My paternal ancestry helped settle the Massachusettes Bay Colony and fought slavery and the Confederacy during the Civil War. Nathaniel Merrill immigrated from England 1610. Times were tough in the pioneer days and they were hard working cantankerous yankees, the half of the family I admire. I don't think they ever felt entitled because they were such hard workers. They put much emphasis on education. After many generations of teachers and Episcopalian priests, they gave up religion.
My mothers family were from the south, Southern Baptists, and typical southern racists due to religion. Southern Baptists split with the main Baptist religion due to slavery. They see themselves superior due to biblical teaching. Rick Warren is a prime example.

Myself coming from Indiana (with origins in Kentucky and West Virginia) and with some knowledge of both statistics and the history of the ethnic term "American" as applied to Census Bureau statistics, I preface my insight on the matter with this question--where are the "Real Americans" concentrated?

The highest proportions are found in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, southern Ohio, etc.--the Appalachians, except for Indiana, which was nevertheless heavily settled by folks coming from the Appalachians (all of my great-grandparents came from Kentucky/Virginia).

This area was settled by Orangeman Scots from Ulster, Ireland, a group now known as Scots-Irish. They were settled in Ireland by the Stuart monarchy, and at one time made up upwards of 30% of the Irish population. However, this was always somewhat uneasy, so they made the move to America in large droves, and largely picked the rural/mountainous South as their new home.

Appalachian culture as it is today is a direct descendant of the culture of these original Scots-Irish immigrants, and while about 4 million people directly identified themselves as Scots-Irish in 2000, it is thought that upwards of 90% of those who called their ancestry "American" are Scots-Irish but just don't quite get it.

Thank you for this fascinating post. You have given me a lot to think about.

Alex,
In the 2000 census I listed myself and my sons as American. Part of my family has been here for thousands of years and part has been in this country for nearly 200 years. I am not mostly anything. My ancestry includes French, Merrimack (Aboriginal American), African, Mexican, German, Irish, English, Scandinavian, and I am sure a whole host of other countries of origin. My ex-husband was mostly German with a whole bunch of other countries of origin too. Somewhere there was a Scottish ancestor named Campbell, LOL.
I don't know what to choose most the time and have at different times on different forms checked all kinds of things, except American Eskimo because I don't seem to have that in my ancestry.
I personally look mostly Irish, if you base it on looks. My oldest son is darker, hinting at the Mexican, Merrimack and African influences in my family tree but my youngest son looks like me. Most people assume they have different fathers, but they don't. I think they are both handsome as hell frankly.
My dad looks Mexican and my mom looks maybe English. My grandmother on my mother's side looked Merrimack and African and white mixed, my grandfather looked like David Niven. My father's parents both looked German, but my grandfather has the Mexican heritage.
If the areas reporting in as "American" or "United States" hadn't been the South, I don't think we would have thought much about it, and seen it as people coming to realize that we are, as Barak Obama noted of himself, a nation of mutts.
I don't know what to make of it since the majority claiming this are from the "South", I went and looked at the bigger version of the map on Wikipedia and see what you are trying to say.
I am from Nevada myself, and have fought for Civil Rights for most of my life, and raised my sons to believe in "All men are created equal" and to understand that their ancestry is wonderful and something new in the world.
I did find from the Census figures that the total number claiming to be of United States or American origin was 20,625,093 or 7.3% of the population.
I would hate to think that somehow their choosing to be American is that same as the meaning behind "Real American's" of Sarah Palin.

My mother's family were German aristocracy. After a front page divorce in Hamburg newspapers, she came to the US with only the education of as lady of substance.
My father's family were Ulster Scots who came to North Carolina in the 1722s. Several of the family were signers of the Mecklenburg of Independence that predated the American.
My mother was a petite opera singer before marriage. She had dark brown hair, brown eyes and the kind of complexion in which she could stay out in the son as long as she wished and never burned.
Ladies of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the East Texas county seat I grew up in cslled on my mother about a group they were beginning for teen-aged girls. They'd found out that my father's family were signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration. They were excited because they had no one in their chapter related to Mecklenburg signers. Their thinking was my sister would make their chapter complete.
Mother said she's consult her daughter and her husband about the invitation.
In passing one of the ladies inquired whether or not my mother had relatives who fought in the American Independence War.
My mother replied she did. "He was the commander at the Battle of Trenton."
The ladies buzzed with excitement, "Then you're related to General Washington?," they asked with anticipation.
"No," my mother replied, "He was a Hessian."
Needless to say my sister received no further inquiries about the young women's DAR auxiliary.

Alex, have you got a link or other reference for the maps?

As has been alluded to above, I was immediately struck when I saw the map at the correspondence of the self-appellation "American" with the wave of former colonials who crossed the Appalachians and populated the likes of Kentucky, Tennessee, etc., in the early 19th century. Seems to me that, fresh from the revolution, they would have emphatically seen themselves as "American," and certainly not the Scots-English they had rebelled against. I think its a stretch to see any cause/effect with the institution of slavery -- if blacks were thought of at all, it was as 3/5 of a person. Reverberating down the generations, it doesn't surprise me that the descendants of these people would identify as "Americans."

As to the "Other Christian" in Texas, there is a variation of evangelical, based on models originating south of the border, that has taken hold of a large number of former Catholic Hispanics in recent decades. This could account for a good hunk of the self-identified Other Christian, as I don't think this kind of former Catholic would think of themselves as "Protestants," which is a gringo term.

For anyone who wants to investigate this, it could be verified by comparing to previous statistics, and seeing if % Catholics in Texas have been on a downward track and Other Christian up.

in France, there are no white people, just French people, English people, Polish people, Spanish people, etc. The white race is an American concept that must have come from our unique history of race in trying to create understandings of race that would continue to oppress Black people, as well as American Indians

Our history of race may be unique to a point, and it's certainly more virulent in some places than others. Also, we are an exceptionally young country which plays into this issue in a way not found in Europe. That said, racism and oppression of "the other" constructs exist worldwide.

(I'm assuming that Texas has a higher population of Christian conservatives than normal).

Who decides what a "normal" population of Christian conservates is? I would assume that you think that is the province of non-southerners?

I bring this up not to be confrontational, but to challenge what feels (to me) a bit of superiority in your analysis. It appears that to you it's a foregone conclusion that the problem lies specifically "elsewhere." This can be perceived, in a way, as a sense of entitlement too, in that you seem to imply there will is no compromise to made on "our" side.

Again, not confronting, just challenging. In my experience in the GLBTQ and liberal political community, I find we don't always question our own assumptions enough.

Good luck.

(I too would like the original link to the maps, to look at them better.)

As others have pointed out, the map, in fact, obviously DISproves the accompanying "whiteness" analysis. The "American" designation applies in (largely majority Scots-Irish) areas that notably were NOT destinations for the post-Civil War waves of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe -- hence where the melding into a polyethnic "whiteness" has had a longer time to set in and prevail.

Conversely, at the time when Blacks were being promised 40 acres and a mule, my ancestors -- largely Russian Jews -- were still in Europe and weren't even allowed to own land. They came to this country for a better life -- not to oppress others nor to redefine themselves as "white" -- and if (upon their arrival) such a redefinition was then imposed as part of the bargain (for such a better life), they were defrauded as to the terms involved (and, needless to say, they certainly couldn't afford return fare).

The WASPs and other Northern and Western Europeans already living here should be held (and should hold only themselves) accountable for the results -- and should not get off the hook by race-baiting those who had nothing to do with slavery or with the origins of homegrown American racism. (This same retort could as easily come from descendents of those whose ancestors came from Southern Italy, Poland, etc. -- or, for that matter, from Asia.)

I find it interesting that the "whiteness" analysis is most often advanced by those who had ancestors in this country prior to the Civil War, and who seem intent on palming off responsibility for their ill-gotten gains onto other ethnic groups. Descendents of those later immigrants should meanwhile remember their own ethnic ancestry, and if they subsequently come to see themselves as polyethnic "Americans," should continue to be careful about where they point the finger of blame when race becomes an issue.