Running head: ETHNIC GROUPS AND DISCRIMINATION SCOTTISH 1

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

ETHNIC GROUPS AND DISCRIMINATION SCOTTISH 2 The first Scots began coming to the New World in the early 1600's, Emigration picked up during the Cromwellian Civil War in Britain, as many Scots from both sides were transported to the American Colonies in the mid-1600’s. The Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745 also saw numbers of Scotsmen transported to America, as did the Highland Clearances which came somewhat later. Scottish emigrants who had gone to Northern Ireland as colonists of the Ulster plantations in the first half of the 16th century also immigrated to America in the early 1700's. These people, who were referred to as the "Scotch-Irish" were by far the most numerous group of Scottish Colonists to come to America. Between 1715 and 1776 some 250,000 of them arrived, mainly in the Chesapeake Bay region, and settled all along the east coast, particularly in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North and South Carolina and later in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and beyond. A second wave of Scottish immigration came during the late 1800's and most of these Scots settled in the northeastern U.S. in the larger industrial cities, and included such worthies as Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell. (Craig Cockburn) Some were transported; they had no choice other than prison or execution, the reasons ranging from political prisoners of rebellions, to paupers, to petty thieves and criminals. Others came because of poverty. They had no hope of ever breaking out of their set place in the Class-system which existed in Britain, but in America, a man could make something of himself, regardless of his background. Most of these came as bonded-servants and would be given passage to America, paid by the person who brought them over and would have to work off their passage upon their arrival as per their contract, a period which often lasted for seven years. At
ETHNIC GROUPS AND DISCRIMINATION SCOTTISH 3 the end of that time, they were on their own and it was up to themselves to make something of their life in the New World. (Craig Cockburn) The Scots were looked down upon by the English, Dutch and Germans, who saw them as being less civilized, orderly and less interested in bettering themselves materially through hard work. They were thought to be good fighters and in that capacity they were often set out on the frontier to act as a first line of defense against Indian attacks. The Scots quickly disproved the stereotypical views of the English and other colonists by becoming enormously successful in the New World. Among those who signed the Declaration of Independence were a number of Scotsmen and the names of such political giants as Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, James Buchanan, John K. Polk, William Drummond, Hugh Mercer and many other Scotsmen echo throughout the pages of American history. (Craig Cockburn) The early Scots colonists who arrived in the first half of the 1600's tended to prefer Virginia over New England and a preference for those colonies south of the New England states continued through the time leading up to the Revolutionary War, though numbers of both Scots and Scots-Irish could be found in New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and elsewhere. Primarily though, the main concentration of Scottish settlement was from Pennsylvania southward to Georgia. (Craig Cockburn) The Irish Americans were certainly subjected to a dual labor market. During the late 1800's, after the first large Irish immigration into America, Irish immigrants were considered to be the poorest of all the immigrants coming into the United States. Because of the constant
ETHNIC GROUPS AND DISCRIMINATION SCOTTISH 4 prejudice against Irish, they were kept at this poor standing by only being offered the lowest paying, and the most backbreaking jobs available, leaving the higher paying jobs for natural American citizens. Most of the Scots who had come directly from Scotland to America, either went back to Scotland or fled north to Canada. Conclusively, it was the Virginian patriots of Scottish origin who first articulated the demand for liberty and independence which brought freedom and democracy to the United States of America. They also gave America its distinctive characteristics which have made it the most powerful nation on earth based upon its unparalleled spiritual and economic strength. (Henderson)

ETHNIC GROUPS AND DISCRIMINATION SCOTTISH 5
References
Craig Cockburn. Retrieved from http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/11_24.html (September 10, 2010).
Retrieved from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Irish_Americans_participate_in_Dual_Labor_Markets (September 11, 2010).
Henderson, H. E. . The Scots of Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.electricscotland.com/books/scots_virginia.htm (September 11, 2010)

Father Alfred wood.