Tenant Farmers in Ireland and their Struggle to Survive

The factors that led to the Irish to emigrate from Ireland to America in the 1700’s and 1800’s were because of the scares resources. Potato was an important crop in Ireland because it can survive the war and provided their basic food needs. The Irish Famine forced them to make the choice to emigrate to America. The government was no help at all to the Irish because they did not do anything to really help the people going through hard times. Many people in Ireland were in poverty and lived of what they could grow but things diseases affected their crops. They were starving to death. Those working were paid little but most were unemployed. They were not given education in Ireland. The Irish had no hope left in Ireland. They left to America to

In 1845, the Great Potato Famine, otherwise called the Great Irish Famine happened. Amid this time there was a high measure of potato/edit disappointment on account of the "late curse" which is a sickness that decimates the leaves, roots or tubers of the potato plant. This was the most exceedingly terrible starvation to happen in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. This illness obliterated the majority of the potato edits in Ireland until 1849. Additionally, in the 1840's Ireland was in destitution. The British had control over their nation and the general population were excessively poor, making it impossible to eat, pay lease or pay charges. In Ireland, Irish ranchers kept on sending out grain, meat and different nourishments to Great

In the early 1800s life in Ireland wasn’t easy, Irish citizens got by day to day by farming and relying on the potato. The potato was their main source of food and money. With out the potato the Irish would have nothing. No one was prepared for what was about to happen in 1845, the beginning of the Great Irish Potato Famine.

In Ireland about a half of the population were living on farms and since they were poor most of them were dependent on potatoes for food. When the crop soon failed after three years of success and it led to a massive famine throughout their nation, killing thousands of people. The Irish had to get out of their poor and suffering country and decided to

     Nineteenth-century Ireland was the most densely populated country in Europe: in 1800, its population was 4.5 million, and by 1841, it had risen to eight million (Kinealy 15). Yet much of this population existed in condition of sorrow and misery lay in the dependence of the peasantry on just one staple crop, the potato; in western countries like Mayo and Galway, nine-tenths of the people ate nothing else (MacManus 602). Here was a disaster waiting to happen, made worst by the rapid rise in population in the first half of the century which forced the peasants to subsist on smaller plots of land (O Grada, The Great Irish Famine 63).

K.H. Connell, in his paper “Land and Population in Ireland, 1780-1845”, describes and explains the significant population growth in Ireland prior to the famine of 1845 and how the uses of the Irish land changed with the population growth.

The Irish people would have freight, terror, death and eventually peace with these changes. The potato famine started with blight being discovered by European farmers. The Irish government started to export potatoes and grains to continental Europe to help the Europeans avoid a famine (Smith, 2011). By the end of August of 1845, Ireland was freighted to find out that blight had found its way to their produce (Smith, 2011). The blight in Ireland set off a chain of events that led to the Irish people dying in more ways to get out of Ireland. The government started trying to feed their people by importing corn and grains for food (Smith, 2011). This was not enough to help the young, old and sick. Many of theIrish people were led to complete financial ruin. By the end of 1851 more than a million Irish had died due to hunger and disease exacerbated by malnutrition(Smith, 2011).The only answer for many Irish families was to take a risk and get on a coffin boat and flee to another country. North America was a safe haven for many Irish people. They dreamed of the life they would live in the U.S.A. Nearly 1 million people arrived in many cities which include New York, and Boston (Smith, 2011). When the Irish people arrived, it was a sad reality they did not think they would face. The conditions were despicable. Many families were moved into small rooms with no sanitation, ventilation, day light or electricity (Smith, 2011). The families were charged about $1.50 per week to live in extreme poverty (Smith, 2011). This led to unsanitary conditions for the communities. Diseases were able to thrive in those conditions and one of the more common disease was cholera . The Irish people usually stayed in close proximity to each other and would make a small Irish community. The Irish community strived to make money. They were only hired for unskilled jobs

National problems have led one to flee his country and take part in illicit businesses to obtain a life of higher quality. The Constitutional Rights Foundation observes that between 1845 and 1855 more than 1.5 million adults and children left Ireland to settle in America because of poverty, starvation, and disease. Disease had demolished Ireland’s potato crops and the Potato Famine killed more than one million people in five years. The immigrants who reached America settled in Boston, New York, and other cities where they lived in tough conditions (Constitutional Rights

The Irish began immigrating to North America in the 1820s, when the lack of jobs and poverty forced them to seek better opportunities elsewhere after the end of the major European wars. When the Europeans could finally stop depending on the Irish for food during war, the investment in Irish agricultural products reduced and the boom was over. After an economic boom, there comes a bust and unemployment was the result. Two-thirds of the people of Ireland depended on potato harvests as a main source of income and, more importantly, food. Then between the years of 1845 and 1847, a terrible disease struck the potato crops. The plague left acre after acre of Irish farmland covered with black rot. The failure of the

Even with the advantage of knowing English, the famine-era Irish had much going against them in America. They had few marketable skills, little education, and no money. Substantial social disorganization, poverty, crime, disease, alcoholism, and family dissolution – accompanied their resettlement in America (241).

Potatoes, a large part of Irish diet at the time, developed a fungus that made the crop inedible. Unfortunately, the fungus traveled to other crops, which resulted in the food supply becoming depleted. No food in an area obviously makes it difficult to live and thrive in that area.1.5 million people died in this famine and approximately the same amount emigrated on boat towards America. (Ellis Island-Immigration Timeline) Upon arrival, the Irish were overwhelmed with employment opportunity, after passing through Ellis Island of course. For the Irish especially, America was a saving grace. Something as simple as food, which modern American society often takes for granted, was such redemption. For a better perspective on the issue, in 1864 the Republican Issue made it very clear that, “Foreign immigration which in the past has added so much to the wealth, resources, and increase of power to the nation…should be fostered and encouraged." (Ellis Island 1820-1880) The federal government was making these statements even before the vast groups made their way over. They knew that immigration could only benefit the nation’s success as a

But why did the majority of the Irish come to America in the 1840's? The main reason is a result of a potato famine that occurred. In the space of five years (1845-1850), a great hunger overtook Ireland when the potato crop failed. During this time period more than a million Irish died of starvation. When the potato crops first began to fail, it was because of frost, dry rot, and curl. In 1845, the potato famine ruined about three-quarters of the country’s crop. Over four million people in Ireland relied on the potato as their chief food source. A major part of the food produced in Ireland was exported to other countries, and so this was a loss to them as well. The newest wave of potato problems was caused by a fungus, Phytophthora infestans, which had probably made its way into the country on a ship. The fungus invaded the potato plant, germinated, and aided by the warm weather, reproduced rapidly,. The crop that was planted

I understand the system of the tenant farming as it developed because it made sense in that time period. After the Civil War ended, there were many southern plantation owners who had empty land, which previously had slaves to labor, that was now in need of working. Seeing that there were many slaves who wanted work and had only been exposed to southern styles of working (picking cotton), the wealthy plantation owner conjured up the idea of hiring the blacks slaves and poor whites as cotton tenants to make them seem like blacks and whites have a stable job while the owners continue to prosper. Because of this time period, it was logical for the cotton tenant to develop to satisfy everyone economically.

The Irish Famine 1845-1849 “Is ar scáth a chiéle a maireann na daoine” “It is with each other’s protection that the people live” From the Fifteenth through to the Nineteenth centuries English Monarchies and Governments had consistently enacted laws which it seems were designed to oppress the Irish and suppress and destroy Irish Trade and manufacturing. In the Penal laws of 1695 which aimed to destroy Catholicism, Catholics were forbidden from practicing their religion, receiving education, entering a profession, or purchasing or leasing land; since Catholics formed eighty percent of the Irish population, this effectively deprived the Irish of any part in civil life in their own country.

The Irish Potato Famine was a period of starvation, disease and emigration, and was known as one of the biggest tragedies from 1845 to 1847. Many people depended on potato crops to survive; however [comma] the potato crops acquired blight, a disease that caused the potatoes to rot while still in the ground. No good crops could be grown for two years [comma] causing Irish tenant farmers unable to pay rent and was forced off their land causing over 21,000 people to die of starvation. The Irish Potato Famine caused many people to leave Ireland to seek work overseas in areas such as England and America. The Irish Potato Famine had a big impact on the history and the economy of Ireland.