At the time of the Revolutionary War in the USA, were there more Germans or Engl

Question: At the time of the Revolutionary War in the USA, were there more Germans or English as citizens of the USA!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Contra some other claims, the Germans were the SECOND largest group in the 13 colonies at the time of the Revolution

PART ONE

It's important to keep in mind (esp in light of part 2 below) that the 13 colonies were all BRITISH colonies, under British government (so that government affairs, the courts, etc!., would have conducted business in ENGLISH) and in EACH of them the dominant group was British!. In New England the colonists were overwhelmingly English or Welsh!. Yes, there were significant pockets of Germans, some Dutch, French, etc!. but NONE of these groups offered serious competition to English!.

Here's a chart of the overall breakdown:
English 48!.7 %
African 20!.0 %
Scot-Irish 7!.8 %
German 6!.9 %
Scottish 6!.6 %
Dutch 2!.7 %
French 1!.4 %
Swedish0!.6 %
Other 5!.3 %
http://www!.digitalhistory!.uh!.edu/history!.!.!.

Add the British groups together and you get 63!.1%!. Further, if you discount the Africans from the total (who would certainly have been in no position to impose their languages) you are left with 16!.9% non-British!. In other words, about 75% of the white population was British, and most of that from England!. Even if were not all under British rule, there would have been NO contest!

PART TWO

Not sure if this came up because of the claim sometimes made that German "almost" became the official language of the U!.S!. It's an urban legend!. Note especially

a) (from list above) though German was the largest non-English speaking European group, but even they were a fraction of the size of the English population!.

b) the claim of "almost choosing German" -- never came close!. The legend may perhaps be based on a piece of proposed (never passed) legislation regarding TRANSLATING official documents into German (though they were all always written in ENGLISH)

for further debunking & explanation of the legend
http://www!.snopes!.com/language/apocryph/!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Tags Mom is right!. What we call the 13 original States, were English Colonies and anyone who came here to live was technically an English citizen!.

In point of fact, there were many nationalities who came to the colonies to live, but as there wasn't a German nation before the American Revolution, we can't technically call them Germans!. There were people from a lot of German "principalities" German wasn't united until 1871, until then the people were citizens of Saxony, Hanover, or some other German State (they were called German, because they all spoke that same language)

In addition, many German speakers originated from the area we now call "The Netherlands" - Their language was called Dutch (Deutsch) - The land we in the US call Germany is know as Deutschland!. So do you want to consider the Dutch (who established New York as New Amsterdam) also of German origin!? So the real answer to your question depends on who you consider a German!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

English by far!. Most of the Germanic people came over after Europe's "year of revolutions" in 1848!.

"tagsmomm" has a point - - but I think I know what you meant!.
The people here in America (the area that would become the USA) were mostly English in 1775-1783!.

My German ancestors all arrived in the 1800's!. The one sneaky Irishman in my background came over at the time of the Potato famine in the mid 1840's, and the Swedish part arrived in 1906!. I guess I'm not a very English American, but you might consider that the English have often called themselves "Anglo-Saxons!." The Angles and the Saxons who came to England in the 400's AD were all Germanic peoples who spoke a German dialect!.

There is no pure Englishman!. He is a combination of Gaelic - Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, French (Gallic - which is also Celtic), and don't forget the Romans who were in England fathering babies for almost 400 years (~55 AD to 410 AD)!.
This is why the English language is so diverse and rich in synonyms!.

The Welsh may be more "English than the English, but doesn't the word "English" and "England" derive from the "Angles" who were Germanic!? Ethnicity is very complicated and fun!. We are all related!.

[There is evidence that Hitler felt the English people were very similar to Germanic!. He did not truly want to fight against the English!.]Www@QuestionHome@Com

1!. We were "subjects" at least as far as the Crown considered us!.

2!. Almost entirely English (or more specifically, over 90%)!. The next largest group (if you exclude Indians and slaves) would have been Dutch!. Remember, they're the folks that settled New Amsterdam!. After that, the next largest groups would have been Swedes and French Hugenots with only a very few Germans!. For more details, check out this: www!.rootsweb!.ancestry!.com/~nycoloni/ethm!.!.!.

3!. The Germans first started to come in serious numbers when the Brits send Hessian mercenaries (who were mostly imposed and didn't want to be there, a significant number deserted when promised land and then set up stakes here in the new US)!. Later (more legal) waves of German immigrants followed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Did we have citizens then!? Or weren't we British subjects!?Www@QuestionHome@Com