Forrest McDonald, Jr. was an American historian born in Orange, Texas in 1927. He wrote extensively on the early national period of the United States, republicanism, and the presidency. McDonald spent much of his academic career at the University of Alabama, where he became a prominent figure in historical scholarship. At the University of Alabama, McDonald collaborated with Grady McWhiney to develop a historical hypothesis about the settlement patterns of the American South. Their work proposed that the South had been colonized by "Anglo-Celts" rather than by the British Protestant farmers who populated the North. This thesis became a significant contribution to Southern historical studies and generated considerable scholarly discussion. McDonald's work on the American South became particularly notable and helped define much of his scholarly legacy. He died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2016.