Irish Immigration to America

In this paper I will discuss the Irish immigration to American between the sixteenth and
twentieth centuries, how they were influenced by the American culture and their
contribution to America. I will also look at the achievements they have accomplished
while in America that could have been impossible in Ireland.
Immigration refers to the movement of people from their country of origin to a
destination country where they have the no citizenship. Immigration and mostly in the
United States of America has been a complex factor that has led to increase in population,
change in cultural set-up and religious backgrounds and in great capacity, it has
contributed to complexity and diversification of America’s political and economic
aspects. (Jones, 1992).
People migrate from one place to another due to various reasons such as to look
for better opportunities. One such example was the English ‘Enclosure’ movements
which occurred in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This movement forced people
to relocate from their farms into the cities hence contributing to the workforce during the
industrial revolution.
The Irish migration can be distinctively be identified with two Irish groups which
were comprised of the scots-Irish originating from the northern of Ireland and Irish
catholic group from the south of Ireland. Scots-Irish identify their origin from Scotland
and were mainly Presbyterians. In order to distinguish themselves from the Irish
Catholics, the Irish from the northern part usually referred themselves as scots Irish.
The historical subjugation of the Irish by the English heavily contributed to the
Irish migration to North America. Some of the injustices forcing them to migrate included economic and religious discrimination. Most of the Irish immigrants lacked land
hence they ended up paying rent to their English land owners for the growth of their
crops. The rents were not static and ended up increasing depending on the land lords’
needs. This caused hardship to the immigrants hence they were lured by the promise of
land ownership and avoidance of discrimination.
The Irish lived fairly simple lives often consisting around agriculture, religion,
and family. In the early 1600’s the Irish were considered to be “brutes” and the British
white colonists took advantage of yet another minority ethnic group similar to the African
Americans. The Irish were discriminated, degraded, segregated, and almost entirely
wiped out as an ethnic group 1 . The Irish faced a harsh reality in their journey to freedom.
Irish emigration into America in 1600AD
The history of Irish people in connection with the United States America began as
early as 1600s.As the time of the year 1632, groups of scots-Irish began migrating to
America due to propagation and initialization of the linens trade industry by the Irish
Lord deputy (Griffin, 2001) .The Irish linen was exported to the American colonies that
were under the Britain rule. This trade spearheaded the immigration of these Irish as most
of them settled along the destination ports; in example Philadelphia. Due to the already
established trade routes more of the scots Irish were able to migrate to America and
ultimately they introduced linen industry and growth and production of flax into
America.
During this era, the British had big interest over Ireland and wanted to colonize and
eventually take over the Ireland. This wave of emigration of the Irish from Ireland to America started when the Irish were involuntarily taken as forced slaves .The then
citizens Ireland, which is an island near the great Britain, were subjected to an English
law compelling them to work as slaves in the Caribbean islands 2 .The duration between
1641 and 1652, a population of more than three hundred Irish nationals were sold to be
slaves on these islands and other regions of the globe such as Virginia and New England
This period of slavery was however shorter as compared to the African slavery and
only lasted for a maximum of seventy years. In 1894, when the British abolished the
slave trade in their colonies, Irish people became liberated and that was the end of their
emigration into America as from slavery.
Irish immigration into America in 1700
The Irish began to voluntary migrate into America in the eighteenth century. The
group that is commonly associated with this emigration constituted of the Irish Catholics
who felt discriminated and left out with the set laws. These laws not only prohibited them
from freely immigrating to America but also barred them from owning of land as the rest
of the occupants of Ireland.
However during this century (1700), most of the Irish immigrants into America
were the Presbyterians who resided on the northern part of Ireland. Famously known as
the “Scots Irish”, this group voluntarily agreed to be subjected to slavery for few years in
return to breakthrough into America.
The Scotch-Irish despised and disliked the British rule which subjected them into
colonial slaves and hence would do anything to obtain passage way into freedom. The Irish landowners and the British absentee landlords were responsible for much of the
financial constraints of providing for the Irish peasantry. 3 The British created workhouses
for the Irish and began to burn the Irish’s houses down if they could not afford rent,
leaving them to feel hopeless and doomed in a sense. 4
Options for the remaining survivors consisted of joining the workhouse,
emigrating, or dying. The Irish were left with very few decisions to make, many tried to
make the long journey by foot emigrating but many died due to their already frail and
poor conditioned bodies. Workhouses were not prisons and the Irish could leave freely at
any time. Why would the Irish go to workhouses? Workhouses were set up to make
families leave their land in order for tenants to take over the land and for the Irish to work
in terrible conditions in order to claim food for their work. Workhouses were easily
compared to living within a prison; families once they got to workhouses were separated
by gender and age. However, the Irish were allowed to leave at any time but they would
have to emigrate. The Irish did not help justify their case once they came to America;
they continued to be discriminated against and ridiculed (Miller, 1988).
Some of the statistics pertaining to the Irish immigration indicates that almost half
a million Irish people had migrated into United States of America by eighteenth century.
Impact of Irish immigration into America in 1700s.
Many of the protestant Irish immigrants in the era before the 1800s bought land
that was cheap or free and began farming and herding of animals. Many of these immigrants and they comprised of the Irish Protestants and in collaboration with the Irish
Catholics and were unable to pay or their passage to servitude.
The presence of Irish in America played a very critical role in helping the
Americans win their independence (1775-1783).The dislike harbored by the Irish against
the Britons and Britain motivated them to form alliance with the Americans and
ultimately fight and win their freedom.
Irish Immigration to America in the 1800's
By the time of the repeal of the anti-Catholic penal laws in late 18th century, the
Irish sailors had already explored into the America’s seas in the quest for finding better
opportunity over the Atlantic. This move constituted one of earliest emigrants of Irish
originality to the USA in the nineteenth century. Journals and newspapers in the Ireland
covered advertisements placed by agents of the shipping companies. The immigrants took
voyages from major ports in Ireland 5 .These journeys were dreadful due to the stuffed
accommodation and in most cases the travelers squeezed themselves in the extremely
overcrowded spaces. (Yale-Loehr, 1991)
The potato famine of Ireland (1845-1849).
However one of the main factors that contributed to the Irish dispersion and Migration
was the great famine that befell Ireland in 1840s. This great food famine constituted one
of the major influential factors in regards to the Irish immigration to America. As it is
popularly known, the famine was severe and intense in Ireland. This phenomenon led to a
totally different reason for second phase of Irish migration that for now migrated out of
fear of succumbing to hunger. The Irish thrived off of one major food source, the potato.