Scottish Americans

Ameireaganaich Albannach (Scottish Gaelic)
Total population
8,422,613 (3.6%) Scottish alone or in combination 1,471,817 (0.7%) Scottish alone 794,478 (0.3%) Scots-Irish alone or in combination 2020 census[1][2] Other estimates 20–25 million[3][4][5][6] Up to 8.3% of the U.S. population
Regions with significant populations
Predominantly inNew England,Appalachia and theDeep South;Plurality inNew York,Massachusetts,West Virginia,Idaho,North Carolina,Florida,California andPennsylvania
Languages
English (American English dialects) Scottish Gaelic andScots speaking minorities
Religion
Christianity (includingPresbyterianism,Baptist,Pentecostalism,Methodist,Protestantism andRoman Catholicism), other religions (includingdeism[7])
Related ethnic groups
Scotch-Irish Americans,English Americans,Irish Americans,Welsh Americans,Manx Americans,British Americans,Cornish Americans,Scottish Canadians,Scotch-Irish Canadians,Scottish Australians, and otherScots

Scottish Americans orScots Americans (Scottish Gaelic:Ameireaganaich Albannach;Scots:Scots-American) areAmericans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly inScotland.Scottish Americans are closely related toScotch-Irish Americans, descendants ofUlster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage.^[8] The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province ofUlster inIreland (seePlantation of Ulster) and thence, beginning about fivegenerations later, to North America in large numbers during the eighteenth century. The number of Scottish Americans is believed to be around 25 million, and celebrations ofScottish identity can be seen throughTartan Day parades,Burns Night celebrations, andTartan Kirking ceremonies.^[9]

Significant emigration from Scotland to America began in the 1700s, accelerating after theJacobite rising of 1745, the steady degradation of clan structures, and theHighland Clearances. Even higher rates of emigration occurred after these times of social upheaval.^[a] In the^[11]1920s, Scotland experienced a reduction in total population of 0.8%, totally absorbing the natural population increase of 7.2%: the U.S. and Canada were the most common destinations of these emigrants.^[b][13]: 6 Despite emphasis on the struggles and 'forced exile' of Jacobites and Highland clansmen in popular media, Scottish migration was mostly from the Lowland regions and its pressures included poverty and land clearance but also the variety of positive economic opportunities believed to be available.^[14]

Ethnically Scottish, but separated for centuries from mainstream society in Scotland where they were known as Tinkers. Some came to Canada after 1850 and to the United States in appreciable numbers after 1880. Over 100 distinct clans have been identified but total numbers not known.^[15]

The table shows the ethnic Scottish population in the British colonies from 1700 to 1775. In 1700 the total population of the colonies was 250,888, of whom 223,071 (89%) were white and 3.0% were ethnically Scottish.^[16][17]

Composition of the American Colonies[18][19][20]
1700	%	1755	%	1775	%
English /Welsh	80.0	English / Welsh	52.0	English	48.7
African	11.0	African	20.0	African	20.0
Dutch	4.0	German	7.0	Scots-Irish	7.8
Scottish	3.0	Scots-Irish	7.0	German	6.9
Other European	2.0	Irish	5.0	Scottish	6.6
		Scottish	4.0	Dutch	2.7
		Dutch	3.0	French	1.4
		Other European	2.0	Swedish	0.6
				Other	5.3
Colonies	100.0	Thirteen	100.0	Colonies	100.0

Population estimates are as follows.^[21]

State or Territory	Scotland		Ulster		Scottish Total
	Scotch		Scotch-Irish
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Connecticut	5,109	2.20%	4,180	1.80%	9,289	4.00%
Delaware	3,705	8.00%	2,918	6.30%	6,623	14.30%
Georgia	8,197	15.50%	6,082	11.50%	14,279	27.00%
Kentucky &Tenn.	9,305	10.00%	6,513	7.00%	15,818	17.00%
Maine	4,325	4.50%	7,689	8.00%	12,014	12.50%
Maryland	15,857	7.60%	12,102	5.80%	27,959	13.40%
Massachusetts	16,420	4.40%	9,703	2.60%	26,123	7.00%
New Hampshire	8,749	6.20%	6,491	4.60%	15,240	10.80%
New Jersey	13,087	7.70%	10,707	6.30%	23,794	14.00%
New York	22,006	7.00%	16,033	5.10%	38,039	12.10%
North Carolina	42,799	14.80%	16,483	5.70%	59,282	20.50%
Pennsylvania	36,410	8.60%	46,571	11.00%	82,981	19.60%
Rhode Island	3,751	5.80%	1,293	2.00%	5,044	7.80%
South Carolina	21,167	15.10%	13,177	9.40%	34,344	24.50%
Vermont	4,339	5.10%	2,722	3.20%	7,061	8.30%
Virginia	45,096	10.20%	27,411	6.20%	72,507	16.40%
1790 Census Area	260,322	8.21%	190,075	5.99%	450,397	14.20%
Northwest Territory	428	4.08%	307	2.92%	735	7.00%
French America	305	1.53%	220	1.10%	525	2.63%
Spanish America	83	0.35%	60	0.25%	143	0.60%
United States	261,138	8.09%	190,662	5.91%	451,800	14.00%

The number of Americans of Scottish descent today is estimated to be 20 to 25 million^[3][4][5][6] (up to 8.3% of the total U.S. population).

The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province ofUlster inIreland (seePlantation of Ulster) and thence, beginning about fivegenerations later, to North America in large numbers during the eighteenth century.

In the 2000 census, 4.8 million Americans^[26] self-reported Scottish ancestry, 1.7% of the total U.S. population.Over 4.3 million self-reportedScotch-Irish ancestry, for a total of 9.2 million Americans self-reporting some kind of Scottish descent.Self-reported numbers are regarded by demographers as massive under-counts, because Scottish ancestry is known to be disproportionately under-reported among the majority of mixed ancestry,^[27] and because areas where people reported "American" ancestry were the places where, historically, Scottish and Scotch-IrishProtestants settled in North America (that is: along the North American coast,Appalachia, and the SoutheasternUnited States). Scottish Americans descended from nineteenth-century Scottish emigrants tend to be concentrated in the West, while many inNew England are the descendants of emigrants, often Gaelic-speaking, from theMaritime Provinces ofCanada, from the 1880s onward.Americans of Scottish descent outnumber the population of Scotland, where 4,459,071 or 88.09% of people identified as ethnic Scottish in the 2001 Census.^[28][29]

The states with the largest populations of eitherScottish orScotch Irish ancestral origin:^[30]

• California – 677,055 (1.7% of state population)
• Texas – 628,610 (2.8%)
• North Carolina – 475,322 (4.5%)
• Florida – 469,782 (2.3%)
• Pennsylvania – 325,588 (2.5%)
• Ohio – 314,214 (2.7%)
• Georgia – 293,211 (2.8%)
• Washington – 289,953 (3.0%)

The states with the top percentages of Scottish or Scotch-Irish residents:

• Maine (6.0% of state population)
• Vermont (5.5%)
• New Hampshire (5.3%)
• Utah (5.0%)
• Wyoming andNorth Carolina (4.5% each)
• South Carolina (4.4%)
• Idaho andTennessee (4.2% each)
• Oregon (4.0%)

Themetropolitan andmicropolitan areas with the top percentage of Scottish or Scotch-Irish residents:

• Boone, NC (9.1% of micropolitan area population)
• Barre, VT andSevierville, TN (8.3% each)
• Asheville, NC (8.1%)
• Marion, NC andPinehurst-Southern Pines, NC (7.7% each)
• Jackson, WY andLebanon, NH (7.0%)
• Cullowhee, NC (6.8%)
• Craig, CO (6.5% each)
• Morehead City, NC,Morristown, TN andSandpoint, ID (6.4% each)

As of 2020, the distribution of Scottish Americans across the 50 states and DC is as presented in the following table.^[31][32]

State	Number	Percentage
Alabama	87,580	1.79%
Alaska	15,847	2.15%
Arizona	121,027	1.69%
Arkansas	50,645	1.68%
California	469,465	1.19%
Colorado	141,047	2.48%
Connecticut	57,244	1.60%
Delaware	15,162	1.57%
District of Columbia	9,334	1.33%
Florida	307,942	1.45%
Georgia	175,420	1.67%
Hawaii	13,353	0.94%
Idaho	56,132	3.20%
Illinois	143,341	1.13%
Indiana	111,825	1.67%
Iowa	47,555	1.51%
Kansas	54,892	1.88%
Kentucky	83,099	1.86%
Louisiana	45,863	0.98%
Maine	59,957	4.47%
Maryland	86,980	1.44%
Massachusetts	139,846	2.03%
Michigan	207,358	2.08%
Minnesota	65,460	1.17%
Mississippi	42,981	1.44%
Missouri	103,300	1.69%
Montana	31,367	2.95%
Nebraska	26,024	1.35%
Nevada	45,459	1.50%
New Hampshire	55,700	4.11%
New Jersey	85,422	0.96%
New Mexico	30,353	1.45%
New York	193,749	0.99%
North Carolina	232,425	2.24%
North Dakota	9,068	1.19%
Ohio	206,680	1.77%
Oklahoma	68,254	1.73%
Oregon	116,471	2.79%
Pennsylvania	185,046	1.45%
Rhode Island	17,645	1.67%
South Carolina	114,376	2.25%
South Dakota	10,655	1.21%
Tennessee	139,040	2.05%
Texas	378,812	1.32%
Utah	131,724	4.18%
Vermont	26,678	4.27%
Virginia	167,384	1.97%
Washington	199,129	2.65%
West Virginia	35,898	1.99%
Wisconsin	60,705	1.05%
Wyoming	18,142	3.12%
United States	5,298,861	1.62%

A significant ofScottish Gypsies number made their way to the United States after 1880.^[33]

The first Scots inNorth America came with theVikings. A Christianbard from theHebrides accompaniedBjarni Herjolfsson on his voyage aroundGreenland in 985/6 which sighted the mainland to the west.^[34][35]

The first Scots recorded as having set foot in theNew World were a man named Haki and a woman named Hekja, slaves owned byLeif Eiriksson. The Scottish couple were runners who scouted forThorfinn Karlsefni's expedition in c. 1010, gatheringwheat and thegrapes for whichVinland was named.^[36][37]

The controversialZeno letters have been cited in support of a claim thatHenry Sinclair, earl of Orkney, visitedNova Scotia in 1398.^[38]

In the early years ofSpanish colonization of the Americas, a Scot named Tam Blake spent 20 years inColombia andMexico. He took part in the conquest ofNew Granada in 1532 withAlonso de Heredia. He arrived in Mexico in 1534–5, and joinedCoronado's 1540 expedition to theAmerican Southwest.^[39][40]

After theUnion of the Crowns ofScotland andEngland in 1603,King James VI, a Scot, promoted joint expeditions overseas, and became the founder ofBritish America.^[41] The first permanent English settlement in the Americas,Jamestown, was thus named for a Scot.

The earliest Scottish communities in America were formed by traders andplanters rather than farmer settlers.^[42] The hub of Scottish commercial activity in the colonial period wasVirginia. Regular contacts began with thetransportation ofindentured servants to the colony from Scotland, including prisoners taken in theWars of the Three Kingdoms.^[43]

By the 1670sGlasgow was the main outlet for Virginiantobacco, in open defiance of Englishrestrictions on colonial trade; in return the colony received Scottish manufactured goods, emigrants and ideas.^[43][44] In the 1670s and 1680sPresbyterianDissenters fled persecution by theRoyalistprivy council inEdinburgh to settle inSouth Carolina andNew Jersey, where they maintained their distinctive religious culture.^[43]

Trade between Scotland and the American colonies was finally regularized by theActs of Union 1707 that combined Scotland and England into the single kingdom of Great Britain.Population growth and thecommercialization of agriculture in Scotland encouraged mass emigration to America after theFrench and Indian War,^[45] a conflict which had also seen the first use ofScottish Highland regiments as Indian fighters.^[43]

More than 50,000 Scots, principally from the west coast,^[43] settled in theThirteen Colonies between 1763 and 1776, the majority of these in their own communities in theSouth,^[45] especiallyNorth Carolina, although Scottish individuals and families also began to appear as professionals and artisans in every American town.^[43] Scots arriving inFlorida and theGulf Coast traded extensively withNative Americans.^[46]

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 theGaelic language andpiobaireachd 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 theCape Fear River, which saw a stream of immigrants from Argyllshire, and, later, other regions such as theIsle of Skye. Highland Scots were overwhelmingly loyalist in the Revolution.^[47] Distinctly Highland cultural traits persisted in the region until the 19th century, at which point they were assimilated into Anglo-American culture. Commerce withNative American tribes was common, and interactions between Highland men and Native American women varied from brief meetings to long-lasting partnerships. Marriages between Highlanders and Native Americans occurred throughout North America, resulting in whole Scots-Indian families from these unions.^[48]

TheUlster Scots, known as the Scots-Irish (or Scotch-Irish) in North America, were descended from people originally from (mainly Lowland) Scotland, as well as the north of England and other regions, who colonized the province of Ulster in Ireland in the seventeenth 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 the Catholic Irish who were flocking to many American cities in the nineteenth 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.^[49]

Americanbluegrass andcountry music styles have some of their roots in the Appalachian ballad culture of Scotch-Irish Americans (predominantly originating from the "Border Ballad" tradition of southern Scotland and northern England). Fiddle tunes from the Scottish repertoire, as they developed in the eighteenth century, spread rapidly into British colonies. However, in many cases, this occurred through the medium of print rather than aurally, explaining the presence of Highland-origin tunes in regions like Appalachia where there was essentially no Highland settlement. Outside of Gaelic-speaking communities, however, characteristic Highland musical idioms, such as the"Scotch-snap",^[50] were flattened out and assimilated into anglophone musical styles.

Some African American communities were influenced musically by the Scottish American communities in which they were embedded. Psalm-singing and gospel music have become central musical experiences for African American churchgoers and it has been posited^{[by whom?]} that some elements of these styles were introduced, in these communities, by Scots. Psalm-singing, or "precenting the line" as it is technically known, in which the psalms are called out and the congregation sings a response, was a form of musical worship initially developed for non-literate congregations and Africans in America were exposed to this by Scottish Gaelic settlers as well as immigrants of other origins. However, the theory that the African-American practice was influenced mainly by the Gaels has been criticized by ethnomusicologist Terry Miller, who notes that the practice of "lining out" hymns and psalms was common all over Protestant Britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and that it is far more likely that Gospel music originated with English psalm singing.^[51]

The first foreign tongue spoken by some slaves in America wasScottish Gaelic picked up from Gaelic-speaking immigrants from the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles.^[52] There are accounts of African Americans singing Gaelic songs and playing Scottish Gaelic music on bagpipes and fiddle.

The civic tradition of theScottish Enlightenment contributed to the intellectual ferment of theAmerican Revolution.^[43] In 1740, the Glasgow philosopherFrancis Hutcheson argued for a right of colonial resistance to tyranny.^[53] Scotland's leading thinkers of the revolutionary age,David Hume andAdam Smith, opposed the use of force against the rebellious colonies.^[54] According to the historianArthur L. Herman: "Americans built their world around the principles of Adam Smith andThomas Reid, of individual interest governed by common sense and a limited need for government."^[55]

John Witherspoon andJames Wilson were the two Scots to sign the Declaration of Independence, and several other signers had ancestors there. OtherFounding Father likeJames Madison had no ancestral connection but were imbued with ideas drawn from Scottish moral philosophy.^[56] Scottish Americans who made major contributions to the revolutionary war included CommodoreJohn Paul Jones, the "Father of the American Navy", and GeneralsHenry Knox andWilliam Alexander. Another person of note was a personal friend of George Washington, GeneralHugh Mercer, who fought forCharles Edward Stuart at theBattle of Culloden.

The Scotch-Irish, who had already begun to settle beyond theProclamation Line in theOhio andTennessee Valleys, were drawn into rebellion as war spread to the frontier.^[57] Tobacco plantations and independent farms in the backcountry of Virginia,Maryland and theCarolinas had been financed with Scottish credit, and indebtedness was an additional incentive for separation.^[42]

Most Scottish Americans had commercial ties with the old country orclan allegiances and stayed true tothe Crown.^[58] The Scottish Highland communities ofupstate New York and theCape Fear valley of North Carolina were centers ofLoyalist resistance.^[43] A small force of LoyalistHighlanders fell at theBattle of Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776. Scotch-IrishPatriots defeated Scottish American Loyalists in theBattle of Kings Mountain in 1780.^[59] Many Scottish American Loyalists, particularly Highlanders, emigrated to Canada after the war.^[43]

Uncle Sam is thenational personification of theUnited States, and sometimes more specifically of theAmerican government, with the first usage of the term dating from theWar of 1812.The American icon Uncle Sam, who is known for embodying the American spirit, was based on a businessman fromTroy, New York,Samuel Wilson, whose parents sailed to America fromGreenock,Scotland, has been officially recognized as the original Uncle Sam. He provided the army with beef and pork in barrels during the War of 1812. The barrels were prominently labeled "U.S." for the United States, but it was jokingly said that the letters stood for "Uncle Sam." Soon, Uncle Sam was used as shorthand for the federal government.^[60]

Trade with Scotland continued to flourish after U.S. independence. The tobacco trade was overtaken in the nineteenth century by thecotton trade, with Glasgow factories exporting the finished textiles back to the United States on an industrial scale.^[61]

Emigration from Scotland peaked in the nineteenth century, when more than a million Scots left for the United States,^[62] taking advantage of the regular Atlantic steam-age shipping industry which was itself largely a Scottish creation,^[63] contributing to a revolution in transatlantic communication.^[43]

Scottish emigration to the United States followed, to a lesser extent, during the twentieth century, when Scottish heavy industry declined.^[64] This new wave peaked in the first decade of the twentieth century, contributing to a hard life for many who remained behind. Many qualified workers emigrated overseas, a part of which, established in Canada, later went on to the United States.^[65]

In the nineteenth century, American authors and educators adopted Scotland as a model for cultural independence.^[43] In the world of letters, Scottish literary iconsJames Macpherson,Robert Burns,Walter Scott, andThomas Carlyle had a mass following in the United States, and ScottishRomanticism exerted a seminal influence on the development of American literature.^[43] The works ofRalph Waldo Emerson andNathaniel Hawthorne bear its powerful impression. Among the most notable Scottish American writers of the nineteenth century wereWashington Irving,James Fenimore Cooper,Edgar Allan Poe andHerman Melville. PoetJames Mackintosh Kennedy was called to Scotland to deliver the official poem for the 600th anniversary of theBattle of Bannockburn in 1914.

In the twentieth century,Margaret Mitchell'sGone With the Wind exemplified popular literature.William Faulkner won theNobel Prize for Literature in 1949.

There have been a number of notableScottish Gaelic poets active in the United States since the eighteenth century,^[66][67] includingAonghas MacAoidh^[68] andDomhnall Aonghas Stiùbhart.^[69] One of the few relics of Gaelic literature composed in the United States is a lullaby composed by an anonymous woman in the Carolinas during the American Revolutionary War.^[70][71] It remains popular to this day in Scotland.

More than 160,000 Scottish emigrants migrated to the U.S., American statesmen of Scottish descent in the early Republic includedSecretary of the TreasuryAlexander Hamilton,Secretary of WarHenry Knox, andPresidentJames Monroe.Andrew Jackson andJames K. Polk were Scotch-Irish presidents and products of the frontier in the period ofWestward expansion. Among the most famous Scottish American soldier frontiersmen wasSam Houston, founding father ofTexas.^{[citation needed]}

Other Scotch-Irish presidents includedJames Buchanan,Chester Alan Arthur,William McKinley andRichard M. Nixon,Theodore Roosevelt (through his mother),Woodrow Wilson,Lyndon B. Johnson, andRonald Reagan were of Scottish descent.^[72] By one estimate, 75% of U.S. presidents could claim some Scottish ancestry.^[73]

Scottish Americans fought on both sides of theCivil War, and a monument to their memory was erected inEdinburgh, Scotland, in 1893.Winfield Scott,Ulysses S. Grant,Joseph E. Johnston,Irvin McDowell,James B. McPherson,Jeb Stuart andJohn B. Gordon were of Scottish descent,George B. McClellan andStonewall Jackson Scotch-Irish.^[75]

Douglas MacArthur andGeorge Marshall upheld the martial tradition in the twentieth century.Grace Murray Hopper, arear admiral andcomputer scientist, was the oldest officer and highest-ranking woman in the U.S. armed forces on her retirement at the age of 80 in 1986.^[76]Isabella Cannon, the formerMayor of Raleigh, North Carolina, served as the first female mayor of a U.S. state capital.^[77]

The Scottish-bornAlexander Winton built one of the first Americanautomobiles in 1896, and specialized inmotor racing. He broke the world speed record in 1900.^[78] In 1903, he became the first man to drive across the United States.^[78]David Dunbar Buick, another Scottish emigrant, foundedBuick in 1903.^[78] The Scottish-born William Blackie transformed theCaterpillar Tractor Company into a multinational corporation.^[78]

Harley-Davidson Inc^[79] (formerly HDI^[80]), often abbreviated "H-D" or "Harley", is an Americanmotorcycle manufacturer. The Davidson brothers were the sons of William C Davidson (1846–1923) who was born and grew up inAngus, Scotland, and Margaret Adams McFarlane (1843–1933) of Scottish descent from the small Scottish settlement ofCambridge, Wisconsin. They raised five children together: Janet May, William A.,Walter, Arthur and Elizabeth.^[81]

Scottish Americans have made a major contribution to the U.S.aircraft industry.Alexander Graham Bell, in partnership withSamuel Pierpont Langley, built the first machine capable of flight, theBell-Langley airplane, in 1903.^[82]Lockheed was started by two brothers,Allan andMalcolm Loughead, in 1926.^[82]Douglas was founded byDonald Wills Douglas Sr. in 1921; he launched the world's first commercial passenger plane, theDC-3, in 1935.^[82]McDonnell Aircraft was founded byJames Smith McDonnell, in 1939, and became famous for its militaryjets.^[82] In 1967, McDonnell and Douglasmerged and jointly developed jet aircraft,missiles andspacecraft.^[82]

Scottish Americans were pioneers inhuman spaceflight. TheMercury andGemini capsules were built by McDonnell.^[82] The first American in space,Alan Shepard, the first American in orbit,John Glenn, and the first man to fly free in space,Bruce McCandless II, were Scottish Americans.^[82]

The first men on the Moon,Neil Armstrong andBuzz Aldrin, were also of Scottish descent; Armstrong wore akilt in a parade through his ancestral home ofLangholm inDumfriesshire in 1972.^[82] Armstrong's ancestry can be traced back to his eighth paternal great-grandfather Adam Armstrong from theScottish Borders. His son Adam II and grandson Adam Abraham (b. Cumberland, England) left for the colonies in the 1730s settling in Pennsylvania.^[85]

Other Scottish American moonwalkers were the fourth,Alan Bean, the fifth, Alan Shepard, the seventh,David Scott (also the first to drive on the Moon), and the eighth,James Irwin.^[82]

Scottish AmericansHoward Aiken andGrace Murray Hopper created the first automatic sequence computer in 1939.^[76] Hopper was also the co-inventor of thecomputer languageCOBOL.^[76]

Ross Perot, another Scottish American entrepreneur, made his fortune fromElectronic Data Systems, anoutsourcing company he established in 1962.^[76]

Software giantMicrosoft was co-founded in 1975 byBill Gates, who owed his start in part to his mother, the Scottish American businesswomanMary Maxwell Gates, who helped her son to get his first software contract with IBM.^[76] Glasgow-born Microsoft employee Richard Tait helped develop theEncarta encyclopedia and co-created the popularboard gameCranium.^[76]

Scottish Americans have helped to define the modern American diet by introducing many distinctive foods.Oatmeal has been included in American breakfast menus since colonial times. While it is not typically consumed as a symbol of Scottish identity, it is considered a classic Scottish American food, often packaged with images of Scottish warriors wearing kilts. It is advertised as promoting strong bodies and minds. Traditional Scottish hearty broths have been adapted in the United States into "Scotch broth," usually a soup made with barley, lamb, and various vegetables, often root vegetables chosen by the cook. Scottishshortbread, a type of buttery cookie, is also popular and commonly sold in tins or packages featuring iconic Scottish designs like tartans, bagpipes, or bagpipers in kilts in the U.S.Whiskey has largely lost its association with Scotland, likely due to the strict prohibitions among Scots Presbyterians against drunkenness and excessive indulgence.^[86]

Philip Danforth Armour foundedArmour Meats in 1867, revolutionizing the American meatpacking industry and becoming famous forhot dogs.Campbell Soups was founded in 1869 byJoseph A. Campbell and rapidly grew into a major manufacturer ofcanned soups.W. K. Kellogg transformed American eating habits from 1906 by popularizingbreakfast cereal.Glen Bell, founder ofTaco Bell in 1962, introducedTex-Mex food to a mainstream audience.^[87][88] Marketing executiveArch West, born to Scottish emigrant parents, developedDoritos.^[89]

Scottish immigrants introducedfried chicken to the United States.^[90]

Some of the following aspects of Scottish culture can still be found in some parts of the United States.

• Bagpiping andpipe bands
• Burns Supper^[91]
• Ceilidhs
• Hogmanay, the ScottishNew Year
• St. Andrew's Day festivities
• Tartan – some places in the U.S. have their own tartan, and Scottish dress is worn by some Americans to celebrate their ancestral heritage.

National Tartan Day, held each year on April 6 in theUnited States andCanada, celebrates the historical links between Scotland andNorth America and the contributionsScottish Americans and Canadians have made to U.S. and Canadiandemocracy, industry and society. The date of April 6 was chosen as "the anniversary of theDeclaration of Arbroath in 1320—the inspirational document, according toU.S. Senate Resolution 155, 1999, upon which theAmerican Declaration of Independence was modeled".^[92]

The Annual Tartan Week celebrations come to life every April with the largest celebration taking place in New York City. Thousands descend onto the streets of the Big Apple to celebrate their heritage, culture and the impact of theScottish Americans in America today.^[93]

Hundreds of pipers, drummers, Highland dancers, Scottie Dogs and celebrities march down the streets drowned in their family tartans and Saltire flags whilst interacting with the thousands of onlookers.^[93]

Scottish Heritage Month is also promoted by community groups around the United States and Canada.^[94]

Scottish culture, food, and athletics are celebrated atHighland Games and Scottish festivals throughoutNorth America. The largest of these occurs yearly atPleasanton, California,Grandfather Mountain,North Carolina andEstes Park, Colorado. There are also other notable Scottish Festivals in cities likeTulsa, Oklahoma,Ventura, California at the Seaside Highland Games,Atlanta, Georgia (atStone Mountain Park),San Antonio, Texas andSt. Louis, Missouri. In addition to traditional Scottish sports such astossing the caber and thehammer throw, there arewhisky tastings, traditional foods such ashaggis,Bagpipes andDrums competitions,Celtic rock musical acts and traditional Scottish dance.^{[citation needed]}

AlthoughScottish Gaelic had been spoken in most of Scotland at one time or another, by the time of large-scale migrations to North America – the eighteenth century – it had only managed to survive in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. Unlike other ethnic groups in Scotland, Scottish Highlanders preferred to migrate in communities, and remaining in larger, denser concentrations aided in the maintenance of their language and culture. The first communities of Scottish Gaels began migrating in the 1730s to Georgia, New York and the Carolinas. Only in the Carolinas were these settlements enduring. Although their numbers were small, the immigrants formed a beach-head for later migrations, which accelerated in the 1760s.^[96]

The American Revolutionary War effectively stopped direct migration to the newly formed United States, most people going instead to British North America (now Canada). The Canadian Maritimes were a favored destination from the 1770s to the 1840s. Sizable concentrations of Gaelic communities existed in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, with smaller clusters in Newfoundland, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Those who left these communities for opportunities in the United States, especially in New England, were usually fluent Gaelic speakers into the mid-twentieth century.^[97]

Of the many communities founded by Scottish Highland immigrants, the language and culture only survives at a community level in the Canadian province ofNova Scotia. According to the 2000 census, 1,199 people speak Scottish Gaelic at home.^[98]

The direct descendants of Scottish Highlanders were not the only people in the United States to speak the language, however. Gaelic was one of the languages spoken by fur traders in many parts of North America. In some parts of the Carolinas andAlabama, African-American communities spoke Scottish Gaelic, particularly (but not solely) due to the influence of Gaelic-speaking slave-owners.^[52] According to musicologistWillie Ruff, jazz musicianDizzy Gillespie spoke often of the Gaelic speaking African-Americans.^[99]

James Monroe	James Buchanan	Rutherford B. Hayes
Chester A. Arthur	William McKinley	Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Harry S. Truman
Gerald Ford	Jimmy Carter	Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush	George W. Bush	Donald Trump

Severalpresidents of the United States have had some Scottish or Scotch-Irish ancestry, although the extent of this varies. For example,Donald Trump's mother was Scottish andWoodrow Wilson's maternal grandparents were both Scottish.Ronald Reagan,Gerald Ford,Chester A. Arthur andWilliam McKinley have less direct Scottish or Scotch-Irish ancestry.

James Monroe (Scottish and Welsh)

5th President, 1817–1825: His paternal great-great-grandfather, Andrew Monroe, emigrated to America fromRoss-shire, Scotland in the mid–17th century.

Andrew Jackson (Scotch-Irish)

7th President, 1829–1837: He was born in the predominantly Ulster-ScotsWaxhaws area ofSouth Carolina two years after his parents leftBoneybefore, nearCarrickfergus inCounty Antrim.^[100]

James K. Polk (Scottish and Scotch-Irish)

11th President, 1845–1849: His Scottish paternal great x 5 grandfather, Robert Pollock, emigrated to Ireland in the 17th century. The family's surname was later changed from Pollock to Polk.^[101]

James Buchanan (Scottish and Scotch-Irish)

15th President, 1857–1861: His paternal great-grandmother, Katherine Blair, was born inStirlingshire.^[101]

Andrew Johnson (Scotch-Irish and English)

17th President, 1865–1869: His grandfather leftMounthill, nearLarne inCounty Antrim around 1750 and settled inNorth Carolina.^[101]

Ulysses S. Grant (Scottish, Scotch-Irish and English)

18th President, 1869–1877: His maternal great-grandfather, John Simpson, was born inDergenagh,County Tyrone.^[102]

Rutherford B. Hayes (Scottish and English)

19th President, 1877–1881: His ancestor, George Hayes, emigrated from Scotland to Connecticut in 1680.

Chester A. Arthur (Scotch-Irish, Scottish and English)

21st President, 1881–1885: His paternal great-grandmother, Jane Campbell, emigrated from Scotland to County Antrim, Ireland.^[101][103]

Grover Cleveland (Scotch-Irish and English)

22nd and 24th President, 1885–1889 and 1893–1897: Born inNew Jersey, he was the maternal grandson of merchant Abner Neal, who emigrated fromCounty Antrim in the 1790s. He was the first president to have served non-consecutive terms.^[101]

Benjamin Harrison (Scottish, Scotch-Irish and English)

23rd President, 1889–1893: Through his mother, Elizabeth Irwin, his great x 5 grandfather, David Irvine, was born in Aberdeenshire, and emigrated to Ireland.^[101][104]

William McKinley (Scottish and Scotch-Irish)

25th President, 1897–1901: His Scottish paternal great-great-great-great-grandfather, James McKinley, settled in Ireland in 1690.^[101][105]

Theodore Roosevelt (Scottish, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, English, and French)

26th President, 1901–1909: His maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Jean Stobo, emigrated to America from Scotland with her parents in 1699.

William Howard Taft (Scotch-Irish and English)

27th President, 1909–1913^[106][107]

Woodrow Wilson (Scottish and Scotch-Irish)

28th President, 1913–1921: His Scottish maternal grandparents fromPaisley, Rev. Dr. Thomas Woodrow and Marion Williamson, emigrated to America in the 1830s. Throughout his career he reflected on the influence of his ancestral values on his constant quest for knowledge and fulfillment.^[101]

Warren G. Harding (Scottish and English)

29th President, 1921–1923: His paternal great-great-grandmother, Lydia Crawford, was born inMidlothian.^[108]

Franklin D. Roosevelt (Scottish, Dutch, English and French)

32nd President, 1933–1945: His maternal great-great-great-grandparents, James Murray and Barbara Bennett, were fromDumfriesshire andRoxburghshire.

Harry S. Truman (Scottish, English and German)

33rd President, 1945–1953: His paternal great-great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Monteith, was a merchant fromGlasgow.^[109][110]

Lyndon B. Johnson (English, German and Scotch-Irish)

36th President, 1963–1969:^{[citation needed]}:

Richard Nixon (Scotch-Irish, Irish, English and German)

37th President, 1969–1974: The Nixon ancestors left Ulster in the mid–18th century; the Quaker Milhous family ties were withCounty Antrim andCounty Kildare.^[101]

Gerald Ford (Scottish and English)

38th President, 1974–1977: His maternal great-grandfather, Alexander Gardner, emigrated toQuebec fromKilmacolm in 1820.

Jimmy Carter (Scottish, Scotch-Irish and English)

39th President, 1977–1981: His paternal great x 6 grandfather, Adam Clinkskaill, was Scottish.

Ronald Reagan (Irish, Scottish and English)

40th President, 1981–1989: His great-grandfather, John Wilson, emigrated to North America fromPaisley in 1832.^[111]

George H. W. Bush (Scottish, Irish and English)

41st President, 1989–1993: His maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Catherine Walker (née McLelland), was Scottish.

Bill Clinton (Scotch-Irish and English)

42nd president, 1993–2001: His father and mother wereOld Stock Americans with family lineage tracing back to the colonial era.^{[112][113][114]}

George W. Bush (Scottish, Irish and English)

43rd President, 2001–2009: His great-great-great-great-grandmother, Catherine Walker (née McLelland), was Scottish.

Barack Obama (Scotch-Irish, English and Kenyan)

44th President, 2009–2017: The ancestry of his mother's family is partially Scotch-Irish.^{[115][116][117][118][119]}

Donald Trump (Scottish and German)

45th and 47th President, 2017–2021 and 2025–present: His mother,Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in the village ofTong,Isle of Lewis, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1930.^[120][121]

John C. Calhoun (Scotch-Irish)

10th Vice President, 1825–1832

George M. Dallas (Scottish)

15th Vice President, 1845–1849; former Secretary of War

Adlai Stevenson I (Scottish and Scotch-Irish)

23rd Vice President, 1893–1897: The Stevensons (Stephensons) are first recorded in Roxburghshire in the 18th century.

Charles Curtis (Scottish)^[122]

31st Vice President, 1929–1933

Henry A. Wallace (Scotch-Irish)

33rd Vice President, 1941–1945

Walter Mondale (Scottish)

42nd Vice President, 1977–1981: His maternal great-grandparents, Walter Cowan and Agnes Phorson, were Scottish.

Al Gore (Scotch-Irish)

45th Vice President, 1993–2001

Dick Cheney (Scottish)

46th Vice President, 2001–2009

JD Vance (Scotch-Irish)

50th Vice President, 2025-present

Sam Houston (Scotch-Irish)

President ofTexas, 1836–1838 and 1841–1844^[74]

Jefferson Davis (Scotch-Irish)

President ofConfederate States of America, 1861–1865

Arthur St. Clair (Scottish)

President under theArticles of Confederation, 1788

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Dunedin, Florida (left) was founded in 1882 by two Scottish merchants, J.O. Douglas and James Somerville and is named afterDùn Èideann,Scottish Gaelic for "Edinburgh" (right).^[123]

Some place names of Scottish origin (either named after Scottish places or Scottish immigrants) in the U.S. include:

• California
  • Albion
  • Ben Lomond
  • Bonny Doon
  • Inverness
  • Irvine, named for the historicIrvine Ranch, and Irvine Subdivision ofOrange County, California
• Colorado
  • Montrose
• Connecticut
  • Scotland
• Delaware
  • Glasgow
  • Perth
• Florida
  • Aberdeen
  • Paisley
  • Dundee
  • Dunedin, fromDùn Èideann, Scottish Gaelic for Edinburgh
  • Inverness
• Illinois
  • Dundee
  • Elgin
  • Inverness
  • Midlothian
  • Bannockburn
  • Glencoe
• Indiana
  • Perth
  • Edinburgh
• Kansas
  • Dundee
• Kentucky
  • Glasgow
• Louisiana
  • Gretna
  • Scotlandville
• Maine
  • Argyle
• Maryland
  • Aberdeen
  • Glencoe
  • Glenelg
  • Lochearn
  • Lothian
  • Midlothian
  • Muirkirk
• Massachusetts
  • Melrose
• Mississippi
  • Aberdeen
• Montana
  • Glasgow
  • Aberdeen, Montana
  • Inverness, Montana
  • Drummond, Montana
• New Jersey
  • Aberdeen
  • Perth Amboy
  • Scotch Plains
• New York
  • Albany
  • Argyle
  • Dundee
  • Perth
• North Carolina
  • Aberdeen
  • Clyde
  • Cumnock
  • Dundarrach
  • Glencoe
  • Highlands
  • Inverness
  • Roxboro – a variant spelling ofRoxburgh
  • Scotland County
• North Dakota
  • Perth
  • Perth Township
• Oklahoma
  • Glencoe
  • Guthrie
• Oregon
  • Albany
  • Burns – after Scottish poetRobert Burns
  • Dundee
  • Elgin
  • Glencoe
  • Hermiston
  • Macleay
  • McDonald
  • McEwen
  • Melrose
  • Nibley
  • Sutherlin – a variant spelling ofSutherland
  • Paisley
  • Wedderburn
• Pennsylvania
  • Edinboro – a variant spelling ofEdinburgh
  • Glasgow
  • Scotland – Franklin County town, fictional site of the motion pictureScotland, PA
• South Carolina
  • Elgin
  • Lake Murray
• Texas
  • Argyle – a variant spelling ofArgyll
  • Dallas
  • Edinburg – a variant spelling ofEdinburgh
  • Houston – suburbs includeMontrose
  • Midlothian
  • Scotland
• Utah
  • Argyle (now a ghost town)
  • Ben Lomond
  • Logan
• Virginia
  • Dumfries
  • Glasgow
  • Gretna
  • Hamilton
  • Kilmarnock
  • McDowell
  • Midlothian
• Washington state
  • Aberdeen
  • Fife
• Wisconsin
  • Argyle
  • Dunbar

• Scottish diaspora
• Americans
  • British American
  • Cornish Americans
  • English American
  • Irish American
  • Scotch-Irish American
  • Welsh American
• Celtic music in the United States
• Scots by country
  • Scots-Quebecer
  • Scottish Canadian
  • Scottish Australian
  • Scottish New Zealanders
  • Scottish Brazilians
  • Scottish Argentine

• Bell, Whitfield J. "Scottish Emigration to America: A Letter of Dr. Charles Nisbet to Dr. John Witherspoon, 1784."William and Mary Quarterly 11#2 1954, pp. 276–289.online, a primary source
• Berthoff, Rowland Tappan.British Immigrants in Industrial America, 1790–1950. (Harvard University Press, 1953).
• 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 127–50online
• Bueltmann, Tanja, Andrew Hinson, and Graeme Morton.The Scottish Diaspora. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2013.
• Calder, Jenni.Lost in the Backwoods: Scots and 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.
• Dziennik, Matthew P.The Fatal Land: War, Empire, and the Highland Soldier in British America. (Yale University Press, 2015).
• Erickson, Charlotte.Invisible Immigrants: the Adaptation of English and Scottish Immigrants in 19th Century America (Weidenfeld and Nicolson; 1972)
• Hess, Mary A. "Scottish Americans." inGale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, *3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2014), pp. 101–112.Online
• Hunter, James.Scottish exodus: travels among a worldwide clan (Random House, 2011); interviews with Clan MacLeod members
• Landsman, Ned C.Scotland and Its First American Colony, 1683–1765. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.
• McCarthy, James, and Euan Hague. "Race, nation, and nature: The cultural politics of 'Celtic' identification in the American West."Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94#2 (2004): 387–408.
• McWhiney, Grady, and Forrest McDonald. "Celtic origins of southern herding practices."Journal of Southern History (1985): 165–182.in JSTOR
• 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 of Georgia Press, 2002.
• Ray, R. Celeste.Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
• Szasz, Ferenc Morton.Scots in the North American West, 1790–1917. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000.
• Thernstrom, Stephan, ed.Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. New Haven, CT: Harvard University Press, 1980.

• 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 of theories ofForrest McDonald and Grady McWhiney regarding profound Celtic influences
  • McDonald, Forrest, and Grady McWhiney. "Celtic Mist over the South: A Response."Journal of Southern History (1986): 547–548.
• Shepperson, George. "Writings in Scottish-American History: A Brief Survey."William and Mary Quarterly 11#2 1954, pp. 164–178.online
• 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toScottish diaspora in the United States.

• Scottish Americans

• Scotland's Mark on America, by George Fraser Black, Ph.D. atProject Gutenberg
• Scottish Emigration Database
• Scotlands People – Official government source for Scottish roots
• US Scots: includes extensive listing of Highland games events
• Website ofAn Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach

• American people of Scottish descent
• British-American history
• British diaspora in the United States
• Scottish-American history

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