People of Scottish heritage make up a large part of our American society.  In fact, over 250,000 Scots came to America between 1715 and 1776.  Most of them settled in the Chesapeake Bay region while others settled in other cities along the East coast.  Later, they started to settle farther west near Texas and Oklahoma.  The second wave of Scots came in the late 1800s; most of these immigrants settled in the northeastern part of the United States because of the job opportunities in the large industries in the Northeast.  In this second wave of Scottish immigrants came inventors, such as Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, as well as the famous businessman, Andrew Carnegie. 

Many Scots who came to America in the first wave came as indentured servants.  An indentured servant would come with a wealthier man who would pay the indentured man’s way to America. He would then serve the wealthier man for seven years as his servant.  After this time as a servant was complete, the immigrant, now free, would try to make something of his life in America.