Homeland Art

The Irish Americans are citizens of United States whose ancestors were originated from Ireland. Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy are some of the popular Irish Americans. The reasons why the Irish people immigrated to America are as follows: Economic hardships, social policies, famine and some religious intolerance were the major reasons for Irish immigrating to America. The main reason for Irish migration to US was to escape the potato famine. People had to leave their land for survival. The potato was the important food crop in Ireland at the time. Yet they also grew oats, grains etc. But the poorest people could not afford to buy oats and thus they were increasingly dependant on the potato. The great famine attacked Ireland in the early 1800s and therefore 35% of Irish people depended on the potato as their main source of food. In 1830s the Government decided to tackle poverty. One such policy includes subsidized immigration to America. There was little or no industry in Ireland. Hence the native Irish people wanted to go abroad o improve their life style. America became a destination for many Irish people. Irish catholic people migrated to America to work as domestic servants or as a result of penal exile. Between 1820 and 1840 more catholic Irish immigrated to America. Most of the Irish immigrants settled in big cities of America like New York, Boston etc. they became the urbanized group in America while few of them settled a farmers. The Irish Catholic immigrants had high organization qualities and therefore they became the leaders of many Catholic Church in United States.