Knox The Hatter
2nd Level Indigo Feather
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2003
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They had always come here in numbers, since even before the Revolution. Conditions in Ireland had always been bad, but never as bad as that fall of 1845 when the tubers turned black.
The vast majority of Irish farmers had subsisted on potatoes, while every other foodstuff went abroad for export, thanks to the 'Free Market' trade policies so enamored by the British commercial interests of the period. By 1845, the population of Ireland had swelled to eight plus million. That fall, when the potatoes turned black from some kind of bacteria, the pinch was felt immediately.
Ireland wasn't bereft of food, by any means. It was just that the people who really needed to eat were barred from getting any of the food, since the 'Free Trade' Nazis held sway, and they figured the Irish were merely a roadblock of subhumans who could be hastened out of the way, by this method as easily as any other.
Pretty soon, an Irishman figured that the only way he could get to eat a square meal would be by emigrating from his own country. Hence, he packed his family to leave. Unfortunately, most were so impoverished, dressed in filth and rags, that they left and got to where they were going by the edge of their teeth. You see, the slaves chained below during the middle passage had it pretty good...they got to eat. The Irish didn't get to eat if they didn't have any money, in fact, many perished from starvation during the voyage. They were alloted a very meager ration from the ship's compliment, but it wasn't enough to survive on...
An estimated one to two million died from starvation in the potato famine, which lasted a good five years. Two million emigrated. Many landed and stayed in Liverpool, the closest port of call of consequence. Liverpool has been very much an Irish city for many generations now. Some went and settled in Canada. Most, however, came here. They landed in Boston and Baltimore, and Philadelphia and Charleston, but mostly, they came to New York. Boy, did they come to New York! They came by the hundreds of thousands! They packed in to neighborhoods like Hell's Kitchen and the Gashouse and the Five Points...they swelled the population of Manhattan by as much as a third by the time Fort Sumter was fired upon. Many wound up staying in New York, doing the most menial of labor that was open to them. Many wound up getting aboard trains, and moving to the country, all over the country, to build railroads and cities with their bare hands. In antebellum America, the most dangerous jobs were done by the Irish, like canal building. It was very easy to get killed during the construction of a canal, and down south, it was considered foolhardy to let slaves do such a task. After all, a healthy slave comprised a heavy financial investment, while it only cost a few dollars to bury an Irishman.
They came and they came...they escaped rancid potatoes and penal servitude in Tasmania, they ran away from confrontations with greedy landlords, as well as the armed representatives of Her Majesty's Government. They came, and they literally built this country, brick by brick, they made vast contributions to our culture, and they helped make this country GREAT.
Raise a glass, of something tepid and black.
The vast majority of Irish farmers had subsisted on potatoes, while every other foodstuff went abroad for export, thanks to the 'Free Market' trade policies so enamored by the British commercial interests of the period. By 1845, the population of Ireland had swelled to eight plus million. That fall, when the potatoes turned black from some kind of bacteria, the pinch was felt immediately.
Ireland wasn't bereft of food, by any means. It was just that the people who really needed to eat were barred from getting any of the food, since the 'Free Trade' Nazis held sway, and they figured the Irish were merely a roadblock of subhumans who could be hastened out of the way, by this method as easily as any other.
Pretty soon, an Irishman figured that the only way he could get to eat a square meal would be by emigrating from his own country. Hence, he packed his family to leave. Unfortunately, most were so impoverished, dressed in filth and rags, that they left and got to where they were going by the edge of their teeth. You see, the slaves chained below during the middle passage had it pretty good...they got to eat. The Irish didn't get to eat if they didn't have any money, in fact, many perished from starvation during the voyage. They were alloted a very meager ration from the ship's compliment, but it wasn't enough to survive on...
An estimated one to two million died from starvation in the potato famine, which lasted a good five years. Two million emigrated. Many landed and stayed in Liverpool, the closest port of call of consequence. Liverpool has been very much an Irish city for many generations now. Some went and settled in Canada. Most, however, came here. They landed in Boston and Baltimore, and Philadelphia and Charleston, but mostly, they came to New York. Boy, did they come to New York! They came by the hundreds of thousands! They packed in to neighborhoods like Hell's Kitchen and the Gashouse and the Five Points...they swelled the population of Manhattan by as much as a third by the time Fort Sumter was fired upon. Many wound up staying in New York, doing the most menial of labor that was open to them. Many wound up getting aboard trains, and moving to the country, all over the country, to build railroads and cities with their bare hands. In antebellum America, the most dangerous jobs were done by the Irish, like canal building. It was very easy to get killed during the construction of a canal, and down south, it was considered foolhardy to let slaves do such a task. After all, a healthy slave comprised a heavy financial investment, while it only cost a few dollars to bury an Irishman.
They came and they came...they escaped rancid potatoes and penal servitude in Tasmania, they ran away from confrontations with greedy landlords, as well as the armed representatives of Her Majesty's Government. They came, and they literally built this country, brick by brick, they made vast contributions to our culture, and they helped make this country GREAT.
Raise a glass, of something tepid and black.
