THE USA

The "shot heard round the world", the first blast that began the American Revolution, is claimed to have been fired by a Scottish American, Ebenezer Munro, of the Lexington Minutemen.

Various sources have identified between one third and one half of the American generals in the Revolution as either of Scottish birth or ancestry. George Washington, the most famous revolutionary, the father of the country and commander in chief of the victorious American army, was himself remotely descended from the Scottish King Malcolm II.

When the representatives of the 13 American colonies met to decide whether to break completely with Britain, they did so in the Georgian building, now called Independence Hall, partly designed by a Scot. It was in response to the appeal of a Scot, John Witherspoon, that the Declaration of Independence was signed, after it had been given to Thomas Jefferson, who was a descendent of King Robert The Bruce. The document was written in the handwriting of an Ulster Scot, and was first printed by another Ulster Scot, John Dunlap, and publicly proclaimed by Ulster Scot Capt. John Nixon.

A young Philadelphia seamstress also of Scottish descent, whose husband John Ross (nephew of George Ross who signed the declaration), was engaged to make the first American flag. Her name was Betsy Ross.

Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, at least 21, or almost 38%, have been identified as having Scottish ancestry. Of the men who represented the remaining 10 colonies, almost half of those who risked their lives, fortunes and honour were of the Scottish nation. 10 of the thirteen colonies had Scottish Governors during the ensuing war. Even more remarkable as at the time, the 1790 US census records only 6.7% of the population as being Scottish or of Scottish descent.

The Declaration of Independence was not the first such declaration and was heavily influenced by a Scottish document – the famous Declaration of Arbroath, written some 456 years previously. For a detailed look at the wording and similarities of these two documents click here

At the Constitutional Convention, Scots born James Wilson was one of the most influential delegates. He proposed that the executive department should consist of ‘a single’ person, and since his idea and arguments in its favour gained acceptance, he can be said to have created the American Presidency

The first government of the United States had a distinctly Scottish flavour. Nine of the original thirteen states chose men of Scottish ancestry as their first Governors :

In addition, all of the members of the first American cabinet had Scottish ancestry :

Of the five original Supreme Court justices one, James Wilson, was born in Scotland and three others were of Scottish ancestry

 

		The first President of the US and his entire cabinet were all men of Scottish ancestry, and since that beginning more than 75% of all American Presidents have had at least some Scottish blood. Except
		for 6 months in 1881, all of the presidents from 1865 – 1928 had Scottish ancestry. Of the  42 men
		who have served as President an astonishing 32 have Scottish ancestors. As only 4.4% of the
		American population is of Scottish descent, this amounts to an overrepresentation of more than 17 times.

Listed below are the Presidents, with those of proven Scottish ancestry in red.

 

George Washington		Grover Cleveland
John Adams		Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Jefferson		William McKinlay
James Madison		Theodore Roosevelt
James Munro		William Howard Taft
John Quincy Adams		Woodrow Wilson
Andrew Jackson		Warren G Harding
Martin Van Buren		Calvin Coolidge
William Henry Harrison		Herbert C Hoover
John Tyler		Franklin D Roosevelt
James Knox Polk		Harry S Trueman
Zachary Taylor		Dwight David Eisenhower
Millard Fillmore		John F Kennedy
Franklin Pierce		Lyndon B Johnson
James Buchanan		Richard M Nixon
Abraham Lincoln		Gerald R Ford
Andrew Johnson		James C Carter
Ulysses S Grant		Ronald W Reagan
Rutherford B Hayes		George H W Bush
James A Garfield		William J Clinton
Chester Alan Arthur		George W Bush jnr.

      

 

Winning the West

Many of the famous frontier heroes were of Scottish descent, including Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, Kit Carson and Davy Crocket. There were also a number of Scottish Indian Chiefs

Law and order were maintained on one part of the frontier by the famous marshall of Dodge City, Wyatt Earp, who was of Scottish ancestry.

Other Influences

In 1848 James Wilson Marshall, a Scottish immigrant, discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill, creating the California gold rush of 1849.

In 1873, Scot Andrew Halladie introduced his cable cars to San Francisco where they remain the symbol of the city to this day.

All of the land of postcolonial America was acquired by soldiers, diplomats and statesmen of Scottish ancestry.

During the war of 1812 a man named Sam Wilson, whose parents had come from Greenock, operated a food businnes from New York. One of his customers was the US Army and when he shipped beef to the troops he stamped US on the barrels. Sam ‘s workers used to refer to these barrels as Uncle Sam’s beef. The soldiers receiving it however, did not know Sam Wilson and thought Uncle Sam was new slang for the US Government. The world has used the word ever since

 

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This page created on 14th March, 2001