As BJ Hunnicutt once (facetiously) pointed out on MASH*:
What does a “regular” white person look like? Factual answers, please.
Apparently they look like Germans.
There’s a large and continuous wave of Spanish-speaking immigrants, and not one of German speakers. There’s also a sizable trickle of east Asian immigrants, all of whom are less likely to speak English already than the few German and Austrian newcomers still coming over.
Another enclave of German speakers in America is in Front Royal, VA. My information on this is about fifteen years out of date, though, and they could well have assimilated by now.
According to the Supreme Court it is whatever other white people agree.
Spoke writes:
> Why would you presume that, given that we were English colonies for over 170
> years?
Did you bother to read the link that I gave? Germans started emigrating to the (part of North American that is now) the U.S. at the same time as the English did.
One factor is that Germany didn’t have many colonies (hardly any, really). So whereas you can get Spanish-speaking immigrants from Spain and its many former colonies, French-speakers from France and its many former colonies, etc., you’re only going to get German speakers from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
That accords with my experience back in the 80’s but I don’t know if its still true.
Did you read the link? Because no they didn’t. The English colonization began in 1607. Your article says the first significant migration of Germans was not until the 1680s. By then, the Anglo population of America was over 200,000, and those English colonists were breeding like bunnies. A few early boatloads of Germans were not going to affect the fundamental English character of the colonies. (Note that we are writing these posts in English.)
I think this Wikipedia article begins to answer the OP’s question.
As of 1790, out of a total population of 3.9 million, 2.56 million were of British descent (including 2.1 million of English descent). Only 270,000 were of German descent.
Between 1770 and 1830 there was very little immigration. During that time span, the population grew to 12.78 million. Since that growth was largely natural increase, we’re talking about a population in 1830 that is still overwhelmingly British in character. Moreover, during that long stretch of low immigration, it is reasonable to presume that a lot of earlier German immigrants had been fully assimilated into the British-American culture.
Between 1850 and 1930 some 5 million Germans immigrated to the US. But between 1820 and 1930, 3.5 million British and 4.5 million Irish also immigrated. Meanwhile, the population of the US increased to 123 million by 1930. Obviously, most of this population growth was internal increase. I.e., people makin’ babies. So at all times, a strong British-American cultural majority would have prevailed.
There have been pockets of German culture and German language. There still are some. But by and large those pockets have, over time, been overwhelmed and subsumed into the larger English-speaking American culture.
Spoke writes:
> Your article says the first significant migration of Germans was not until the 1680s.
> By then, the Anglo population of America was over 200,000, and those English
> colonists were breeding like bunnies. A few early boatloads of Germans were
> not going to affect the fundamental English character of the colonies.
That doesn’t directly contradict what I wrote. What I wrote was that the first emigration of Germans to the U.S. began in 1607. Calling them “a few early boatloads” is your own guess. Saying that the colonists were “breeding like bunnies” is your own guess.
The Wikipedia entry you give is more useful. It says that the English-Americans amounted to 2,100,000 in 1790 and the German-Americans amounted to 270,000 in that years. It says that there were relatively few immigrants between 1790 and 1830. It says that in the 1830’s there were 152,000 German immigrants and 76,000 British immigrants. It says that in the 1840’s there were 435,000 German immigrants and 267,000 English immigrants. It says that between 1850 and 1930, there were 5 million German immigrants and 3.5 million British immigrants.
So in 1790 there were more English-ancestry citizens of the U.S. than German-ancestry ones, by 2,100,000 to 270,000. But from 1790 to 1930, there were something like 5,487,000 German immigrants and something like 3,843,000 English immigrants. (Since the 5 million and 3.5 million figures are more rounded, there is actually too much accuracy in these total numbers.) So the U.S. started with more English-ancestry people in 1790 than German-ancestry ones, but there were more German immigrants than English ones from 1790 to 1930. Whether the internal growth makes up for the external immigration is another question.
Unless you’re 100% pure Indian, then you’re the immigrant, too.
Oh, yeah, and you’re in Michigan! White people beat Latino people to Michigan! 
Another difference between older immigration waves and more recent ones is that the combination of globalized travel and communication, with much labor shifting to seasonal or multiple-year back-and-forths, is that complete conversion to English happens rather more slowly in some recent-immigrant families. As others have mentioned, it still happens, though, usually within two generations, three at the most.