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Introduction
Emigration to America prior to American War of Independence Throughout the 18th Century , Ireland was bleeding people. Thousands of them , mainly Presbyterians were being encouraged by their Ministers to leave Ireland. Presbyterians in Ulster had been enticed from Scotland by the British Government with promises of land and advancement, to help with the Plantation of Ulster. However , the reality of their situation did not live up to the promise. Up until 1737, the validity of marriages celebrated by Dissenting Clergy (those not belonging to the Established Church) were not recognised , and from 1704 until 1780 , Presbyterians were excluded by law from holding offices of trust or profit under the Crown and particularly from Town Corporations, and they were expected to pay tithes ( a tenth of their earnings) to the representatives of what they regarded as a corrupt Church. Therefore , America, with its promise of plentiful cheap land , opportunities for advancement, where a man could grow, 'beholden' to no one and be free to practise his own religion became a powerful magnet. Even by the 18th Century there was established trade between England and America and the West Indies , so although it was a massive step to take and one from which few returned , the attractions of the New World and the disadvantages at home , saw many make the decision to head West. The first recorded sailing of an Emigrant ship from Ulster to America was that of the 'Friends Goodwill' which sailed from Larne in April 1717 and arrived in Boston in September, a perilous journey lasting over 5 months. During 1717 alone , about 5,000 people made this journey . Most of them headed for Pennsylvania which was receiving new settlers to help open up the land. Pennsylvania already had British settlements and had been a penal colony , which had continued up until the American States refused to accept any more British Convicts in mid Century. William Penn was active in welcoming disenfranchised groups from throughout Europe to America ; which included Amish , Mennonites , the Shtundy sect from Ukraine and now the Scottish -Irish or as they became known , the Ulster -Scots. Theodore Roosevelt said of them , 'In this land of hills , covered by unbroken forest, they took root and flourished , stretching in a broad belt from North to South , a shield of sinewy men , thrust in between the people of the sea board and the red warriors of the wilderness' Another commentator of the times , describing the arrival of the Ulster Scots , said 'They first fell upon their knees and then fell upon the Indians' In 1705 there were only 5 Presbyterian Congregations in America but by 1760 this had risen to over 300. The importance of this movement was that the flood gates of emigration were opened for the first time as an outlet for the distressed and discontented of Ireland. Thousands of people from Ireland had successfully transplanted themselves across the Atlantic and shown their relations and friends back home in the Bann and Foyle Valleys that life in America was a practical alternative. Emigration , once started , grew. Quaker families involved in the linen trade , sent sons to America to grow flax , notoriously hard to grow in Ireland , for the flax seed needed for the Linen Trade developed along the Bann and Lagan rivers. A famine in 1740 which claimed almost a half a million people throughout Ireland sparked an upsurge in emigration. Bad harvests in 1754 and 1755 caused another peak. There was a final rush between 1771 and the outbreak of the War of Independence with Britain in 1775 due in part to depressions in the linen industry and the persecution of tenant farmers with some rents having been doubled over the 20 years prior to 1774. Benjamin Franklin claimed that by 1776 , Ulstermen and their descendants made up about one third of Pennsylvania's 350,000 inhabitants many of whom fought ferociously for their new homes and new country. Changes in World History Following the War of Independence, Britain reacted to the loss of the 'Colonies', by now staking a tighter claim on British North America, which is what they called Canada. This was partly responsible for the worsening relations between France and Britain, since France also had claims on parts of Canada. The French Revolution caused even greater upheavals throughout Europe. The success of the Revolution gave the Presbyterian leaders of the United Irishmen a template for liberalising their own positions , free trade and religion. It turned out to be an inauspicious time for the leaders of the United Ireland to be seeking help from the French. The French were in disarray at home and the abortive attempt by the United Irishmen at revolt in 1798 gave the British Government the excuse to dispatch the leaders by execution , deporting others and also gave William Pitt , the British prime Minister the excuse to dissolve the Irish House of Parliament and move Irish Members to London. This in turn , left Ireland without leaders. Many of the Landlords, became 'absentees', running their Estates through agents, who often were cruel and unscrupulous. The growing conflict between the British and French nations led to the Napoleonic Wars. The Wars themselves had an impact on Ireland. The Country supplied cannon -fodder for Wellington's armies . It was also the breadbasket for feeding these armies. In order to grow sufficient grain, Landowners moved their labourers to small holdings higher up the contour lines on the sides of hills and mountains to make their previous tillage available for planting. As the ground at the higher levels was sparse , it was necessary to develop an original method of growing potatoes. It was impossible to plough , so the seed potatoes were set on the ground and soil was scraped on top of them . This came to be known as 'lazy bed' growing. The potato was the only crop which could almost sustain a family on the size of holdings . However, in the 100 years prior to 'An Gorta Mor' , The Great Hunger, there had been 20 crop failures. Even in a good year , the cottiers knew that they would have to face what they called , 'The Hungry Months' ; June , July and August; when the old crop was used up and before the new crop of potatoes was ready for picking. Before the real crisis years , families managed to struggle on with the odd egg and what they earned from the landlord for seasonal bits of work done during the grain harvest. After the Napoleonic Wars , customs changed. With no armies to feed , fashions of the day called for more meat in the diet. Sheep and cattle replaced the grain in the fields . Landlords needed less casual labour and more land for grazing. Rents were raised again on the small holdings. Evictions became commonplace . More and more families were forced to chose ; beg or starve , leave or die. Another major impact was that Napoleon blockaded Russian timber getting to Britain . This in turn , necessitated Britain increasing the Timber trade from British North America. In order to get more workers out into the Canadian forests , fares to Canada were subsidised. It cost £5 to get to New York .while the fare to Quebec was reduced to £3. Many Irish took the advantage of the cheaper fares to Canada. What they did when they landed , they walked South or took passage down into the Great Lakes system. The mark they left on the map of America is there to be seen in the names of Towns all the way down through the country. American Wake Those who emigrated , carried not only their own burden but also the burden of a dependent family left at home , a family who bade them farewell as if unto death. This is how the expression , The American Wake , came into being. Those leaving and those staying behind had a party to say goodbye. A number of remarkable things occurred . Chain Emigration became a factor. The eldest son in a family usually headed off first and sent home money to provide the fare for the next member of the family to join him . In this way certain communities and families populated a town or community in America. The expression , ' Money from America' became a very well-known phrase and without any shred of doubt, many more people would have died without the financial assistance which came home. Despite the lampooning images in the British Press of the Irish being drunken, belligerent
Monkies, over one million dollars in bank drafts were sent back to Ireland , while in the months of January and February 1847 , the figures were as follows: At the height of An Gorta Mor, two ships of the line were released from duty to transport food to Ireland . The first of these was the Jamestown skippered by Captain Forbes .which sailed into Cobh in April 1847. The second was The Macedonia which also sailed into Cobh on July 28. Among the supplies on board were $500 worth of foodstuffs which had been bought and paid for by the Ladies of Brooklyn . Their Chairwoman , Anna Heffernan , had issued specific instructions that these were to be sent North to Newry and distributed by Mr. Henderson , the Editor of the Newry Telegraph. Another unusual source of help was from the Choctaw Indian Nation. In dire straits themselves , they heard of the plight of the Irish and collected $170 to buy much needed food for the 'Starving Irish' It is difficult to verify the numbers who died or who emigrated during the mid 19th Century . There are commentators who quote ' In Ireland at the time of the Famine , there were 8 million people , 1 million died and 1 million emigrated.' Let me explain how the census of Ireland was collected and collated in 1841/42. The country was administered by Dublin Castle at the time. Under the Hearth Act of 1662 , the Government was allowed to count how many Hearths stoves and chimneys existed and charge the Hearth tax accordingly. Agents were appointed to carry out this count throughout the county. Some parts of the country were not safe to travel, especially for people collecting taxes According to an English Traveller who wrote of his journeys through Ireland in the mid 1830s, many families had already been evicted and were living along the roadside , in lean- tos called 'Scalps', without hearth , stove or chimney. Some of the Agents were not overly scrupulous and no doubt pocketed some of the money they had collected and reported fewer Hearths , Stoves and chimneys than they had seen.. Finally , when all of these figures were back in Dublin Castle , an English Economist declared that for every Hearth , Stove or Chimney reported , he would assume a family of 4.6 persons. This figure may have been relevant in UK but was totally unrepresentative of Ireland , where large families were the order of the day. Accordingly , the population in Ireland during the 1840s was more likely to be been over 10 million. This also gives the lie to the estimate that 1 million died . Many deaths were unrecorded. Families were often ashamed that they were unable to give their dead a decent burial and committed the bodies to open burial pits under the cover of darkness. And as for the million who were said to have emigrated - there are no complete records. It is facts like these and those dealing with conditions on board ships traveling to North America and the reception Emigrants were faced with , that this course plans to deal with. I realized that learning about this period of history should not just be important to those with an Irish ancestry. This was a period of time that molded both history and modern life in Ireland, the Americas, and around the world. Tami Brady I have gained a new respect for people of other cultures who wish to emigrate to America. I encourage anyone who is just interested in Ireland or of the Irish decent to consider taking this very informative course. Tammi Chang LessonsClick here to see course syllabus 
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