Ancestral background of presidents of the United States
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The ancestral background of presidents of the United States has been relatively consistent throughout American history. The most common ancestry of U.S. presidents is English, due to its origins as a group of former English colonies. With the exception of Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Donald Trump[1] every president has ancestors from England, which in turn makes many of them distantly related to one another. Van Buren was of Dutch lineage; Polk, Buchanan, and Wilson were of Scottish and Scotch-Irish ancestry; Eisenhower was of German and Swiss heritage; Kennedy was of pure Irish descent; and Donald Trump is of German and Scottish heritage. Barack Obama is the only president to have ancestry from outside of Europe; his paternal family is of Kenyan Luo ancestry. He is also believed to be a direct descendant of John Punch, a colonial-era slave born in modern-day Cameroon.[2] Despite speculation, there is no evidence that any of the United States’ presidents have had any Indigenous American ancestry.
The most common ethnic groups in the original Thirteen Colonies were those hailing from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Those of other backgrounds (such as Irish, Dutch, German, or French) would see attempts to assimilate them into the dominant English and predominately Protestant culture.[3]
Some nativist political groups within the United States were adamantly opposed to identifying with a foreign nation and would coin those who did as hyphenated Americans. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were outspoken opponents of hyphenated Americans, with Wilson once remarking, "Any man who carries a hyphen about with him, carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic when he gets ready."[4]