Every April, many Americans of Scottish descent mark National Tartan Day. It is a celebration with deep roots that lie in Scottish immigration to America, and was officially recognised by the United States Senate in 1998 through a resolution championed by Senator Trent Lott, designating the day to honour ‘the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish Americans to the United States.’
The date is no accident: 6 April marks the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, Scotland’s own assertion of independence, a document whose spirit echoed powerfully across the Atlantic four centuries later. The framers of the American Declaration of Independence were steeped in that tradition, and almost half of its signatories were of Scottish descent.
The Scottish imprint on America runs remarkably deep. Nine of the thirteen original state governors were of Scottish ancestry, and Scots played a formative role in shaping the young republic through its most turbulent years. As John Foord once put it, ‘We are the better Americans for the Scottish heritage’. This is a sentiment that finds both cultural and demographic support. According to the 2009 American Community Survey, for example, nearly 5.85 million Americans identified their ancestry as Scottish, with a further 3.57 million identifying as Scotch-Irish, spread across every region of the country.
But public displays of Scottishness in America are by no means a recent invention. One gathering took place in New York in 1871, for instance, when Scots assembled to mark the Scott Centenary, dining at the famous Delmonico’s restaurant and laying the foundation stone for a statue of Sir Walter Scott in Central Park, a replica of the Edinburgh monument that was unveiled the following year, a legion of Highlanders from the 79th Regiment in attendance.
Today, Tartan Day is marked with parades, pipe bands and gatherings, with the New York Tartan Day Parade on Sixth Avenue its centrepiece. Whether one views such traditions as authentic expressions of heritage or as invented customs, their meaning to millions of Americans is undeniable—and that, ultimately, is what gives them their enduring power.
Professor Tanja Bueltmann is a historian of migration and diaspora. Her research focuses on associational culture in 
immigrant communities and how immigrants use associations to facilitate collective action. This includes work on EU citizens’ groups in the context of Brexit. Professor Bueltmann’s current project is entitled ‘Transeuropean Scots: Scotland’s European Diaspora Post-Brexit in Longitudinal Perspective’ and was funded with a Personal Research Fellowship by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
