History of Irish in America Essay

The Irish people are a group of individuals who can trace their origin to the native people who first inhabited the island of Ireland. The land is located in the western part of Europe and has for the past 10000 years witness the settlement of different groups of people. The region was however first inhibited by creators such as the Newgrange and Celde Fields.

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In the mid-1800's many Irish individuals migrated to the United States of America. After Andrew Jackson who was of an Irish decent become the seventh president of America in the year 1829 most of the Irish people migrated to America. Most of them relocated for economic reasons, famine, and the spread of disease, and other for freedom of worship. At that time Ireland was under the British rule thus most Irish people were poor, and since most of the British people were Anglicans and Protestants, they mistreated the Irish who were mostly Catholics. The famine that broke out in 1845 also forced most of the Irish to migrate due to lack of food and spread of diseases.

Americans' viewed the Irish immigrants as poor, over-sexed, violent, drunkards, who practiced the wrong religion. This was because the immigrants moved to America with almost nothing because of the famine they experienced. Their large group of family members made them be viewed as sexually active people with their women referred to as prostitutes. The men due to the high level of stress they faced became drunkards. Thus they spend most of their earning in purchasing alcohol. Men who did not get work joined organized gangs that stole from the civilians. Their difference in religion also made most of the Americans to view them negatively. Americans at that time were mostly Anglicans and Protestants while the Irish people were Catholics.

The old established Irish American's did not sympathize with the new immigrants. This was because the old immigrants were Protestants while the new immigrants were Catholics. They also did not want to be associated with them since they had acquired a bad reputation among the Americans. The old Irish immigrants in attempts of differentiating themselves from the new immigrants called themselves Scottish-Americans or Scottish-Irish. The gold rush and the civil war era significantly transformed the lives of most of the immigrants. In the year 1859, Peter O'Reilly and Patrick McLaughlin discovered the presence of silver in present-day Virginia. Their discovery made Irish immigrants like John Mackay, William O'Brien, James Flood, and James Fair extremely rich after they bought a mine that was thought to be useless but turned out to be the heart of the mine. Patrick Claiborne joined American Confederate State Army during the civil war era. He rose to the rank of a major general and successfully led the American army to win numerous battles, for example, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, the Battle of Ringgold Gap, and the Battle of Stone River.

Despite the fact that the Irish immigrants had a hard time when they migrated into America since they were negatively viewed by the Americans and even their fellow Irish men, their struggle is incomparable to that of the Native Americans' and Africans' brought as slaves. This is because unlike the two groups they were allowed to exercise their rights and were not forced into slavery. The Irish people were even some of the individuals who significantly promoted slavery and discredited the rule of President Abraham Lincoln.