Mr Obama spoke of a "deep and abiding affection for the British people in America and a fascination with all things British".
He also referred to a shared history and the role of the "English tradition" in shaping the US constitution.
"We've been through two world wars together," he said.
Given the reasons behind why so many Irish-Scots emigrated to America in the 18th century, it probably wouldn’t have been too polite in the circumstances to also mention their contribution in shaping the US’s Constitution…
…but anyway, for the sake of record; amongst the signatories of the Declaration of Independence were five Scotch-Irish delegates and one Scot with Ulster associations. They were Thomas McKean, Edward Rutledge, James Smith, George Taylor, Matthew Thornton, and Philip Livingstone, a Scot but whose great grandfather had been from County Down.
Signatories of the US Constitution included George Read, Matthew Thornton, James Smith, George Taylor- all Irish-Scots emigres
10 comments:
British built the USA. Not really a surprising declaration.
What next, Argentina says they were highly influenced by Spain?
Brazil - ditto for us concerning the Portugese.
Just like the US, these countries and others on the American continents are heavily influenced in their construct by the "Mother Countries" and have remained so despite immigrants coming in from all over the world.
The Irish have been very influential in Latin America. The liberator of Chile was Bernado O'Higgins, the son of a 50 something Meath man and pubescent Chilean girl. Ambrose O'Higgins was a chap who quit the British Isles due to the penal laws, went to Spain (where all Irish Catholics got citizenship rights on application), worked his way up the Spanish army and then the colonial civil service. By the time Bernardo was conceived he was the most powerful man in Latin America as Vice-Roy of Peru.
Just think how he could of contributed to the British Isles if he had not been restricted by the Penal Laws.
And of course Che Guevara was a Lynch with roots in the West of Ireland.
Others of non-hispanic backgrounds have of course done very well in South America. Notably Carlos Menem (Syrian or Lebanese) of Argentina, Alberto Fujimori of Peru and Strosner of Paraguay. But then less said about the German presence in Latin America the better----------
It is true that the bulk of US Presidents are of British descent. The rest are of mainly North European descent, particuarly the Dutch (the Roosevelts, Van Buren) and Germanic (Eisenhower (swiss), Hoover, Coolidge).
I think the highest ranking non-WASP was Greek Spiro Agnew who was Nixon's (real Scotch-Irish!) vp till he resigned over Watergate.
amongst the signatories of the Declaration of Independence were five Scotch-Irish delegates and one Scot with Ulster associations
Not to forget 16 Welshmen, and then another 8 "Welshmen" who became President.
(I'm not a fan of the American way of keeping their old identity down many generations, but the Americans keep doing it so 8 Presidents it is!)
Every time we get an opportunity we ought to ram home the Ulster-Scot links with the USA. How about old, "stone-wall" Jackson?
Obama has a lot of security; mind you, with a fair chance of becoming the next US President, you can see why.
Tim
British built the USA. Not really a surprising declaration.
Aberdonian,
It was a play on an old song title by irish Folk rockers Horslips-
"The Men who built America"
I remember the Scottish media/PR guru Jack Irvine having a go at the Scotch-Irish.
He talked about a book (this is a few years ago) about how bigoted, inbred, Scotch-Irish rednecks persecuted Catholics in Ireland and then moved to Deep American South where they beat and still beat on black people.
Irvine questioned whether bigotry was ingrained in the Scotch-Irish DNA. The illustration of the article showed KKK men on one side and the Orange Order on the other - "Brothers under the skin".
Of course the term "Hill Billy" supposedly comes from settlers in the Deep South who had an obsession with William of Orange.
What he failed to add was of course the malignant influence of the Orange Order in Canadian politics and their attempts to annoy the Quebeckers and other Canadian-Francophones in the name of "loyalty". Particuarly in Ontario where the LOL there was practically the enforcement arm of the provincial Tory Party.
By the way O'Neil, have you started reading up on that book I recommended on Canadian history.
That'll be Jack Irvine ex-editor of the Sun and (according to this) peddler of homophobia?
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2000/01/21/1
He should sort his own bigotry out first before writing off an entire people with ignorant comments.
It probably also doesn't fit into his own narrative that the reasons the Irish-Scots left Ireland was religious persecution (at ther hands of the Anglican establishment)and a series of small-scale harvest failures as opposed to going out to look for a new set of people to oppress....
And I wonder if he's ever read up on the religious background of United Irishmen?
Re the book, I'm popping out shortly to stock up on my holiday reading- we have rather a long trans-atlantic (!) flight ahead of us in a couple of weeks.
Yes, it is that Jack Irvine. He wrote it in his "Scottish" Daily Mirror column in the late nineties about the time of Portadown fracas.
By the way what was the general response in NI about Tatchell repeating the claim that King Billy was bi-sexual?
A friend of mine from NI threatened to hit me when we were at university for raising the issue with him.
I remember when some guy from San Francisco published a study on Billy and his boys. Scottish Orange Order outraged claiming it was a papist conspiracy fronted by a bunch of SF Queens!
In the Scottish Sun after this furore published a really funny cartoon. It had William on his horse saying "I am William of Orange but I would rather be in pink!"
He was joined by "Billy" Boy George saying "Follow, follow, I will follow King Billy!"
Celtic fans laughing and saying "Whose a pretty billy boy then!"
This was when I think Bob Bird was still editor.
"By the way what was the general response in NI about Tatchell repeating the claim that King Billy was bi-sexual?"
Usual outrage from the usual sources...a bit of sniggering everywhere else! Tatchell was trying shock tactics which will completely fly over the head of his main targets, ie the fundamentalist wing of the DUP and the OO.
Ah Horslips! I have several of their albums from the pure folk to the more mainstream rock.
Unusual, (but perhaps not surprising), that you know of them - I usually get blank stares of incomprehension if I mention their name. And trying to describe "Book of Invasions" as prog-folk just makes things worse...
My father left me a while ago a lot of his tapes from the 70s and as a result, I've been listening to the likes of Horslips and even, God help me, Tangerine Dream and Hawkwind.
I suppose it was one way folk got through the Troubles, light up a spliff and float away on My Sweet Lagan!!
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