Ancestral background of presidents of the United States

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 and possibly Dwight D. Eisenhower,^[1] every president has ancestors from the British Isles, which in turn makes many of them distantly related to one another. Van Buren was of entirely Dutch lineage (New Netherlander); Polk, Buchanan, and Wilson were of entirely 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. Kennedy and Trump are the only known presidents who did not have ancestors who arrived during the colonial period. 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 Thirteen Colonies were those hailing from either Great Britain or Ulster which includes 9 counties of Ireland, 6 of which are in modern day 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] A majority of presidents trace their ancestries to the American colonists, in which they are known as Old Stock Americans.

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]