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Essay on Irish immigration to the USA, in the 1840s
Essay on Irish immigration to the USA, in the 1840s
Essay on Irish immigration to the USA, in the 1840s
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The Irish War of Independence, was a guerilla war fought from 1919-1921 between the Irish Republican Army, and the British security forces in Ireland. It was an escalation of the Irish revolutionary period into armed conflict.
In the 1918 election, the Irish republican party Sinn Fein won a landslide victory, a month later, they formed a breakaway government, and declared independence from Britain. Later that day, two members of the armed police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), were shot dead in County Tipperary by IRA members acting on their own initiative. This is often seen as the beginning of the conflict. For much of 1919, IRA activity primarily involved capturing weapons and freeing republican prisoners. In September that year
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As most Irish immigrants came over around the same time, in large numbers, they all most likely had the same kind of hope, that America was going to be great. When Ireland gained their freedom from Britain, it placed an achievement upon their sleeve, and no one was about to take that away. Not even Great ‘ole America.
Irish immigrants had bragging rights, as the U.S. was never really under any countries control, but our own. We had no idea what it was like to be prisoners in your own home, and never had to break out. I’m not trying to say that Irish folk thought they were above us, but they definitely had more experience, politically. Us Americans though, treated them how we do all minorities, with little to no respect. We most likely thought the Irish, and other minorities, were lesser humans. They had no education, were drunks, a waste of time and space. With those hateful words constantly being thrown at you, you might start to believe them. I think a major key to success, was to have decent mental health, and self-awareness. The Irish had to remind themselves that if they tried their hardest, and didn’t lose their temper, they would be okay. Irish folk had to prove to us that they could work just as hard as we thought we
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If her grandmother hadn’t given it to her, Vivian wouldn’t have had a reason to keep moving, she would not have had that connection with her first adopted family, Dutchy wouldn’t have had the necklace when he fought in World War 2, and he might have died not knowing he was protected. The bad things that happened to her, also shaped Vivian into the amazing women she was. Her first adopted family, the Byrne’s, gave her the skills of sewing, and hard work, even though they never treated her like they actually wanted her. The second family taught her that sometimes running away from the problem could work. If Viv hadn’t been kicked out of the Grotes’, she never would have stayed at her teachers, and met the landlord, who was from Ireland. Viv then would have never met her last family, the Nielsens, and learned how to manage a business, and might not have ever met Dutchy again. All the events from Vivian’s life when she left Ireland, to death, shaped her into a hard working, understanding, compassionate, wife, and mother. Whether or not you agree with why she gave away her baby, you can’t deny that she mothered Molly, and helped her by allowing Molly to help Vivian. Molly and Vivian were a lot alike. They both struggled to convince a family they were worth it. Molly and Vivian had different reasons though, as Molly was a troublemaker, and Vivian just
They also felt culturally different. The Americans were well removed from their English ancestors and felt like they were being ruled by an unworthy ruler that had no right to tell them what to do. The Irish felt the same way, but did it without a massive war
The first thing that we will look at is the Irish demographics. The Irish population had fluctuated tremendously over the years. When looking at where they came from, the highest group seems to have been coming from Dublin and Nothern Ireland, along with Kerry County, Ireland as well. Previous to the the 1840's, there were two other waves of Irish immigration in the US. According to the Colombia Guide to Irish American History, the first of the Irish immigrants came in the 1500's due to Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition and the population has continued to grow even since. The third wave began in the 1840's. From census data from US during the Gilded Age, in the 1860's the total number of Irish born immigrants were 22,926. Throughout this time, until around 1910, that number decreased. The number of I...
The force that brought Irish immigrants can be described in two ways, both negative in the way of the Famine Years and the control of Protestant England. On the other hand, Irish immigrants were able to use the United States as a chance for economic opportunities as well as a chance to be free to practice their Catholic faith. The economic events that helped fulfill the need for Irish workers were thanks to the Industrial growth of the United States. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed by the continuous harsh labor that was done by Irish immigrants. The Eastern half was largely built by Irish men that were hired by the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The chance to make a life and put some money in their pockets was an attractive situation for struggling Irish immigrants. The inevitable factor for Irish immigrants to leave their homeland was the effects of famine that was occurring among the rural population of Ireland. Ireland depended heavily on potato crops, but as the crops failed they diminished the hopes of surviva...
...for the Irish Catholic immigrants as well as the others, “the old-stock drive for conformity and community represented attacks on their culture, religion and ethnicity. Repeatedly their stake in American society, their right to be American citizens, was denied” (Dumenil, 248). I agree that it was their right to become American citizens. Discriminating against Irish Catholic immigrants was unjust, especially for the reason that there is no rational or justifiable way to discriminate against which people are allowed to immigrate and which are not.
In 1912 British parliament gave home rule to Ireland. Home rule is when a country who is ruled by another country is giving the ability to govern its self. However some people in Irelands Northern counties did not want home rule. They wanted to remain governed by Britain. So the people in the Northern Counties (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone) remained under British rule while the Southern Counties formed the Republic of Ireland. Shortly after the formation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland hostilities pushed these two countries to the brink of civil war. This was prevented by the start of World War I.
The life of Irish immigrants in Boston was one of poverty and discrimination. The religiously centered culture of the Irish has along with their importance on family has allowed the Irish to prosper and persevere through times of injustice. Boston's Irish immigrant population amounted to a tenth of its population. Many after arriving could not find suitable jobs and ended up living where earlier generations had resided. This attributed to the 'invisibility' of the Irish.
The Irish arrived in America during the 1840s to escape the potato famine, which was a massive crop failure due to diseased potato plants. The Irish also came to America for religious freedom so that they may worship under a non-state
Americans encountered large numbers of poor Irish, which might have prepared them a little bit more for the upcoming influx of settlers through Ellis Island a couple decades later. Without this Irish encounter, later immigrants wouldn’t have had the same impact on America. The cultural exchange of the Irish and American benefitted the American people and the Irish immigrants. For example, the building of the majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City that still stands today as a testimony to the shaping of the Catholic American population and Irishmen that worked so hard in America. Many of the Irish became more sophisticated and educated after coming to America. The American’s gained a sense of appreciation for different cultures and treated later immigrants much better than the poor peasants that came from Ireland. The Irish explored America. They came in on ravaged ships, thinking they would step onto gold roads when they got off. In reality, the conditions in America were no better than those on the ships. The Irish had to explore the true America. They discovered how the American people treated foreigners. Americans, I think, explored their communal self also. This is both negative and positive. They got to see how much better they were than other people and other cultures. American’s also saw how terrible and tyrannical they were to these cultures, who they thought inferior to
The British occupation of Ireland began in the 1640’s and lasted until 1922. No other occurrence throughout Irish history has had a greater impact on the lives of the citizens of the country. Along with the act of occupation came the emergence of Protestantism, which conflicted with the traditional religion of Ireland, Catholicism. The English occupation of Ireland affected many aspects of Irish history from the potato famine to the War for Independence. However, Irish nationalism came to a boiling point April of 1916, in what is now known as the Easter Uprising. The uprising lasted 6 days and resulted in massive casualties, but furthered the liberation cause for the Irish.
INTRODUCTION The history of Ireland "that most distressful nation" is full of drama and tragedy, but one of the most interesting stories is about what happened to the Irish during the mid-nineteenth century and how millions of Irish came to live in America (Purcell 31). Although the high point of the story was the years of the devastating potato famine from 1845 to 1848, historians have pointed out that immigrating from Ireland was becoming more popular before the famine and continued until the turn of the twentieth century. In the one hundred years between the first recording of immigrants in
Irish Republican Army – The IRA held the belief that all of Ireland should be its own independent republic from England. After WWI ended, Irish local started the Irish War for Independence in 1919, where the English eventually settled and made a treaty for the Irish. In 1922 the IRA rejected the Anglo-Saxon Treaty, and fought again for Irish independence, where they were eventually defeated. In the film “The Wind That
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republic revolutionary military organization. It came from the Irish volunteers, which were created on November 25, 1913. The Irish volunteers started the Easter Rising in order to end the British Rule in Ireland, leading them to be titled as the Irish Republican Army in January 1919. In 1919, the Irish volunteers became confirmed by Irish Nationalists, Dail Eireann and were recognised as a legitimate army. The IRA raged Guerilla warfare against the British from 1919-1921, creating the Irish War of Independence. The IRA was active from January 1919 to March, 1922, though they are inactive now. The IRA’s main leader was IRA army council. Their headquarters were in Dublin Ireland, but they also operate out the United Kingdom, throughout Ireland, and Northern Ireland. The IRA was funded by extortion, bank robberies, and donations from their descendants. The Irish Republican Army’s main goal was to become independent from Great Britain.
The Web. 14 Jan 2011. Allison, Fiona. " The Irish War of Independence 1919-1921." suite101.com.
The war that I didn’t hear about in any of my classes was The Troubles. It took place in Northern Ireland and was between the Catholics and the Protestant’s. To the right is a picture of the wall that is in Belfast, that separates the Catholics from the Protestants. You can also see a building that so happens to be a Catholic house, the house is fortified just in case of bombs. Conflict in Ireland has been going on for hundreds of years, some may say all the way back to the 12th century, but in 1606 some British settlers also named “planters” immigrated to Ireland and took control of the Plantation of Ulster, Because of this a physical and mental fight began between the Planters(Protestant’s) and the Irish(Catholics).
The Irish War of Independence was the pride of every person from the Republic of Ireland. It represents a hard-fought freedom that was well deserved. This war took place from 1919-1921 and is a very much overlooked event in history. The dominant United Kingdom had already annexed many countries to build up their empire which included Ireland. Ireland, fed up with the Britain’s appalling leadership, asked for division from the United Kingdom. An obvious disagreement stirred up tension which led to multiple rebellions like Easter Rising. Continuous struggles for freedom built passion and nationalism for the Irish people. With all the past turmoil building up, Ireland commenced a war for their freedom. Although an often forgotten war, The Irish War of Independence resulted in rebellions, bloodbaths, and a major split in a nation.