American Links with Scotland

Written by Ken McNab

On 12 th Jul 2003, I had the pleasure of attending the 227 th Independence Day
Anniversary with the American Ambassador to Scotland, as one of a few people in
Scotland who is an ASTA (The American Society of Travel Agents) member. Her speech
revealed that we have many links with that great continent. She sent me a copy of her
speech and here are some of the interesting facts that she revealed on that day.

When one looks at the globe, Scotland is the second closest European Trading Nation to
the continent of America. History ties that in with The Tobacco Barons of Glasgow and
the links in trade with Scotland, which meant we were the strongest commercial
partners of The Americas. There after our trades were strong until the early 1950’s
when successive British Governments started to focus more on the European Union as
their own “United States of Europe”. This may have had a detrimental effect on our
links, but we need to change that.

There have always been strong ties between America and Scotland. It is the second most
popular country after Ireland. One of the former presidents, Woodrow Wilson, once
said, “Every line of strength in American history is coloured with Scottish blood.”

Here are a few facts we can take pride in

• ​The Declaration of Independence was modelled on the Declaration of Arbroath (Which I am told is the Scottish Declaration of Independence). On the day of our meeting, the Americans were celebrating the signing of that document.
• It was a Scot, Mr. John Witherspoon, who made an appeal to Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence, and a little-known fact is that Thomas Jefferson was a descendant of the sister of Robert the Bruce, Isabel Bruce.

• Half of those who signed the Declaration of Independence were Scottish.
  
• ​In the 1700s, more than 1,400 defeated Jacobite rebels were banished from Scotland and sent to America for their crimes. Flora MacDonald, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to Paris, France, then emigrated to North Carolina, but later returned to Scotland, spending​ the rest of her life on the Isle of Skye.

• ​Nine governors of the original thirteen US states were Scottish, including Archibald Bulloch from the State of Georgia.
• The founder of the US Navy, John Paul Jones, was Scottish and was born in Kirkbean, Dumfries & Galloway. The first Secretary of War, General Henry Knox, was of Scottish descent.​

 Scots traditional strengths in the fields of Banking, Education, Medicine and Law are also well demonstrated in American History

• In Banking: the first Secretary of Treasury, and key influence in writing the American Constitution, Mr Alexander Hamilton was of Scottish descent. In fact, half of all the Secretaries of the Treasury in the US so far have had Scottish ancestry. Hamilton is now the subject of the hit Broadway musical of the same name.
• Scots have had a tremendous influence on US Education. The founder of Princeton University, Mr. John Witherspoon, was a Scot. As was the founder of the second oldest university in the US, the College of William and Mary, Mr. James Blair.

• Scots also influenced Medicine in the US. The First Surgeon General, Mr. John Craik, was a Scot. One of the founders of Harvard Medical School, Mr. Benjamin Waterhouse, was also a Scot, and the founders of the First Medical School in New York, Mr. John Kay and Mr. Samuel Bard, were also Scots.
• In the US justice system, Scots were, again, equally influential. Two of the first members of the US Supreme Court were Scottish. The Great Justice John Marshall was of Scottish descent, and in fact some 35 Superior Court Justices have been Scots.

Scottish Americans have been very influential with some of the best known American symbols

• Even ‘Uncle Sam’, (the symbol of the Federal Government, see right) was Scottish. His grandparents were born in Greenock on the Clyde. The real Sam had a food business in New York that supplied meat to the army in the early 1800s. The food boxes were stamped with ‘US’, which Sam told people stood for ‘Uncle Sam’. The soldiers thought this was a colloquialism for the US Government, which is now the Uncle Sam we know today, supposedly, began.

• Betsy Ross, the Philadelphia seamstress who made the first American Flag, was of Scottish descent.
• Francis Scott Key, the writer of the US national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, was also of Scottish descent.
• James Pollock, who was responsible for putting the phrase, “In God we trust”, on US coins, was also a Scottish American.

​Scotland & America can be seen to have much in common. Beyond a share of heritage and cultural affinity, we both have fierce pride in our nationhood, and we are both passionate about independence.
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Did you know that in the US, there are nineteen Aberdeen’s, seven Edinburgh’s, nineteen Glasgow’s and thirteen Scotland; and that twenty-four US presidents have been of Scottish descent?

Innovation has played such a large part in developing our affinity. Where would we be without the telephone, television, penicillin, tarmac, pneumatic tyres and MacIntosh raincoats – all of which were invented by Scots?

The Denny Shipyard in Dumbarton created the first seagoing hovercraft. This concept has since been used by US troops all over the world. Labour from Govan and ​Clydebank helped build the liberty ships for the Second World War. ​​

During the Gulf War, General Schwartzkopf commented to President George H. W. Bush, “Isn’t it amazing that 60% of the UK forces come from 10% of its population, the Scots?”

American physicist William A. Edelstein was one of the key developers of the MRI scanner, as part of a team of scientists in Aberdeen, which has gone on to save millions of lives. Further development was rejected by the British government and was later developed privately in the US.
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We could discuss for hours the extent to which Scotland has helped shape America. To conclude, I’ll just leave you with this thought:

Without Scotland, just how different would America be today?