Union Jack

[D'Art]

I thought that was only a good place to go in the aftermath of WW2? And even then only if you were wanting to hide from justice?

[Phaeton]

I knew there were plenty of Dutch (after all, they did found new York, under the name new Amsterdam, or is that an urban myth?) around the North-Eastern colonies as well as the Irish and Scots, but wasn't aware of the German presecence, though it really shouldn't have been a huge intellectual leap on my part to have worked that out.
One thing that has beffled me though, is that I've never heard of there being a big Welsh influence on American culture. Is this because there isn't one?

There were Germans in Jamestown 12 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth Rock. The first "German" settlement which now lies in the US was founded in 1683. Germans even played part in the American Revolution giving the loyalists the hated Hessian mercenaries and the revolutionaries the G-d send General von Stueben. There were about 270,000 Germans in the US at the time of the 1790 census, third place behind the English at 2,100,000 and the Scots-Irish at 300,000. In comparison, there were only 102,000 immigrants from the Netherlands and Sweden combined and about 10,000 Welsh.

Germans continued to come in large numbers, especially during the mid and late 19th century, somewhat proven by the fact that about 23.4% of the Union army was composed of German soldiers. This was partially due to political tension at home in Germany. It's important to remember that Germany was not a politically cohesive unit like it is today, but rather a loose confederation of separate states until Otto von Bismarck unified Germany in 1871.

The role of Germans in US history is downplayed because they didn't hang around the cities like other immigrant populations. German immigrants were primarily farmers, and by the time Germans managed to gather en masse in cities the US was used to their presence and was already fearing "New Immigrants" such as Poles and Italians. Germans tended to settle in what today is the midwest, where the German influence is arguably the strongest. That's not to say Germans didn't end up spreading out: in the 1850 half the white population of Texas was German.

Germans have had a pretty major cultural legacy that they have left to the US in terms of political ideology and social custom. The US even has its own dialect of German spoken by the Mennonites: "Pennsylvania Deutsch". All in all about 17% Americans are of German Descent making them the largest ethnic group in the country.

[Lemonaide]

That was gut! My great grandfather was Gustov of Germany; we also have a Myron from the Netherlands; I like to call our family - "double dutch" having two different dutch branches. I also didn't realize that the Germans had anything to do with the American Revolution. Interesting stuff.

[wahrman]

There are also non recent immigrant, non Mennonite, non Amish, German speaking populations in the US. There is still right now, a German language newspaper published in Michigan.

Germans have had a pretty major cultural legacy that they have left to the US in terms of political ideology and social custom. The US even has its own dialect of German spoken by the Mennonites: "Pennsylvania Deutsch". All in all about 17% Americans are of German Descent making them the largest ethnic group in the country.

[pigeonmeister]

One thing that has beffled me though, is that I've never heard of there being a big Welsh influence on American culture. Is this because there isn't one?

Unless you count the 7 Presidents of Welsh-American heritage (Lincoln, Adams, Quincey Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Coolidge). Will be 8 if Hillary makes it.

As well as a certain Jack Daniel..famous for his whiskey

[D'Art]

As well as a certain Jack Daniel..famous for his whiskey

That stuff isn't worthy of the name whisk(e)y. It's paint stripper with the good stuff taken out...

[Inquartata]

And all her clothes on?

[Phaeton]

Speaking of nudity and presidents: I heard somewhere that JQA loved swimming naked in the Potomac...

[Lemonaide]

If our nation is to become really strong and that's what I'm after, we have to make a committment to getting rid of some of the old symbols. In the real real ancient past, we had a roman general in the family, who was assisinated by egypt -[oh well] I feel like I still have some of that running through my veins.

But the dream of ancient Rome was to unite the world. That proved to be pretty near impossible except for little sections of the world so far, I think it is possible to unite the states more strongly. One of the first ways to unite a nation is to create symbols that everyone agrees with.

It appears that the level of intellect and culture is sadly lacking in the united states. Maybe we are going through a period of deconstruction for the next 50 years or so, and will eventually reestablish itself - but we really have to up the standards.