“MY mother was great. She was a Stornoway,” Donald Trump confusingly told an American podcast earlier this month.
“The Hebrides. That’s, you know, that’s really serious Scottish.”
The former president – and perhaps the next one after Americans vote in the US election this week – has well-documented Scottish roots.
His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod (below), was born in the small village of Tong inthe Isle of Lewis (not Stornoway) before making the move stateside.
In fact, Scotland has played its part in America's political history all the way back to its inception.
One Scot, Gifford-born John Witherspoon, even signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 – which some have argued was partially inspired by Scotland’s Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.
The founding father and first president of the US, George Washington, had Scottish heritage and was known to use Scottish sayings (for example, many a mickle maks a muckle) – although this is disputed by some historians.
Meanwhile, Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton also apparently have Scottish roots.
According to a theory publicised on the official Scotland.org website, even Barack Obama's ancestry can be traced back to William the Lion who ruled Scotland from 1165 to 1214.
This is disputed, however.
Some US presidents – Trump aside – have undeniable and clear Scottish roots.
The Sunday National has outlined three of them below:
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
THE third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson’s Scottish ancestry came from his mother Jane Randolph.
Also reportedly a distant relation to Robert the Bruce, Jefferson is considered one of the greatest American presidents and founding fathers, as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
James Knox Polk (1795-1849)
THE 11th president, James Knox Polk was descended from Scottish protestant preacher John Knox through his mother.
His Ulster-Scots ancestors settled in the United States in the 1720s, first in Pennsylvania and then moving to North Carolina – where he was born.
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
ANOTHER notable president, Woodrow Wilson had very strong Ulster and Scottish roots.
He guided the United States through the First World War and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
President Wilson’s maternal grandfather, Thomas Woodrow, was from Paisley and moved to America to take up a Presbyterian congregation in Ohio.
But why the huge connection between US presidents and Scotland?
MARJORY Harper, a professor at the University of Aberdeen whose research focuses on British – particularly Scottish – emigration since 1800, said that at “the most basic level” the link can be explained by the very fact that Scots emigrated to the US in large numbers.
She told the Sunday National that, while statistics for the 18th century are elusive, estimates suggest a figure of around 90,000 making the trip stateside.
Then, almost two million left in the 19th century, with Scotland losing a larger proportion of its natural increase of population than any other European country except Ireland and Norway in that time period.
“The majority crossed the Atlantic, either to Canada or the USA,” Harper said.
“The Scots punched above their weight in terms of the percentage of the population that emigrated.”
This huge migration is still felt in America, with up to 8.3% (or 25 million) of today’s US population claiming Scottish descent.
But the fact so many US presidents have this link to Scotland may not just be a pure question of demographics.
“It is also arguable that Scottish emigrants (some, at least) may have been more single-minded than those from other parts of Europe in their pursuit of personal betterment through permanent settlement overseas,” Harper explained.
“Their emigration included a considerable ‘brain drain’ of a society that produced more university-trained men than could find jobs in Scotland. The Union created opportunities for Scots in the colonial empire, and those who couldn’t get administrative posts in England in the 18th century often looked across the Atlantic.”
Harper noted that in the early days of the American colonies, between 1707 and 1783, there were approximately 30 governors and lieutenant-governors of Scottish birth.
And such influence meant some took advantage to secure positions for their fellow Scots in the colonial administration, academia, medicine and commerce – which laid the way for those of Scottish descent to play an early and large role in American society.
“The foundations for the Scots’ involvement in American politics was laid in the late 17th and 18th centuries,” Harper said.
Scots also influenced American academia early on, with Rev James Blair founding William and Mary College in Virginia as early as 1693.
The influence of the Scottish Enlightenment on 18th-century American education, culture and politics is “well-known” and religious influences were also “particularly crucial”, Harper noted.
“Many clergymen were polymaths, who spoke and published on political as well as theological issues,” she said.
Harped added: “Not surprisingly, all these influences percolated down into American society, culture – and politics.”
