Was America built by the Irish?
Irish immigrants built America: Across the 18th and 19th centuries, the Irish helped build America, both as a country and as an idea. Physically, from the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the mines of Montana, this nation's infrastructure bears an indelible Irish imprint.
They became teachers, firefighters, police officers, labor leaders, farmers, business owners, and more. Along the way, Irish Americans contributed enormously to the American labor movement — championing safe working conditions, advocating for children's rights, and fighting racism, prejudice, and income inequality.
Between 1845 and 1855 more than 1.5 million adults and children left Ireland to seek refuge in America. Most were desperately poor, and many were suffering from starvation and disease. They left because disease had devastated Ireland's potato crops, leaving millions without food.
This massive influx of able-bodied workers provided the fledgling United States with a huge workforce that helped drive the country into the modern world as many of the men went straight into construction and helped build the skyscrapers, bridges, railroads and highways that still stand today.
As every Irish person knows, St Brendan discovered the Americas almost a full millennium before Christopher Columbus made landfall there, in 1492.
The Irish immigrants who entered the United States from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries were changed by America, and also changed this nation. They and their descendants made incalculable contributions in politics, industry, organized labor, religion, literature, music, and art.
Four-leaf clovers, leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold - all of these are Irish symbols brought into American culture, generally shown on St. Patrick's Day to indicated good luck, wealth, and prosperity (Myths). Lastly, the Irish influenced American culture by means of the Gaelic and Celtic languages.
U.S. relations with Ireland have long been based on common ancestral ties and shared values. In addition to regular dialogue on political and economic issues, the U.S. and Irish governments benefit from a robust slate of exchanges in areas such as commerce, culture, education, and scientific research.
Over 50% of the workers on the Erie Canal were of Irish descent. Construction of the Empire State Building began on St. Patrick's Day, 1930. The world's first skyscraper was The Home Insurance Building in Chicago and was built by Irish immigrants.
However, when it comes to the states with the largest population of people identifying as being Irish (with single ancestry), New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania top the list. According to the most recent US census, this accounts for approximately 528,000 people.
What problems did Irish immigrants face in America?
Native-born Americans criticized Irish immigrants for their poverty and manners, their supposed laziness and lack of discipline, their public drinking style, their catholic religion, and their capacity for criminality and collective violence.
Irish immigrants often entered the workforce by taking low-status and dangerous jobs that were avoided by other workers. Many Irish women became household workers. Many Irish men labored in coal mines and built railroads and canals. The Irish often suffered job discrimination.
Irish immigrants also helped to build the Lachine Canal and St. Patrick's Basilica in Montreal, as well as the colourful heritage buildings of St. John's, Newfoundland. The folk music of Canada owes a great debt to musicians of Irish descent, particularly in Newfoundland, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The Irish have made contributions to food, music, football, literature, racing, sports and the realms of engineering. From color photography to the submarine, there are many Irish inventions that have changed the world, some of which you still use today.
From color photography to chocolate milk, ten inventions created by the Irish. 1. Automobile: Henry Ford, son of an Irish immigrant, transformed the world with his low price automobile which created modern life, suburbs, highways, mobility etc, forever.
The Irish were the first big wave of immigrants coming to America after the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s. Their story was treacherously enduring before eventually becoming triumphant.
We know now that Columbus was among the last explorers to reach the Americas, not the first. Five hundred years before Columbus, a daring band of Vikings led by Leif Eriksson set foot in North America and established a settlement.
Half a millennium before Columbus “discovered” America, those Viking feet may have been the first European ones to ever have touched North American soil. Exploration was a family business for the expedition's leader, Leif Eriksson (variations of his last name include Erickson, Ericson, Erikson, Ericsson and Eiriksson).
Irish Americans or Hiberno-Americans (Irish: Gael-Mheiriceánaigh) are Americans who have full or partial ancestry from Ireland. About 32 million Americans — 9.7% of the total population — identified as being Irish in the 2020 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Irish immigrants often entered the workforce at the bottom of the occupational ladder and took on the menial and dangerous jobs that were often avoided by other workers. Many Irish American women became servants or domestic workers, while many Irish American men labored in coal mines and built railroads and canals.
Why is Irish culture important?
There is no denying that Irish culture has one of the richest cultures in the world. They have contributed to literature, music, cinema, and art. Even their national festivals like St. Patrick's Day have become a global celebration.
Roman Catholics
The religion of Irish immigrants was Roman Catholicism, although there were some Protestants.
The Scotch-Irish came to New England, as they had to Ulster, with their own particular methods of industry and farming. They are credited with introducing potatoes, rhubarb, and new ways of farming and spinning.
Hundreds of millions of years ago the land that makes up Ireland as we know it today existed on two continents known as Laurentia and Gondwana that were separated by an ocean called Iapetus. The northern part of Ireland was located on the continent of Laurentia, preserved as parts of modern North American.
Due to the ancestral ties between the two countries, Ireland and the US have a strong relationship, both politically and economically, with the US being Ireland's biggest trading partner since 2000.