Irish Immigration To The United States Essay - 2,215 words

Irish Immigration to the United States Immigration into America has shaped and molded us into who we are today. Without groups such as the Scotch-Irish, English, Dutch, etc. America would not be the great melting pot that it has now become. Each of these cultures brought with them a sense of religion, culture and spirit. They took a chance to better themselves, leaving everything that was remotely comfortable in their life behind, bringing with them great hope to the New World. One such group is the Scotch-Irish.


The Scotch-Irish history begins with the Scots in the 1600s. By the end of 1600, Europe was at the end of the Renaissance, but Scotland had not taken part in the resurgence of learning and culture. It was still a primitive, wild country, one of the poorest in Europe. Poor soil and backward farming methods, frequent border wars with England, and the wildness of the isolated Highlanders had all contributed to Scotlands slow development. The colonization of Ulster began in the 17th Century. British monarchs had been trying unsuccessfully for hundreds of years to subdue Ireland, but it was not until 1603 that the Ulster Irish finally surrendered to the Englishman, Lord Mountjoy. In 1609, James I informed the Scots that they could participate in this colonization of Ulster.


Many Scotsmen felt they could overcome their poverty and the fact that the property owners in Ireland were more willing to extend longer leases to farmers than the property owners in Scotland were willing to do. In 1717, the Great Migration commenced. The term Scotch-Irish originated in the mid-eighteenth century in America to distinguish the Ulster Presbyterian emigrants of Scottish ancestry from other Irish settlers in the colonies. It has been asserted that during that period approximately one-third the Presbyterian population of Ireland migrated to British North America (Jackson). The Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745 saw a great number of people enter into America. Between 1715 and 1776 almost a quarter of a million Irish immigrated to America.


Many of the English landowners no longer had a need for the farmers. In addition, there had been no harvest for five years due to the ravages of war and several severe winters. Some of these people paid passage by agreeing to 7 years indentured servitude in order to take advantage of the fertile and free land in America. The Irish started immigrating to North America in the 1820s, when the lack of works and poverty made them to seek better opportunities elsewhere after the end of the major European wars. When the Europeans could finally end depending on the Irish for food during war, the investment in Irish agricultural products reduced and the Irish agricultural boom was over. They came for various reasons.


Some were transported; they had no choice other than prison or execution, the reasons ranging from political prisoners of rebellions, to paupers, to petty thieves and criminals. Others came because of great poverty. Actually, what was the main reason for such a great number of people to leave their country for the United States? They had no hope of ever breaking out of their set place in the Class-system, which existed in Britain, but in America, a man could make something of himself, regardless of his background. Most people did come as indentured servants. At the end of that time, they were at last on their own and it was up to them to make something of their life in the New World. After an economic boom, there comes a bust and unemployment was the result.


Two-thirds of the people of Ireland depended on potato harvests as a main source of income and, more importantly, food. Then between the years of 1845 and 1847, a terrible disease struck the potato crops. The plague left acre after acre of Irish farmland covered with black rot. The failure of the potato yields caused the prices of food to rise rapidly. With no income coming from potato harvests, families that depended on potato crops could not afford to pay rent to their dominantly British and Protestant landlords. They were evicted only to be crowded into disease-infested workhouses. Peasants who were desperate for food found themselves eating the rotten potatoes only to develop and spread horrible diseases. The lack of food and increased incidents of death forced incredible numbers of people to leave Ireland for some place, which offered living conditions that were more suitable.


Some landlords paid for the emigration of their tenants because it made more economic sense to rid farms of residents who were not paying their rent. Nevertheless, emigration did not prove to be an antidote for the Famine. The ships were overcrowded and by the time they reached their destination, approximately one third of its passengers had been lost to disease, hunger and other complications. However, many passengers did survive the journey and, as a result, approximately 1.5 million Irish people immigrated to North America during the 1840s and 1850s. Because of famine, disease (starvation and disease took as many as one million lives) and emigration, Irelands population dropped from 8 million to 5 million over a matter of years. Although Britain came to the aid of the starving, many Irish blamed Britain for their delayed response and for centuries of political hardship as basis for the cause of the Famine.


The Famine even affected Ireland in years to come by changing its social and cultural traditions profoundly. The Famine also prompted new trends of immigration, hence shaping the histories of both the United States and Britain. It also called for an urgent political change in the Irish system (the Irish Republic resulted). The trip to America was a difficult one. Often the ships were overloaded with people, the rations were short of just barely enough, the food was vermin ridden, and the water was stagnant and scummy. An example of a rough voyage was the ship Sully, it set sail for Pennsylvania on May 31 and at first was blown off course northward.


The weather turned very cold and icebergs were cited. By August 10, the weather had turned very warm and rations were down to 1 1/2 lbs of bread per passenger per week. Two weeks later, the ration was cut even further. In the next 12 days, they were reduced to two biscuits per week. Hunger and thirst reduced them to mere shadows. Some people killed themselves by drinking salt water or even their own urine.


They were saved only by providential rain. On September 2, they finally saw land. Their journey had lasted a lengthy 3 1/2 months. When the first ships arrived on the ports of the United States, quarantine shelters that were prepared for emigrants became so over ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: united states, united state, irish, irish immigration, america

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