Ireland in America

955 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on Irish immigration to the USA, in the 1840s

Ireland in America

The United States has always been known as "The Land of Immigrants." People from all parts of the globe have traveled to America, to be free from oppression, disease, and hunger, or simply to start a new life. Many different people of different culture, race, and religion have made their mark and helped to shape the American culture. One of the most influential immigration movements in American History is the Irish Immigration.

During the 18th century the Irish slowly began their migration to America. Centuries of oppression from Protestant English rule had forced them to live very poor lives under strict rules, in some cases having to renounce their Catholic beliefs and having to abandon their Gaelic language (Watts 23). There were few Irish in America until 1845, when a disease struck the potato crops of Ireland, wiping out the chief, and in some cases only, source of food for many poor farmers. This continued for the next five years, killing over 2.5 million people. Many Irish said "God put the blight on the potatoes, but England put the hunger upon Ireland." The Irish farmers did have other crops and livestock but they were all shipped to England as rent for the landlords. Without the rent money the starving Irish would not even have a home (Considine 50).

In the years to come, hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants saved all the money they could to send a family member on the journey across the Atlantic. It was their pain and suffering which powered them and gave them the strength to survive. The ships were overcrowded with immigrants, where disease and hunger followed them and many more died on the journey. Upon arrival at the ports of the United States, the immigrants were descr...

... middle of paper ...

...derie which the Irish posses, and how they find strength in numbers. One Irish historian states, "to be Irish is to be against it, and fight for what is yours and to know the value of sticking together"(Walt). For these reasons, the Irish made a lasting impression on our culture and will go down in history as one of the most influential movements in our history.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Considine, Bob It's The Irish. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1961.

Dropkick Murphy's Do or Die. Compact Disc. Hellcat Records. 1997. 40 min.

Powers, Kenneth "History of the 69th New York State Volunteers 1851-1865." 69th New York State Volunteers. 11/16/99.

Walt Disney Studios The Irish In America: Long Journey Home. Vol.2. Buena Vista Home Entertainment. 115 min.

Watts J.F. The Irish Americans. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. 1988.

Show More
Related

  • Irish Immigration Research Paper

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    Causes of Irish Immigration Throughout the history of America people have been immigrating to America from multiple countries. People have arrived from all over Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and many other places. One country that people had immigrated from was Ireland. The Irish settled into America because of the Anti-Catholic Penal Laws in 1790. Most of the Irish were Catholic so they fled to America. The Irish also came to America because of a summer with constant rain and little sun that

    Read More

  • Ireland: a new life for the McCourts

    667 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes”, the McCourts take the decision of leaving North America and returning to their homeland in Ireland. This decision might be contradictory in certain terms and positive in others. Inquiring about the historical context of the country they were leaving behind and the one they were returning to, did the McCourts decide correctly? The 1930’s and 1940’s were years in which the world was seriously concerned about economy. In 1929, The United States, the world’s economical

    Read More

  • Irish Famine

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    causing Irish tenant farmers unable to pay rent and was forced off their land causing over 21,000 people to die of starvation. The Irish Potato Famine caused many people to leave Ireland to seek work overseas in areas such as England and America. The Irish Potato Famine had a big impact on the history and the economy of Ireland. The Irish Potato Famine caused great losses and created long term effects on the economy during this period in history. The English and Irish seen the outbreak of the famine

    Read More

  • potato paper

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Ireland in the years 1845-1852 a great famine caused a mass die off of potato crops throughout the country. Beginning in 1845 the weather in Ireland were abnormally chilly and damp for a summer season in Ireland, providing the perfect type of whether to allow diseases to spread rapidly. Phytophthora infestans, the cause of the great famine, can spread in the blowing wind. Shortage of food caused many Irish people to immigrate to other countries yet, some citizens of Ireland stayed most of which

    Read More

  • Who Is Angela's Ashes By Frank Mccourt

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    author, Frank McCourt’s, childhood. He grew up poor in Ireland and yearns for a life in America, where he was born and lived for a few years. McCourt grew up in the Depression and World War II era. His father, Malachy, is a drunk, and his mother, Angela, addicted to cigarettes, hence the name of the book. He and his family moved to Ireland from New York when he was four years old after his younger sister, Margaret, passed away. They moved around Ireland after landing in the North and moving South to Limerick

    Read More

  • Irish Potato Famine

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    1800s life in Ireland wasn’t easy, Irish citizens got by day to day by farming and relying on the potato. The potato was their main source of food and money. With out the potato the Irish would have nothing. No one was prepared for what was about to happen in 1845, the beginning of the Great Irish Potato Famine. The Irish Potato Famine was the worst tragedy in the history of Ireland. The outcome of the famine would result in hundreds of thousands dead, an failure of the economy in Ireland, and millions

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Universal Healthcare

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    cancer, and respiratory disease. One of the pros according to Ireland (2013) is that having required healthcare, medical costs would be reduced and would not be as high cost like some of the tests doctors run (Ireland, 2013). Another pro of having the universal healthcare also said by Ireland (2013), it would extend healthcare to all american citizens which would increase the lifespan (Ireland 2013). The

    Read More

  • British Irish Relations over the past 300 years

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    hundred years have been troubled. There have been many tensions caused by religion in Northern Ireland and Britain's unfair rule of Northern Ireland. The British are guilty of many of the indignities suffered by the Irish people. They are also guilty of causing all of the religious and territorial conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The division between Northern and Southern Ireland dates back to the 16th century. A succession of English monarchs had used the planting of Protestant

    Read More

  • Ireland: The Great Potato Famine

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1800’s, Ireland experienced a famine that killed thousands of people. Bodies were scattered all over Ireland in mass graves and it is considered one of the greatest tragedies in Irish history. One reason why the people of Ireland were vulnerable to famine was because a third of the population was entirely dependent on the potato by 1845. The climate in Ireland is often too wet for crops like wheat to survive so Irish people depended upon a diet full of carbs and protein, oatmeal and cattle

    Read More

  • Annie Moore Research Paper

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    county of Cork, Ireland. Her parents immigrated to America in 1888 leaving Annie and her two younger brothers in the care of their Aunt. Two years after Annie’s parents established themselves in New York, they sent for Annie and her two younger brothers, Anthony and Philip. Sailing on the SS Nevada, the Moore children’s journey from Ireland to America took twelve days. When the ship arrived, Annie was the first of 148 passengers to disembark. The Act of Union, which made Ireland part of the United

    Read More

  • Irish Immigrants

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Populated by 8 million people, Irish, with a majority of Roman Catholic, are among the poorest people in the western world. Only about a quarter of the population could read and write, and their life expectancy was relatively short. Ireland was an exceedingly impoverished country. Under the english rule, citizens lost many of their political and religious rights. They were separated between protestants, who represents the continued presence of England, and Roman Catholics, who were hostile to Britain

    Read More

  • Immigrants In America

    1801 Words  | 4 Pages

    The United States of America has been known to have a great number of immigrants who come from different parts of the world. In the late 1800s, mainly after the civil war that was in America, most of the people from different countries decided to leave their homes and immigrate to the United State and most of them were from areas such as Germany and other parts across Europe. In most regions, the people were running away from aspects such as crop failure, land and job shortages and also the rising

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Irish Migration To America

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    What caused a vast amount of Irish individuals to immigrate to America? It all began in Cork and County Mayo, two regions of Ireland where my father’s family originated. Unfortunately, I’m unaware as to when and why my father’s family decide to move to the states; however, I am able to question as to why there was such a large group of Irish people to come to America in the mid- 1800s. Evidence states that Ireland suffered from a grave potato famine, the famine caused people to be objected to horrific

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Migration To The New World

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    millions of immigrants came to America trying to start over their life, or even better, begin their life. America gave people the opportunity to live on more land, have a more abundant amount of food, and search for better education for their children. Of the millions of immigrants who migrated to the United States over the course of years, my great grandmother, age sixteen at the time, Esther Flynn, embarked on a journey in 1926 across the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland, in hope of finding “a new life

    Read More

  • Essay On Irish Immigration

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    mid-1840s was a rough era for the people of Ireland. All of the crops of potatoes became infected with fungus, causing a large amount of the harvest to go bad. Many of the Irish were affected by this because potatoes were the main food source for the poor. In those years, Ireland was being ruled by the British, so the few crops that did not get affected by the fungus were shipped to Britain, causing many Irish to starve to death. The shortage of food in Ireland was the main reason why the Irish began

    Read More

More about Ireland in America

Open Document