I chose the topic of Irish immigrants in the 1800’s because it seemed interesting to me due to the fact that I believe some of my ancestors to be of Irish descent. This paper looks at reasons for Irish immigrants coming to the United states as well as the kind of life they faced here and the degree of prejudice that they had to put up with. The topic of the potato famine is briefly discussed along with some Irish political figures of the time.
The Irish immigrants coming to the United States during the nineteenth century helped shape this country into what it is today. The Irish were a proud people that took pride in wherever the called home; whether that be the rolling hills of Ireland or the big cities of nineteenth century America and wherever they traveled, a rich culture was left in their wake. This culture can be seen in various establishments across America and is part of a rich heritage that the United States would not have today had it not been for the hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants that arrived during the 1800’s.
Irish immigrants entering the United States in the early 1800s were not of the poorest from the country of Ireland. The ten-guinea transatlantic fare was high enough that the majority of the Irish entering America were artisans or tenant farmers and would have had at least a moderate means of supporting themselves (McCaffery 59). This was not the case for everyone who was leaving Ireland. Most of the pre-1815 Irish Catholics to leave Ireland were poor and went to Britain instead of America because the fare was cheaper and they were closer to home (McCaffery 60). Some of these poor people were only in Britain temporarily. The harvest workers would work just long enough to make enough money to pay rent to their Irish landlordsbefore making the trip back to Ireland, while immigrants holding other jobs that were less seasonal would more often remain in Britain (McCaffery 60). After 1815, the pace of immigrants arriving to America from Ireland rapidly increased from less than 6,000 per year to more than 200,000 per year in 1850 (Irish Immigration). In an attempt to present an image of success, many immigrants would write home to their families and exaggerate how wonderful life in America was in their letters (McCaffery 61). This helped fuel the rapid increase of immigrants from Ireland because not only were their family members getting the impression that life in America was easy, they werereceiving money to pay for their ticket across the Atlantic. One immigrant, Margaret Wright, sent this in a letter to Alexander McNish in New York after receiving a letter from him telling about how great of a place America was to live:
“America with us bears the character of the land of freedom and of liberty and is accounted like the land of promise flowing with milk and honey. Thus how desirable would such a place be to those laboring under Egyptian bondage increasing and seemingly to increase every day without the smallest gleam of hope. Such is the state of this Countrey and such are our sentiments with respect to america. Now my desire is that you would Substantiate your former proposal & by some means or other procure me an entrance into that land of happiness where I might by industry obtain a competence in life without being dependent on the mercenary and covetous for a miserable and wretched support;”(Miller, Schrier, Boling, Doyle 46-47).
With the establishment of a poor Irish-Americanculture in the United States, the amount of anti-Irish prejudice , which was already present, intensified to the point where it didn’t matter if the Irish had degrees or money, the Irish were still considered enemy aliens and targets of the American nativism culture[1] (McCaffery 85). New York in the late1830’s and early 1840’s was the staging ground for many intense emotional conflicts fought between the nativists and the Catholic Irish over which version of the Bible should be taught in public schools. The Irish, believing that the public school boards were dominated by evangelical Protestants, sought the freedom to cultivate their children’s faith as they saw fit (Kenny). To obtain this freedom, the Catholics established their own denominational schools and demanded state aid to fund them (McCaffery 91). By the mid 1830’s the nativists were openly attacking the Irish because of their faith. A convent was burned down in 1834 and in 1844 nativists burned down two Catholic churches in the dispute over which version of the bible, the Catholic one or the Protestant King James version, should be taught in school (Kenny).[2]
The year 1845 saw the beginning of the Irish Potato Famine, a time when nearly twenty percent of the population of Ireland died due to a fungus that caused the annual potato crops which seventy-five percent of the population relied on for sustenance to rot on the vine (O’Connor). More deaths occurred in Ireland during this time because of the famine than all of Britain lost in any war from 1688 to the present (O’Connor). The famine helped push some 1.8 million people, mostly poor farmers and laborers, out of Ireland and into Eastern Canada and the United states (The Story of Irish Immigration). Irish immigrants made up almost half of all immigrants entering the United States in the 1840s and by the 1850s that number had decreased to almost one-third but these figures are still remarkable due to the fact that Ireland is no larger than the state of Maine, nor has its population ever risen above 8.5 million people (Kenny).
The replacement of traditional sailing vessels by steamship during the 1860’s made it possible for more and more immigrants to arrive yearly (O’Connor). A steamship shortened the travel time to fourteen days and improved travel conditions greatly (O’Connor). After Irish emigration to the United States peaked during the famine, a steady flow of people continued to arrive to the United States throughout the last half of the nineteenth century. From 1870 to 1900, more than one and a half million Irish immigrants entered the United States, most of them into the harbor of New York City (McCaffery). During this time, Irish politicians had taken control of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that controlled much of the politics of New York City (irish American journey). In the year 1872, with Tammany Hall in control of Catholic politicians from or with Irish ancestry, Charles O’Conor was nominated for the Presidency of the United States by the “Straight-Out Democrats” who refused to accept Horace Greely, who was the regular Democratic candidate during this time (Griffin). Charles O’Conor was the first Catholic ever nominated for the Presidency, however, he declined to run (Griffin).
The Irish immigrants of the 1800’s were a hard working people that helped shape the way we live today. Had it not been for the Irish political leaders of the time, many prominent,historic government officials would not have made it into office and the United States would be a slightly different place than it is today because of this. The most notable changes would be in big cities such as New York where Tammany Hall was controlled by Irish political figures for many decades. Whether they were fleeing poverty only to end up in poverty, or fleeing starvation during the great potato famines, or just making the journey across the Atlantic to be with family and friends, hundreds of thousands of proud Irish Americans helped shaped this country into what it is today and the evidence is everywhere one looks.
Works Cited
Griffin, William D. The Irish in America, 550-1972; a Chronology & Fact Book. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1973. Print.
"Irish Immigration." Spartacus Educational. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAEireland.htm>.
Kenny, Kevin. "Irish Immigrants in the United States." America. 13 Feb. 2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/February/20080307131416ebyessedo0.6800043.html>.
McCaffrey, Lawrence John. The Irish Diaspora in America. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1976. Print.
Miller, Kerby A. Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan: Letters and Memoirs from Colonial and Revolutionary America, 1675-1815. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.
O'Connor, Ray. "Irish Immigration." Bryant University. Apr. 1997. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://web.bryant.edu/~ehu/h364proj/sprg_97/oconner/index.htm>.
"The Story of Irish Immigration." Home for the Heart. Spring 2002. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ailf.org/exhibit/ex_irishim.htm>.
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