A large majority of Americans have English descentNo ! The point you ' re both making is incorrect . The majority of Americans do not descend from the English . That wiki page lists 7 . 6 % of the population reporting being EnglishAmerican , though some claim that to be an underestimate , with about 26 % claiming English ancestry in 1980 . Well , we ' ve had a lot of immigration since 1980 , and many children of immigrants , so the percentage has certainly dropped since 1980 . In any case , Americans are not majority of English descent . EnglishAmericans are a minority , though a large one . And most of those Americans will tell you I ' m English , or I ' m English and Scottish and German and French , etc . <| sep |> What does a brain washing machine do exactly ? Does it make people forget everything and bring them to a state of a newborn ?