Irish Immigration to America: the American Wake

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People from all over the world immigrated to the United States during the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Many causes were the attribute to why they came over. Mainly, it was for better living conditions, religious or political freedom, or to find a better life overseas. Unfortunately, it was rarely this way, especially for the Irish, who were a victim of nativism, persecution against immigrants by native people in a country.
The Irish began immigrating to the United States long before it was a united country. After St. Patrick arrived in Ireland in approximately 430 A.D. and introduced the idea of Christianity, people mostly had religious freedom and peace until 1541, when King Henry VIII was declared king of Ireland. He used to be Catholic, but then converted to the Protestant faith. This was just the beginning of Irish-Catholic discrimination. In 1608, Britain’s King James, who also opposed Catholicism, sent thousands of Protestant English soldiers to destroy some Northern Catholic farmers’ land. Finally, laws were passed which stated that Catholics could no longer have their own land, vote or play any role in society, but especially could no longer practice their faith. This law was in effect until 1832. Therefore, until 1832, Irish-Catholics could not PRACTICE THEIR FAITH, which caused over 700,000 immigrants to come to the Americas and Canada.
There were many reasons pre-1840s as to why Irish, especially Irish-Catholics, immigrated to the United States. Mainly, it was for religious freedom. After the aforementioned law was passed, Catholics had virtually no freedom. Wealthy landowners who had acres of land or a successful business which had been in the family for many generations were thrown into the streets if officials s...

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...rants were not attached to a job and had just enough money to move out of the city and the filth, they could secure a bit of land for cheaply and farm or work for a plantation. Plus, America eventually passed laws which stated that apartments must have indoor plumbing and city officials often inspected tenement houses.

Works Cited

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm http://www.findmypast.com/articles/world-records/full-list-of-united-states-records/immigration-and-travel/irish-famine-immigrants-1846-1851 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130521011232.htm http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/alt/irish2.html http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ireland_Emigration_and_Immigration
http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Compelling_Reasons_Why_The_Irish_Emigrated

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