Scottish-Americans also celebrated St. Andrew' s Day, an event unobserved in Scotland because of its Catholic overtones. Such activities belong to Scottish-America as much as they do to Scotland, as well as the rest of the Scottish hyphenated groups throughout the world. The use of this national imagery began in Scotland in an attempt to distinguish Scots from other Britons. If the tartan lifestyle were removed from the Scots, they would still be Scottish. Every cultural group, or nation, is distinguished by its world view and value system, and not by its clothing.
Every person follows an unspoken national philosophy of sorts.
Scots and Scottish-Americans may have culturally evolved along related, parallel lines, but they are both very different. The first mention of a Scottish-American is in a 1773 pamphlet encouraging immigration to North Carolina. The author used the pen name, Scotus Americanus , to distinguish himself as a new breed of Scot. Scottish-American history can be separated into three sections, and these will constitute the following brief introduction. Please consult the reading list for further reading .