Irish Imigration
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Irish Immigration
During the 18th and 19th century, many people in Europe saw America as the land of opportunity. Cheap land and new industries were appearing across the nation, and immigrants from all over the world came to America to find a better way of life. One of these groups was the Irish immigrants, who contributed to the development of the country during western expansion. Irish immigrants left dreadful conditions in Europe to journey across the Atlantic to find jobs and build communities in America. While moving westward, many Irish Americans helped develop the nation through politics, music, literature, drama and athletics.
There were two major immigration periods for Irish immigrants. Jeremy Thornton discussed in his book, Hard Times in Ireland: The Scottish-Irish Come to America (1603 – 1775, the first immigration wave during the18th century. After King Henry VIII assigned himself King of Ireland, he invited the poor farmers from Scotland to Ireland where they would be able to farm their own land. While in Ireland, they grew together as a community within the Presbyterian Church, which was separate from the Irish religion. Due to laws that took away rights of citizens that did not belong to the Church of England, life was difficult. (6) Between the years of 1717-1771, many Scottish-Irish came to America. (10) They immigrated to America to be free from the British laws and landlords as well as droughts and disease. (9) As more Scottish-Irish arrived, they moved westward across America.
One of the most significant immigration movements was the Irish immigration to America during the 18th century. According to the book Irish Americans by Michael V. Uschan, years of injustice from the British government forced them to live in poverty and under strict religious and language rules (460). There were few Irish in America until 1845 when disease struck the potato crops. Within a five-year span, the potato crops were destroyed, wiping out the chief food source for many farmers. The Irish had other land and crops but they were used as rent to the British landlords that owned the land in Ireland. Without the crops and livestock, thousands of farmers were evicted from their farms and houses. (463) Many immigrants saved all their money to make the journey to America. The article “Irish Immigration in America During the 19th Century”, Kinsella Page states that the ships were overcrowded with immigrants and the conditions on the ships were terrible with very little food and disease. These ships were known as coffin ships because so many people died on the way. (Page) Although the journey was crowded and unsanitary, arriving in America was a relief yet overwhelming.
As the immigrants saw the large cities on the horizon, excitement and anticipation grew for the new opportunities that were waiting for them. Jeremy Thornton states in The Irish Potato Famine: Irish Immigrants Come to America (1845 -1850) that after the Irish Immigrants left Europe, the trip to America was very difficult. They arrived in the larger cities of Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. After they moved westward, Chicago was another major city for the Irish immigrants. (13) Tens of thousands of Irish immigrants settled in Boston. In 1847, alone, 37,000 Irish Catholics settled on the Boston waterfront. New York City had more than 75% of the immigrants land there. After the move westward, the Irish population made up one-fifth of the people in Chicago. Tens of thousands of Irish immigrants took whatever low-skilled jobs they could find in Philadelphia. The Irish population grew so fast there, that it became the largest immigrant group living in Philadelphia. Baltimore was the third most common harbor for the Irish immigrants because of the job opportunities. (“Famous Baltimore Irish Americans”) In the major cities, the Irish immigrants living conditions were crowded and dirty. They often lived in small apartments with many family members living in one or two rooms. The Irish Immigrants had very few skills other than farming, and ended up with low paying labor jobs such as construction workers, deliverymen, and ditch diggers. Many of the women worked as household servants to the upper class. If there were jobs available, many of the advertisements would read,” No Irish Need Apply” (“Irish Immigration”). Statements such as this had to be disheartening for the immigrants that desperately needed jobs.
Despite this discrimination and hatred, the Irish immigrants were able to draw from their strengths to form strong communities. Uschan said that the Irish immigrants were loyal to their families and to those that came from Ireland. They were involved in many cultural activities. They developed a community that helped them face their hard lives without giving up. Often the Irish sent money to their families and friends in Ireland to come to America. Over time, the Irish started finding better jobs and owning their own farms and houses. (464) As they developed their own lifestyle, many Irish immigrants felt the need for religion to provide direction and spiritual guidance to complete their new life.
Although the Irish felt a strong need for religion, it also created new problems because of the diversity of the beliefs of the immigrants. Kinsella Page, author of “Irish Immigrants in America During the 19th Century”, states that the Catholic religion was also brought to America with the large number of Irish immigrants. There were many disagreements concerning religion, schooling, and politics by other religions in America. Part of the disagreements happened because Irish Immigrants would work for very little pay and they took jobs away from other Americans. Ethnic and anti-Catholic fighting occurred in many northern states. One of the anti-Catholic groups was called the know-nothings. This anti-Catholic group wanted to make it take longer for the Irish Immigrants to become citizens. They also wanted to prevent people born outside of the United States to ever hold public office. This movement did not last long because with as large as the Irish population was, they out numbered the know-nothings and the know-nothings were soon gone. Even though their success in building communities in becoming a part of America, the Irish immigrants along with other Americans soon felt the desire to move West.
For the Irish immigrants, the railroad became not only a way to move westward, but also became a source of jobs as the railroads expanded west. In the book, The Move West, Petra Press says that the Irish soon spread all throughout the United States. Many of the Irish moved west onto the frontier building railroads and following the gold rush. (32) The magazine article “Reaching Home In Minnesota” says that