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White American ethnic group
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WHrTE AM'ERrCAN EXPERfENCE
The foHow'irrginformatlon
1.
IS included:
DeffntHonof the White American as defined by 000 Dir 1350.2.
2. Description" of '\l\fnite American origins and the 'different "groups in Colonial America.
3~ Definition of the different types of immigration and the impact on individuals.
4. Explanation of European-American common experience and displacement.
5. Deftnitlon·of Redemptioners.
Part I. Definitions
DefimtioR. A~vrd'ff-tg t~)-&uI) -[}frect~¥e ~f350.2 a V~tf~e Arfi-er{C-arl ("net -of Hispan·}c--crfg+n}is a per-sorf- :ha'~t}ngorigins in any ofthe original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or Middie East.
In 1850, it was relatively simple to describe a White American. In an probability he or she was of Anglo-Saxon
background and Protestant. However, after the Civil War, immigrants began-coming from Southern and Central
Europe. They were not Protestant, not Anglo-Saxon, and had different languages and cultures from those who
preceded them. Although each of these groups has greatly assimilated into American life, each still maintains
some of American life, each sti1i maintains some of its uniqueness and has contributed much to White-American
society as we know i!today.Therefore,
it is next to impossible to describe aVVhiteAmer1c.anin the 1990s.
However, it.is possible. to highlight some. of the experiences and contributions of major White ethnic groups who
immigrated to this country. The list is by no means inclusive and is changing rapidly every day.
In 1980, approximately 200 million VVhite Arnericans could treoe same or their ancestry back to the following
groups(in descending size order): English, German,lrish, French, Italian, Scottish, Polish, Dutch, Swedish,
Norwegian, Russian, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Welsh, Danish, and Portuguese.
The White-American experience from its coloniatbeginnings
is fairty short. It.covers a period of approximately
400 years, a period that can be spanned by the overlapping lifetimes of a halt-dozen individuals. Yet the roots of
the V,,",hite-Americanexperience go deep into the human past. These roots are traced mostly to the Old World,
but notthe New.
Individuals whOe make-up the original \Nhite-American
They were:
http://www.gordon.anny.mil/eoo/white.htm
people came to American from three areas of the world.
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White American ethnic group
a.
Nortrl Africa related to the Berbers. A Caucasian people, the Beiters are reiated in physical type to the
Mediterranean subgroup of southern EJrope. They form the base population of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,
and Libya. Today they are mostly Muslims and much oftheir culture is "Arabized."
2. Northwestern Europe. Belgium, Denmark; England, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Northern
Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Wales.
3. Southeastern Europe~ Austria, Czechoslovakia, G.reece, HungaryI' Italy, Poland, Portugal, Rumania}
Spain, USSR, and Yugoslavia:.
4. Anglo-Saxon andVV'nite Anglo-S.axon Protestant (WASP). An Anglo~Saxon andVVniie AngJo~Saxon
Protestant {WASP) isa.person of Caucasoid, northern £uropean,iargely
Protestant stock whose members
are. held by: some to constitute the most privileged and influential group in U. S. society. In the New World,
they were usually the landlord and their culture and values, with rare exception, were those that defined the
culture. Their culture and values were normally based on:
-
.
• Handwork.
c Perseverance.
•
Self-Refianoe.
• Puritanism.
• Missionary spirit.
• Abstract rule of law.
The White colonists prior to the Revolutionary War, though immigrants by one definition, did not consider
themselves immigrants. Rather, apPiOximate 78% of the EngliSh population conceived themselves as Founders,
Settlers, and Planters. As the formative population of those colonial societies, theirs were the policy, the
language, the pattern of work, settlement, and many of the mental habits to which the post-Revolutionary War
"immigrants" would' have to adjust.
DuringV.JV\II, millions of people living in the U:S. were seemingly more interested in their former homeland then
their·newly adopted country. The public Jabeled suchpeop!e "hyphenated" Americans, German-Americans,
Pofish-Arnericans, and Irish-Americans. The Irish and lheJews from Russia, because of previous mistreatment,
becamebftterlyhostlle
to Engl-ishandHussiaandvery
pro-German:
Part II. Immigrants
Immigrant An immigrant is defined as one who settles permanently in a foreign country or region. In colonial
American, those who arrived in American following the Revolutionary War were consideredtffimigrants.
In 1607, the first permanentEnglish
settlement in America was established in Jamestown, Virginia. ThePilgrims
arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, ·i·n" 1620. In 1629, the Puritans came to Massachusetts Bay. Puritan settlers
to the New England area differed from the inhabitants of other colonies. Nearly all other colonies were settled by
me without education; driven by poverty or misconduct out of their homeland: Puritansettlerswera
British
famtl.ies with respectable social positions. They were educated and financially secure. They came to American
50- they could -five --according to their-own principles andworstup
God in -freedom.
The unique background of these early Puritan settlers established a foundation for the cultural norms and beliefs
of today's New Englanders. "Blue Laws" prohibiting the conduct of many types of activities on the Sabbath were
introduced in New Haven Colony in 1638. They were printed on blue paper, The 1790 census. indicated that 78
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White American ethnic group
o Colonial Germans had little desire to blend v,iith rest of the population, They kept to themselves,
continuedspea}'4'lg Genna'1,atter.ded their own chtirches,ar..d rarely teak the opportunity to
become.citizens ofthe 'Bnlish'tmpire,", Theymaintalned:theif
own' cu'iture and feared that the use of
English and contact with other groups would completely Anglicize their children.
o Becauseofmeir
aloofness, they antagonized the dominant EngiishgiOup in the colonies, especially
in Pennsylvania, wno vjewed tnem as dangerous elements in thecommunjty.
Benjamin Franklin
demanded"intlie'l8th
century"VVhy sliouldthe Patanne.Boors be: suffered to swarm tnt-o Language
and Manners, to the exchrslorrof ours?" "Vvhy should Permsytvarria, rounded by the English
recorne a c:-o[onyof Aliens., whow~fl sJlort!y C.eso numerous as to Ge!:mar:1f2e us ip.sL~ of Otlf
Angiifying them?"
Non-Protestant gmups. 98% of colonia! America be!c~.e.1 to one Protestant sect
embraced Roman Catholicism, and only 0,12% embraced Judaism.
Of
another. Only 1.4%
~ In 1775, there were 6 Jewishcongregations,56
Cathojic,65 Methodist, 120 Dutch Reformed, 150
Lutheran, 1,59 German Reformed, .310 Quaker, 494 Baptist, 495 _Anglican, 588 Presbyterian, and 668
Congregation Churches in America.
• To protect Catholics in case of eventual discrimination, Lord Baltimore urged passage of the Toleration Act
in 1004.lt granted freedom of religion to aUwho believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ five years ~ater,
::noM/ev-er ~under:fhe ~dominaficn =OfPrdtestant Jeg-lslat:urs., --:U~P- ·act :was repealed -at11-Ca!nclic··wer-e ~tL.on}ed
the protection of the law. The repeat signified how the colonist, and in tater centuries other Protestants,
regarded, the Roman Catholic raith.
t
• The English, in particular, were anti-Catholic, because English'S rivals, france and Spain, were catholic
coumnes, The -colonist fearoo that the P-Opewou1dorder aU Catho~ics to fight the spr-eadofdemooracy .
Anti-Catholicism in colonial time manifest primarity in the area of civil and religious rights, Onty in Rhode Island
could a colonisf.Catho!lc, erio)! lu}Lci)tit and religious rights accon:ling to. chapter, decrees, and laws of the [ami
• lri Pennsylvania,
where there were a number of Catholic churches. Catholics were permitted freedom of
wOfSh'.p anderqoyed voting rtW.ts, ootdeSp.i1e Quaker suwort they'.vere excludedfrom:pubiic.
• According to Maryland taws passed after 1691, Cathoiics not only were deprived of political rights, but were
a~saforbktden to he~j reP.gtous sei'Iices except in prwate houses.
• In other colonies, inciuding MalYland,Catholics
cate.9oricatl,y.:soomed and even -excluded.
were second class citizens, repressed, banished, and
• Belgium had been atlowed to seWe in-jamestown
that the~tconform to iheChurch of Engla."1d.
Part IV. European-American
oniy the condition that not more than 300 eouid enter
common experience/displacement
'EafiY Americans wlti'i
tt'ie aooence of a r ;' root'ed'nat'ionaitfadlf'16ft, were urmed"'(n acommifmennb
They also shared the same common experience of displacemen
European colonist began to refer
Earfy Americans
als-o sharecrnany
me future.
to themselves as aVVhite"after about 1608.
common
traits. The most notable of the tra-its,v/:hich now characterize ·~,fath{-e
White American ethnic group
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Americans, were:
a.
ldeaHsFrT.
2-. Flexibility_
3. -Ada-ptabllrty to cprange.
4~ High respect for personal achievement
5.
Dependency on self andimmediatetame
versus widercommunlty.
6. Tendencyto conform to the values of peers and neighbors versus stubbomfycifngingiotradftioITs
or
ancestral ways.
Immigrant experiences.
were:
There were various reasons for immigration to America.
a.
Re'jfgious .persecution.lheseare;'lfor
the Pilgrims tomooemtimes.
2.
Politicatoppression.
freedom of worshiiJ"hasbrought
FOUf
of the primary reasons
people t-o America from the days of
America has always been a refuge from tyranny;
3. Economic hardships/factors.
T.rust-~ ooenfueMOST
This third factor has been more complex than the relig-ious/political factors.
compeUlngfactor-forthernajority
.-oftheimmigrants.
4. American letters. Tne most powerful setting-point for America came from the [etters that Europeans wrote
10_t.~aif rompatriois.desaIDing
tt.e wonders of America, or "the land; or CanaalL" !n h'1e Scat1din8lJian
countries, in particular, letters were passed carefully, from family to family, published in the local
newspapers.end discussed avidly from the pUlpits on Sundays.
The voyage.
Trre- voyage- to the- New Worid presente-d travelers
wtth unanticipated
hardships:
a.
fnft~aHy had to save :rfloney 'for passaqe.
2.
Saying goodbye to frier'''His and family whom they coutd expect to never see- again.
3. -No guarantees ships would sail as .agreed" and- extra days ·ffi-eantadded expenses.
4. Weel<.slmoliths dismally on ships that were overcrowded and dlsease-rktderL
America's conscience ana servitude. iITeariy- America, many- poor people were unabieta gettotne eolornes
on their own. To facilltate tb.e trip, many ir.-dividua{s promised to serve as indentured servants lnexchange for the
..-c0stof 1heVOY&98. ·OthersassuTadpaYmernswoui-dbemadeby:friendser·re&en-vesafterarrivai
clfpa)'ffl-Mt was
not made, they also were-indentured for a period to time as payment oHhe costs of the trip
fncfenturea servItude. This was the most common means of getting to the colonies. 'V\Ihifeindenturedserv'itude
was outlawed ~n 1-820,a5 early as 1-636, the-system had become so commonplace t-hat one o:3Uld eas11yobtaina
-:printe(.ffromwlthblank-spacesioflhe-servanfs~andmast-efs
'names.
a.
The- con-tract stated that the servant was to- work for a set term, usuafry four years, during which time they-
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lfi7f2002