Why The Irish Immigrants Moved To America?

Although they are not always discussed, Irish immigrants were some of the first immigrants to set foot in America. They fled their country for many reasons including famine, poverty, and hope for a better future. They faced many dangers on their journey to America and many hardships once they arrived. It is because of this immigration that so many of us American born citizens can trace our ancestry back to an Irish immigrant.
The first set of Irish immigrants arrived in America in the 17th century, from “a small island west of Great Britain” (O’Hara, 2002). There were many reasons why Irish citizens fled to America, but originally “Many Irish people left the poverty and high taxes of the Ulster region in the northern part of Ireland to make
“Unable to find accommodations in the city, they wandered onto the unused land above 60th Street and erected small, one-room cabins on small plots of land” (McCormack, n.d.). America was developing quickly; the cities were becoming more industrialized and growing in population. So, to them, they were disgusted with the living conditions of the Irish. “to the growing nouveau riche of New York, these people were dirty, unkempt and lived with animals, further alienating them from polite society.” (McCormack, n.d.). I did not help that a lot of the Irish immigrants spoke Gaelic. This made their communication hard between the people. Due to most of the Irish living in their own little communities, this also made communications hard, because they were so separate. Separate as in the Irish and the Americans may see one another, or work together, but they lived separate, making bonding and growing together hard. Although they shared similarities such as having families and working to provide for them, they way they went about it was much different. Americans were living in nicer homes, and required a higher wage for work, whereas the Irish immigrants were cheap labor and lived in shacks on the outside of town (McCormack, n.d.).
Ireland today is separated into 2 parts. There is Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom, then there is the Republic of Ireland which is its own separate country. Due to the potato famine, it is speculated that the population of Ireland is much smaller. Ireland has become a great tourist location, especially Dublin, which is the Countries capital (Ireland Country Profile,