The calculations for the entire country in 1790, based upon the census
schedules of the States from which reports are still available and
upon estimates for the others are summed up in the following manner:
_Number and per cent distribution of the white population, 1790:_
_Nationality_ _Number_ _Per Cent_
All Nationalities 3,172,444 100.0
English 2,605,699 82.1
Scotch 221,562 7.0
Irish 61,534 1.9
Dutch 78,959 2.5
French 17,619 0.6
German 176,407 5.6
All others 10,664 0.3
To this method of estimating nationality, it will at once be objected
that undue prominence is given to the derivation of the surname, an
objection fully understood by those who made the estimate and one
which deprives their conclusions of strict scientific verity. In a new
country, where the population is in a constant flux and where members
of community composed of one race easily migrate to another part of
the country and fall in with people of another race, it is very easy
to modify the name to suit new circumstances. We know, for instance
that Isaac Isaacks of Pennsylvania was not a Jew, that the Van
Buskirks of New Jersey were German, not Dutch, that D'Aubigne was
early shortened into Dabny and Aulnay into Olney.
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