PUSH FACTORS
A great deal of the causes of the Irish people's need for a new country were the push factors. These included the religious discrimination, and also the economic stress that the country was under.
Religious Discrimination in Politics
Map of Ireland- During the 17th century, Ireland was controlled by England and its Anglican population
- The Anglicans wanted to weaken the power of the Irish Catholics
- To do so, Parliament passed the Penal Laws. Along with many other things, the Penal Laws banned priest and bishops from Ireland, prohibited Irish Catholics from studying at Catholic schools in Europe, and did not allow them to vote.
- Before a person could vote in Ireland, they had to take this oath:
- "I, do solemnly and truly affirm ... that I am not a papist, or married to a papist, and that I do not educate or suffer to be educated, any of my children under the age of 14 years in the popish religion" (Suppression of Popery, 21 Geo II c. 10 (1747) )
- The goal of the Penal Laws was to prevent the growth of the Catholic Church, but the Church still managed to survive
- Additional laws passed by Parliament were meant to weaken the power of the Irish landowners
- At this time in Europe, land was a major source of wealth.
- These laws prevented Irish Catholics from purchasing this land
- These laws also forced the people who already owned land to have it split up among their sons at their death
- Parliament was fairly successful with the laws regarding land - at the end of the 18th century, only 5% of Ireland's land was owned by Irish Catholics, while in 1704 it was 14% (Dolan, Irish 5)
- Over time, the Penal Laws became difficult to enforce, so eventually Parliament had to repeal them
Economic Decline in Ireland
Irish linen, 18th century- The main cause for emigration in the 1700s was economic
- One of the main causes was the decline of the linen industry
- Linen had replaced farming for the mainstay of the economy
- Competition in the textile industry arose (Ferguson's Linen)
- Soon, the English demand for Irish linen declined, along with the Irish economy
- The more commonly known cause was the Great Potato Famine of the mid-nineteenth century
- By the late 1840s, Ireland's population had risen to over 8 million, and it was also very densely populated (Powell, Encyclopedia 154)
- The country relied heavily on the potato crop
- Ireland had experienced small crop failure every now and then, but the Great Famine would last for several years, greatly affecting the country
- When the blight struck in 1845 and the crop failed there was not enough food to feed the whole population
- An estimated 1.1 million people died from either disease or starvation (Dolan, Irish 67)
PULL FACTORS
Although the push factors were the main cause of the Irish immigration, the immigrants had to have a place to go once they left Ireland.
Coming to America
Statue of Liberty- During the 18th and 19th century, many of the Irish immigrants chose to come to America
- The main reason why they came to America was the economic appeal of the country
- The United States was going through its Industrial Revolution, and the expanding economy had a high demand for both skilled and semi-skilled workers
Irish immigrants wait to board a ship to North America
- In addition to the job opportunities, there was plenty of free land due to expansion
- One Irish immigrant said in a letter to the London Times in 1850:
- "After supplying the entire population of America, there would still be as much corn and provisions left us would supply the world, for there is no limit to cultivation or end to land" (ushistory.org)