Irish Immigration To America Analysis

The Irish in America: Alienation and Assimilation Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the greatest wave of Irish immigrants made a transatlantic journey to America in the hopes of starting a successful life abroad. The post-famine era brought not only physical change as mass exodus occurred, but also social, economic, and political change that had never before been observed. Colonial, Pre-famine, famine, and post-famine immigrants all made the same journey with comparable intents of improving their socio-economic standings. However, the attitude and demographic of post-famine individuals differed in that they were all self-determined and self-sufficient individuals, whereas the majority of pre-famine and

As illustrated in Joseph Keppler’s political cartoon, ‘Looking Backward,’ published in P.U.C.K. magazine in January 11, 1893. The cartoon depicts four wealthy men denying entry to a newly arrived immigrant. In addition to this, shadows of ancestral immigrants appear behind the four men as each are native-born but are, themselves, descendants of former immigrants. This one political cartoon adds commentary on the hypocrisy of second-generation Americans and paradox that is found when examining the patterns of immigration to America since the first wave of immigrants arrived. The Irish who arrived during the post-famine period (1855-1921), were no different than any other ethnic group coming to America in the way that they were treated once they arrived. Although the Irish were among many other European groups to arrive to America, they were viewed as ‘atypical,’ (Kenny,

Individuals during this time often married young, and the majority were either in the lower classes consisting of small landholders or landless poor. Land was often divided up evenly to successors. In stark contrast to the pre-famine social structure found in Ireland, post-famine immigrants were usually those who wished to seek out a more premising life on their own. People married late or not at all, the majority of people fell into the social class of middling or strong farmers, and land was not divided evenly amongst successors, but rather there was a single heir chosen that was always the eldest son, (also known as the Primogeniture). Passing on land was not always a physical passing of property as many did not own their own land but were rather tenant farmers. Therefore, the passing on of land would translate to the passing on of property rights as it