Great Hunger In Ireland: The Great Famine

The Great Famine, or the Great Hunger was a period of time in Ireland between 1845-1852 when there was a disease, emigration, and a mass starvation. (Daly 1) In September 1845, a fog carrying a fungus called phytophthora infestans drifted over the fields of Ireland. (The History Place 1) Soon after, the fungal spores settled on potato plant leaves, which fermented, giving the fungus what it needed to live. (The History Place 1) The fungus soon spread to all the potatoes in Ireland, causing them to become black and rotted. (The History Place 1) As the potato blight in Ireland continued through the years, the Irish began the long journey to America in hopes to begin a new life away from the horrible conditions that had struck Ireland. Unfortunately,

(Downer 3) By 1860, Southern plantations owned around 4 million slaves and had produced around 4 million bales of cotton. (Downer 3) On January 31, 1865 slavery was abolished in the United States by the passing of the 13th amendment which states, ““neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” (Slavery Abolished in America 1) Although by 1808 in the United States, Congress had banned the importation of slaves, slavery was still very popular in the Southern States. (History of Slavery in America 1) By 1822, slaves in the South, for example Nat Turner, were starting to rebel and cause uprising across the plantations, which caused the South to implement stronger laws to control the slaves. (History of Slavery in America 1) Within the next ten years, the abolitionist movement in the United States officially began. During the abolitionist movement, many of the people living in the North were very involved in trying to free the slaves in the South. However, the Irish living in the Northern cities were not involved in trying to free the slaves, but in fact were supporting slavery. The Irish were very inactive in this movement, sometimes even trying to impede the movement’s process. Understandably the African Americans who were living with the Irish during this time were not happy with the Irish inaction to the abolitionist movement. One reason why the Irish were inactive in this movement is because, “for the Irish in this “dog-eat-dog” job market, support of abolition would not have been a high priority...Another deterrent to Irish support of abolition may have been the United States Naturalization Law of 1790 that restricted naturalization to “free white persons” and of “good moral character”.” (McKenna 1-2) By June 19th, slavery in the United States had been