'Every line of strength in American history is a line colored with Scottish blood.'  President Woodrow Wilson.

The American census of 1790 recorded only 6.7% of the population as being Scottish or of Scottish descent. What contribution could such a small percentage of the people make to the new US nation? Data from the US census in 2000 shows that there are 5.4 million citizens there who consider themselves to be of Scottish descent. The number who said that they were 'Scotch-Irish' came to another 5.6 million. This combined figure of 11 million is exceeded only by Italians (16 million). English (28 million), Irish (33 million) and Germans (47 million). By 1900, one in 20 Scots had emigrated to the US.

Tartan Day

In 1998 US Senate Resolution 155 (S.Res. 155), was passed. Part of it reads:

'Whereas April 6 has a special significance for all Americans and especially those Americans of Scottish descent, because the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish Declaration of Independence, was signed on April 6, 1320 and the American Declaration of Independence was modelled on that inspirational document

Whereas this resolution honors the major role that Scottish Americans played in the founding of this Nation, such as the fact that almost half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent, the Governors in 9 of the original 13 States were of Scottish ancestry, Scottish Americans successfully helped shape this country in its formative years and guide this Nation through its most troubled times;

Whereas this resolution recognizes the monumental achievements and invaluable contributions made by Scottish Americans that have led to America's pre-eminence in the fields of science, technology, medicine, government, politics, economics, architecture, literature, media, and visual and performing arts... Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate designates April 6 of each year as National Tartan Day'.

The Declaration of Arbroath was the landmark document in which the Scots asserted their religious and civil rights. It was a break with the traditionally accepted view in all of Europe because as James Adam, editor of a translation of the Declaration writes, 'Almost alone among the nations of Feudal Europe where the accepted concept was that authority flowed downward from the crown, Scotland stated clearly and firmly here that the rights flow upward from the people.' The Declaration of Arbroath states the power of the people in saying of the Scottish King Robert Bruce, 'If Robert Bruce will ever submit us or our kingdom to the king of England or the English we will remove him and set up another better able to govern us in his place'.

Of the 13 Governors of the newly created United States of America, the 9 Scots were :
Archibald Bulloch ( Georgia ), George Clinton ( New York ), William Livingston ( New Jersey ), John MacKinlay ( Delaware ), Jonathan Trumbull ( Connecticut ), Richard Caswell ( North Carolina ), Patrick Henry ( Virginia ), Thomas McKean ( Pennsylvania ) and John Rutledge ( South Carolina ).

Members of the American cabinet with Scottish ancestry were :
Secretary of the Treasury - Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War - Henry Knox, and Attorney General - Edmund Randolph.

21 of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence were Scots or of Scots descent.

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

In total 61% of American Presidents and 35 US Supreme Court judges have had Scottish blood, with nearly half of the Secretaries of the US Treasury and one third of the Secretaries of State having Scottish descent.

Among civilians conspicuous in the Colonial cause who were born in Scotland were John Watt of Rosehill Edinburgh; John Roxburghe of Berwickshire; William Murdoch of Glasgow and the Rev Charles Nisbet of Yester in Haddingtonshire.

Others born in Scotland were: Edward Telfair of Kirkcudbright who was Governor of Georgia and a delegate to the Continental Congress and later a delegate to the American Congress. William Burnet of Crimond was an early Governor of New York. Robert Hunter of Hunterston in Ayrshire was Governor of Virginia. Andrew Hamilton of Edinburgh was Governor of New Jersey and organised the first postal service for the colony. His son John also became Governor of New Jersey and his grandson James became the first American born Governor of the State of Pennsylvania. Alexander Skene of Aberdeen was also Governor of New Jersey. The city of Perth Amboy N.J. was named after the Earl of Perth.

One family called Livingston from Ancrum in southern Scotland became a notable family in the USA. They supplied a Chancellor of the State of New York, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of State of the United States and a Governor of New Jersey, as well as high ranking men in other areas of life.

So many Scots were fighting for the Colonials and in Scotland so many were sympathetic to the Colonial side that King George allegedly called the conflict a 'Presbyterian war' ( unlike the Church of England, the Church of Scotland is strongly Presbyterian ). To give just one example of that sympathy, Charles Nisbet born in Haddington, Scotland and minister of Montrose sided with the colonists. When the American War of Independence broke out, he went to America eventually becoming Doctor of Divinity of the College of New Jersey and the Principal of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Scottish immigrants were generally highly educated due to the Scottish Reformation stress on education geared so that every Scot could read the Bible. Most Headmasters of the schools in the new colonies south of New York were Scottish or of Scottish ancestry and they educated America's future leaders - the tutors of both Thomas Jefferson and John Rutledge were Scottish immigrants. Some students of the new independent nation of America travelled to Scotland to gain an education in medicine. In 1775 there were 3,500 people practising medicine in the US, though only 350 to 400 actually held Medical degrees. Some of the most prestigious doctors with the most successful practices in America - were trained in Scotland. In just one city in Scotland the capital Edinburgh, during the 1700^s, 117 Americans were awarded medical degrees including Benjamin Rush ( a pioneer of psychiatry ) and Dr John Witherspoon, both of whom were signatories of the American Declaration of Independence.

Not all Scottish Americans supported the revolution against the British to give but one example, John Loudon McAdam who developed the road covering process known as tarmcadam ( tarmac ) returned to Scotland on the defeat of the British. Those Scottish Americans who did support the Colonials were whole hearted in their support. George Washington commenting on Scottish and Irish Americans, said that he would make his 'last stand for liberty' with them because they were, 'a people who will never submit to British tyranny whilst there is a man left to draw a trigger.'

Famous Scottish Americans

1. Alexander McDougall the leader of the 'Sons of Liberty' was born in Islay, Scotland and was the first American imprisoned for speeches in favour of American independence.
   
   
2. James Wilson born in St Andrews Scotland was the delegate who proposed at the Constitutional Convention, that the executive department should consist of 'a single person'. His argument was accepted; therefore it was a Scottish American who was behind the creation of the office of - the American Presidency. Later he became an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1775 he gave a speech in which he put forward the principle of Judicial Review, the system in America in which laws can be checked against the constitution. This later evolved into the Supreme Court one of whose purposes is to declare that any law that does not agree with the Constitution is illegal.
   
   
3. John Witherspoon a Presbyterian minister from Edinburgh, born at Yester in Haddingtonshire Scotland, emigrated to the USA in 1768. He became Delegate to the Second Continental Congress and was the only ordained clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. He later founded and was the lifelong head of Princeton College. Among his students at Princeton were a future president and vice-president, as well as 60 members of the US Congress and three Supreme Court justices.
   
   
4. James Madison a Scottish American and a student of Witherspoon at Princeton ( then called the College of New Jersey ) he participated in the framing of the Virginia Constitution in 1776 and served in the Continental Congress. He was the chief architect of the Constitution, along with James Wilson. In later years, when he was referred to as the 'Father of the Constitution', Madison protested that the document was not 'the off-spring of a single brain, but the work of many heads and many hands.' He became the Fourth President of the United States.
   
   
5. Alexander Hamilton a Scottish American ( a grandson of the Laird of Cambuskeith, Ayrshire, Scotland ), the youngest of two illegitimate sons born to a Huguenot mother and James Hamilton, an irresponsible Scottish merchant, was one of the main authors of the Federalist essays and was instrumental in the forming of the US Constitution, later becoming the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. He would undoubtedly have become President but for the fact that he was not American born.
   
   
6. Patrick Henry whose father John Henry was born in Aberdeen Scotland and educated at Aberdeen University was a leader of the movement which sparked the American Revolution. As a Member of the Continental Congress he was reckoned to be the greatest public speaker of his generation, famously saying, 'I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.' Thomas Jefferson called Henry the 'spirit of the Revolution.' One of his great contributions was his insistence on the protection of basic civil liberties, including his work toward the adoption of the Bill of Rights.
   
   
7. Samuel Johnston was born in Dundee Scotland. He emigrated as a child to North Carolina, where his uncle, Gabriel Johnston ( who had been Professor of Oriental Languages at St Andrews University Scotland ), was royal governor. He became a member of the colonial assembly and a political leader in the American Revolution. He was elected to the fourth provincial congress, which passed the Halifax Resolves declaring for independence of the colonies. He served in the new state senate and represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress. Johnston was governor of North Carolina and presided over the convention at which that State finally ratified the US constitution. He was one of the state’s first U.S. Senators, a judge of the superior court and one of the first trustees of the University of North Carolina.
   
   
8. Henry Knox a Scottish American was the first U.S. Secretary of War and a lifelong personal friend of General Washington. As the chief commander of the artillery during the American Revolutionary War, Knox delivered fifty cannon from the recently captured Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. A monumental feat, considering it was in the dead of winter and he had to use sleds pulled by oxen to haul the guns. When the British realized the cannon had been successfully delivered to Boston, they retreated from the harbour and the city. Knox started an artillery school in Morristown, the forerunner of West Point Military Academy of which he is considered the founder.
   
   

9. Robert Livingston, the 14th president of the St Andrew's Society of the State of New York administered the oath of office to George Washington as the first president of the USA. For the president of the St Andrew's Society to have administered the oath of office shows the influence that it and the Scottish community must have had, even when deeply divided by the revolution. Livingston was one of five people to draft the Declaration of Independence, with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Roger Sherman, but did not sign the declaration as he had to be at the New York Provincial Convention on 8 July 1776.

Livingston changed the map of America when he was sent to Paris, France by President Jefferson to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase with fellow Scottish American James Monroe. They agreed to purchase 828,000 square miles for $11,250,000 plus the assumption of $3,750,000 in American claims against France, a total of $15 million. For this price - perhaps the greatest real estate deal of all time - they bought what are now the states of Louisiana, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Nebraska and most of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Minnesota and Montana. They doubled the size of their country and provided for its unlimited westward expansion for less than three cents an acre.

10. General J. Morlin Scott, a member of the Provincial Council of New York and a member of Congress.
    
    
11. Hugh Orr born in Lochwinnoch in Scotland was responsible for the introduction of the first tilt hammer, new ploughing tools - and guns for the American revolutionaries.
    
    
12. Major Gen. William Alexander led the first attack against British troops during the American Revolution at the battle of Long Island. His family came from Scotland and he claimed to be the Earl of Stirling. He took charge of the British surrender at Yorktown. He was an astronomer & mathematician and was among the founders of Columbia University, first called Kings College; also President of the St. Andrew’s Society in New York.
    
    
13. Ebenezer Munro a Scottish American of the Lexington Minutemen is claimed to have fired the first shot at the start of the American War of Independence. Among the seven Minutemen who fell at the first return of fire at Lexington was the Scot Robert Munroe. On the British side the Officer who gave the order to fire on the Colonials named Major John Pitcairn came from Dysart in Scotland.
    
    
14. Hugh Mercer who had served as assistant surgeon in the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 1745 Rebellion in Scotland became a Brigadier General in the Continental Army. Scottish medical knowledge and training was the best in the world during the 17th and 18th Century and many Scottish physicians took that knowledge to the New World. Mercer who was killed at the Battle of Princeton by an English Bayonet was the forefather of General George S. Patton. Various towns and counties throughout the US are named in his honour.
    
    
15. Dr. William Brown who was born in Haddington, Scotland became Surgeon General for Washington's Continental Army and produced the first pharmacopoeia ever published in America.
    
    
16. General Lachlan McIntosh born in the district of Kingussie, Scotland was Second-in-Command of the American Army at Savannah during the War of Independence and was appointed Commander-In-Chief of the Western Dept by George Washington in 1778. McIntosh County in Georgia is named after him.
    
    
17. Colonel John Murray of Perthshire - Colonel William Fleming of Lanarkshire and Captain James Swan of Fife who was a member of the Boston Tea Party, were among Colonial officers born in Scotland.
    
    
18. John Paul Jones born in Scotland on the Solway coast emigrated to America at the age of 12. He had a large measure of the Scottish Raider in him. The name 'Scottish' comes from the Roman word 'Scotti' meaning 'Raider', given to us because the Scots raided the Roman provinces in England. Jones was a daring raider who during the War of Independence sailed to Britain and landed to make raids on several towns, including his old home territory of Kirkcudbright Bay. He had planned to capture the Earl of Selkirk from St Mary's Isle in the hope of exchanging him for American prisoners of war. On arrival at the mansion house, the Earl was discovered to be absent with the Countess just finishing her breakfast. Jones' crew wanted to loot the house, but he restrained them and agreed only to take the family silver, including the still warm teapot. The Countess later said he and his men had acted with great civility. Jones bought the silver from his own crew and returned it after the war, with a letter of apology. When wearing his American uniform he also wore a Scottish bonnet edged with gold. During one battle his ship was so damaged that a British Naval Officer asked him if he wished to surrender. Shooting a mutineer who tried to give the signal of surrender, Jones replied to the English officer 'Sir, I have not yet begun to fight'. After three hours Jones won the battle. On Jones insistence in 1778, that the French ships salute the 'Stars n Stripes' flying from his ship the 'Ranger', they fired a 13 gun salute, which was the first occasion that the flag of the USA received international recognition. He is honoured in the U.S. as the 'Father of the American Navy'. After the American Revolution, Jones retained his American citizenship and served in the Russian Navy, which interestingly was founded by another Scot named Samuel Craig from Inverkething. Also of note is that Scotsman Thomas Blake Glover of Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire is considered the father of the Japanese navy.
    
    
19. James Craik a Scot from Dumfriesshire and close friend of President Washington became physician and surgeon of the American revolutionary army and was Washington's physician during his last illness.
    
    
20. Betsy Ross a young Philadelphia seamstress of Scottish descent, whose husband was John Ross ( nephew of George Ross who signed the declaration ), made the first American flag.
    
    
21. The Declaration of Independence was written in the handwriting of an Ulster Scot and was first printed by Ulster Scot, John Dunlop ( who produced America's first newspaper ) and publicly proclaimed by another Ulster Scot, Captain John Nixon.
    
    
22. John Quincy the second President of the United States was of Scots descent.
    
    
23. General Andrew Jackson a Scottish American the third child and third son of Scots-Irish parents became famous for his Victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans. He later became the seventh President of the United States.
    
    
24. St Andrew Society of Boston was founded by Scottish Americans in 1657 making it the oldest society in the U.S. Many of the original members had been shipped to America after being captured following Cromwell's routing of Scottish forces at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.
    
    
25. President John Adams appointed the first US Consul in Scotland on July 14, 1798. He was Harry Grant from South Carolina - a descendant of the clan Grant in Scotland.
    
    
26. Covered wagon trains that expanded westward had coverings of jute that came mostly from the town of Dundee in Scotland. In 1891, trade between the city of Dundee and the U.S. topped $9 million.
    
    
27. Robert Owen frustrated by his experience in New Lanark, Scotland, moved to America and created the utopian town of New Harmony, Indiana. This tiny town gave America its first public kindergarten and its first free public library.

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