English Americans (1607- ) are people who live in the US who came from England. They gave the US its laws, language and mainstream culture. They pretty much ran the country till at least the 1960s.
They are the unhyphenated Americans. Sometimes they are called Wasps, “White Anglo-Saxon Protestants”, a word mainly applied to well-to-do White Protestants of any northern European background.
1500s: Out of the cognitive dissonance of England leaving the Catholic Church, the English come to feel they are better than everyone else, partly because of their Anglo-Saxon cultural roots. Anglo-Saxonism is born. It makes it hard for them to deal with others as equals. They see the Irish (and later Native Americans and Africans) as savages.
1600s and early 1700s: England uses North America as a dumping ground for convicts, sturdy beggars, “excess poor”, religious fanatics and so on.
The first four waves from England:
- 1629 to 1640: From East Anglia to New England. Heavily Puritan.
- 1640 to 1675: From southern England to what will become the southern US.
- 1675 to 1725: From the North Midlands to Pennsylvania. Heavily Quaker.
- 1717 to 1775: From Northumbria (and Scotland and northern Ireland) to Appalachia.
These four English subcultures spread across North America, wiping out Native Americans. They will mix and create three new subcultures:
- Greater New York, part Dutch, part Jewish.
- The Great Basin, centred on Utah. Heavily Mormon.
- Southern California, part Mexican, part Jewish. Spreads across the south-west.
Nearly all non-English Whites will assimilate into one of these seven Anglo-Protestant subcultures to become “American”, meaning White American.
By 1780, because of the cognitive dissonance of having African slaves, Anglo-Saxonism becomes racialized.
In 1851, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous English American writer, said:
“The German & Irish nations, like the Negro, have a deal of guano in their destiny. They are ferried over the Atlantic, & carted over America to ditch & to drudge, to make the land fertile, & corn cheap, & then to lie down prematurely to make the grass a spot of greener grass on the prairie.”
After 1865, with the South broken by the Civil War, northern Wasps fill the top levels of US society – in government, the military, big business, banks, universities, museums, the arts and so on.
By 1900, the racial model of the US looks like this:
- English Americans
- Other northern Europeans
- Other Europeans
- Blacks
Native, Latino and Asian Americans do not even make the list.
In the early 1900s, English Americans are the driving force behind:
- the Klan – protecting Anglo-Saxon civilization from Blacks, Jews and Catholics.
- prohibition – directed against German beer, Italian wine and Irish whisky.
- eugenics and immigration law – keeping the US racially Nordic (northern European).
- Americanization – remaking the non-English in the Wasp image.
In the 1930s, this world starts to come undone: the anti-northern-Wasp vote is now big enough to bring pro-White, not pro-Wasp, governments to power. This leads to the Third Enlargement of Whiteness (1930-1980), where the top three layers of the 1900 race model become one.
By the 2010s, according to Amy Chua, Wasps have lost their superiority complex.
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
English Americans also constitute most of the Imperialist White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy. 😛
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Abagond…I know I’ve said it before, but I just have to keep saying it — Thank you so damned much!
You’ve taught this Black “old-head” more than she’s ever learned in her whole lifetime of American mis-education (and given I’m more than a half-century old, that’s quite a bit, my friend!!😃).
Please, take good care of yourself and keep sharing with us, and — always, always know, how very much you are appreciated!!
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Wasn’t Lee Harvey also the soul that reanimated Chucky from the Chile Play movies?
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Good post. Love that “cognitive dissonance” phrase. One thing I would add:
“Anglo-Saxonism is born. It makes it hard for them to deal with others as equals.”
My theory is that the reason they so readily jumped into a ‘better than others’ mentality was basically because they’d been colonized and raided and enslaved by everyone and his cousin for a very long time. The English language is so rich (and impossible to spell) because of all the countries that colonized her over the years. Half the countries in Europe and a few from North Africa were picking on those poor island bumpkins for centuries. “Dirty words” in English are the original English terms, while the polite variants are from outside. That tells you who the coarse, ignorant inferiors were.
That anthem that goes “Britain never, ever will be slaves,” leaves out one word. “Again.” They escaped their inferiority the common way, by becoming racist oppressors themselves. It would be nice if we did unto others what we wanted done to us, but the reality is for the most part, people do unto others what’s been done to them.
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“It would be nice if we did unto others what we wanted done to us, but the reality is for the most part, people do unto others what’s been done to them.”
I think that’s exactly right — except for us. I keep asking myself, “Why in the hayell is that?” Thoughts??
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I love this post Abagond, like most all of your posts.
PS – Asian-American assimilation will be the fourth enlargement of Whiteness. Because current immigration (including Asian) is based primarily on favoring the highly educated, modern day immigrants from Asia are scoring higher in academic tests than the previous highest (White) and therefor are said to be out-Whiting the Whites.
PPS – Abagond for president of the United States and @deray for Vice President.
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[…] Source: abagond.wordpress.com […]
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Another informative and insightful post, Abagond!
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P.S. That apple pie is reallyyy making me think of what I want to make for Easter dinner next week, lol
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Deb,
“I think that’s exactly right — except for us. I keep asking myself, “Why in the hayell is that?” Thoughts??”
That isn’t true. We do the same.
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Weird question but do you guys celebrate Easter?
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Solesearch…How so?
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Deb,
Homophobia
Gang violence
Anti immigrant sentiment
Colorism
Anti-semetism
Sexism
Crime
Black people do plenty of things to others they wouldn’t want done to them
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@”Nearly all non-English Whites will assimilate into one of these seven Anglo-Protestant subcultures to become “American”, meaning White American.”
The guy who created Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, caught flak recently for saying that becoming a wasp male was and is the ideal for every American:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUgB39FZyLA)
@Omnipresent
No. But I’m eager to watch the blood moon eclipse.
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????
resw77. I don’t often post on this blog anymore so, forigive me if I am mistaken but why the sarcasm? Genuine question with one of 2 answers – yes or no. I ask on the blog talking about English Americans because I assume that many customs and traditions followed over.
Thanks for taking my question and blowing out $hit all over it. Really decent of you. ffs
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Omnipresent: I celebrate Easter.
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Easter: Me too.
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And of course Easter is the biggest time for the traditional African-American church hats!
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@King: Right you are good Sir on Easter Sunday many sister will be wearing their queenly crowns
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And stinky Easter eggs and candy to rot the teeth and cause diabetes
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@ Mary
Can I get a Witness!!??
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Yep that’s what’s up on Sunday on Easter
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It is interesting on how both sides can debate on whether the fourth enlargement of American whites will be expanded to include Asian-Americans or not.
I think it depends.
Some factors that might impact it:
– the scale of continuing Asian immigration and their wealth and power. I could envision a scenario of elite secondary schools in 2030 using Mandarin as a medium of instruction, and Jewish and other upwardly mobile whites and Asian Americans seeking entrance to that school. I can see a hint of that when they opened a Mandarin Chinese medium school in North Potomac, MD a few years ago. Only about 1/2 the students in the school are ethnic chinese – whites, esp. Jews and some blacks and Hispanics also enrolled in the school. Or will speaking, reading and writing Chinese be a signature of the new “elite white”.
– the development or non-development of a pan-Asian American identity. We are seeing more and more Asian-Americans marrying outside their ethnic group but with other Asian Americans. Will they develop a multi-ethnic pan-Asian American identity? We have had that in Hawaii for the past couple generations. Will that expand to CA?
–> the migration of whites from Mainland USA has not succeeded in expanding the definition of “white” in Hawaii to include multi-ethnic Asian Hawaiian Americans. Why do we expect that to happen in the US mainland?
– Asian American studies
Will Asian American studies be taught in schools? Will we have a basis for Asian American identity? Or will the history of Asian Americans simply be taught as minor contributions to white American history?
– Hapa movements – what will happen to them?
They were the main force behind mutiracial activism in the past 20 years. How will they proceed going forward? will they marry and procreate with each other, with whites, or with Asians? We could either end up with
– a large American contingent who simply see themselves as multiracial American — not white, but perhaps part white, part Asian, part black, part Latino, part Native American
OR
– separating back into white and Asian American populations with some mixture on both sides, e.g.,
White identified: 80% white, 10% Asian, 5% black, 5% Native American with some Latino antecedents
Asian identified: 80% Asian, 10% white, 5% black, 5% Native American with some Latino antecedents
(some of the white and Native American ancestry could come from, say, Mexican-Americans, some who are already part black or part Asian).
But the enlargement of American whiteness to embrace Asian Americans in nowhere near guaranteed. But neither is it guaranteed it will not happen.
I think it will be more likely to happen if Asian immigration suddenly dried up.
What I think is more likely to happen is the enlargement of American whiteness to include white hispanics and multiracial Americans who are at least 1/2 white. There will be less requirements for whites to be “pure” white, but they have to agree to abide by the rules of whiteness. Someone less than 1/2 white might be able to “buy” themselves into whiteness – maybe future people like Tiger Woods.
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@Omnipresent
“forigive me if I am mistaken but why the sarcasm?”
You’re forgiven b/c there was no sarcasm. That was my response to your question. “No,” I am not celebrating Easter, “But I’m eager to watch the blood moon eclipse,” as it will fall around Easter this year, and as the bible says in Acts 2:20: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come”
“Thanks for taking my question and blowing out $hit all over it.”
How have I done that, and why was my response such a problem for you?
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I comment so seldom but this was very interesting for me, especially as I’m English. The thing about being English, which a lot of English people themselves seem to forget or simply not know is that it means you originally come from everywhere… We were invaded so many times in early years. No one from this island can really know their heritage unless they originate from somewhere else in recent generations. London has always been a cosmopolitan city made up of people of all cultures, mainly due to our docks here. London was founded by the Romans so has never really been ‘English’ anyway.
At the moment we have a massive problem with immigrant and Muslim hate. This is founded on empty facts which the government and bankers send out as propaganda to deflect from the real current problems that face everyday working class people: The government spend more on military than anything else. We have massive debt and the Bankers rob us blind. Our monetary system is longer based on our wealth but rather how much paper money is in circulation. Natives believe that Immigrants’ take our jobs, benefits and homes and come here to use our national health service’ and that is why we are in recession and, as a nation, struggling to keep our heads above water. As long as the British people buy into this propaganda the government and bankers will continue to bleed us dry.
Many of the early migrants to America were sent without choice or were running from (mostly religious) persecution. That in no way detracts from the horrendous history over there in America, just a fact.
Minda45; I resent ur anti English comments. we are actually a beautiful country of people (all of us from every nation) with a rich heritage and culture. Our old course language, as you call it, is beautiful too. Who but the British could use such wonderful and expressive words as ‘cunt’ and ‘fuck’… Theses words were not so coarse in their original use. I Don’t think you have ever actually lived here. Have you even visited?
On a side note Lee Harvey Oswald is so English looking!
Sorry if this a bit dis-jointed. I’m not very articulate
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@ Jefe
I pretty much agree: the idea of who can pass for White will be enlarged to take in some of the Whiter-looking mestizos and hapas. But they will have to be Anglo-compliant: be assimilated, not question White racism, not be conspicuously non-Christian, etc.
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^ I think it will also be flexible enough even to accept people who are part black as long as they pledge allegiance to anglo whiteness and demonstrate to white people that they are anti-black.
100 years ago they would be black, no questions asked (unless they took the ultimate position to pass as white and cut off their social and familial ties with black communities). In the future, the requirement will be less strict. They only need to demonstrate that they accept that whites are better than blacks and they prefer to identify with them.
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resw77:
How have I done that, and why was my response such a problem for you
Apologies mate. What can I say. I had been posting on another blog and catching flack and probably had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Whats that saying about acting in haste and repenting at leisure!!!!
King and Mary
Thanks for responding. We will go to mass, I am not religious but the OH is (well, a bit anyway).
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@abagond: Educational post. Thanks.
@Omnipresent: I don’t do Easter. I’m not religious and it’s not that big a deal in England unless you’re a kid waiting for chocolate.
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@Zoe Jordan
“We were invaded so many times in early years. No one from this island can really know their heritage unless they originate from somewhere else in recent generations. ”
Wow, it’s rare to hear that from someone from England.
“London has always been a cosmopolitan city made up of people of all cultures, mainly due to our docks here. ”
Right, and I remember a few years ago where it was highly publicised that some white Englishmen sampled had some rare African DNA: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070124-british-genes_2.html
And we forget that Elizabeth I had to expel Africans because they were too numerous.
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I think that in 1900, other northern european protestant groups that had been in the us since colonial times were about equal to English Americans.
For example:
Pennsylvania Dutch (Eisenhower, Hoover, Hershey, Rockefeller) but not German-Americans whose families came in the 1800s
New Amsterdam Dutch (Vanderbilt, Roosevelt) but not Dutch-Americans whose families came in the 1800s
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^ It is certainly possible to openly profess to be Jewish or Buddhist, yet still not be conspicuously non-Christian. The 2 examples you gave do not violate that rule.
In fact, even Tiger Woods, who is at most about 1/4 white and claims to be Buddhist, satisfies all 4 of those requirements already.
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@Resw 77,
Yeah, I remember that about English people with African blood. I think there was a little BBC tv series about it. It’s really interesting. Of course It doesn’t matter what country ur from or where you live, ALL momo sapiens originate from (West, I think) Africa anyway. They were stronger, migrated and wiped out the european neanderthal! Maybe if the whole world was sampled they would all have African DNA… Its a shame they didn’t have DNA testing 200 years ago… That would of blown the socks off the English-Americans of the time! Ha!
Are you English Resw 77?
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Bud dhu
@Omnipresent: I don’t do Easter. I’m not religious and it’s not that big a deal in England unless you’re a kid waiting for chocolate
I am from England too I think that the religious aspect of this is lost so it is just a reason for people to have a break in all honesty.
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@Zoe Jordan
It is actually East Africa where homo sapiens sapiens origins are (supposedly), and no I’m not English but have lived in London and former English colonies.
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