| Unlike for the race category, the census form does not actually have any ethnicities to choose from. In other words, it is completely self-selecting (although the census form does give some examples that could be used, but American is not one of them).
As someone who did put his ethnicity as American in 2000 (I didn't get the long form last time), I can perhaps explain my reasoning. It did in part have something to do with my being of a multiethnic background (I'm part English, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, German, and Swedish, although English is probably more than half). But it had much more to do with the fact that I've had ancestors in America since at least 1628, which is nearly 400 years. Ethnicity is really supposed to capture where your ancestors came from, and at some point, people from the Old World will have been here long enough for current citizens to say that this is where they were from. For me, I've already reached that point.
And in reality all ethnicities are artificial constructs anyway. Why are there separate German and Dutch ethnicities, but not one for, say, Bavarian or Hessian? Is it just because of the language? If so, then shouldn't all people who speak English as their native language identify as English? |