Labat

English Americans, also referred to as Anglo-Americans, are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. According to the American Community Survey in 2010 data, Americans reporting English ancestry made up an estimated 9.0% of the total U.S. population, and form the third largest European ancestry group after German Americans and Irish Americans. However, demographers regard this as a serious undercount, as the index of inconsistency is high, and many, if not most, people from English stock have a tendency (since the introduction of a new ‘American’ category in the 2000 census) to identify as simply Americans or if of mixed European ancestry, identify with a more recent and differentiated ethnic group. In the 1980 United States Census, over 49 million (49,598,035) Americans claimed English ancestry, at the time around 26.34% of the total population and largest reported group which, even today, would make them the largest ethnic group in the United States. Eight out of the ten most common surnames in the United States are of English origin or having possible mixed British Isles heritage, the other two being of Spanish origin. Throughout the 19th century, England was the largest investor in American land development, railroads, mining, cattle ranching, and heavy industry. Perhaps because English settlers gained easy acceptance, they founded few organizations dedicated to preserving the traditions of their homeland. Scotch-Irish Americans are descendants of Lowland Scots and Northern English (specifically: County Durham, Cumberland, Northumberland and Westmorland) settlers who colonized Ireland during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. In 1982, an opinion poll showed respondents a card listing a number of ethnic groups and asked, “Thinking both of what they have contributed to this country and have gotten from this country, for each one tell me whether you think, on balance, they’ve been a good or a bad thing for this country.” The English were the top ethnic group with 66% saying they were a good thing for the United States, followed by the Irish at 62%. The overwhelming majority of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America were of English extraction, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. English immigrants in the 19th century, as with other groups, sought economic prosperity. They began migrating in large numbers without state support.