IRISH AMERICANS

IRISH AMERICANS. More than 7 million Irish immigrants have come to America since the 1600s. This mass movement transformed Irish society and played a significant role in shaping American politics, religion, culture, and economics during the country's most formative years. More than 40 million people in the United States claim some degree of Irish ancestry.

Colonial and Pre-Famine Immigration

Approximately 50,000 to 100,000 Irishmen, over 75 percent of them Catholic, came to America in the 1600s, while 100,000 more Irish Catholics arrived in the 1700s. A small number of prosperous merchants formed communities in Philadelphia and other cities, but most immigrants were indentured servants who eventually blended into the mainstream society. A few were prominent citizens, like wealthy Charles Carroll who migrated to Maryland in 1681, establishing a family that produced the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first American archbishop.

Between 250,000 and 500,000 Protestant Irish arrived in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While some were southern Irish Anglicans and Quakers, over three-fourths were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians from Ulster. In search of land and religious freedom, these "Wild Irish" settled in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, later migrating to the wilderness backcountries of Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Known for their hatred of the British and their rugged individualism, many fought bravely in the American Revolution. More came in the early 1800s to settle Kentucky and Tennessee, becoming the nation's first "Indian fighters" and producing such American heroes as President Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) and frontiersman Davy Crockett (1786–1836).

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 caused widespread changes in Irish society and opened the flood-gates of poor Catholic immigration. Landlords began to turn from grain production to cattle, raising rents and evicting tenants by the thousands. During this time, the population in Ireland rose from 6.8 million in 1821 to 8 million in 1841, with the largest increase among poor cottiers—landless laborers who received access to land for working the landlord's crops. Partible inheritance (dividing land among all sons), early marriage, and high fertility doubled their numbers from 665,000 to 1.3 million between 1831 and 1841. Fathers could no longer provide for every child, creating scores of young men and women with no alternatives but delayed marriage, permanent celibacy, or emigration. As a result, 1.3 million people left Ireland for America between 1815 and 1845.

Famine Immigration and Settlement

Conditions for those who remained behind in Ireland continued to worsen. As plots of land shrunk and the population grew, cottiers came to rely increasingly on the potato, a nutritious root that grew quickly and easily in Irish soil, as their main source of food. In August 1845, a fungus destroyed the potato crop, returning for the next four years and causing widespread destruction. Despite assistance from public and private sources, approximately 1.5 million people starved or died of famine-related diseases between 1846 and 1855, the most during "Black '47." Another 2.1 million emigrated, mainly to the United States, accounting for almost half of all immigration to the States during the 1840s and over a third during the 1850s.

In America, initial sympathy for the starving peasants gave way to anti-Catholic hostility as they began to arrive in droves, forming enclaves in Northern cities. In Boston, for example, immigration rates rose from 4,000 in 1820 to 117,000 in 1850. By the 1850s–1860s, 28 percent of all people living in New York, 26 percent in Boston, and 16 percent in Philadelphia had been born in Ireland. Irish Catholics also dominated immigration to Southern cities before the Civil War (1861–1865); New Orleans was the second-largest port of arrival after New York by 1850.

Throughout the nation, work advertisements stated, "No Irish Need Apply," while nativist political parties like the Know-Nothings gained power. Hostility often turned violent, as in 1834 when mobs burned an Ursuline convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Such episodes were etched in Irish American memory, contributing to a separatist mentality long after they achieved success.

Unskilled Irish men became manual laborers, competing with free African Americans for jobs, which sometimes caused bitter race riots. Over 3,000 Irish helped build New York's Erie Canal, while thousands of others worked on the railroad, in Pennsylvania's coal mines, or as farm laborers. The more enterprising traveled out west to San Francisco, finding greater opportunity and less discrimination. In the South, Irish workers were deemed less valuable than slaves and less dangerous than free blacks, perfect for urban areas. Irish women nationwide overwhelmingly worked as domestic servants, becoming known as "Bridgets," or in the growing needle trades.

Various charitable and social organizations helped the Irish settle into American life, while such financial societies as New York's Irish Emigrant Savings Bank (established 1851) assisted immigrants with sending remittances back home. The most important institution was the Catholic Church, which created a national network of churches, hospitals, schools, and orphanages. Irish priests, such as New York's Archbishop John Hughes (1797–1864) and Charleston's Bishop John England (1786–1842) dominated the hierarchy and shaped the course of American Catholicism. On the local level, the parish church served as the center of Irish American life, becoming the means of both preserving ethnic culture and Americanizing immigrants.

Their service during the Civil War also helped the Irish gain respect and acceptance. While criticized for their role in the 1863 New York draft riots, as many as 170,000 Irish-born men served in the Northern army. In the South, the Irish contributed the largest number of troops of any foreign-born group.

Post-Famine Immigration and Life

The Great Famine accelerated changes already at work in Irish society. With no land to inherit, younger children had few options in Ireland. As a result, approximately 3 million Irish men and women came to America between the end of the Famine and Irish independence (1856–1921). Departures were often marked by an "American wake," illustrating the finality of the journey. While most would never see Ireland again, many emigrants sent money back home, providing for their families and paying for siblings or parents to follow.

While the vast majority of Irish immigrants remained in the Northeast and Midwest, a significant minority of mainly skilled, single men migrated west. In 1890, the cities with the largest Irish-born populations were New York-Brooklyn (275,156, or 12 percent of the combined population), Philadelphia (110,935, 11 percent), Boston (71,441, 16 percent), Chicago (70,028, 6 percent), and San Francisco (30,718, 10 percent). The Irish-born population peaked that year at 1,871,509; the second generation totaled 2,924,172, growing to its highest level of 3,375,546 in 1900.

The late nineteenth century showed few improvements in Irish occupational mobility. While Irish-born men made up 11 percent of America's policemen and 6 percent owned their own businesses, they were concentrated in unskilled, dangerous, and low-paying jobs. While the violent methods of the Molly Maguires, a secret society of Pennsylvania coal miners, sometimes made their activities suspect, labor unions more often helped improve working conditions, and also served as a means of mobility. By 1900, Irish Americans of birth or descent held the leadership of almost half of the 110 unions in the American Federation of Labor. Some prominent labor leaders included Terence Powderly (1849–1924), head of the Knights of Labor, and Leonora O'Reilly (1870–1927), a founder of the Women's Trade Union League.

Westward migration greatly affected occupational mobility for men; 20 percent of the Irish in San Francisco in 1880 held white-collar positions as opposed to 13 percent of those in New York. For women, there was less of a disparity, as domestic service remained one of the few options for Irish-born women across the country until the 1920s. The second generation showed slightly more mobility, with many becoming clerks, teachers, priests, nuns, and nurses. By 1900, almost 5 percent of Irish American men held white-collar jobs, as opposed to 2 percent of the Irish-born. Second-generation women had greater opportunities as well, composing 10 percent of all female teachers of foreign parentage in 1900.

For most second-generation men, the church and politics were the best means for upward mobility. The cornerstone of the Irish community was the parish, with the parochial school at its center. Priests served not only as spiritual guides, but also as cultural brokers, social workers, and peacemakers in their parishes—good training for rising in the hierarchy. By 1900, 50 percent of American bishops and 13 out of 17 cardinals were of Irish birth or descent.

Unable to penetrate rigid social hierarchies, politics was one of the few ways the Irish could advance in Eastern cities. Irish ward bosses dominated Democratic city machines beginning with "Honest John" Kelly (1822–1886), who took over New York's Tammany Hall in 1873. Bosses created patronage networks, exchanging services for immigrant votes. Such notable politicians as New York's Charles F. Murphy (1858–1924) and Boston's James Michael Curley (1874–1958) used these methods with great success.

By the end of the century, more Irish Americans began to enter the middle class and work for acceptance. Saint Patrick's Day parades became a way to exhibit not only a love of Ireland, but also pride in America. Likewise, support for Irish nationalist causes was often motivated by a desire not only for Irish freedom, but also to prove to nativists that they did not come from a conquered race. This desire for respect was aided by such entertainers as vaudevillians Harrigan and Hart, the composer Victor Herbert, Broadway mogul George M. Cohan, and singer John McCormick, who all helped to change the stage Irishman image and popularize Irish music and song in mainstream entertainment. John Boyle O'Reilly, Louise Imogen Guiney, and Eugene O'Neill revealed demonstrated Irish literary talents. In addition, the Catholic Church established such universities as Notre Dame, Boston College, and Fordham to provide higher education for Irish Americans.

Post-1920s Irish America

Irish America became more American than Irish in the twentieth century. Changes in immigration laws in 1924 and 1965, along with the Great Depression and the world wars, slowed immigration to a trickle. In addition, the arrival of other immigrant groups, war service, and inter-marriage

ensured Irish Americans' gradual assimilation into mainstream American society. By 1924, Irish American politicians began to attract national recognition with the nomination of Al Smith (1873–1944) as the first Catholic presidential candidate. In 1960, complete Irish acceptance was finally achieved with the election of President John F. Kennedy.

During this time, the Irish also started to achieve success in theater, film, sports, business, and the professions. In the 1950s, the Irish began leaving their urban enclaves for the suburbs, although certain neighborhoods in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia retained many Irish residents, resulting in clashes with blacks and other new arrivals. While a significant number remained in the working class throughout the century, by the 1970s the Irish were the best educated and highest-paid white Catholic ethnic group in America.

The 1970s and 1980s brought a revival of Irish identity and a new connection to modern-day Ireland. This interest was stimulated by a new national preoccupation with ethnic roots, the escalation of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the arrival of the "New Irish"—mostly illegal, highly educated Irish immigrants whose numbers ranged from 40,000 to 150,000. Settling mainly in Irish American cities like New York and Boston, these immigrants helped to revive interest in Irish culture. Through lobbying organizations like the Irish Immigration Reform Movement, they sought the support of Irish American politicians, businessmen, and clergy in changing immigration laws.

With the help of Irish American businessmen and its membership in the European Union, Ireland emerged in the 1990s as an economic powerhouse, dubbed the "Celtic Tiger." President Bill Clinton, George Mitchell (D-ME), Representative Peter King (R-NY), Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) played important roles as negotiators between nationalist and loyalist forces in Northern Ireland, leading to the 1998 "Good Friday" Agreement and a lasting cease-fire. The cultural renaissance inspired by Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes (1996), Bill Whelan's music and dance phenomenon Riverdance, Irish rock bands like U2 and Black 47, and various Irish studies programs at American universities continues to renew interest in all things Irish for both Irish and non-Irish Americans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Almeida, Linda Dowling. Irish Immigrants in New York City, 1945–1995. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.

Blessing, Patrick J. "Irish." In Stephan Thernstrom, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980.

Diner, Hasia. Erin's Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.

Gleeson, David T. The Irish in the South, 1815–1877. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Kenny, Kevin. The American Irish: A History. New York: Long-man, 2000.

Miller, Kerby A. Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.

O'Hanlon, Ray. The New Irish Americans. Niwot, Colo.: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1998.

Williams, William H. A. 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream: The Image of Ireland and the Irish in American Popular Song Lyrics, 1800–1920. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.

Meaghan M.Dwyer

Irish Americans. Irish immigrants and their descendants virtually defined the American conception of “ethnic group.” The Irish were the first European people to substantially challenge English cultural dominance in colonial America, to spark significant Anglo‐American hostility, to develop a rich array of community institutions, and to demonstrate that ethnicity could have long‐lasting social and demographic consequences.

English military operations and land confiscations in Ireland propelled over 10,000 Irish to the West Indies between the 1640s and the 1660s, with overflow into English North America. Population pressure and English land seizures accelerated emigration in the eighteenth century, with many of the Irish taking advantage of contractual servitude to provide for the Atlantic passage. By 1790, roughly 400,000 persons of Irish birth or descent populated the United States, three‐quarters of them Roman Catholic. Between 1820 and the mid‐1920s, some 4.75 million Irish migrated to the United States, second only to Germans among non‐English immigrants. Irish immigration peaked between 1846 and 1851, when the United States received most of the 1.5 million who fled the devastating potato famine. The number of Irish‐born immigrants and their children reached an all‐time high around 1900 at almost 3.5 million.

Until well into the twentieth century, a strong social and cultural Irish Catholic community existed in America by both choice and necessity. This community, which arose in the United States before the Civil War, owed much to the nature of Irish immigration itself, a calculated movement—even in the famine years—of men and women seeking opportunities superior to those at home. Moreover, this was a chain migration, with relatives, neighbors, and coworkers paving the way for subsequent arrivals, and with families, parishes, and villages reassembling in America.

For much of the nineteenth century, Irish Americans found social and economic mobility hampered by lack of capital, insufficiency of marketable skills, and outright prejudice. Most avenues of upward mobility—whether politics, the church, or trade—remained focused upon the immigrant subculture and held in the most ambitious youths rather than propelling them outward. One consequence was a highly concentrated population. In 1850, 80 percent of the Irish‐born lived in the urban Northeast. In 1860, nearly one‐third of the Irish‐born lived in just ten American cities, and 40 percent of that number resided in New York City alone. As late as 1920, approximately 90 percent of first‐generation Irish Americans resided in urban areas. Not until after World War I did these close‐knit Irish neighborhoods begin to erode and disperse.

Irish Americans formed aid societies, fraternal groups, small businesses, Catholic parishes, and political organizations. The last offered protection against (while also provoking) periodic assaults by native‐born Anglo‐American Protestants upon the Irish Catholics' alleged loyalty, on account of their religion, to a “foreign prince.” Episodes of nativist hostility reinforced Irish Americans' tendency to identify themselves as a people dispossessed—first by the English and subsequently by Anglo‐Americans. The Roman Catholic church provided a source of strength and a path of upward mobility. By 1900, half of the bishops who had served the American church were Irish‐born or ‐descended. Politics, too, served the community. Thousands of Irish‐Americans earned their wages as policemen, firemen, city laborers, and clerks, while the politicians who secured their places built impressive urban vote‐getting “machines” headed by “bosses” like New York City's “Honest John” Kelly and mayors like Boston's James M. Curley (1874–1958) and, after World War II, Chicago's Richard J. Daley.

Associated with the Democratic party from the 1840s, Irish‐American voters wavered when President Woodrow Wilson showed little enthusiasm for Irish independence but returned to vote for the Catholic presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith in 1928. The New Deal Era's social welfare programs, which undercut the social services provided by ethnic politicians, and the erosion of Irish‐American neighborhoods weakened pressures for political conformity. A residual ethnic pride emerged, however, in Irish‐American support for John F. Kennedy in 1960.

As the twentieth century wore on, Irish America slipped into a pan‐Catholic culture that was no longer purely ethnic. With the growing secularization of American life, a superficial “Irishness” was embraced as part of the American culture. Saint Patrick's Day, shorn of religious significance, became a national festival, and to claim Ireland as one's ancestral home became both fashionable and, ironically, a badge of assimilation.
See also Antebellum Era; Anti‐Catholic Movement; Colonial Era; Indentured Servitude; Nativist Movement; New England; Race and Ethnicity; Roman Catholicism; Urbanization.

Bibliography

William V. Shannon , The American Irish: A Political and Social Portrait, 1963.
Andrew Greeley , That Most Distressful Nation: The Taming of the American Irish, 1972.
Lawrence McCaffrey , The Irish Diaspora in America, 1976.
Timothy J. Meagher, ed., From Paddy to Studs: Irish‐American Communities in the Turn of the Century Era, 1880–1920, 1986.
Denis Clark , Erin's Heirs: Irish Bonds of Community, 1991.
Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy J. Meagher, eds., The New York Irish, 1996.

Dale T. Knobel