Why is German the largest self-reported ancestry in the United States and not English if the US was a British colony?

Question

Why isn’t it English by far?

In: Other

Answer 1

There have been more German immigrants, and the German immigrants are more recent, so people are more connected to that aspect of the culture. When someone says “yes, my great grandfather Fritz came over on the boat and then moved to Milwaukee, here’s a picture of my dad sitting on his knee,” that’s a personal connection. “My ancestors came over some time after the Mayflower” is far more distant and less personal.