Editing German Americans (section)

==History==
[[File:Waldseemuller map 2.jpg|thumb|World map of German [[cartography|cartographer]] [[Martin Waldseemüller]] (Germany, 1507), which first used the name [[Naming of the Americas#Earliest use of name|America]]<ref name=LoCmap />]]

The [[Germans]] included many quite distinct subgroups with differing religious and cultural values.<ref>Paul Kleppner, '' The Third Electoral System, 1853–1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures'' (1979) pp 147–58 maps out the political beliefs of key subgroups.</ref> Lutherans and Catholics typically opposed Yankee moralizing programs such as the prohibition of beer, and favored paternalistic families with the husband deciding the family position on public affairs.<ref>{{cite book |last = Richardson |first = Belinda |title = Christian Clergy Response to Intimate Partner Violence: Attitudes, Training, Or Religious Views? |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bMDCCBmzEsIC&pg=PA55 |year = 2007 |page = 55 |isbn = 9780549564379 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Michael A. Lerner |title = Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GyQqk-hxaO4C&pg=PA32 |year = 2009 |publisher = Harvard UP |pages = 31–32 |isbn = 9780674040090 |access-date = October 16, 2015 |archive-date = November 30, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231130212233/https://books.google.com/books?id=GyQqk-hxaO4C&pg=PA32#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status = live }}</ref> They generally opposed women's suffrage but this was used as argument in favor of suffrage when German Americans became pariahs during World War I.<ref>{{cite book |last = Rose |first = Kenneth D. |title = American Women and the Repeal of Prohibition |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6uhcDrmgwlMC&pg=PA35 |year = 1997 |publisher = NYU Press |pages = 34–35 |isbn = 9780814774663 }}</ref> On the other hand, there were Protestant groups who emerged from European [[pietism]] such as the German Methodist and [[Moravian Church|United Brethren]]; they more closely resembled the Yankee Methodists in their moralism.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1171088 |title = Religion, Society, and Politics: A Classification of American Religious Groups |journal = Social Science History |volume = 5 |issue = 1 |pages = 3–24 |last1 = Vandermeer |first1 = Philip R. |year = 1981 |doi = 10.1017/S0145553200014802 |s2cid = 147478252 }}</ref>

===Colonial era===
The first English settlers arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and were accompanied by the first German that was to settle in North America, physician and botanist Johannes (John) Fleischer (in South America [[Ambrosius Ehinger]] had already founded [[Maracaibo]] in 1529). He was followed in 1608 by five [[glassmakers]] and three carpenters or house builders.<ref>{{Citation |last = Grassl |first = Gary Carl |date = June–July 2008 |title = Tour of German-American Sites at James Fort, Historic Jamestown |journal = German-American Journal |volume = 56 |issue = 3 |page = 10 |url = http://www.dank.org/Files/NewspaperArchives/DANK%20Journal%2056-3%20LR.pdf |quote = About 1% of the more than 700,000 objects catalogued by archaeologists at Jamestown so far bear words. More than 90% of these words are in German }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}; {{Citation |url = http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/08__Politics/03/02__Heritage/Jamestown.html |title = Where it All Began – Celebrating 400 Years of Germans in America |publisher = German Information Center |access-date = May 26, 2009 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081116093035/http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/08__Politics/03/02__Heritage/Jamestown.html |archive-date = November 16, 2008 }}; {{Citation |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS191760+25-Mar-2008+PRN20080325 |title = Celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the First Germans in America, April 18 |date = March 25, 2008 |publisher = Reuters |access-date = May 26, 2009 |archive-date = January 21, 2010 |archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20100121223446/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS191760+25-Mar-2008+PRN20080325 |url-status = dead }};{{Citation |last = Jabs |first = Albert E. |date = June–July 2008 |title = 400 Years of Germans In Jamestown |journal = German-American Journal |volume = 56 |issue = 3 |pages = 1, 11 |url = http://www.dank.org/Files/NewspaperArchives/DANK%20Journal%2056-3%20LR.pdf }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The first permanent German settlement in what became the United States was [[Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Germantown, Pennsylvania]], founded near [[Philadelphia]] on October 6, 1683.<ref name="First German-Americans">{{Citation |url = http://www.germanheritage.com/postal/germansettlers/ |title = First German-Americans |access-date = October 5, 2006 |archive-date = May 9, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200509091415/http://www.germanheritage.com/postal/germansettlers/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

[[File:John Jacob Astor.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Jacob Astor]], in an oil painting by [[Gilbert Stuart]], 1794, was the first of the [[Astor family]] dynasty and the first millionaire in the United States, making his fortune in the fur trade and New York City real estate.]]

Large numbers of Germans migrated from the 1680s to 1760s, with Pennsylvania the favored destination. They migrated to America for a variety of reasons.<ref name="First German-Americans" /> ''[[Human migration#Push and Pull|Push factors]]'' involved worsening opportunities for farm ownership in central Europe, persecution of some religious groups, and military conscription; ''[[Human migration#Push and Pull|pull factors]]'' were better economic conditions, especially the opportunity to own land, and religious freedom. Often immigrants paid for their passage by selling their labor for a period of years as [[indentured servant]]s.<ref>[http://www.faulkner.edu/academics/artsandsciences/socialandbehavioral/readings/hy/servitude.asp Gottlieb Mittleberger on Indentured Servitude] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201124624/http://www.faulkner.edu/academics/artsandsciences/socialandbehavioral/readings/hy/servitude.asp |date=February 1, 2009 }}, Faulkner University</ref>

Large sections of Pennsylvania, [[Upstate New York]], and the [[Shenandoah Germans|Shenandoah Valley]] of Virginia attracted Germans. Most were [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] or [[Calvinism|German Reformed]]; many belonged to small religious sects such as the [[Moravian Church|Moravians]] and [[Mennonite]]s. [[Roman Catholicism in Germany|German Catholics]] did not arrive in great number until after the [[War of 1812]].<ref name="Conzen">{{cite encyclopedia |last = Conzen |first = Kathleen |editor-last = Thernstrom |editor-first = Stephan |editor-link = Stephan Thernstrom |editor-last2 = Orlov |editor-first2 = Ann |editor-last3 = Handlin |editor-first3 = Oscar |editor-link3 = Oscar Handlin |title = Germans |page = 407 |encyclopedia = Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups |url = https://archive.org/details/harvardencyclope00ther |year = 1980 |publisher = [[Harvard University Press]] |isbn = 0674375122 |oclc = 1038430174 }}</ref>

====Palatines====
In 1709, Protestant Germans from the Pfalz or [[Palatinate (region)|Palatine]] region of Germany escaped conditions of poverty, traveling first to Rotterdam and then to London. [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] helped them get to the American colonies. The trip was long and difficult to survive because of the poor quality of food and water aboard ships and the infectious disease [[typhus]]. Many immigrants, particularly children, died before reaching America in June 1710.<ref name="Knittle">{{Citation |last = Knittle |first = Walter Allen |title = Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration |publisher = Dorrance |location = Philadelphia |year = 1937 }}</ref>

The Palatine immigration of about 2100 people who survived was the largest single immigration to America in the colonial period. Most were first settled along the [[Hudson River]] in work camps, to pay off their passage. By 1711, seven villages had been established in New York on the [[Robert Livingston the Elder|Robert Livingston]] manor. In 1723 Germans became the first Europeans allowed to buy land in the [[Mohawk Valley]] west of [[Little Falls (town), New York|Little Falls]]. One hundred homesteads were allocated in the Burnetsfield Patent. By 1750, the Germans occupied a strip some {{convert|12|mi|km}} long along both sides of the [[Mohawk River]]. The soil was excellent; some 500 houses were built, mostly of stone, and the region prospered in spite of Indian resistance. [[Herkimer (town), New York|Herkimer]] was the best-known of the German settlements in a region long known as the "German Flats".<ref name="Knittle"/>

They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. They tolerated slavery (although few were rich enough to own a slave).<ref>Philip Otterness, ''Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York'' (2004)</ref>

The most famous of the early German Palatine immigrants was editor [[John Peter Zenger]], who led the fight in colonial New York City for freedom of the press in America. A later immigrant, [[John Jacob Astor]], who came from [[Walldorf]], [[Electoral Palatinate]], since 1803 [[Baden]], after the Revolutionary War, became the richest man in America from his fur trading empire and real estate investments in New York.<ref>Axel Madsen, ''John Jacob Astor: America's First Multimillionaire'' (2001) [https://www.amazon.com/John-Jacob-Astor-Americas-Multimillionaire/dp/0471385034 excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314065452/https://www.amazon.com/John-Jacob-Astor-Americas-Multimillionaire/dp/0471385034 |date=March 14, 2021 }}</ref>

====Louisiana====
{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2017}}<!--only last paragraph is cited-->

[[John Law (economist)|John Law]] organized the first colonization of Louisiana with German immigrants. Of the over 5,000 Germans initially immigrating primarily from the [[Alsace|Alsace Region]] as few as 500 made up the first wave of immigrants to leave France en route to the Americas. Less than 150 of those first indentured German farmers made it to Louisiana and settled along what became known as the German Coast. With tenacity, determination and the leadership of D'arensburg these Germans felled trees, cleared land, and cultivated the soil with simple hand tools as draft animals were not available. The German coast settlers supplied the budding City of New Orleans with corn, rice, eggs. and meat for many years following.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

The [[Mississippi Company]] settled thousands of German pioneers in French Louisiana during 1721. It encouraged Germans, particularly Germans of the [[Alsace|Alsatian]] region who had recently fallen under French rule, and the [[Swiss people|Swiss]] to immigrate. [[Alsace]] was sold to France within the greater context of the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648).{{cn|date=May 2025}}

The [[Jesuit]] [[Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix|Charlevoix]] traveled [[New France]] (Canada and Louisiana) in the early 1700s. His letter said "these 9,000 Germans, who were raised in the Palatinate (Alsace part of France) were in Arkansas. The Germans left Arkansas en masse. They went to [[New Orleans]] and demanded passage to Europe. The Mississippi Company gave the Germans rich lands on the right bank of the [[Mississippi River]] about {{convert|25|mi|km}} above New Orleans. The area is now known as 'the [[German Coast]]'."{{cn|date=May 2025}}

A thriving population of Germans lived upriver from [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, known as the [[German Coast]]. They were attracted to the area through pamphlets such as J. Hanno Deiler's "Louisiana: A Home for German Settlers".<ref name="J. Hanno Deiler">{{Citation |url = http://www.hnoc.org/collections/gerpath/gersect6.html |title = J. Hanno Deiler |access-date = November 30, 2007 |archive-date = April 11, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110411195941/http://www.hnoc.org/collections/gerpath/gersect6.html |url-status = live }}</ref>
[[File:Carl-Schurz.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Carl Schurz]] was the first German born US Senator (Missouri, 1868) and later US Secretary of the Interior.]]

====Southeast====
Two waves of German colonists in 1714 and 1717 founded a colony in [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] called [[Germanna]],<ref name="Germanna Foundation">{{Citation |url = http://www.germanna.org/history |title = Germanna History |access-date = August 2, 2009 |archive-date = March 3, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090303040633/http://www.germanna.org/history |url-status = live }}</ref> located near modern-day [[Culpeper, Virginia]]. Virginia Lieutenant Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]], taking advantage of the [[headright system]], had bought land in present-day [[Spotsylvania County, Virginia|Spotsylvania]] and encouraged German immigration by advertising in Germany for [[miner]]s to move to Virginia and establish a mining industry in the colony. The name "Germanna", selected by Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]], reflected both the German immigrants who sailed across the Atlantic to Virginia and the British queen, [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]], who was in power at the time of the first settlement at Germanna. In 1721, twelve German families departed Germanna to found [[Germantown, Virginia|Germantown]]. They were swiftly replaced by 70 new German arrivals from the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]], the start of a westward and southward trend of German migration and settlement across the [[Piedmont region of Virginia|Virginia Piedmont]] and [[Shenandoah Valley]] around the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]], where [[Palatine German language|Palatine German]] predominated. Meanwhile, in [[Southwest Virginia]], Virginia German acquired a [[Swabian German]] accent.<ref name="Fischer">{{cite book |first1 = David Hackett |last1 = Fischer |author-link1 = David Hackett Fischer |first2 = James C. |last2 = Kelly |date = 2000 |title = Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement |place = Charlottesville |publisher = [[University of Virginia Press]] |isbn = 978-0813917740 |oclc = 41278488 }}</ref><ref name="Dominion">{{cite book |first1 = Ronald L. |last1 = Heinemann |first2 = John G. |last2 = Kolp |first3 = Anthony S. |last3 = Parent |first4 = William G. |last4 = Shade |date = 2007 |title = Old Dominion, New Commonwealth : A History of Virginia, 1607–2007 |place = Charlottesville |publisher = [[University of Virginia Press]] |isbn = 978-0813926094 |oclc = 74964181 }}</ref><ref name="cradle">{{cite book |first = Peter |last = Wallenstein |date = 2014 |orig-date = 2007 |edition = 2nd |title = Cradle of America : A History of Virginia |place = Lawrence |publisher = [[University Press of Kansas]] |isbn = 978-0700619948 |oclc = 878668026 }}</ref>

In [[Province of North Carolina|North Carolina]], an expedition of German [[Moravian Church|Moravians]] living around [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], and a party from Europe led by [[August Gottlieb Spangenberg]], headed down the [[Great Wagon Road]] and purchased {{convert|98985|acre|km2}} from [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville|Lord Granville]] (one of the British Lords Proprietor) in the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] of North Carolina in 1753. The tract was dubbed {{lang|de|Wachau-die-Aue}}, Latinized [[Wachovia Tract|Wachovia]], because the streams and meadows reminded Moravian settlers of the [[Wachau]] valley in [[Austria]].<ref name="TarHeel">{{cite book |title = The Tar Heel State: A History of North Carolina |first = Milton |last = Ready |date = 2005 |publisher = [[University of South Carolina Press]] |location = Columbia |isbn = 978-1570035913 |oclc = 58976124 }}</ref><ref name="NC4Centuries">{{cite book |title = North Carolina through Four Centuries |first = William S. |last = Powell |author-link = William S. Powell |date = 1989 |publisher = [[University of North Carolina Press]] |location = Chapel Hill |isbn = 978-0807818503 |oclc = 18589517 }}</ref><ref name="NCAHistory">{{cite book |title = North Carolina: A History |first = William S. |last = Powell |author-link = William S. Powell |date = 1988 |orig-date = 1977 |edition = 2nd |publisher = [[University of North Carolina Press]] |location = Chapel Hill |isbn = 978-0807842195 |oclc = 18290931 }}</ref> They established German settlements on that tract, especially in the area around what is now [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina|Winston-Salem]].<ref>{{cite book |isbn = 0806302925 |title = The Moravians in North Carolina: An Authentic History |last1 = Reichel |first1 = Levin Theodore |year = 1968 |publisher = Genealogical Publishing Com }}</ref><ref name="Wachovia">{{cite web |url = https://www.ncpedia.org/wachovia |last = Surratt |first = Jerry L. |year = 2006 |title = Wachovia |access-date = October 7, 2022 |website = NCPedia |archive-date = October 8, 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221008034917/https://www.ncpedia.org/wachovia |url-status = live }}</ref> They also founded the transitional settlement of [[Bethabara, North Carolina]], translated as House of Passage, the first planned Moravian community in North Carolina, in 1759. Soon after, the German Moravians founded the town of [[Old Salem|Salem]] in 1766 (now a historical section in the center of Winston-Salem) and [[Salem College]] (an early female college) in 1772.

In the [[Province of Georgia|Georgia Colony]], Germans mainly from the [[Swabia]] region settled in Savannah, St. Simon's Island and [[Fort Frederica]] in the 1730s and 1740s. They were actively recruited by [[James Oglethorpe]] and quickly distinguished themselves through improved farming, advanced [[tabby (cement)]]-construction, and leading joint Lutheran-[[Anglicanism|Anglican]]-Reformed religious services for the colonists.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

German immigrants also settled in other areas of the [[Southern United States|American South]], including around the [[Dutch Fork|Dutch (Deutsch) Fork]] area of [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]],<ref name="Conzen"/> and Texas, especially in the [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] and [[San Antonio]] areas.

====New England====
Between 1742 and 1753, roughly 1,000 Germans settled in Broad Bay, Massachusetts (now [[Waldoboro, Maine]]). Many of the colonists fled to [[Boston]], Maine, Nova Scotia, and North Carolina after their houses were burned and their neighbors killed or carried into captivity by Native Americans. The Germans who remained found it difficult to survive on farming, and eventually turned to the shipping and fishing industries.<ref name="Faust">{{Citation |last = Faust |first = Albert Bernhardt |title = The German Element in the United States with Special Reference to Its Political, Moral, Social, and Educational Influence |publisher = Houghton-Mifflin |location = Boston |year = 1909 |title-link = The German Element in the United States }}</ref>

====Pennsylvania====
{{Main|Pennsylvania German}}

The tide of German immigration to Pennsylvania swelled between 1725 and 1775, with immigrants arriving as [[redemptioner]]s or indentured servants. By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of the state. German farmers were renowned for their highly productive animal husbandry and agricultural practices. Politically, they were generally inactive until 1740, when they joined a [[Religious Society of Friends|Quaker]]-led coalition that took control of the legislature, which later supported the [[American Revolution]]. Despite this, many of the German settlers were [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|loyalists]] during the Revolution, possibly because they feared their royal land grants would be taken away by a new republican government, or because of loyalty to a British German monarchy who had provided the opportunity to live in a liberal society.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://sciway3.net/clark/revolutionarywar/loyalists.html |title = Loyalists (Royalists, Tories) in South Carolina |website = Sciway3.net |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-date = March 8, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210308063550/https://sciway3.net/clark/revolutionarywar/loyalists.html |url-status = live }}</ref> The Germans, comprising [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], [[Calvinism|Reformed]], [[Mennonite]]s, [[Amish]], and other sects, developed a rich religious life with a strong musical culture. Collectively, they came to be known as the [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] (from ''Deutsch'').<ref>{{cite book |last = Hostetler |first = John A. |author-link = John A. Hostetler |year = 1993 |title = Amish Society |url = https://archive.org/details/amishsociety00host_0 |url-access = registration |publisher = The [[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |location = Baltimore |page = [https://archive.org/details/amishsociety00host_0/page/241 241] |isbn = 9780801844423 }}</ref><ref>De Grauwe, Luc, "Emerging mother-tongues awareness in Dutch and German". In Linn & McLelland (eds). ''Standardization: Studies from the Germanic Languages''. p. 101, 104, passim.</ref>

Etymologically, the word Dutch originates from the Old High German word "diutisc" (from "diot" "people"), referring to the Germanic "language of the people" as opposed to Latin, the language of the learned (see also [[theodiscus]]). Eventually the word came to refer to people who speak a Germanic language, and only in the last couple centuries the people of the Netherlands. Other Germanic language variants for "deutsch/deitsch/dutch" are: Dutch "Duits" and "[[Diets]]", Yiddish "daytsh", Danish/Norwegian "tysk", or Swedish "[[Theodiscus#Etymology|tyska]]." The Japanese "ドイツ" (/doitsu/) also derives from the aforementioned "Dutch" variations.

The [[Studebaker]] brothers, forefathers of the wagon and automobile makers, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1736 from the famous blade town of [[Solingen]]. With their skills, they made wagons that carried the frontiersmen westward; their cannons provided the [[Union Army]] with artillery in the [[American Civil War]], and their automobile company became one of the largest in America, although never eclipsing the "Big Three", and was a factor in the [[war effort]] and in the industrial foundations of the Army.<ref>Patrick Foster, ''Studebaker: The Complete History'' (2008)</ref>

===American Revolution===
{{Main|Germans in the American Revolution}}
[[File:Baron Steuben by Peale, 1780.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben]], "father of the American military"<ref>https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/NCO-Journal/Archives/2015/September/01-18-Steuben/</ref>]] 
Great Britain, whose [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] was also the [[Prince-elector|Elector]] of [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]] in Germany, hired 18,000 [[Hessian (soldier)|Hessians]]. They were mercenary soldiers rented out by the rulers of several small German states such as Hesse to fight on the British side. Many were captured; they remained as prisoners during the war but some stayed and became U.S. citizens.<ref>Edward J. Lowell, ''The Hessians and the Other German Auxiliaries'' (1965)</ref> In the American Revolution the Mennonites and other small religious sects were neutral pacifists. The Lutherans of Pennsylvania were [[Patriot (American Revolution)|on the patriot side]].<ref>Charles Patrick Neimeyer, ''America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army'' (1995) pp 44=64 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg7q2 complete text online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725173005/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg7q2 |date=July 25, 2020 }}</ref> The Muhlenberg family, led by Rev. [[Henry Muhlenberg]] was especially influential on the Patriot side.<ref>Theodore G. Tappert, "Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and the American Revolution." ''Church History'' 11.4 (1942): 284–301. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3160373 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802213629/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3160373 |date=August 2, 2020 }}.</ref> His son [[Peter Muhlenberg]], a Lutheran clergyman in Virginia became a major general and later a Congressman.<ref>Henry Augustus Muhlenberg, ''The Life of Major-General Peter Muhlenberg: Of the Revolutionary Army'' (1849). [https://archive.org/details/lifemajorgenera02muhlgoog online]</ref><ref>Theodore G. Tappert, "Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and the American Revolution." ''Church History'' 11.4 (1942): 284–301. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3160373 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802213629/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3160373 |date=August 2, 2020 }}</ref> However, in upstate New York, many Germans were neutral or supported the [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] cause.

From names in the 1790 U.S. census, historians estimate Germans constituted nearly 9% of the white population in the United States.<ref>American Council of Learned Societies Devoted to Humanistic Studies. Committee on Linguistic and National Stocks in the Population of the United States. (1969), ''Surnames in the United States Census of 1790: An Analysis of National Origins of the Population'', Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.</ref>

===Colonial German American population by state===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|+ Estimated German American population in the United States as of the [[1790 United States census|first U.S Census]] of 1790<ref name="ACLS1929">{{cite book |author = American Council of Learned Societies. Committee on Linguistic and National Stocks in the Population of the United States |date = 1932 |title = Report of the Committee on Linguistic and National Stocks in the Population of the United States |publisher = [[U.S. Government Printing Office]] |location = Washington, D.C. |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DVA42JB6IYsC&pg=PA101 |author-link = American Council of Learned Societies |oclc = 1086749050 |access-date = October 12, 2022 |archive-date = November 30, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231130212204/https://books.google.com/books?id=DVA42JB6IYsC&pg=PA101#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status = live }}</ref>
|-  
! colspan=1 rowspan=2 style="text-align:center; background-color:#C8E5EE;"|'''State or Territory'''|| colspan=2 rowspan=1 style="text-align:center; background:#C8E5EE;"|[[Germans]]  
|-
! style="background-color:#C8E5EE;"|#
! style="background-color:#C8E5EE;"|%
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Connecticut]]
|align="right"|{{nts|697}}
|align="right"|0.30% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Delaware]]
|align="right"|{{nts|509}}
|align="right"|1.10% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|align="right"|{{nts|4,019}}
|align="right"|7.60% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[District of Kentucky|Kentucky]] & [[Southwest Territory|Tennessee]] 
|align="right"|{{nts|13,026}}
|align="right"|14.00% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[District of Maine|Maine]]
|align="right"|{{nts|1,249}}
|align="right"|1.30% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Maryland]]
|align="right"|{{nts|24,412}}
|align="right"|11.70% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Massachusetts]]
|align="right"|{{nts|1,120}}
|align="right"|0.30% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[New Hampshire]]
|align="right"|{{nts|564}}
|align="right"|0.40% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[New Jersey]]
|align="right"|{{nts|15,636}}
|align="right"|9.20% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[New York (state)|New York]]
|align="right"|{{nts|25,778}}
|align="right"|8.20% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[North Carolina]]
|align="right"|{{nts|13,592}}
|align="right"|4.70% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Pennsylvania]]
|align="right"|{{nts|140,983}}
|align="right"|33.30% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Rhode Island]]
|align="right"|{{nts|323}}
|align="right"|0.50% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[South Carolina]]
|align="right"|{{nts|7,009}}
|align="right"|5.00% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Vermont]]
|align="right"|{{nts|170}}
|align="right"|0.20% 
|-
|border = "1"; align="left"|[[Virginia]]
|align="right"|{{nts|27,853}}
|align="right"|6.30% 
|- bgcolor="lightgrey"
|border = "1"; align="left"|{{Sort|1790 Area Enumerated|'''''[[1790 United States census|1790 Census Area]]'''''}} 
|align="right"|'''''{{nts|276,770}}'''''
|align="right"|'''''8.73%'''''
|- bgcolor="#EEF0F0"
|border = "1"; align="left"|''[[Northwest Territory]]''
|align="right"|''{{nts|445}}''
|align="right"|''4.24%''
|- bgcolor="#EEF0F0"
|border = "1"; align="left"|''[[Vermont]]''
|align="right"|{{nts|170}}
|align="right"|0.20% 
|-
|}

The brief [[Fries's Rebellion]] was an anti-tax movement among Germans in Pennsylvania in 1799–1800.<ref>Birte Pfleger, "'Miserable Germans' and Fries's Rebellion: Language, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Early Republic," ''Early American Studies: an Interdisciplinary Journal'' 2004 2#2: 343–361</ref>

===19th century===
[[File:German population 1872.jpg|thumb|German population density in the United States, 1872]]

{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left:1em; font-size:88%;"
|-
! colspan="4" |German Immigration to United States (1820–2004)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Yearbook_Immigration_Statistics_2008.pdf |title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics |access-date=November 20, 2019 |archive-date=December 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212121455/https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Yearbook_Immigration_Statistics_2008.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
! Immigration<br />period || Number of<br />immigrants || Immigration<br />period || Number of<br />immigrants
|-
| 1820–1840 || style="text-align:right;"|160,335|| 1921–1930 || style="text-align:right;"|412,202
|-
| 1841–1850 || style="text-align:right;"|434,626|| 1931–1940 || style="text-align:right;"|114,058
|-
| 1851–1860|| style="text-align:right;"|951,667|| 1941–1950 || style="text-align:right;"| 226,578
|-
| 1861–1870|| style="text-align:right;"|787,468|| 1951–1960|| style="text-align:right;"| 477,765
|-
| 1871–1880|| style="text-align:right;"| 718,182 || 1961–1970|| style="text-align:right;"|190,796
|-
| 1881–1890 || style="text-align:right;"| 1,452,970 || 1971–1980 || style="text-align:right;"| 74,414
|-
| 1891–1900 || style="text-align:right;"|505,152 || 1981–1990 || style="text-align:right;"| 91,961
|-
| 1901–1910 || style="text-align:right;"|341,498 || 1991–2000 || style="text-align:right;"| 92,606
|-
| 1911–1920 || style="text-align:right;"| 143,945|| 2001–2004 || style="text-align:right;"| 61,253
|-
! colspan="4" |Total: 7,237,594
|}

The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and [[World War I|World War{{nbsp}}I]], during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants. Following the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states]], a wave of political refugees fled to America, who became known as [[Forty-Eighters]]. They included professionals, journalists, and politicians. Prominent Forty-Eighters included [[Carl Schurz]] and [[Henry Villard]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Easum |first=Chester V. |date=December 1, 1952 |title=Refugees of Revolution; The German Forty-Eighters in America. By Carl Wittke. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1952. ix + 384 pp. Index. $6.00.) |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/1895032 |journal=Journal of American History |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages= |doi=10.2307/1895032 |jstor=1895032 |hdl=2027/uiug.30112064439976 |issn=0021-8723 |hdl-access=free |access-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130212221/https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/39/3/563/719230?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Germans-emigrate-1874.jpg|thumb|"From the Old to the New World" shows German emigrants boarding a steamer in Hamburg, to New York. ''Harper's Weekly,'' (New York) November 7, 1874.]]

"Latin farmer" or [[Latin Settlement]] is the designation of several settlements founded by some of the [[Dreissiger]] and other refugees from Europe after rebellions like the [[Frankfurter Wachensturm]] beginning in the 1830s—predominantly in Texas and Missouri, but also in other U.S. states—in which German intellectuals ([[freethinkers]], {{langx|de|link=no|Freidenker}}, and [[Latinist]]s) met together to devote themselves to the [[German literature]], [[German philosophy|philosophy]], science, classical music, and the [[Latin language]]. A prominent representative of this generation of immigrants was [[Gustav Koerner]] who lived most of the time in [[Belleville, Illinois]] until his death.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

====Jewish Germans====
{{main|History of the Jews in the United States}}

A few [[German Jews]] came in [[History of the Jews in Colonial America|the colonial era]]. The largest numbers arrived after 1820, especially in the mid-19th century.<ref>Naomi Wiener Cohen, ''Encounter with Emancipation: The German Jews in the United States, 1830–1914'' (Varda Books, 2001).</ref> They spread across the North and South (and California, where [[Levi Strauss]] arrived in 1853). They formed small German-Jewish communities in cities and towns. They typically were local and regional merchants selling clothing; others were livestock dealers, agricultural commodity traders, bankers, and operators of local businesses. [[Henry Lehman]], who founded [[Lehman Brothers]] in Alabama, was a particularly prominent example of such a German-Jewish immigrant. They formed [[Reform Judaism|Reform synagogues]]<ref>Zev Eleff, ''Who Rules the Synagogue?: Religious Authority and the Formation of American Judaism'' (Oxford Up, 2016).</ref> and sponsored numerous local and national philanthropic organizations, such as [[B'nai B'rith]].<ref>Cornelia Wilhelm, ''The Independent Orders of B'nai B'rith and True Sisters: Pioneers of a New Jewish Identity, 1843–1914'' (2011).</ref> This German-speaking group is quite distinct from the Yiddish-speaking East-European Jews who arrived in much larger numbers starting in the late 19th century and concentrated in New York.

====Northeastern cities====
{{Further|History of the Germans in Baltimore}}
{{multiple image
| header    = Late-19th-century German-American buildings in Manhattan(former [[Little Germany, Manhattan|Little Germany]])
| align     = right
| caption_align = center
| image1    = Freie Bibliothek and Deutsches Dispensary.jpg
| width1    = 170
| caption1  = ''Freie Bibliothek und Lesehalle'' (Free Library and Reading Hall) and ''Deutsches Dispensary'' (German Dispensary), both by William Schickel (1883–1884) on [[Second Avenue (Manhattan)|Second Avenue]] at St Mark's Place in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]]
| image2    = Little Germany House.jpg
| width2    = 120
| caption2  = ''Deutsch-Amerikanische Schützen Gesellschaft'' (German-American Shooting Society) by William C. Frohne (1885) on St. Mark's Place in the East Village
| image3    = Scheffel_Hall_190_Third_Avenue.jpg
| width3    = 108
| caption3  = Scheffel Hall by Weber and Drosser (1894) on [[Third Avenue (Manhattan)|Third Avenue]] between [[17th Street (Manhattan)|17th]] and [[18th Street (Manhattan)|18th]] Streets, near [[Gramercy Park]]
}}

The port cities of New York City, and [[History of the Germans in Baltimore|Baltimore]] had large populations, as did [[Hoboken, New Jersey]].

====Cities of the Midwest====
{{Further|Germans in Chicago|Germans in Milwaukee|Germans in Omaha, Nebraska|History of the Germans in Louisville}}

In the 19th century, German immigrants settled in Midwest, where land was available. Cities along the Great Lakes, the Ohio River, and the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers attracted a large German element. The [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern]] cities of [[Milwaukee]], [[Cincinnati]], [[St. Louis]], [[Chicago]] were favored destinations of German immigrants. The [[Northern Kentucky]] and [[History of the Germans in Louisville|Louisville]] area along the [[Ohio River]] was also a favored destination. By 1900, the populations of the cities of [[Cleveland]], [[Milwaukee]], and [[Cincinnati]] were all more than 40% German American. [[Dubuque, Iowa|Dubuque]] and [[Davenport, Iowa]] had even larger proportions, as did [[Omaha]], Nebraska, where the proportion of German Americans was 57% in 1910. In many other cities of the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], such as [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]], German Americans were at least 30% of the population.<ref name="Faust" /><ref>Census data from Bureau of the Census, ''Thirteenth census of the United States taken in the year 1910'' (1913)</ref> By 1850 there were 5,000 Germans, mostly [[Schwabian]]s living in, and around, [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Orlando |title=Ann Arbor the First Hundred Years |date=1927 |publisher=Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce |location=Ann Arbor |page=81 |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moaatxt;idno=3933400.0001.001 |access-date=February 25, 2016 |format=Hardcover |archive-date=March 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316181433/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moaatxt;idno=3933400.0001.001 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Many concentrations acquired distinctive names suggesting their heritage, such as the "[[Over-the-Rhine]]" district in Cincinnati, "[[Dutchtown, St. Louis|Dutchtown]]" in South St Louis, and "[[German Village]]" in Columbus, Ohio.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://germanvillage.com/index.php |title=German Village Society |access-date=November 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509124022/http://www.germanvillage.com/index.php |archive-date=May 9, 2008}}</ref>

A particularly attractive destination was [[Milwaukee]], which came to be known as "the German [[Athens]]". Radical Germans trained in politics in the old country dominated the city's [[Social Democratic Party (United States)|Socialists]]. Skilled workers dominated many crafts, while entrepreneurs created the brewing industry; the most famous brands included [[Pabst Brewing Company|Pabst]], [[Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company|Schlitz]], [[Miller Brewing Company|Miller]], and [[Valentin Blatz Brewing Company|Blatz]].<ref>Trudy Knauss Paradis, et al. ''German Milwaukee'' (2006)</ref>

Whereas half of German immigrants settled in cities, the other half established farms in the [[Midwest]]. From Ohio to the Plains states, a heavy presence persists in rural areas into the 21st century.<ref name="Conzen" /><ref>Richard Sisson, ed. ''The American Midwest'' (2007), p. 208; Gross (1996); Johnson (1951).</ref>

====Deep South====
{{Further|Germans in Alabama}}

Few German immigrants settled in the [[Deep South]], apart from [[New Orleans]], the [[German Coast]], and Texas.<ref name="German Settlers in Louisiana and New Orleans">{{Citation |url=http://www.hnoc.org/collections/gerpath/gersect1.htm |title=German Settlers in Louisiana and New Orleans |access-date=November 30, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204103934/http://www.hnoc.org/collections/gerpath/gersect1.htm |archive-date=December 4, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Texas====
{{Main|Texas Germans}}
[[File:WahrenbergerHouseAustinTX.JPG|thumb|The [[Wahrenberger House]] in [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] served as a German-American school.<ref name="UTGermanAm">[http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/germanic/_files/pdf/community/10Kwalk.pdf A 10K Walk Through German-Texas Heritage in Austin, Texas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204220217/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/germanic/_files/pdf/community/10Kwalk.pdf |date=December 4, 2010 }}. [[The University of Texas at Austin]]. 3/6. Retrieved on November 15, 2009.</ref>]]

Texas attracted many Germans who entered through [[Galveston, Texas|Galveston]] and [[Indianola, Texas|Indianola]], both those who came to farm, and later immigrants who more rapidly took industrial jobs in cities such as Houston. As in [[Milwaukee]], Germans in Houston built the brewing industry. By the 1920s, the first generation of college-educated German Americans were moving into the chemical and oil industries.<ref name="Conzen"/>

Texas had about 20,000 German Americans in the 1850s. They did not form a uniform bloc, but were highly diverse and drew from geographic areas and all sectors of European society, except that very few aristocrats or upper middle class businessmen arrived. In this regard, Texas Germania was a microcosm of the Germania nationwide.

<blockquote>The Germans who settled Texas were diverse in many ways. They included peasant farmers and intellectuals; Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and atheists; Prussians, Saxons, and Hessians; abolitionists and slave owners; farmers and townsfolk; frugal, honest folk and ax murderers. They differed in dialect, customs, and physical features. A majority had been farmers in Germany, and most arrived seeking economic opportunities. A few dissident intellectuals fleeing the 1848 revolutions sought political freedom, but few, save perhaps the Wends, went for religious freedom. The German settlements in Texas reflected their diversity. Even in the confined area of the Hill Country, each valley offered a different kind of German. The Llano valley had stern, teetotaling German Methodists, who renounced dancing and fraternal organizations; the Pedernales valley had fun-loving, hardworking Lutherans and Catholics who enjoyed drinking and dancing; and the Guadalupe valley had freethinking Germans descended from intellectual political refugees. The scattered German ethnic islands were also diverse. These small enclaves included Lindsay in Cooke County, largely Westphalian Catholic; Waka in Ochiltree County, Midwestern Mennonite; Hurnville in Clay County, Russian German Baptist; and Lockett in Wilbarger County, Wendish Lutheran.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/png02 |title=GERMANS |work=Handbook of Texas Online |date=2010-06-15 |access-date=January 2, 2016 |archive-date=August 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807115513/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/png02 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

====Germans from Russia====
{{see also|Russian Germans in North America|}}
[[File:Volga-Germans-US.jpg|thumb|left|Temporary quarters for [[Volga Germans]] in central Kansas, 1875]]

[[Russian Germans in North America|Germans from Russia]] were the most traditional of German-speaking arrivals. They were Germans who had lived for generations throughout the [[Russian Empire]], but especially along the [[Volga River]] and the [[Black Sea]]. Their ancestors had come from all over the German-speaking world, invited by [[Catherine the Great]] in 1762 and 1763 to settle and introduce more advanced German agriculture methods to rural Russia. They had been promised by the manifesto of their settlement the ability to practice their respective Christian denominations, retain their culture and language, and retain immunity from conscription for them and their descendants. As time passed, the Russian monarchy gradually eroded the ethnic German population's relative autonomy. Conscription eventually was reinstated; this was especially harmful to the Mennonites, who practice pacifism. Throughout the 19th century, pressure increased from the Russian government to culturally assimilate. Many Germans from Russia found it necessary to emigrate to avoid conscription and preserve their culture. About 100,000 immigrated by 1900, settling primarily in the [[Great Plains]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Negatively influenced by the violation of their rights and cultural persecution by the [[Tsar]], the Germans from Russia who settled in the northern [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] saw themselves as a downtrodden ethnic group separate from Russian Americans and having an entirely different experience from the German Americans who had emigrated from German lands. They settled in tight-knit communities who retained their German language and culture. They raised large families, built German-style churches, buried their dead in distinctive cemeteries using cast iron grave markers, and sang German hymns. Many farmers specialized in the production of sugar beets and wheat, which are still major crops in the upper Great Plains. During World War{{nbsp}}I, their identity was challenged by [[anti-German sentiment]]. By the end of World War{{nbsp}}II, the German language, which had always been used with English for public and official matters, was in serious decline. Today, German is preserved mainly through singing groups, recipes, and educational settings. While most descendants of Germans from Russia primarily speak English, many are choosing to learn [[Standard German|German]] in an attempt to reconnect with their heritage. Germans from Russia often use [[loanword]]s, such as ''Kuchen'' for cake. Despite the loss of their language, the ethnic group remains distinct, and has left a lasting impression on the American West.<ref>Elwyn B. Robinson, ''History of North Dakota'' (1966) pp. 285–87, 557; Gordon L. Iseminger, "Are We Germans, or Russians, or Americans? The McIntosh County German-Russians During World War{{nbsp}}I", ''North Dakota History'' 1992 59(2): 2–16.</ref>

Musician [[Lawrence Welk]] (1903–1992) became an iconic figure in the German-Russian community of the northern Great Plains—his success story personified the American dream.<ref>Timothy J. Kloberdanz, "Symbols of German-Russian Ethnic Identity on the Northern Plains." ''Great Plains Quarterly'' 8#1 (1988): 3–15 [https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1519&context=greatplainsquarterly online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801010702/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1519&context=greatplainsquarterly |date=August 1, 2020 }}.</ref>

====Civil War====
{{main|German Americans in the American Civil War}}

Sentiment among German Americans was largely anti-slavery, especially among Forty-Eighters.<ref name="Wittke">{{Citation |last=Wittke |first=Carl |title=Refugees of Revolution |year=1952 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press}}</ref> Notable Forty-Eighter [[Hermann Raster]] wrote passionately against slavery and was very pro-Lincoln. Raster published anti-slavery pamphlets and was the editor of the most influential German language newspaper in America at the time.<ref>"Inventory of the Hermann Raster Papers". The Newberry Library.</ref> He helped secure the votes of German-Americans across the United States for Abraham Lincoln. When Raster died the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' published an article regarding his service as a correspondent for America to the German states saying, "His writings during and after the Civil War did more to create understanding and appreciation of the American situation in Germany and to float U.S. bonds in Europe than the combined efforts of all the U.S. ministers and consuls."<ref>"Honor Herman Raster." ''Chicago Tribune'' August 12, 1891: 2. Print.</ref> Hundreds of thousands of German Americans volunteered to fight for the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] in the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865).<ref name="Keller">Christian B. Keller, "Flying Dutchmen and Drunken Irishmen: The Myths and Realities of Ethnic Civil War Soldiers", ''Journal of Military History'', Vol/ 73, No. 1, January 2009, pp. 117–145; for primary sources see Walter D. Kamphoefner and Wolfgang Helbich, eds., ''Germans in the Civil War: The Letters They Wrote Home'' (2006).</ref> The Germans were the largest immigrant group to participate in the Civil War; over 176,000 U.S. soldiers were born in Germany.<ref>The number of Confederate soldiers born in Germany is not known. Faust, page 523. Quoting from an 1869 ethnicity study by B. A. Gould; [https://books.google.com/books?id=J2Q6RgAJTsgC&q=intitle:german+intitle:element+inauthor:faust online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419021414/https://books.google.com/books?id=J2Q6RgAJTsgC&q=intitle:german+intitle:element+inauthor:faust |date=April 19, 2023 }}.</ref> A popular Union commander among Germans, Major General [[Franz Sigel]] was the highest-ranking German officer in the [[Union Army]], with many German immigrants claiming to enlist to "fight ''mit'' Sigel".<ref>{{Citation |last=Poole |first=John F. |title=I'm Going to Fight Mit Sigel |publisher=H. de Marsan |location=New York}}</ref>

[[File:Germans1900.jpg|thumb|upright|The German vote in 1900 was in doubt; they opposed the "repudiation" policy of [[William Jennings Bryan|Bryan]] (right poster), but also disliked the overseas expansion [[William McKinley|McKinley]] had delivered (left poster).]]

Although only one in four Germans fought in all-German regiments, they created the public image of the German soldier. Pennsylvania fielded five German regiments, New York eleven, and Ohio six.<ref name="Keller" />

====Farmers====
Western railroads, with large land grants available to attract farmers, set up agencies in Hamburg and other German cities, promising cheap transportation, and sales of farmland on easy terms. For example, the Santa Fe railroad hired its own commissioner for immigration, and sold over {{convert|300000|acre|km2}} to German-speaking farmers.<ref>C. B. Schmidt, "Reminiscences of Foreign Immigration Work for Kansas," ''Kansas Historical Collections, 1905–1906'' 9 (1906): 485–497; J. Neale Carman, ed. and trans., "German Settlements Along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway," ''[[Kansas Historical Quarterly]]'' 28 (Autumn 1962): 310–16; cited in Turk, "Germans in Kansas," (2005) p 57.</ref>

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the German Americans showed a high interest in becoming farmers, and keeping their children and grandchildren on the land. While they needed profits to stay in operation, they used profits as a tool "to maintain continuity of the family".<ref>Sonya Salamon, ''Prairie Patrimony: Family, Farming, and Community in the Midwest'' (U. of North Carolina Press, 1992) pp. 53, 101</ref> They used risk averse strategies, and carefully planned their inheritances to keep the land in the family. Their communities showed smaller average farm size, greater equality, less absentee ownership and greater geographic persistence. As one farmer explained, "To protect your family has turned out to be the same thing as protecting your land."<ref>Salamon, ''Prairie Patrimony'' p 101</ref>

Germany was a large country with many diverse subregions which contributed immigrants. Dubuque was the base of the ''Ostfriesische Nachrichten'' ("East Frisian News") from 1881 to 1971. It connected the 20,000 immigrants from East Friesland (Ostfriesland), Germany, to each other across the Midwest, and to their old homeland. In Germany East Friesland was often a topic of ridicule regarding backward rustics, but editor Leupke Hündling shrewdly combined stories of proud memories of Ostfriesland. The editor enlisted a network of local correspondents. By mixing local American and local German news, letters, poetry, fiction, and dialogue, the German-language newspaper allowed immigrants to honor their origins and celebrate their new life as highly prosperous farmers with much larger farms than were possible back in impoverished Ostfriesland. During the world wars, when Germania came under heavy attack, the paper stressed its humanitarian role, mobilizing readers to help the people of East Friesland with relief funds. Younger generations could usually speak German but not read it, so the subscription base dwindled away as the target audience Americanized itself.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor=27501458 |title=Heimat in the Heartland: The Significance of an Ethnic Newspaper |journal=Journal of American Ethnic History |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=78–98 |last1=Lindaman |first1=Matthew |year=2004 |doi=10.2307/27501458 |s2cid=254494566}}</ref>

====Politics====
Relatively few German Americans held office, but the men voted once they became citizens. In general during the [[Third party System]] (1850s–1890s), the Protestants and Jews leaned toward the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican party]] and the Catholics were strongly [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]. When [[prohibition]] was on the ballot, the Germans voted solidly against it. They strongly distrusted moralistic crusaders, whom they called "Puritans", including the temperance reformers and many [[Populist Party (United States)|Populists]]. The German community strongly opposed [[Free Silver]], and voted heavily against crusader [[William Jennings Bryan]] in 1896. In 1900, many German Democrats returned to their party and voted for Bryan, perhaps because of President [[William McKinley]]'s foreign policy.<ref name="Jensen1971">{{cite book |author=Richard J. Jensen |title=The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpCgCNZwpvoC&q=McKinley%27s+inclusive+appeal |year=1971 |publisher=Richard Jensen |isbn=978-0-226-39825-9 |page=292 |access-date=January 15, 2017 |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130212235/https://books.google.com/books?id=XpCgCNZwpvoC&q=McKinley%27s+inclusive+appeal |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the local level, historians have explored the changing voting behavior of the German-American community and one of its major strongholds, St. Louis, Missouri. The German Americans had voted 80 percent for Lincoln in 1860, and strongly supported the war effort. They were a bastion of the Republican Party in St. Louis and nearby immigrant strongholds in Missouri and southern Illinois. The German Americans were angered by a proposed Missouri state constitution that discriminated against Catholics and freethinkers. The requirement of a special loyalty oath for priests and ministers was troublesome. Despite their strong opposition the constitution was ratified in 1865. Racial tensions with the blacks began to emerge, especially in terms of competition for unskilled labor jobs. Germania was nervous about black suffrage in 1868, fearing that blacks would support puritanical laws, especially regarding the prohibition of beer gardens on Sundays. The tensions split off a large German element in 1872, led by Carl Schurz. They supported the Liberal Republican party led by [[Benjamin Gratz Brown]] for governor in 1870 and [[Horace Greeley]] for president in 1872.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor=27501880 |title=German Americans, African Americans, and the Republican Party in St. Louis, 1865–1872 |journal=Journal of American Ethnic History |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=34–51 |last1=Anderson |first1=Kristen L. |year=2008 |doi=10.2307/27501880 |s2cid=254486844}}</ref>

Many Germans in late 19th century cities were communists; Germans played a significant role in the labor union movement.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dorothee Schneider |title=Trade Unions and Community: The German Working Class in New York City, 1870–1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATL_3v4_PkwC&pg=PA36 |year=1994 |page=36 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252020575 |access-date=February 13, 2016 |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130212217/https://books.google.com/books?id=ATL_3v4_PkwC&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Hartmut Keil, and John B. Jentz, eds., ''German Workers in Industrial Chicago, 1850–1910: A Comparative Perspective'' (1983).</ref> A few were anarchists.<ref>{{cite web |last=Goyens |first=Tom |title=Beer and Revolution: Some Aspects of German Anarchist Culture in New York, 1880–1900 |url=http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/tom-goyens-beer-and-revolution-some-aspects-of-german-anarchist-culture-in-new-york-1880-1900 |publisher=Social Anarchism journal |access-date=July 8, 2012 |archive-date=October 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003181855/http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/tom-goyens-beer-and-revolution-some-aspects-of-german-anarchist-culture-in-new-york-1880-1900 |url-status=live }}</ref> Eight of the forty-two anarchist defendants in the [[Haymarket Affair]] of 1886 in Chicago were German.

===World Wars===

====Intellectuals====
[[File:Hugo Munsterberg.jpg|thumb|upright|Hugo Münsterberg, Harvard professor of psychology]]

[[Hugo Münsterberg]] (1863–1916), a German psychologist, moved to Harvard in the 1890s and became a leader in the new profession. He was president of the American Psychological Association in 1898, and the [[American Philosophical Association]] in 1908, and played a major role in many other American and international organizations.<ref>Jutta Spillmann, and Lothar Spillmann. "The rise and fall of Hugo Münsterberg." ''Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences'' 29#4 (1993): 322–338.</ref>

[[Arthur Preuss]] (1871–1934) was a leading journalist, and theologian. A layman in St Louis. His ''Fortnightly Review'' (in English) was a major conservative voice read closely by church leaders and intellectuals from 1894 until 1934. He was intensely loyal to the Vatican. Preuss upheld the German Catholic community, denounced the "Americanism" heresy, promoted the [[Catholic University of America]], and anguished over the anti-German America hysteria during World War{{nbsp}}I. He provided lengthy commentary regarding the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the anti-Catholic factor in the presidential campaign of 1928, the hardships of the Great Depression, and the liberalism of the New Deal.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 25154032 |title = Arthur Preuss, German-Catholic Exile in America |journal = U.S. Catholic Historian |volume = 12 |issue = 3 |pages = 41–62 |last1 = Conley |first1 = Rory T. |year = 1994 }}</ref><ref>Rory T. Conley, ''Arthur Preuss: Journalist and Voice of German and Conservative Catholics in America, 1871–1934'' (1998).</ref>

====World War I anti-German sentiment====
{{see also|American entry into World War I|Internment of German Americans}}
[[File:German American internment sites during World War II.jpg|left|thumb|623x623px|Map of German American internment sites in WWII]]
During World War I, German Americans were often accused of being too sympathetic to Imperial Germany. Former president [[Theodore Roosevelt]] denounced "[[hyphenated American]]ism", insisting that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime. A small minority came out for Germany, such as [[H. L. Mencken]]. Similarly, Harvard psychology professor [[Hugo Münsterberg]] dropped his efforts to mediate between America and Germany, and threw his efforts behind the German cause.<ref>Jutta Spillmann and Lothar Spillmann. "The rise and fall of Hugo Münsterberg." ''Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences'' 29.4 (1993) 322–338.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.earlham.edu/~dominel/obituary.htm |title = Untitled Document |website = Earlham.edu |access-date = August 28, 2017 |archive-date = December 28, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101228010415/http://www.earlham.edu/~dominel/obituary.htm |url-status = dead }}</ref> There was also some Anti-German hysteria like the killing of [[Edmund Kayser|Pastor Edmund Kayser]].

The Justice Department prepared a list of all German aliens, counting approximately 480,000 of them, more than 4,000 of whom were imprisoned in 1917–18. The allegations included spying for Germany or endorsing the German war effort.<ref>[http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/comment/yockel.htm The War Department: Keeper of Our Nation's Enemy Aliens During World War I] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060912000808/http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/comment/yockel.htm |date=September 12, 2006 }} by [[Mitchell Yockelson]]. Presented to the Society for Military History Annual Meeting, April 1998.</ref> Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty.<ref>{{Citation |url = http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/1/ |title = Get the Rope! Anti-German Violence in World War I-era Wisconsin |access-date = August 1, 2008 |work = History Matters |publisher = George Mason University |archive-date = June 11, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160611050419/http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/1/ |url-status = live }}</ref> The [[American Red Cross|Red Cross]] barred individuals with German last names from joining in fear of sabotage. One person was killed by a mob; in [[Collinsville, Illinois]], German-born [[Robert Prager]] was dragged from jail as a suspected spy and lynched.<ref name=Hickey>{{Citation |last = Hickey |first = Donald R. |title = The Prager Affair: A Study in Wartime Hysteria |journal = Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society |pages = 126–127 |date = Summer 1969 }}</ref> A Minnesota minister was [[tarred and feathered]] when he was overheard praying in German with a dying woman.<ref>{{Citation |last = Brinkley |first = Alan |title = Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis |journal = Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences |issue = Winter 2006 |pages = 26–29 |access-date = November 19, 2009 |url = http://www.amacad.org/publications/bulletin/winter2006/brinkley.pdf |archive-date = November 13, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181113073201/http://www.amacad.org/publications/bulletin/winter2006/brinkley.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref> Questions of German American loyalty increased due to events like the German [[Black Tom explosion|bombing of Black Tom island]]<ref>{{cite news |url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/07/31/104683616.pdf |title = How Eyewitnesses Survived Explosion: Police and Men on Craft Dodged Death on Land and Water to Save Themselves and Others |work = The New York Times |date = July 31, 1916 |access-date = July 30, 2010 |archive-date = February 24, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210224224438/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/07/31/104683616.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref> and the U.S. entering World War I, many German Americans were arrested for refusing allegiance to the U.S.<ref>{{cite news |last = Robbins |first = Jim |url = https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C17FC355B0C708CDDAC0894DE404482 |title = Silence Broken, Pardons Granted 88 Years After Crimes of Sedition |work = The New York Times |date = May 3, 2006 |access-date = July 30, 2010 |archive-date = May 12, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110512052756/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C17FC355B0C708CDDAC0894DE404482 |url-status = live }}</ref> War hysteria led to the removal of German names in public, names of things such as streets,<ref name="cincy">Kathleen Doane. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140120043547/http://cincinnati.com/blogs/ourhistory/2012/06/06/anti-german-hysteria-swept-cincinnati-in-1917/ "Anti-German hysteria swept Cincinnati in 1917"] . ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'', June 6, 2012. Accessed February 15, 2013.</ref> and businesses.<ref>[http://www.guardianlife.com/glife11pp/groups/camp_internet/@stellent_camp_website_glife_corpcomm_edits/documents/report/guardian2009annualreportfin.pdf Guardian 2009 Annual Report]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p. 2; Anita Rapone, The Guardian Life Insurance Company, 1860–1920: A History of a German-American Enterprise (New York: New York University Press, 1987); Robert E. Wright and George David Smith, Mutually Beneficial: The Guardian and Life Insurance in America (New York: New York University Press, 2004).</ref> Schools also began to eliminate or discourage the teaching of the German language.<ref>[http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/archival-collections/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Archival-Finding-Aid.pdf CCNY Archival Finding Aid] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225156/http://digital-archives.ccny.cuny.edu/archival-collections/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Archival-Finding-Aid.pdf |date=March 3, 2016 }}, p. 81.</ref>

In Chicago, [[Frederick Stock]] temporarily stepped down as conductor of the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] until he finalized his naturalization papers. Orchestras replaced music by German composer [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] with French composer [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]. In [[Cincinnati]], the public library was asked to withdraw all German books from its shelves.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.enquirer.com/century/loc_cincinnatis_century5.html |title = Cincinnati's Century of Change – May |website = Enquirer.com |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-date = November 30, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231130212235/https://www.cincinnati.com/ |url-status = live }}</ref> German-named streets were renamed. The town, Berlin, Michigan, was changed to [[Marne, Michigan]] (honoring those who fought in the Battle of Marne). In Iowa, in the 1918 [[Babel Proclamation]], the governor prohibited all foreign languages in schools and public places. Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English, but the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled the ban illegal in 1923 (''[[Meyer v. Nebraska]]'').<ref>''Meyer v. Nebraska'', [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=262&page=390 262 U.S. 390] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628182529/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=262&page=390 |date=June 28, 2011 }} (1923).</ref> The response of German Americans to these tactics was often to "[[Americanization|Americanize]]" names (e.g., Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller) and limit the use of the German language in public places, especially churches.<ref name="Hawgood"/>

<gallery>
File:WWIHunNatlArchives.jpg|American wartime propaganda depicted the bloodthirsty German "Hun" soldier as an enemy of civilization, with his eyes on America from across the Atlantic.
John Meintz, punished during World War I - NARA - 283633 - restored.jpg|German American farmer John Meints of Minnesota was [[Tarring and feathering|tarred and feathered]] in August 1918 for allegedly not supporting war bond drives.
</gallery>

====World War II====
[[File:Marlene Dietrich ww2 47.jpg|thumb|[[Marlene Dietrich]] signing a soldier's cast (Belgium, 1944)]]

Between 1931 and 1940, 114,000 Germans moved to the United States, many of whom—including Nobel prize winner [[Albert Einstein]] and author [[Erich Maria Remarque]]—were [[History of the Jews in Germany|Jewish Germans]] or [[anti-Nazi]]s fleeing government oppression.<ref>[http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/GermAmChron.htm A German-American Chronology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513133642/http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/GermAmChron.htm |date=May 13, 2012 }}, adapted from: ''The German Americans: An Ethnic Experience'' by LaVern J. Rippley and Eberhard Reichmann.</ref> About 25,000 people became paying members of the pro-Nazi [[German American Bund]] during the years before the war.<ref>[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005684 German American Bund] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506074059/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005684 |date=May 6, 2009 }}, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.</ref> German aliens were the subject of suspicion and discrimination during the war, although prejudice and sheer numbers meant they suffered as a group generally less than [[Japanese American]]s. The [[Smith Act|Alien Registration Act of 1940]] required 300,000 German-born resident aliens who had German citizenship to register with the Federal government and restricted their travel and property ownership rights.<ref>{{Cite web |url = http://judiciary.senate.gov/member_statement.cfm?id=964&wit_id=85 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080829095922/http://judiciary.senate.gov/member_statement.cfm?id=964&wit_id=85 |url-status = dead |title = Statement of Senator Russell D. Feingold |archive-date = August 29, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h109-3198 |title = Text of H.R. 3198 (109th): Wartime Treatment Study Act (Introduced version) – GovTrack.us |work = GovTrack.us |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-date = February 5, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205104622/http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h109-3198 |url-status = live }}</ref> Under the still active [[Alien and Sedition Acts|Alien Enemy Act of 1798]], the United States government [[German American internment|interned nearly 11,000 German citizens]] between 1940 and 1948. Civil rights violations occurred.<ref name="real_people">{{cite web |url = http://www.gaic.info/real_people.html |title = German American Internee Coalition |access-date = March 17, 2015 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150305075021/http://www.gaic.info/real_people.html |archive-date = March 5, 2015 }}</ref> An unknown number of "voluntary internees" joined their spouses and parents in the camps and were not permitted to leave.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1153895 |title = German Internment Camps in World War II (thing) |website = Everything2.com |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-date = March 22, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210322054819/https://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1153895 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3607871.stm |title = BBC NEWS – Americas – The lost voices of Crystal City |website = News.bbc.co.uk |access-date = March 17, 2015 |date = April 8, 2004 |archive-date = March 22, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210322054822/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3607871.stm |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.traces.org/timeline.aftermath.html |title = German Internees Time Line |website = Traces.org |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150321113005/http://www.traces.org/timeline.aftermath.html |archive-date = March 21, 2015 |url-status = dead }}</ref>
Many Americans of German ancestry had top war jobs, including General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], Admiral [[Chester W. Nimitz]], and [[USAAF]] General [[Carl Andrew Spaatz]]. Roosevelt appointed Republican [[Wendell Willkie]] (who ironically ran against Roosevelt in the [[1940 United States presidential election|1940 presidential election]]) as a personal representative. German Americans who had fluent German language skills were an important asset to wartime intelligence, and they served as translators and as spies for the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.traces.org/wartimepolicies.htm |title = Wartime Policies |website = Traces.org |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150325071110/http://www.traces.org/wartimepolicies.htm |archive-date = March 25, 2015 |url-status = dead }}</ref> The war evoked strong pro-American patriotic sentiments among German Americans, few of whom by then had contacts with distant relatives in the old country.<ref name="Conzen"/><ref>Tischauser, (1990); Tolzmann, (1995)</ref>
{{Bar chart
| title       = Number of German Americans
| label_type  = Year
| data_type   = Number
| bar_width   = 15
| width_units = em
| data_max    = 60000000
| float       = right
| label1      = 1980<ref>{{Citation |title = Rank of States for Selected Ancestry Groups with 100,00 or more persons: 1980 |url = https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab04.pdf |publisher = [[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date = November 30, 2012 |archive-date = January 16, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190116175346/https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab04.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref>
| data1       = 49,224,146
| label2      = 1990<ref>{{Citation |title = 1990 Census of Population Detailed Ancestry Groups for States |url = https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cp-s/cp-s-1-2.pdf |publisher = [[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date = November 30, 2012 |date = September 18, 1992 |archive-date = July 27, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170727091052/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cp-s/cp-s-1-2.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref>
| data2       = 57,947,374
| label3      = 2000<ref>{{Citation |title = Ancestry: 2000 |url = http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_00_SF3_QTP13&prodType=table |archive-url = https://archive.today/20200212213043/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_00_SF3_QTP13&prodType=table |url-status = dead |archive-date = February 12, 2020 |publisher = [[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date = November 30, 2012 }}</ref>
| data3       = 42,885,162
| label4      = 2010<ref>{{Citation |title = Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |url = http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B04003&prodType=table |archive-url = https://archive.today/20150118121537/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_1YR_B04003&prodType=table |url-status = dead |archive-date = January 18, 2015 |publisher = [[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date = November 30, 2012 }}</ref>
| data4       = 47,911,129
| data5       = 44,978,546
| label5      = 2020<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-race-overview.html|title= Census Bureau Releases 2020 Census Population for More Than 200 New Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups|date= September 21, 2023|accessdate= October 21, 2023|archive-date= October 12, 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231012221711/https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-race-overview.html|url-status= live}}</ref>
}}

===Contemporary period===
[[File:New ulm police.jpg|thumb|Parking meter checker stands by his police vehicle which is imprinted with the German word for police (Polizei). It is part of the town's highlighting its German ethnic origins. [[New Ulm, Minnesota]], July 1974.]]
[[File:Mathilda Wehmeyer German-American Kindergarten School -- Galveston.jpg|left|thumb|German American kindergarten building in [[Galveston, Texas|Galveston TX]]]]
In the aftermath of World War II, millions of [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|ethnic Germans were forcibly expelled]] from their homes within the redrawn borders of Central and Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Most resettled in Germany, but others came as refugees to the United States in the late 1940s, and established cultural centers in their new homes. Some [[Danube Swabians]], for instance, [[ethnic Germans]] who had maintained language and customs after settlement in Hungary and the Balkans, immigrated to the U.S. after the war.

After 1970, the anti-German sentiment aroused by World War II faded away.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.germany.info/relaunch/politics/new/pol_German_US_Survey_4_2007.html |title = German Missions in the United States – Home |website = Germany.info |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080904225106/http://www.germany.info/relaunch/politics/new/pol_German_US_Survey_4_2007.html |archive-date = September 4, 2008 |url-status = dead }}</ref> Today, German Americans who immigrated after World War{{nbsp}}II share the same characteristics as any other Western European immigrant group in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shadows of War |url=http://rs6.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/german8.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506125040/http://rs6.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/german8.html |archive-date=May 6, 2009 |access-date=March 17, 2015 |website=Teacher Resources – [[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> 
[[File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.jpg|thumb|U.S. Ancestries by County, Germany in light blue, {{as of|2000|lc=y}} census]] The German American community supported reunification in 1990.<ref>Lukas Schemper,  "Diasporas and American debates on German unification." ''Journal of Transatlantic Studies'' 15.1 (2017): 41–60 [https://www.academia.edu/download/51054251/Schemper_-_Diasporas_and_American_debates_on_German_unification_-_2016.pdf online]{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}.</ref>

In the [[1990 United States census|1990 U.S. Census]], 58 million Americans claimed to be solely or partially of German descent.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/imde/germchro.html |title = Chronology : The Germans in America (European Reading Room, Library of Congress) |website = Loc.gov |access-date = March 17, 2015 |archive-date = May 28, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230528125650/https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/imde/germchro.html |url-status = live }}</ref> According to the 2005 American Community Survey, 50 million Americans have German ancestry. German Americans represent 17% of the total U.S. population and 26% of the non-Hispanic white population.<ref name="US Census Bureau, German population">{{Citation |url = http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |author = United States Census Bureau |title = US demographic census |access-date = April 15, 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090403034514/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-date = April 3, 2009 }}</ref>

''The Economist'' magazine in 2015 interviewed Petra Schürmann, the director of the German-American Heritage Museum in Washington D.C. for a major article on German-Americans. She notes that all over the United States, celebrations such as German fests and Oktoberfests have been appearing.{{cn|date=May 2025}}