), renaming it the
Province of New York in 1664. With New Netherland, the English came to control the former
New Sweden (in what is now
Delaware), which the Dutch had conquered from
Sweden earlier. This became part of
Pennsylvania.
Scottish-Americans The second largest group were the Scottish-Americans, whose ancestors emigrated via Scotland directly, or via the predominately Scottish-descended
Ulster Scots, or
Scots-Irish, in
Ulster. Most Scotch-Irish Americans descended from the largely
Scots-speaking Lowlands although a sizeable percentage of them were actually of Northern English in origin. After the
Union of the Crowns of
Scotland and
England in 1603,
King James VI, a Scotsman, promoted joint expeditions overseas, and became the founder of
British America. The first permanent English settlement in the Americas,
Jamestown, was thus named for a Scot. In the 1670s and 1680s
Presbyterian Dissenters fled persecution by the
Royalist privy council in
Edinburgh to settle in
South Carolina and
New Jersey, where they maintained their distinctive religious culture. More than 50,000 Scots, principally from the west coast, especially
North Carolina, although Scottish individuals and families also began to appear as professionals and artisans in every American town. Large groups of Highland Scots started arriving in North America in the 1730s. Unlike their Lowland and Ulster counterparts, the Highlanders tended to cluster together in self-contained communities, where they maintained their distinctive cultural features such as the
Gaelic language and
piobaireachd music. Groups of Highlanders existed in coastal Georgia (mainly immigrants from
Inverness-shire) and the
Mohawk Valley in New York (from the West Highlands). By far the largest Highland community was centered on the
Cape Fear River, which saw a stream of immigrants from
Argyllshire, and, later, other regions such as the
Isle of Skye. Highland Scots were overwhelmingly
Loyalists in the Revolution. Distinctly Highland cultural traits persisted in the region until the 19th century, at which point they were assimilated into Anglo-American culture. The
Ulster Scots, known as the Scots-Irish (or Scotch-Irish) in North America, were predominately descended from people originating in the Lowlands of Scotland, as well as from the north of England and other regions, who
colonized the province of Ulster in Ireland in the 17th century. After several generations, their descendants left for America, and struck out for the frontier, in particular the
Appalachian mountains, providing an effective "buffer" for attacks from Native Americans. In the colonial era, they were usually simply referred to as "Irish," with the "Scots-" or "Scotch-" prefixes becoming popular when the descendants of the Ulster emigrants wanted to differentiate themselves from
Irish Catholics who were flocking to many American cities in the 19th century. Unlike the Highlanders and Lowlanders, the Scots-Irish were usually
Patriots in the Revolution. They have been noted for their tenacity and their cultural contributions to the United States. There have been several historical figures with (Old Stock) Scottish ancestry, including US presidents (
Thomas Jefferson,
James Monroe,
Andrew Jackson,
James Buchanan,
William McKinley,
Woodrow Wilson, and more), as well as founding fathers (
Alexander Hamilton,
James Wilson,
John Witherspoon,
James McHenry, and several more).
Welsh-Americans Welsh settlers were on the three ships that headed for what is now Jamestown in late December 1606. Additional Welsh settlers arrived in America, such as
Hugh Gwyn and David ap Hugh - two tradesmen who arrived in Jamestown with the
Second Supply in 1608. More Welsh arrivals came from Wales after 1618. In the mid to late seventeenth century, there was a large emigration of Welsh
Quakers to the
Colony of Pennsylvania, where a
Welsh Tract was established in the region immediately west of
Philadelphia. The first Governor of the
Province of New Hampshire was
John Cutt, a Welsh-born settler; he governed the colony until his death in 1681. By 1700, Welsh people accounted for about one-third of the colony's estimated population of twenty-thousand. There are a number of Welsh place names in this area (eg.
North Wales,
Newport,
Gwynedd). The Welsh were especially numerous and politically active and elected 9% of the members of the
Pennsylvania Provincial Council. There have been several historical figures with (Old Stock) Welsh ancestry, including US presidents (
Thomas Jefferson,
John Adams,
John Quincy Adams,
James A. Garfield,
Calvin Coolidge,
Richard Nixon, and more), as well as founding fathers (
William Floyd,
Button Gwinnett,
Francis Lewis,
Gouverneur Morris,
Lewis Morris, and several more).
Irish-Americans Most settlers from Ireland were not of native Irish descent, but of English or Scottish descent. Half of the Irish immigrants to the
United States in its colonial era (1607–1775) came from the Irish province of
Ulster and were largely Protestant, while the other half came from the other three provinces (
Leinster,
Munster, and
Connacht). The very first Irish settlers - Francisco Maguel and Dionis Oconor - arrived in Jamestown with the First and Second supplies, respectively. Most Irish immigrants to the Americas traveled as
indentured servants, with their passage paid for a wealthier person to whom they owed labor for a period of time. Some were merchants and landowners, who served as key players in a variety of different mercantile and colonizing enterprises. In the 1620s significant numbers of Irish laborers began traveling to
English colonies such as Virginia on the continent, and the
Leeward Islands and
Barbados in the Caribbean region. In the 17th century, immigration from Ireland to the
Thirteen Colonies was minimal, confined mostly to male
Irish indentured servants who were primarily
Catholic and peaked with 8,000
prisoner-of-war penal transports to the
Chesapeake Colonies from the
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the 1650s. In the 18th century, emigration from Ireland to the Thirteen Colonies shifted from being primarily Catholic to being primarily
Protestant. With the exception of the 1790s, it would remain so until the mid-to-late 1830s, with
Presbyterians constituting the
absolute majority until 1835. These Protestant immigrants were principally descended from
Scottish and
English settlers in Ulster. From 1717 to 1775, though scholarly estimates vary, the most common approximation is that 250,000 immigrants from Ireland emigrated to the Thirteen Colonies. By the beginning of the
American Revolutionary War in 1775, approximately only 2 to 3 percent of the colonial
labor force was composed of indentured servants, and of those arriving from Britain from 1773 to 1776, fewer than 5 percent were from Ireland (while 85 percent remained male and 72 percent went to the
Southern Colonies). Out of the 115 killed at the
Battle of Bunker Hill, 22 were Irish-born. Their names include Callaghan, Casey, Collins, Connelly, Dillon, Donohue, Flynn, McGrath, Nugent, Shannon, and Sullivan. In the 18th century Thirteen Colonies and the independent United States, while
interethnic marriage among Catholics remained a dominant pattern, Catholic-Protestant intermarriage became more common (notably in the
Shenandoah Valley where intermarriage among Ulster Protestants and the significant minority of Irish Catholics in particular was not uncommon or stigmatized). While fewer Catholic parents required that their children be disinherited in their wills if they renounced Catholicism, compared to the rest of the US population, this response was more common among Catholic parents that Protestants. There have been several historical figures with (Old Stock) Irish ancestry, including US presidents (
Andrew Johnson and
Grover Cleveland), as well as founding fathers (
Charles Carroll,
Daniel Carroll,
Thomas Lynch Jr,
Thomas FitzSimmons,
James Duane, and several more).
German-Americans German-Americans were the largest group originating outside of the British Isles. In 1608 five
glassmakers and three carpenters or house builders arrived at Jamestown - the first permanent British settlement. The first permanent German settlement in what became the United States was
Germantown, Pennsylvania, founded near
Philadelphia on October 6, 1683. Large numbers of Germans migrated from the 1680s to 1760s, with Pennsylvania the favored destination. They migrated to America for a variety of reasons.
Push factors involved worsening opportunities for farm ownership in central Europe, persecution of some religious groups, and military conscription;
pull factors were better economic conditions, especially the opportunity to own land, and religious freedom. Often immigrants paid for their passage by selling their labor for a period of years as
indentured servants. Large sections of Pennsylvania,
Upstate New York, and the
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia attracted Germans. Most were
Lutheran or
German Reformed; many belonged to small religious sects such as the
Moravians and
Mennonites. In 1709, Protestant Germans from the Pfalz or
Palatine region of Germany escaped conditions of poverty, traveling first to Rotterdam and then to London.
Queen Anne helped them get to the American colonies. The trip was long and difficult to survive because of the poor quality of food and water aboard ships and the infectious disease
typhus. Many immigrants, particularly children, died before reaching America in June 1710. They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. They tolerated slavery (although few were rich enough to own a slave). Shortly thereafter, the first colonization of Louisiana would be organized by
John Law, with the help of German immigrants - primarily from the
Alsace Region. The
Mississippi Company settled thousands of German pioneers in French Louisiana during 1721. Two waves of German colonists in 1714 and 1717 founded a colony in
Virginia called
Germanna, located near modern-day
Culpeper, Virginia. The name "Germanna", selected by Governor
Alexander Spotswood, reflected both the German immigrants who sailed across the Atlantic to Virginia and the British queen,
Anne, who was in power at the time of the first settlement at Germanna. The tide of German immigration to Pennsylvania swelled between 1725 and 1775, with immigrants arriving as
redemptioners or indentured servants. By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of the state. German farmers were renowned for their highly productive animal husbandry and agricultural practices. Politically, they were generally inactive until 1740, when they joined a
Quaker-led coalition that took control of the legislature, which later supported the
American Revolution. Despite this, many of the German settlers were
Loyalists during the Revolution, possibly because they feared their royal land grants would be taken away by a new republican government, or because of loyalty to a British German monarchy who had provided the opportunity to live in a liberal society. The Germans, comprising
Lutherans,
Reformed,
Mennonites,
Amish, and other sects, developed a rich religious life with a strong musical culture. Collectively, they came to be known as the
Pennsylvania Dutch (from
Deutsch). In the American Revolution the Mennonites and other small religious sects were neutral pacifists. The Lutherans of Pennsylvania were
on the patriot side. The Muhlenberg family, led by Rev.
Henry Muhlenberg was especially influential on the Patriot side. His son
Peter Muhlenberg, a Lutheran clergyman in Virginia became a major general and later a Congressman. However, in upstate New York, many Germans were neutral or supported the
Loyalist cause. There have been several historical figures with (Old Stock) German ancestry, including US presidents (
Dwight D. Eisenhower and
Herbert Hoover).
Dutch-Americans The earliest Dutch settlement was built around 1613; it consisted of a number of small huts built by the crew of the
Tijger (
Tiger), a Dutch ship under the command of Captain
Adriaen Block which had caught fire while sailing on the Hudson in the winter of 1613. The ship was lost and Block and his crew established a camp ashore. In the spring, Block and his men did some explorations along the coast of Long Island.
Block Island still bears his name. Finally, they were sighted and rescued by another Dutch ship and the settlement was abandoned. Permanent settlers arrived in 1617 at what is now
Albany, New York. New Amsterdam was settled in 1625. In 1629, Dutch officials tried to expand the northern colony through a plan that promised "Liberties and Exemptions" to anyone who would ship fifty colonists to America at his own expense. Anyone who did so would be allowed to buy a stretch of land along the
Hudson River from the
Dutch West India Company of about twelve miles, extending as far inland as the owner wanted. The landowners were called
patroons and had complete jurisdiction over their domains as well as extensive trading privileges. They also received these rights in perpetuity. That was a form of
feudalism, which had vanished in the Dutch Republic but was introduced in North America. The Patroonships were not a success; by 1635, the Dutch West India Company had bought back four of the five patroonships originally registered in Amsterdam. The Native Americans were no longer consulted, offered or asked to sell their lands. The Dutch were confronted with a new phenomenon, Native American raids, since the local tribes had now realized that the Dutch were not simply visitors but people set to settle their land. The Dutch realized that they had gone with the wrong approach as they offered great privileges to wealthy, not poor, citizens. It was not until 1656 that the Dutch state abandoned its passivity and decided to actively support
New Netherland. The Dutch state issued a proclamation, which stated that "all mechanics and farmers who can prove their ability to earn a living here shall receive free passage for themselves, their wives and children". Although the Dutch were in control, only about half the settlers were ethnically Dutch (the other half consisted mainly of
Walloons, Germans, and French
Huguenots as well as New England Yankees). Manhattan grew increasingly multicultural. In 1664, the English seized the colony and renamed it
New York. The Dutch briefly recaptured the colony in 1673, but during peace talks with the English, they decided to trade it in 1674 for
Suriname in South America, which was more profitable. In the hundred years of British rule that followed the change of ownership of New Netherland, Dutch immigration to America came to an almost complete standstill. While the Netherlands was a small country, the Dutch Empire was quite large so emigrants leaving the mother country had a wide variety of choices. New Amsterdam was not high on their list, especially because of the Native American risk. The major Dutch cities were centers of high culture, but they still sent immigrants. Most new arrivals were farmers from remote villages who, on arrival, in America scattered into widely separated villages with little contact with one another. Even inside a settlement, different Dutch groups had minimal interaction. With very few new arrivals, the result was an increasingly traditional system cut off from the forces for change. The people maintained their popular culture, revolving around their language and their Calvinist religion. Dutch Quakers came to the Philadelphia area in response to the appeal of
William Penn. Penn, himself of mixed British and Dutch descent (his mother being from
Rotterdam), had paid three visits to the Netherlands, where he published several pamphlets. There have been several historical figures with (Old Stock) Dutch ancestry, including US presidents (
Martin van Buren and
Theodore Roosevelt), as well as founding fathers (
John Jay,
Robert R. Livingston,
Nicholas van Dyke, and several more).
French-Americans In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there was an influx of a few thousand
Huguenots, who were
Calvinist refugees fleeing religious persecution following the issuance of the 1685
Edict of Fontainebleau by
Louis XIV of the
Kingdom of France. Some of these refugees settled in the Dutch colony of
New Netherland and its capital city,
New Netherland, including being among the first Europeans to settle on
Staten Island. In 1674, with the signing of the
Treaty of Westminster to end the
Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674), the
Netherlands ceded the colony to
Great Britain, who renamed the colony
New York, and its capital to
New York City, after
Prince James, Duke of York, the brother of King
Charles II of England. For nearly a century, French settlers fostered a distinctive French Protestant identity that enabled them to remain aloof from American society, but by the time of the
American Revolution, they had generally intermarried and merged into the larger
Presbyterian community. In 1700, they constituted 13% of the white population of the
Province of Carolina, and 5% of the white population of the
Province of New York. The largest number settling in
South Carolina, where the French comprised around 2% of the White population in 1790. With the help of the well-organized international Huguenot community, many also moved to Virginia. In the north,
Paul Revere of
Boston was a prominent figure. The Cajuns of Louisiana have a unique heritage. Their ancestors settled
Acadia, in what is now the Canadian provinces of
New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island and part of
Maine in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1755, after capturing
Fort Beauséjour and several other French forts in the region, British authorities demanded the Acadians swear an oath of loyalty to the
British Crown, which the majority refused to do. In response, the British deported them to the
Thirteen Colonies in the south in what has become known as the
expulsion of the Acadians. Over the next generation, some four thousand Acadians made the long trek to Louisiana, where they began a new life. The name
Cajun is a corruption of the word
Acadian. Many still live in what is known as the
Cajun Country, where much of their colonial culture survives.
French Louisiana, when it was
sold by
Napoleon in 1803, covered all or part of fifteen current
U.S. states and contained French and Canadian colonists dispersed across it, though they were most numerous in its southernmost portion. A new influx of French-heritage people occurred at the very end of the colonial era. Following the failed
invasion of Quebec in 1775-1776, hundreds of French-Canadian men who had enlisted in the
Continental Army remained in the ranks. Under colonels James Livingston and
Moses Hazen, they saw military action across the main theaters of the Revolutionary War. At the end of the war, New York State formed the
Canadian and Nova Scotia Refugee Tract stretching westward from Lake Champlain. Though many of the veterans sold their claims in this vast region, some remained and the settlement held. From early colonizing efforts in the 1780s to the era of Quebec's "great hemorrhage," the French-Canadian presence in Clinton County in northeastern New York was inescapable.
Composition of the colonies According to the United States Historical Census Data Base (USHCDB), the ethnic populations in the British American Colonies of 1700, 1755, and 1775 were: ==Modern day==