This group is one of the four or five important groups in US history. It was German votes that elected Lincoln in 1860, and Germans saved Missouri and some other areas for the Union.

Otherwise, this is a sober, hardworking and achieving group. This is probably the largest ethnic group in the United States over 60 million.

The Germans and their descendants transformed the United States into an agricultural giant. This group also provided the brains and the brawn for America’s industrialization in the 1800s. Their impact on architecture is also very apparent in the northern half of the country outside of New England. Their culinary influence is demonstrated by such common items as beer and hot dogs. The Germans have been the largest contributors to the gene pool. Influence grade of 5 stars.

There are countless studies on the formation of ethnic groups. The history of German-Americans shed light on a more overlooked issue-how ethnic groups dissolve. Germans are (or were) the largest ethnic group in the US; yet they have become largely invisible. Between the Civil War and WWI, the Germans were the most organized and separatist ethnic group in the US. German-American enclaves were common, even larger than Mexican enclaves are now; and almost as tightly-knit as Miami Cubans. Germans formed a sizable majority in parts of the Midwest and cities like Baltimore, which all had their own German-language schools, newspapers and other organizations. During WWI, however, doubts about German loyalty to the US led to anti-German riots and the dissolution of separatist German organizations. Later, the association of Nazism with German culture, however unfair, led most German-Americans to disown their remaining ethnic identity. Today, they are probably the most 'invisible' ethnic group in American society. Was the dissolution of the German-American communities necessary? Was it inevitable? Was it desirable? These questions should be studied in greater detail, as they are at the heart of current debates about immigration, multi-culturalism and assimilation.

It's time to recognize the German Americans without reference to the past.