Posted on 03/31/2013 9:54:54 PM PDT by Perseverando
Many do, but as far as the Irish were concerned, the immigrants had a terrible reputation, which helps explain the Nativist movement of the 1850s. Most were peasants who now found themselves in an urban environment, had no skills and were famous for their drunkedness. It wasn’t special to America. Back in Ireland, there was a temperance movement of significance. Poverty was rampant, and the English were departing people because they didn’t want to keep them in work camps. Coming to the coastal cities, they competed with the blacks and there was a great deal of hatred between the groups, as well as with the Natives.
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