Irish Migration to America
The Great Migration from Ireland to America 1800-1900
The Irish were among the many people who migrated to the United States of America. The wave of Irish migration happened in the mid – 18th century and started around the early 1840s. Many of the Irish moved to the United States of America and Canada because they wanted to be able to live freely.
The majority of Irish people post 1000 A.D were Catholic. In Ireland, there were laws enforced by the British government that removed power form the Catholics. These laws were called the Penal Laws. They never went under the church reform that England did in the 1500s. Because of all this, the British government used religious differences as a political tool towards the increasing colonial activity and so the English were considered a ruling class and the Irish were seen and treated as a minority. The Penal laws were intended to degrade the Irish so severely that they wouldn’t ever be able to threaten the Protestant rule. Most of the large farms in Ireland were owned by Protestants. This was because when a Catholic land owner died, the estate was equally divided among his sons, diluting the value. Also, if he had a Protestant son, that son would inherit all the land. This led to poverty. The environment that the Irish had to live in was very unhygienic. A census report in 1841 found that nearly half the families in rural areas lived in windowless mud cabins, most with no furniture other than a chair. It was said that pigs slept with their owners and heaps of manure lay by the doors.
Around 1835, three quarters of Irish labourers had no regular employment of any kind. Because of this, the only way a labourer could live and support a family was to get a patch of land and grow potatoes. Potatoes were unique because large numbers of them could be grown on small plots of land, potatoes were high in nutrients, vitamins, minerals and was easy to cook, and they could be fed to cattle and pigs. Also, potatoes could grow
The Irish were among the many people who migrated to the United States of America. The wave of Irish migration happened in the mid – 18th century and started around the early 1840s. Many of the Irish moved to the United States of America and Canada because they wanted to be able to live freely.
The majority of Irish people post 1000 A.D were Catholic. In Ireland, there were laws enforced by the British government that removed power form the Catholics. These laws were called the Penal Laws. They never went under the church reform that England did in the 1500s. Because of all this, the British government used religious differences as a political tool towards the increasing colonial activity and so the English were considered a ruling class and the Irish were seen and treated as a minority. The Penal laws were intended to degrade the Irish so severely that they wouldn’t ever be able to threaten the Protestant rule. Most of the large farms in Ireland were owned by Protestants. This was because when a Catholic land owner died, the estate was equally divided among his sons, diluting the value. Also, if he had a Protestant son, that son would inherit all the land. This led to poverty. The environment that the Irish had to live in was very unhygienic. A census report in 1841 found that nearly half the families in rural areas lived in windowless mud cabins, most with no furniture other than a chair. It was said that pigs slept with their owners and heaps of manure lay by the doors.
Around 1835, three quarters of Irish labourers had no regular employment of any kind. Because of this, the only way a labourer could live and support a family was to get a patch of land and grow potatoes. Potatoes were unique because large numbers of them could be grown on small plots of land, potatoes were high in nutrients, vitamins, minerals and was easy to cook, and they could be fed to cattle and pigs. Also, potatoes could grow