Total population | |
---|---|
133 million European-diaspora Americans 41% of total US population (2017) [1] [a] (as opposed to 234,904,818 Americans self-identifying as white [2] 57.8% of the total US population (2020)) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Contiguous United States and
Alaska smaller populations in Hawaii and the territories | |
Languages | |
Predominantly English, but also other Languages of Europe | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Christianity (Mainly Protestantism and Roman Catholicism); Minority religions: Judaism, Islam, Irreligion, Atheism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
European Canadians |
European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. [3] [4] This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent European arrivals. European Americans have been the largest panethnic group in the United States since about the 17th century.
The Spaniards are thought to be the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the contiguous United States, with Martín de Argüelles ( b. 1566) in St. Augustine, then a part of Spanish Florida, [5] [6] and the Russians were the first Europeans to settle in Alaska, establishing Russian America. The first English child born in the Americas was Virginia Dare, born August 18, 1587. She was born in Roanoke Colony, located in present-day North Carolina, which was the first attempt, made by Queen Elizabeth I, to establish a permanent English settlement in North America.
In the 2016 American Community Survey, German Americans (13%), Irish Americans (12%), English Americans (9%), Italian Americans (6%), and Polish Americans (3%) were the five largest self-reported European ancestry groups in the United States, forming over a third of the total population. [7] However, the number of people with British ancestry is considered to be significantly under-counted, as many people in that demographic tend to identify themselves simply as Americans (20,151,829 or 7.2%). [8] [9] [10] [11] The same applies to Americans of Spanish ancestry, as many people in that demographic tend to identify themselves as Hispanic and Latino Americans (58,846,134 or 16.6%), even though they carry a mean of 65.1% European genetic ancestry, mainly from Spain. [12] In the 2000 census over 56 million or 19.9% of the United States population ignored the ancestry question and are classified as "unspecified" and "not reported". [13]
Number of European Americans From 1800 To 2020 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Population | % of the United States | Ref(s) | |
1800 | 4,306,446 | 81.1% | ||
1850 | 19,553,068 | 84.3% | ||
1900 | 66,809,196 | 87.9% | ||
1950 | 134,942,028 | 89.5% | ||
2000 | 211,460,626 | 75.1% | ||
2010 | 223,553,265 | 72.4% | ||
2016 | 133,000,000 | 41% [1] |
In 1995, as part of a review of the Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting), a survey was conducted of census recipients to determine their preferred terminology for the racial/ethnic groups defined in the Directive. For the White group, European American came a distant third, preferred by only 2.35% of panel interviewees, as opposed to White, which was preferred by 61.66%. [14]
The term is sometimes used interchangeably with Caucasian American, White American, and Anglo American in many places around the United States. [15] However, the terms Caucasian and White are racial terms, not geographic, and include some populations whose origin is outside of Europe; and Anglo-American also has another definition, meaning Americans with English ancestry.
The term is used by some to emphasize this demographic's European cultural and geographical as well as ancestral origins, parallelling terms such as African Americans and Asian Americans.
In contexts such as medical research, terms such as "white" and "European" have been criticised for vagueness and blurring important distinctions between different groups that happen to fit within the label. [16] Margo Adair suggests that viewing Americans of European descent as a single group contributes to the "Wonder breading" of the United States, eradicating the cultural heritage of individual European ethnicities. [17]
There are a number of subgroupings of European Americans. [18] While these categories may be approximately defined, often due to the imprecise or cultural regionalization of Europe, the subgroups are nevertheless used widely in cultural or ethnic identification. [19] This is particularly the case in diasporic populations, as with European people in the United States generally. [20] In alphabetical order, some of the subgroups are:
Historical immigration / est. origins | ||
---|---|---|
Country | Immigration before 1790 |
Population ancestry: 1790 [21] |
England* | 230,000 | 1,900,000 |
Ulster Scotch-Irish* | 135,000 | 320,000 |
Germany [b] | 103,000 | 280,000 |
Scotland* | 48,500 | 160,000 |
Ireland | 8,000 | 200,000 |
Netherlands | 6,000 | 100,000 |
Wales* | 4,000 | 120,000 |
France | 3,000 | 80,000 |
Sweden and Other [c] | 500 | 20,000 |
*Totals, British | 417,500 | 2,500,000+ |
![]() |
950,000 | 3,929,214 |
Source: [22](excludes African population.) |
Before the arrival of Europeans in the United States, the Native Americans predominantly inhabited the United States. The Native Americans died of European diseases such as small pox. Europeans killed an estimated 90% of Native Americans. [23] The first Europeans to invade North America were the Spanish. The Spanish’s first invasion was in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida. [24]
Since 1607, some 57 million immigrants have come to the United States from other lands. Approximately 10 million passed through on their way to some other place or returned to their original homelands, leaving a net gain of some 47 million people. [25]
Before 1881, the vast majority of immigrants, almost 86% of the total, arrived from northwest Europe, principally Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia, known as "Old Immigration". The years between 1881 and 1893 the pattern shifted, in the sources of US "New Immigration". Between 1894 and 1914, immigrants from southern, central, and eastern Europe accounted for 69% of the total. [26] [27] [28] Prior to 1960, the overwhelming majority came from Europe or of European descent from Canada. Immigration from Europe as a proportion of new arrivals has been in decline since the mid-20th century, with 75.0% of the total foreign-born population born in Europe compared to 12.1% recorded in the 2010 census. [29]
European immigration to the US 1820–1970 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Years | Arrivals | Years | Arrivals | Years | Arrivals |
1820–1830 | 98,816 | 1901–1910 | 8,136,016 | 1981–1990 | |
1831–1840 | 495,688 | 1911–1920 | 4,376,564 | 1991–2000 | |
1841–1850 | 1,597,502 | 1921–1930 | 2,477,853 | ||
1851–1860 | 2,452,657 | 1931–1940 | 348,289 | ||
1861–1870 | 2,064,407 | 1941–1950 | 621,704 | ||
1871–1880 | 2,261,904 | 1951–1960 | 1,328,293 | ||
1881–1890 | 4,731,607 | 1961–1970 | 1,129,670 | ||
1891–1900 | 3,558,793 | 1971–1980 | |||
Arrivals | Total (150 yrs) | 35,679,763 | |||
Source: [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] |
Country of origin 1820–1978 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Arrivals | % of total | Country | Arrivals | % of total |
Germany1 | 6,978,000 | 14.3% | Norway | 856,000 | 1.8% |
Italy | 5,294,000 | 10.9% | France | 751,000 | 1.5% |
Great Britain | 4,898,000 | 10.01% | Greece | 655,000 | 1.3% |
Ireland | 4,723,000 | 9.7% | Portugal | 446,000 | 0.9% |
Austria-Hungary1, 2 | 4,315,000 | 8.9% | Denmark | 364,000 | 0.7% |
Russia1, 2 | 3,374,000 | 6.9% | Netherlands | 359,000 | 0.7% |
Sweden | 1,272,000 | 2.6% | Finland | 33,000 | 0.1% |
Total (158 yrs) | 34,318,000 | ||||
Source: [35] [36] [37] Note: Many returned to their country of origin |
The figures below show that of the total population of specified birthplace in the United States. A total of 11.1% were born-overseas of the total population.
Population / Proportion born in Europe in 1850–2016 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Population | % of foreign-born | |
1850 | 2,031,867 | 92.2% | |
1860 | 3,807,062 | 92.1% | |
1870 | 4,941,049 | 88.8% | |
1880 | 5,751,823 | 86.2% | |
1890 | 8,030,347 | 86.9% | |
1900 | 8,881,548 | 86.0% | |
1910 | 11,810,115 | 87.4% | |
1920 | 11,916,048 | 85.7% | |
1930 | 11,784,010 | 83.0% | |
1960 | 7,256,311 | 75.0% | |
1970 | 5,740,891 | 61.7% | |
1980 | 5,149,572 | 39.0% | |
1990 | 4,350,403 | 22.9% | |
2000 | 4,915,557 | 15.8% | |
2010 | 4,817,437 | 12.1% | |
2016 | 4,785,267 | 10.9% | |
Source: [38] [29] [39] [40] |
Birthplace | Population in 2010 |
Percent in 2010 |
Population in 2016 |
Percent in 2016 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Totals, European-born | 4,817,437 | 12.0% | 4,785,267 | 10.9% | |
Northern Europe | 923,564 | 2.3% | 950,872 | 2.2% | |
United Kingdom | 669,794 | 1.7% | 696,896 | 1.6% | |
Ireland | 124,457 | 0.3% | 125,840 | 0.3% | |
Other Northern Europe | 129,313 | 0.3% | 128,136 | 0.3% | |
Western Europe | 961,791 | 2.4% | 939,383 | 2.1% | |
Germany | 604,616 | 1.5% | 563,985 | 1.3% | |
France | 147,959 | 0.4% | 175,250 | 0.4% | |
Other Western Europe | 209,216 | 0.5% | 200,148 | 0.4% | |
Southern Europe | 779,294 | 2.0% | 760,352 | 1.7% | |
Italy | 364,972 | 0.9% | 335,763 | 0.8% | |
Portugal | 189,333 | 0.5% | 176,638 | 0.4% | |
Other Southern Europe | 224,989 | 0.6% | 247,951 | 0.5% | |
Eastern Europe | 2,143,055 | 5.4% | 2,122,951 | 4.9% | |
Poland | 475,503 | 1.2% | 424,928 | 1.0% | |
Russia | 383,166 | 1.0% | 397,236 | 0.9% | |
Other Eastern Europe | 1,284,286 | 3.2% | 1,300,787 | 3.0% | |
Other Europe (no country specified) | 9,733 | 0.0% | 11,709 | 0.0% | |
Source: 2010 and 2016
[41]
|
The numbers below give numbers of European Americans as measured by the US Census in 1980, 1990, and 2000. The numbers are measured according to declarations in census responses. This leads to uncertainty over the real meaning of the figures: For instance, as can be seen, according to these figures, the European American population dropped 40 million in ten years, but in fact, this is a reflection of changing census responses. In particular, it reflects the increased popularity of the "American" option following its inclusion as an example in the 2000 census forms.[ citation needed]
Breakdowns of the European American population into sub-components is a difficult and rather arbitrary exercise. Farley (1991) argues that "because of ethnic intermarriage, the numerous generations that separate respondents from their forebears and the apparent unimportance to many whites of European origin, responses appear quite inconsistent". [43]
In particular, a large majority of European Americans have ancestry from a number of different countries and the response to a single "ancestry" gives little indication of the backgrounds of Americans today. When only prompted for a single response, the examples given on the census forms and a pride in identifying the more distinctive parts of one's heritage are important factors; these will likely adversely affect the numbers reporting ancestries from the British Isles. Multiple response ancestry data often greatly increase the numbers reporting for the main ancestry groups, although Farley goes as far to conclude that "no simple question will distinguish those who identify strongly with a specific European group from those who report symbolic or imagined ethnicity." He highlights responses in the Current Population Survey (1973) where for the main "old" ancestry groups (e.g., German, Irish, English, and French), over 40% change their reported ancestry over the six-month period between survey waves (page 422).[ citation needed]
The largest self-reported ancestries in 2000, reporting over 5 million members, were in order: German, Irish, English, American, Italian, French, and Polish. They have different distributions within the United States; in general, the northern half of the United States from Pennsylvania westward is dominated by German ancestry, and the southern-half by English and American. Irish may be found throughout the entire country. Italian ancestry is most common in the Northeast, Polish in the Great Lakes Region and the Northeast, and French in New England and Louisiana. US Census Bureau statisticians estimate that approximately 62 percent of European Americans today are either wholly or partly of English, Welsh, Irish, or Scottish ancestry. Approximately 86% of European Americans today are of Northwestern and Central European ancestry, and 14% are of Southern European, Southeastern European, Eastern European, and Euro-Latino descent.[ citation needed]
Ancestral origin | 1980 / % [44] | 1990 / % [45] | 2000 / % [46] | 2016 (est.) / % [47] | Pop. change 1990–2016 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States population | 226,545,805 | 100.0 | 248,709,873 | 100.0 | 281,421,906 | 100.0 | 318,558,162 | 100.0 | ![]() |
Total ancestries reported | 188,302,438 | 83.1 | 248,709,873 | 100.0 | 287,304,886 | 102.1 | |||
Acadian/ Cajun | 668,271 | 0.3 | 85,414 | 0.0 | 115,312 | 0.04 | ![]() | ||
Albanian | 38,658 | 0.02 | 47,710 | 0.0 | 113,661 | 0.0 | 191,463 | 0.06 | ![]() |
Alsatian | 42,390 | 0.02 | 16,465 | 0.0 | 15,601 | 0.0 | 11,107 | 0.00 | ![]() |
American | 12,395,999 | 5.0 | 20,625,093 | 7.3 | 22,097,012 | 6.94 | ![]() | ||
Austrian | 948,558 | 0.42 | 864,783 | 0.3 | 735,128 | 0.3 | 702,772 | 0.22 | ![]() |
Basque | 43,140 | 0.0 | 47,956 | 0.0 | 57,793 | 0.0 | |||
Bavarian | 4,348 | 0.0 | |||||||
Belarusian | 7,381 | 0.00 | 4,277 | 0.0 | |||||
Belgian | 360,277 | 0.16 | 380,498 [e] | 0.2 | 360,642 | 0.1 | 359,121 | 0.11 | ![]() |
British | 1,119,154 | 0.4 | 1,085,720 | 0.4 | 1,370,222 | 0.43 | ![]() | ||
Bulgarian | 42,504 | 0.02 | 29,595 | 0.0 | 55,489 | 0.0 | 98,410 | 0.03 | ![]() |
Carpatho Rusyn | 7,602 | 0.0 | 7,921 | 0.00 | ![]() | ||||
Celtic | 29,652 | 0.0 | 65,638 | 0.0 | 50,058 | 0.02 | ![]() | ||
Cornish | 3,991 | 0.0 | |||||||
Croatian | 252,970 | 0.11 | 544,270 | 0.2 | 374,241 | 0.1 | 410,003 | 0.13 | ![]() |
Cypriot | 6,053 | 0.00 | 4,897 | 0.0 | 7,663 | 0.0 | 7,332 | 0.00 | ![]() |
Czech | 1,892,456 | 0.84 | 1,296,411 [f] | 0.5 | 1,262,527 | 0.4 | 1,435,359 | 0.45 | ![]() |
Czechoslovakian | 315,285 | 0.1 | 441,403 | 0.2 | 300,424 | 0.09 | ![]() | ||
Danish | 1,518,273 | 0.67 | 1,634,669 | 0.7 | 1,430,897 | 0.5 | 1,297,738 | 0.41 | ![]() |
Dutch | 6,304,499 | 2.78 | 6,227,089 | 2.5 | 4,542,494 | 1.6 | 4,210,787 | 1.32 | ![]() |
Eastern European [g] | 62,404 | 0.03 | 132,332 | 0.1 | 546,280 | 0.17 | |||
English | 49,598,035 | 21.89 | 32,651,788 | 13.1 | 24,515,138 | 8.7 | 24,426,623 | 7.67 | ![]() |
Estonian | 25,994 | 0.01 | 26,762 | 0.0 | 25,034 | 0.0 | 27,864 | 0.01 | ![]() |
European [g] | 175,461 | 0.08 | 466,718 | 0.2 | 1,968,696 | 0.7 | 3,922,881 | 1.23 | |
Finnish | 615,872 | 0.27 | 658,870 | 0.3 | 623,573 | 0.2 | 645,053 | 0.20 | ![]() |
Flemish | 14,157 | 0.0 | |||||||
French (except Basque) | 12,892,246 | 5.69 | 10,320,935 | 4.1 | 8,309,908 | 3.0 | 8,151,499 | 2.56 | ![]() |
French Canadian | 780,488 | 0.34 | 2,167,127 | 0.9 | 2,349,684 | 0.8 | 2,084,903 | 0.65 | ![]() |
German | 49,224,146 | 21.73 | 57,947,171 [h] | 23.3 | 42,885,162 | 15.2 | 45,879,360 | 14.40 | ![]() |
German Russian | 10,153 | 0.0 | 10,535 | 0.0 | 23,772 | 0.01 | ![]() | ||
Greek | 959,856 | 0.42 | 1,110,373 | 0.4 | 1,153,307 | 0.4 | 1,282,655 | 0.40 | ![]() |
Hungarian | 1,776,902 | 0.78 | 1,582,302 | 0.6 | 1,398,724 | 0.5 | 1,423,144 | 0.45 | ![]() |
Icelandic | 32,586 | 0.01 | 40,529 | 0.0 | 42,716 | 0.0 | 50,572 | 0.02 | ![]() |
Irish | 40,165,702 | 17.73 | 38,735,539 [i] | 15.6 | 30,528,492 | 10.8 | 33,093,550 | 10.39 | ![]() |
Italian | 12,183,692 | 5.38 | 14,664,550 [j] | 5.9 | 15,723,555 | 5.6 | 17,174,741 | 5.39 | ![]() |
Latvian | 92,141 | 0.04 | 100,331 | 0.0 | 87,564 | 0.0 | 86,128 | 0.03 | ![]() |
Lithuanian | 742,776 | 0.33 | 811,865 | 0.3 | 659,992 | 0.2 | 648,514 | 0.20 | ![]() |
Luxemburger | 49,994 | 0.02 | 49,061 | 0.0 | 45,139 | 0.0 | 40,760 | 0.01 | ![]() |
Macedonian | 20,365 | 0.0 | 38,051 | 0.0 | 57,221 | 0.02 | ![]() | ||
Maltese | 31,645 | 0.01 | 39,600 | 0.0 | 40,159 | 0.0 | 39,985 | 0.01 | ![]() |
Manx | 9,220 | 0.00 | 6,317 | 0.0 | 6,955 | 0.0 | |||
Moravian | 3,781 | 0.0 | |||||||
Northern Irish | 16,418 | 0.01 | 4,009 | 0.0 | 3,693 | 0.0 | |||
Norwegian | 3,453,839 | 1.52 | 3,869,395 | 1.6 | 4,477,725 | 1.6 | 4,454,964 | 1.40 | ![]() |
Pennsylvania German | 305,841 | 0.1 | 255,807 | 0.1 | 301,483 | 0.09 | ![]() | ||
Polish | 8,228,037 | 3.63 | 9,366,106 | 3.8 | 8,977,444 | 3.2 | 9,344,126 | 2.93 | ![]() |
Portuguese | 1,024,351 | 0.45 | 1,153,351 | 0.5 | 1,177,112 | 0.4 | 1,367,476 | 0.43 | ![]() |
Prussian | 25,469 | 0.0 | |||||||
Romanian | 315,258 | 0.14 | 365,544 | 0.1 | 367,310 | 0.1 | 459,841 | 0.14 | ![]() |
Russian | 2,781,432 | 1.23 | 2,952,987 | 1.2 | 2,652,214 | 0.9 | 2,795,443 | 0.88 | ![]() |
Saxon | 4,519 | 0.0 | |||||||
Scandinavian | 475,007 | 0.21 | 678,880 | 0.3 | 425,099 | 0.2 | 629,819 | 0.20 | ![]() |
Scotch-Irish | 5,617,773 | 2.3 | 4,319,232 | 1.5 | 3,056,848 | 0.96 | ![]() | ||
Scottish | 10,048,816 | 4.44 | 5,393,581 | 2.2 | 4,890,581 | 1.7 | 5,457,798 | 1.71 | ![]() |
Serbian | 100,941 | 0.04 | 116,795 | 0.0 | 140,337 | 0.0 | 189,425 | 0.06 | ![]() |
Sicilian | 50,389 | 0.0 | |||||||
Slavic | 172,696 | 0.08 | 76,931 | 0.0 | 127,137 | 0.0 | 125,571 | 0.04 | ![]() |
Slovak | 776,806 | 0.34 | 1,882,897 | 0.8 | 797,764 | 0.3 | 714,557 | 0.22 | ![]() |
Slovene | 126,463 | 0.06 | 124,437 | 0.1 | 176,691 | 0.1 | 172,511 | 0.05 | ![]() |
Soviet | 7,729 | 0.0 | 2,459 | 0.00 | ![]() | ||||
Spaniard | 94,528 | 0.04 | 360,935 | 0.1 | 299,948 [48] | 0.1 | 768,252 [49] | 0.24 | ![]() |
Swedish | 4,345,392 | 1.92 | 4,680,863 | 1.9 | 3,998,310 | 1.4 | 3,908,762 | 1.23 | ![]() |
Swiss | 981,543 | 0.43 | 1,045,495 | 0.4 | 911,502 | 0.3 | 937,376 | 0.29 | ![]() |
Ukrainian | 730,056 | 0.32 | 740,723 | 0.3 | 892,922 | 0.3 | 986,597 | 0.31 | ![]() |
Welsh | 1,664,598 | 0.73 | 2,033,893 | 0.8 | 1,753,794 | 0.6 | 1,805,577 | 0.57 | ![]() |
West German | 3,885 | 0.0 | |||||||
Yugoslavian | 360,174 | 0.16 | 257,994 | 0.1 | 328,547 | 0.1 | 276,360 | 0.09 | ![]() |
As the largest component of the American population, the overall American culture deeply reflects the European-influenced culture that predates the United States of America as an independent state. Much of American culture shows influences from the diverse nations of the United Kingdom and Ireland, such as the English, Irish, Cornish, Manx, Scotch-Irish, Scottish and Welsh. Colonial ties to the United Kingdom spread the English language, legal system and other cultural attributes. [4] Scholar David Hackett Fischer asserts in Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America that the folkways of four groups of people who moved from distinct regions of the United Kingdom to the United States persisted and provide a substantial cultural basis for much of the modern United States. [50] Fischer explains "the origins and stability of a social system which for two centuries has remained stubbornly democratic in its politics, capitalist in its economy, libertarian in its laws and individualist in its society and pluralistic in its culture." [51]
Much of the European-American cultural lineage can be traced back to Western and Northern Europe, which is institutionalized in the government, traditions, and civic education in the United States. [52] Since most later European Americans have assimilated into American culture, many Americans of European ancestry now generally express their personal ethnic ties sporadically and symbolically and do not consider their specific ethnic origins to be essential to their identity; however, European American ethnic expression has been revived since the 1960s. [53] Some European Americans such as Italians, Greeks, Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Irish, and others have maintained high levels of ethnic identity. In the 1960s, the melting pot ideal to some extent gave way to increased interest in cultural pluralism, strengthening affirmations of ethnic identity among various American ethnic groups, European as well as others. [53]
The American legal system also has its roots in French philosophy with the separation of powers and the federal system [54] along with English law in common law. [55] For example, elements of the Magna Carta in it contain provisions on criminal law that were incorporated into the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution. It as well as other documents had elements influencing and incorporated into the United States Constitution.[ citation needed]
Another area of cultural influence are American Patriotic songs:
Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom.
Some white Americans have varying amounts of Amerindian and sub-Saharan African ancestry. In a recent study, Gonçalves et al. 2007 reported sub-Saharan and Amerindian mtDna lineages at a frequency of 3.1% (respectively 0.9% and 2.2%) in European Americans, although that frequency may be scattered by region. [70]
DNA analysis on white Americans by geneticist Mark D. Shriver showed an average of 0.7% Sub-Saharan African admixture and 3.2% Native American admixture. [71] The same author, in another study, claimed that about 30% of all White Americans, approximately 66 million people, have a median of 2.3% of Sub-Saharan African admixture. [72] Later, Shriver retracted his statement, saying that actually around 5% of White Americans exhibit some detectable level of African ancestry. [73]
From the 23andMe database, about 5 to at least 13 percent of self-identified white American Southerners have greater than 1 percent African ancestry. [74] Southern states with the highest African American populations tended to have the highest percentages of hidden African ancestry. [75] White Americans (European Americans) on average are: "98.6 percent European, 0.19 percent African and 0.18 percent Native American." Inferred British/Irish ancestry is found in European Americans from all states at mean proportions of above 20%, and represents a majority of ancestry, above 50% mean proportion, in states such as Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Scandinavian ancestry in European Americans is highly localized; most states show only trace mean proportions of Scandinavian ancestry, while it comprises a significant proportion, upwards of 10%, of ancestry in European Americans from Minnesota and the Dakotas. [74] [75]
The 1924 act also sought to curtail the large number of eastern and southern European migrants who began entering the United States in 1890. Through the National Origins Quota formula, the act pegged future immigration at up to 2 percent of the number of foreign-born persons from a particular country already in the United States as of the 1890 census. Through race-neutral in language, the formula favored northwestern Europeans by using the 1890 census as its referent
Although many histories of immigration describe this period from the 1870s to the 1920s as one when the sources of migrants shifted from Northwest Europe to Southern and Eastern Europe - "Old Immigration" versus the "New Immigration," Northwest Europeans continued to come and stay in very large numbers.
During the heightened immigration associated with the 1880-1920 period, many doubted that the largely Southern and Eastern European newcomers would ever assimilate to the culture of the dominant groups, who were of predominantly Northwestern European origin ... Social differences between these immigrants and European Americans who were already in America were perceived as insurmountable.