Irish Discrimination In The 19th Century

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If the Irish were so lucky, why were they so discriminated? Obviously, they weren’t the shamrock-loving gingers we know when they’re being attacked. They had to leave Ireland to survive due to the potato famine, the Nativists didn’t have to make it any harder for them! Let me take you on a stroll through a story of retaliation, loss, and nativism with the Irish-American immigrants… It’s unfortunate that the Irish were hurt so badly, and the Nativists were unarguably to blame. The Nativists thought that immigrants shouldn’t touch American land because they’d take up jobs and alter our culture. Although the Irish weren’t the only discriminatees, they had it just as rough. In the early 1800s, this conflict really began to boil. East Coast Nativists went out of their way to stop the Irish from stepping on American soil, and this was soon after the infamous Irish potato famine. Now I know you may be asking why the Nativists thought that the Irish were so bad, it’s because the Irish were catholic. Well, that’s one reason, at least. In America, the primary religion was Christianity (according to “Made in America.com”), so Nativists saw catholics as a problem. Rather …show more content…
When the Irish first arrived in America, they had low wages for jobs since it was all they could get. However, when it came to their inevitable promotion, Nativists flipped out. They couldn’t accept that Irish were making a rather large portion of the money in society (of course, the white man still made more), this caused them to retaliate against the Irish. Why did the Nativists not want the Irish making money? Good question. From the evidence provided, it very well could be that the Nativists simply wanted the American glory all for themselves. This attributed to the Nativists wanting to hurt the Irish. Really, did you know that in 1835, 55% of people arrested in America were Irish (according to IIPdigital.com)? Nativists must’ve been incredibly
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