Ethnic Groups And Discrimination
Page 1 Irish American Ethnic Group
The act of Union in 1803 brought the island into British polity, but was useless in easing the difficult situation of the people. When incorporating the two colonies the result was that they were then overly populated due to the Napoleonic Wars, the Irish soon became impoverished. With the political subordination and with the religious prejudice of Protestant Masters to the Catholic Irish many of the Irish had no alternative but to immigrate to the United States for relief. Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish were never less than third of all immigrants. The British Passenger Acts wanted to deter the immigration from the British Isles to Canada instead of the United States, making the fare a cheap 15 shilling compared to the four or five pound fare to New York. The Irish soon learned that they could purchase the affordable trip to Canada and then purchase cheap fares to the United States or many people even traveled across the border by just walking across the border. By the year 1840 the Irish constituted nearly half of all entering immigrants, and New England found itself heavily foreign born. By 1950, the Irish consisted of one fifth of all foreign born in the originally homogenous region.
The Irish that continued to flow into the United States had a tendency to settle in the already existing Irish communities, where Catholic Churches had been built, and cultural traditions were carried out. When they first entered the United States and were looking for work the looking for jobs the sign read “Help Wanted- No Irish Need Apply!” Therefore, it made it very difficult to find work unless they worked for other Irish Americans or they would do other work for each other and a lot of the time they would trade food or services if they did not have the money to pay for services.
Page 2 Irish American Ethnic Groups
The Irish Americans were certainly subjected to dual...
View Full Essay