Free Republic

In looking over the history of the past 500 years, four nations stand out for having completely and massively altered world civilization in a way that no others have, before or after: England, Spain, France, and Portugal. No other empires even come close. The Muslim conquests were landbound except for island hopping. Chinese and Mongolian conquests were landbound. Even in ancient times, Greek, Roman, and Persian conquests were essentially land operations, except for river fording. Yes, they all had navies, but were not defined by them. What separates the English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish was that these nations had vast...

People do stupid things all the time and they do them in all geographic regions, but as any regular viewer of Comedy Central’s "Tosh 2.0" can tell you, there does seem to be an uncanny correlation between certain regions of the country and the kind of risk-taking behavior that could get you seriously hurt or even killed. That’s the premise of a new study out today in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. The three authors, all from the University of Oklahoma, found that states with a “culture of honor” –- in the South, and the West, mainly --...

Whenever I post an article which mentions the Scotch-Irish, I receive a comment or an e-mail or a contact form advising that I have erred and that the real name is (usually) Scots-Irish or (sometimes) Ulster Scots. Well, no it isn't. Since the late 17th century, Scottish persons who emigrated from Ulster to America have been known as, and have called themselves, Scotch-Irish. Mistake me not: I have no objection to any of the above-noted ethnic indicators. I use the name Scotch-Irish because it is the traditional term used in the United States generally and in the Backcountry where I...

The Scotch-Irish. A poem by Mrs. Kate Brownlee Sherwood, of Canton, O. From Scot and Celt and Pict and Dane, And Norman, Jute, and Frisian, Our brave Scotch-Irish come; With tongues of silver, hearts of gold, And hands to smite when wrongs are bold, At call of pipe or drum. By king and priest and prelate racked, By pike and spear and halberd hacked, By foes ten thousand flayed; They flung Drumclog and Bothwell Brig An answer to the gown and wig, And freedom's ransom paid. They fell, alas! on marsh and moor; They signed their covenants firm and sure...

Are yous up for a few more words on the subject of Appalachian English? The words for today being "yous" and "you'ns," along with variant spellings like "youse," "yooz," "you-uns," and "youens," and their Scotch-Irish roots. The traditional speech of the Backcountry is not a "corrupt" dialect, as is often assumed by those from "yonder" and “away,” and its roots can be traced to the places from whence the Backcountry settlers originated. "Yous" or "youse" as the plural form of "you" is of ancient origin and came to America with Scotch-Irish settlers in early colonial times.

The Virginia Frontier Culture Museum's 1740s log cabin is displayed as a work in progress. The cabin is a typical peeled-log, saddle-notched settler's cabin of the kind favored by Scotch-Irish moving into the wilds of the Backcountry. The construction was simple and required few tools. The museum's replica is built with one door and no windows -- a common practice which led to laws requiring homesteader's cabins have at least one window.

“The Appalachian voting bloc will be critical in the … 2008 presidential election,” former Democratic National Committee executive director Mark Siegel says. Yet his broad statement comes with its own geopolitical caveat: location. “It all depends on what part of Appalachia you are talking about,” says Siegel. “If they live in Pennsylvania and Ohio, then, yes, without a doubt they are the key voters. If they live in West Virginia, then no, because for the Democrats that is not a state that is in play.” Appalachia is not a single state but a region that has its own unique frame...

Richard Just at the New Republic magazine is not impressed with Virginia senator Jim Webb as a running mate for Barack Obama. Webb is fundamentally illiberal, he writes, a misogynist and an ethnic nationalist and "something of an apologist for the Confederacy." So why do lots of liberals like Webb, Just asks. "In the years since he left the Republican party, Webb has found his way to certain policy stands that liberals correctly find attractive. He was right about Iraq, and, on economics, he is right to criticise the disparity between rich and poor." Just can't figure out how a...

What do Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Barack Obama have in common, besides wanting to be the next commander in chief? They are all of Scots-Irish descent, an ethnic and cultural lineage that has produced more presidents and military leaders than any other. "Fascinating, but not surprising," says U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. The former naval secretary and decorated Marine should know: He catalogued the migration and cultural influence of the Scots-Irish in America in his book "Born Fighting." They have "always had the tradition of being in leadership positions, whether it is the military or in politics,"...

What do Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Barack Obama have in common, besides wanting to be the next commander in chief? They are all of Scots-Irish descent, an ethnic and cultural lineage that has produced more presidents and military leaders than any other. “Fascinating, but not surprising,” says U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. The former naval secretary and decorated Marine should know: He catalogued the migration and cultural influence of the Scots-Irish in America in his book “Born Fighting.” They have “always had the tradition of being in leadership positions, whether it is the military or in politics,”...

Sunday, August 26, 2007 Underestimating Southern Demeanor John Wayne wasn't a Southerner, but he had a firm grasp on the mindset of BEING from the south in some cases. "Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much." From Wikipedia (I know it's generally not considered a refined source, but for general information, sometimes it's a great place to look for things): The Culture of the Southern United States or Southern Culture is a subculture of the United States that has resulted from the blending of a heavy amount of rural Scot-Irish culture, the culture of African slaves, Native American...

There have been many US presidents with Ulster-Scots roots, but for Virginia Democrat, Jim Webb, being Ulster-Scots or Irish Scots has become a rallying point for his supporters and a focus of his astonishingly popular campaign for a Senate seat. As last week's New Yorker magazine put it, Webb has presented Ulster-Scots heritage as "the DNA of red-state America". And it seemed to be working as last night he claimed victory in his tightly-fought Senate race with Republican George Allen, even though a recount now looks to be on the cards.Throughout the heavily Ulster-Scots mountain towns of Virginia, Mr Webb...

Some have joked that Presbyterians are "denser" in Pittsburgh than anywhere else. All over Allegheny County, you can find Presbyterian churches within a stone's throw of each other, and despite population losses, Western Pennsylvania continues to have more Presbyterians than any other region of the nation. There's a strong historical reason for that. It is connected to a group of immigrants who were a bedrock of the region's early settlement, but whose role in American history is virtually unknown to many people. They are the Scots-Irish, although it's not a term they originally would have applied to themselves, according to...

They shaped America, but did they make it more free?Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, by James Webb, New York: Broadway Books, 369 pages, $14.95 Long dismissed as rednecks, crackers, and hillbillies, the Scots-Irish—also known as Scotch-Irish, Ulster Scots, or Borderers, because they hailed from Northern Ireland and the border counties of Scotland and England—have provided a disproportionate share of America’s political leaders, military brass, writers, and musicians. As an ethnic group, James Webb argues in Born Fighting, they “did not merely come to America, they became America, particularly in the south and the Ohio Valley, where their culture...

JULY 4 is a date firmly fixed in the consciousness of all Americans. Perhaps it should also be imprinted in the mind of Scots with a sense of history. Who was involved in the building of the White House? And who helped to start the American War of Independence? The surprising answer might be Scottish freemasons.

In the Appalachian Mountains, writes James Webb in Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, “American flags are frequent, on the trucks and in the yards and on the porches. America got bombed and mountain people don’t forget, even if it happened in New York and Washington, because when it comes to fighting wars, mountain people have always been among the first to go.” In chronicling the Scots-Irish, Webb writes of the people who made him and, he argues persuasively, America what both are today. It is a close call on which benefited the most from that lineage. Webb is...

BORN FIGHTING: HOW THE SCOTS-IRISH SHAPED AMERICA BY JAMES WEBB 'TIS no doubt folly to ascribe John Kerry's November defeat to anyone cause, but there's also little doubt that the ad campaign mounted late last summer by the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth put some heavy hurt on the Democrat's presidential ambitions. How is that? The Kerry campaign collided with traditions that inform the largest and most pugnaciously principled American ethnic group that you probably never heard much about: the Scots-Irish. After that, the Massachusetts liberal never had a chance. Or so suggests James Webb, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran,...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version November 15, 2004, 8:24 a.m. Gettin&#8217; Our Scots-Irish UpCountry music reflects America&#8217;s spirit. I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to review Jim Webb's magnificent new book, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, for NRODT. It is a wonderful social history of an individualistic, stubborn, rebellious people responsible for creating America's strongest cultural force. A particularly powerful component of this culture is country music. Webb calls country music "a uniquely American phenomenon," a "hypnotic and emotionally powerful musical style" that evolved from...

WHY did Bush win? My first experience of the American hinterland was more than 30 years ago, on a long, lazy car drive: down from Germanic Cincinnati in Ohio; across the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia, where the radio stations play wall-to-wall country music; southwards through the Carolinas, where the red earth sticks to the magnolia blossoms; then northwards again along the bleak Atlantic coast where the Wright Brothers first took to the air. It was a revelation: no New York skyscrapers, no urban sophistication, and my then American girlfriend had to slip a ring on her left hand...

One of the most powerful cultural forces shaping America, they've produced great Presidents, soldiers, inventors, actors and writers. But, as a group, they've remained unvisible. The time has come to change that, says the author. snip ... The Scots-Irish are a fiercely independent, individualist people. It goes against their grain to think collectively. But, as America rushes forward into yet another redefinition of itself, the contributions of the Scots-Irish are too great to remain invisible. My culture needs to reclaim itself-stop letting others define, mock and even use it-and is so doing regain its power to shape the direction of...