irishimmigrationstatements

8/7/2019 IrishImmigrationStatements

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APUSH Linh HaPer 4 11/29/10

Potato Famine and the Move to America

Though Irish immigrants had come to America much earlier in the 19

th

century, thepotato famine in 1845 was what caused a steep increase in immigrations in America. With thepotato famine in our homeland in Ireland, millions were left starved because of overpopulation

and a scarce supply of food. Over 750,000 people had starved to death. This is the reason whymy family and I, destitute, moved to America. A few million other Irish immigrants had done the

same thing as we. Large cities of commerce needed workers as their industrial businesses grewso they welcomed us to fill in these laborious occupations. Women normally became house

servants for mid- and upper-class households or worked on textile mills. The men took on therougher occupations such as factory hands, construction workers, and canal diggers. Anything

was better than starving so I, like all the others, accepted the low wages and laborious conditions.Even if we were to want better wages, we had nothing to offer. Our skills were limited and

unable to provide a higher quality of service than that that was being provided. My family and Ilacked money to buy property and become our own farmers or the like. Our living conditions

were poor as well. The house my family owned was small and dirty and not really a home; itlacked proper sanitation so if a disease came around. We were always the firsts to contract them.

Cholera was commonly seen among the Irish immigrants.


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American Views of Irish Immigrants

The amount of discrimination and prejudice I have received in Boston is astounding.Everywhere I go, I can hear people talking about the faults of the Irish and how we are to blame

for decreasing availability of jobs and being the reason for low wages. It is true that our people

are taking up the more laborious tasks and leaving few to spare, but this is our only way tosurvive. Perhaps it angers the Americans more that we are needed greatly to do these tasks sinceour wage demands are much lower than the Americans. These Americans have gone on strikes

several times, hoping to get a raise. Even the women had asked for wages to increase around the1830s in New England, refusing to work if their demands were not met. We became the

industries new source of workers and took their places. Maybe, this is why they are so bittertowards us. We eventually came to make up two thirds of Bostons unskilled laborers. It even

seemed to them that we were made to be a servant race. What also came with their criticismswere stereotypes of us being drunks. Alcohol was abused by some Irish men because they were

so deep in their pitiful lives, and feeling hopeless. It is offensive to me that they think of us allbeing drunks. In addition to this, we are hated for being Catholic for virtually everyone here is

Protestant. To them, we are nothing more than angry, greedy, and illiterate drunks made to dotheir laborious tasks for them.


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Catholicism

Through all of the horrendous conditions, mistreat, and prejudice and discrimination, wefound comfort in two things: alcohol and Catholicism. Alcohol was a temporary relief from a

days sorrow or so, but Catholicism was something constant. It was a religion we held with high

importance. It gave us comfort and allowed us to prosper. As more Irish came over, the CatholicChurch grew as well as the institutions it inspired us to build. With the guidance of our priestsand bishops, charitable societies, orphanages, militia companies, parochial schools, and political

organizations appeared. It was our connection to our original roots. The Americans see itotherwise, though. To them, Catholicism is despicable and we, too, are dreadful. Things became

worse with the economic depression in 1844. Americans sought after Catholics and harmedthem; the Know-Nothings were the most influential anti-Catholic group at the time. They were a

Navist political party that formed and wished to extend the amount of time it took for Irishimmigrants to become citizens and voters as well as preventing foreigners from ever holding

political office positions. It is unbelievable how such a new country could establish suchnationalist unity in the ideas of immigrants and political oppression. The Protestant revivalism

was no help for it further strained relations between Americans and the Catholic Irish. SamuelF.B. Morse is an artist and inventor that publishedForeign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of

the United States argued against the Catholic Irish, saying that they would obey Pope GregoryXVI, a man that had condemned liberty of conscience, freedom of publication and the separation

of church and state. Others such as Morse did not want us to have tax diversions for our schoolfunding along with other public policies. Unemployed Protestants frequently took out their

angers on us as well.


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Goals and Hopes

When my family and I moved to America, we had hoped to find newopportunities awaiting us. Ireland was too populated unlike the newly established states. The

famine was horrible and left us poor with little we could do to start anew. Our skills were little

and we were illiterate as well; most of the Irish immigrants were the same. It was a relief and joyto know that places like Boston and New York needed workers like us. After hearing of thegrueling conditions of my parents, I hope that future Irish generations will be better off as we

fight towards our rights and against the prejudiced and stereotyped versions of ourselves. I amvery thankful for being a house servant rather than working in the harsh conditions of textile

mills or the lands like other women and men. Demands of my masters can be difficult and longand perhaps tough, but nothing compared to what the others must feel. After all, this is a

dignified wealthy household, not the dusty mills or the rough lands. My goals are fairly similar.It is ideal to improve our ways of life and be able to afford for a small but comfortable house

rather than a one room apartment or basement shelter with leakages and poor sanitations. It isalso a constant goal to make ends meets. Our low wages make it nearly impossible to pay for our

expenses. Before, Ireland made us able to farm our own food. The lands in Boston did not allowfor us to do the same. Now, food expenses take up quite a lot of the overall expenses. One day,

we will be able to be as the Americans, enjoying what they enjoy rather than living below them,working hard nearly every day to make ends meets.


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Fears and Irish Identity

Fears were often economical or societal. I feared that I would not be able to bringenough money home to my family and help provide for them or that I would be dismissed from

the household to which I serve due to prejudice. If there are insufficient funds, more of us will

certainly succumb to illness. Criticisms I hear daily worry me for I wish that my dad does nothear them or my brother since they tended to take out their frustrations with spirits. Nothing evercomes out good with the alcohol because they add fuel to the stereotype that all Irish men were

nothing but drunks at best. Still, these fears do not occupy much of my time because I know thatwe are culturally enriched. We wish to be Americans, but that is disconnected from our religion

and culture. Being Americans does not mean that we must change our origins and this issomething that we all sternly believe in. Nothing can take that away from us. The Irish culture

thrives no matter its location so long as we stick together as a nationality in America. It is apassion that remains with all Irish immigrants. It is a uniting factor for us. Catholicism is a large

part of our culture and helps us maintain the majority of this identity. When Tyler and the Whigssplit in the 1840s, the Irish decided to support the Democratic Party which promised better

religious and cultural freedoms. Ethnocultural politics (voting along ethnic and religious lines) iscommon for us in order to preserve Irish identity.

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