Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language who comprise the majority of people who speak English as a first language. This usage originated in the discussion of the history of English-speaking people of the United States and the Spanish-speaking people residing in the western United States during the Mexican–American War.
Usage
The term is ambiguous and used in several different ways. While it is primarily used to refer to people of English ancestry, it is also used to denote all people of British or Northwestern European ancestry, such as Northwestern European Americans. It can include all people of Northwestern European ethnic origin who speak English as a mother tongue and their descendants in the New World, regardless of their prior racial or ethnic background, much like Hispanic or "Latino" refers to people of any race. Therefore, a person, for example, of Chinese descent who adopts the American or Canadian culture would have English-speaking "Anglo-American", "Anglic", "Anglophone", "Anglo", or "Anglophonic" children. Thus, Anglo-American, Anglic-American, Anglophone-American, Anglo, or Anglophonic-American can refer to all those whose families who, regardless of race or ethnicity, have become mainstream English-speaking people in the United States, English Canada, English-speaking areas of the Caribbean, Belize, and Guyana, including those of African descent. In 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that 18% of people who identify as Hispanic in the United States speak English as a first language compared to 90% of non-Hispanics.
Culture
The term implies a relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, or the two countries' shared language, English, and/or cultural heritage. In this context the term may refer to an English American, a person from the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England, a person from the United States who speaks English as their first language, a collective term referring to those countries that have similar legal systems based on common law, relations between the United Kingdom and United States, or Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, a national cataloging code. The term is also used, less frequently, to denote a connection between English people and the Western Hemisphere as a whole. In this context, the term can mean a person from the Americas whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England or a person from the Americas who is a white American and speaks English as their first language, a person from the Americas who speaks English as their first language, or a person from Anglo-America.
Adjective
The adjective Anglo-American is used in the following ways:
to denote the cultural sphere shared by the United Kingdom, the United States and English Canada. For example, "Anglo-American culture is different from French culture." Political leaders including Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan have used the term to discuss the "Special Relationship" between Britain and America.
to describe relations between Britain and the United States. For example, "Anglo-American relations became more relaxed after the War of 1812."
