Preview

Irish Immigrants Coming To America Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
560 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Irish Immigrants Coming To America Essay
Imagine being only at an age of 15, and having to leave your homeland. The lifestyles and conditions of crops and your homeland are extremely poor. So you and your family decide what's best for them, to immigrate to a new homeland called "America." You are sent on a two week voyage on the steerage of a ship, surrounded by illnesses, you are starving, tired, sad, and just can't wait any longer. All you have is your aunt, and once you arrive in America, it isn't what you expected it to be. You work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week for a job where conditions are unsafe and you are not happy, you barely earn enough money for you and your aunt, and all you do earn gets sent to family back in Ireland. You miss home, your family, your friends. …show more content…
Why is it everyone left their homelands in Ireland for this? Irish immigrants suffered many problems with their environment especially. It caused mostly starvation upon tons of other things. As you may know, potatoes were a big supplement in Ireland. In 1845-1845, there came the 'Great Hunger' or The Irish Potato Famine. There was a famine that passed through the potato crops causing diseases such as typhus and dysentery, as well as bringing a massive death toll of 2 million from starvation and disease. Overall, Irish immigrants fled to America to escape from the threat of more natural disasters, death, and …show more content…
Inside, it tells the story of 15 year old Riley and her aunts voyage to New York, to start a new life in hopes for a better one, but ends up finding herself in reverse. Sad, hungry, tired and poor. In her diary, it had, also told about how she and her aunt were making little money, lived in a run-down tenement, worked back breaking jobs, and also describes their horrific voyage to the United States and on top of that, how they were treated differently by

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    From the year 1845 until the early 1850’s, Ireland was hit with one of the most devastating travesties: the potato famine. Disease was spread upon Ireland’s main crop, the potato, which caused Ireland’s agricultural economy to hit rock bottom. It also caused many deaths among the Irish through starvation. To avoid death and start a new life, many Irish had to flee to The United States and Canada. Though many died while traveling across the Atlantic, thousands made it to land. With no money and no place to live, the Irish were about to make a big change in North America. Bringing only their religion and agricultural experience with them, the Irish fleeing the famine increased the power of the Catholic Church in Canada, catalyzed the effects of the industrial revolution, and strengthened the economy through the creation of thousands of jobs.…

    • 3169 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Irish exodus was caused by a long past history of oppression by Britain. This oppression included Irish land being confiscated, converting…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Ghost of Duffy's Cut

    • 2153 Words
    • 9 Pages

    There were several factors that caused an influx of Irish immigrants to migrate to America. Some of these factors include poverty, and unemployment. For example, “Most of them came because of civil unrest, severe unemployment or almost inconceivable hardships at home,” (Irish and German Immigration). The Irish immigrants believed that coming to America would offer an escape of the poor living conditions and the harsh reality of being unable to care for oneself or family. The general hope was that America would offer peace, stability, job opportunities, and an overall better future. For instance, it is recorded that, “From 1820 to 1870, over seven and a half million immigrants came to the United States — more than the entire population of the country in 1810,” (Irish and German Immigration).…

    • 2153 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Five million German people immigrated to the United States between 1850 and 1930. Between 1881 and 1885 there was a peak of immigrating German people. These immigrants moved to the mid west. For over one hundred years millions immigrated to the United States. From 1820 to 1930 three and a half million British immigrants, and four and a half million Irish immigrated to the United States. Round 1840 due to The Great Hunger a horrible famine the Catholics showed up by the millions. America was beginning to populate.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Between 1815 and 1920, 5.5 million Irish immigrated to the United States. The English forced the Irish to become Christian. However, when the Church of England became Protestant, the Irish suddenly found themselves defending Catholicism fighting against Protestant landowners. In early 1800s, Protestant Landlords began evicting their tenants and shift from agricultural production to cattle raising. The tradition of migration have started way back when the peasant with tiny plot of land migrate to harvest new land. Migrated for part of the year and following the crops, planting or harvesting other places in Ireland or England, Wales, Scotland. However, the potato famine disaster, where a type of fungi destroyed the potato crops, which the people depend on, forced them to immigrate far to the US. By 1855, over 1 million people had died from hunger and sickness. During the great potato famine, about 1.5 million people immigrated to United States from Ireland motivated by the need for survival.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are immediate similarities that are drawn from the motivation of Irish, British, and German immigrants within the period of 1830 to 1860. The first similarities are found when comparing the earlier group of Irish migrants, to those of some of the minor sections of British and German immigrants. Within the 1830s, those who came from Ireland had resources and skills that they desired to bring to America, or more specifically its world-renowned port cities, in order to better their economic well-being. Many German and British immigrants, such as those who were artisans, merchants, and professionals, also went to the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston. Further similarities are seen when comparing the Irish settlers after the potato famine of the 1840s, to those immigrants from Britain and Germany who were focused on agriculture. The most obvious similarity that can be derived from this situation is that all three of the groups are being influenced by geography. While the Irish were forced to leave their country to survive, the Germans and British were attracted to prospective lands in the Old Northwest, and Texas. The final conceptual similarity found for the motivations of these three nationalities’ exoduses to North America is displayed in their role, or lack there of, in their original countries economies. During the 1840s, the Irish immigrants were mainly comprised of the less skillful members of…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Apush

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During this era almost more than half of the Irish population lived on farms and were making little or no money. Because of the low income they were given, many farmers could only afford to buy potatoes to survive. Unfortunately this crop failed 3 years in a row, the outcome was horrendous! More than 750,000 men and children died due to the famine in Ireland. What were they to do? They had little choice they had but to move to the new world to escape disease and famine. During the same equivalent time Germans left their home country to escape political hardships. Many riots and rebellions took place during the civil unrest which ultimately caused the German revolution of 1848. Like the Irish German population were forced to leave for the sake of their lives.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Immigrants had many obstacles that they had to overcome that would bring them to reality, and let them recognize what American had in store for them. One of the obstacles that immigrants faced was discrimination in all sorts. The Irish were discriminated against because they had come in great numbers during the periods of immigration (in this case 1820’s until 1890’s). So, when they came they needed jobs, and nativists complained that they were taking all of the jobs that Americans should have. Nativists were a group of people that wanted immigrants out of America for many reasons. Also, the Irish flooded cities when they came, which caused an abundance of fighting between the Protestant whites (Americans) and the majority of the Irish people were Catholic. The Irish would live in cities and go about their religious ways (go to church, celebrate holidays, and etc.), and the Protestants didn’t like this because they wanted to keep the nation mainly Protestant (as it had been before). The Chinese were discriminated against for many reasons also. They were discriminated against because they…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The gap that divided the wealthy from the poor had grown to be deep and ominous. Poverty swept across Ireland as the Potato Famine took more and more lives. Starvation was a cold, hard reality of the time, and people were desperate for jobs when their crops wouldn't grow, though they were rarely available. The population was high, job openings were low, and the requirements for immigration to the United States were surprisingly reasonable. America was a land of opportunity under its democratic system, rather than the class system that many Europeans felt victimized by. Also, land was affordable, and could be attained easily. The Homestead Act of 1869 allowed citizens to acquire up to 160 acres of land for $1.25 for each acre, as long as the individual remains settled there for five years. The option of migrating to the United States was appealing in their time of struggle, to say the…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Land of Refuge

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1.) “Throughout its history, the US has been a land of refuge and opportunity for immigrants.” Assess the validity of this statement in view of the experience of the Irish in the 19th century urban northeast.Between the years of 1830 and 1860, immigration from many Europeans countries very much shows that the United States has been a land of refuge and opportunity for immigrants. Because of the high rate of immigrants, looking for refuge from the problems of their homeland, the population of the United States shot up by about six million. The flow of immigrants, choked off by wars in Europe in the first three decades of the nineteenth century, revived in the 1830s. The foreign-born population was vastly made up of immigrants from Ireland. In 1850, the Irish constituted approximately 45 percent of the foreign-born Americans. The mass migration out of their homeland was partly because of the oppression and the unpopularity of the English rule. But the factor that impacted the most was the greatest disaster in Ireland’s history: the Potato Famine. The entire country depended on the potato crop economically and also to feed the population. But between 1845 and 1849, the catastrophic failure of the vital crop caused the devastation of the country. Looking for safety and refuge from this terrible disaster, more than 1.5 million Irish fled to the safe lands of the United States. They fled to the safety of the urban northeast. Without practically any money, unlike the German immigrants, the Irish immigrants settled in the eastern cities to fill them with unskilled labor. The urban northeast gave them, mostly young and single women, opportunities of factory and domestic work. Moving rom the southern counties of Ireland, where there were little to no opportunities and an excess of devastation, to the urban northeast of the United States of America, where opportunities of work were in abundance, the immigrants of Ireland, looking for refuge and opportunity, created a…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the1890’s, after the depression, immigration went froma low 3.5 million to a high 9 million in the first decade of the new century. Immigrants from all over Western and Northern Europe continued as they had for centuries. Immigrants from Eastern, Southern Europe, Canada and Latin America came after the 1880’s, as well. By 1920, Eastern and Southern Europe made up 70 percent of immigrants entering the country, and after the war of 1914most had dropped off due to restrictions imposed in the 1920’s.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They wanted there kids to have a better life than what they were living at the time. Some even migrated because they had a lack of food, or supply for their business. John Catanoch says “ he left his own country because crops failed, bread became dear, the rent of his possessions were raised from two to five pounds sterling” stating that his country got too expensive to live in. Unfortunately, his land was taken over by wealthier citizens to build a castle. Lots of Europeans left because they couldn’t take care of their cattle due to no grass. Corn farms where unfit to support families because of the wasteful tax duty. Basically, all farmers left their land due to the raise of rents and scarcity of bread. Not only did farmers leave, but also servants. Elizabeth McDonald left her country because her friends went to Carolina for better service. They assured her that she would get better service and greater encouragement rather than being in her old country. The price of labour had grown very high that also put shoe businesses out of the industry. As well as losing businesses, citizens also lost food products. In 1847, The Irish Potato Famine came about. This saved thousands of lives because they didn’t have to starve. Little did they people know that these potatoes cared diseases that ended up killed 1.5 million people. People leave for all sorts of reasons, but mainly because they are not as fortunate as we are today. It is sad that people who have made a living in one country had to leave because their business failed or they wanted better…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early 19th Century, the United States saw a large wave of immigrants that came to America in search of better lives. Roughly ⅓ of the immigrants came over from Ireland and settled on the east coast of the US. The Irish were driven out of Ireland by the great famine of the 1840’s. Around 5 million Germans also came over during that time. There were tons of boats full of immigrants and most of them came through Ellis Island which is located in New York. Transoceanic transportation had become much cheaper and less difficult, making it easier for the poor Europeans to immigrate to the United States. The United States was in a better economic situation than most other country were during this time, however the Immigrants soon learned that…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many families who were once living the American dream with all the pleasures of life, have lost everything due to illegal immigration. Immigrants who have entered the United States illegally, and have no documentation with reference of being a citizen are taking minimum wage and part-time jobs from our young adults who are trying to enter the workforce. Due to illegal immigration, every single day criminal gangs are roaming our streets, hospitals are providing free health care, wages are lost and taxes don’t get collected. After all of that, the immigrants who have came into America legally, their Visa(a document issued by a U.S. consular officer that allows immigrants to enter the United States and apply for admission to become a legal residence) expires and they continue to live in the United States and are considered a noncitizen and we are still paying for them. All across America, citizens are standing in grocery store lines trying to make ends meet and they can barely feed their children while watching illegal immigrants use welfare and food stamps to benefit their families ahead of us.…

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Instead of our average class on September 12th, we got to interview immigrants from different places around the world. Two of these people were from Brazil, one was from Mexico, and the other was all the way from China. All of them were very polite, and I could understand them quite well to my surprise. I figured since they were immigrants they would have trouble speaking English. However, I was wrong, and one of the ladies I interviewed has a degree in Bio Linguistics. During the meeting, I learned many personal things about the immigrants. Some told us their hardships trying to get to America. Others described how interesting it was to be in America compared to just seeing it on television. However, there are three major topics I learned…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays