[Clemenza]

If you want to point fingers at the Atlantic slave trade, look to Portugal (imported more enslaved Africans to this hemisphere than anyone else by a huge margin), the UK, Spain, France, and the Netherlands.

Of course, the Irish immigrants in the US tended to support the institution even if they lived up north, as they feared free blacks taking their jobs.

[kearnyirish2]

Portugal played a much larger role in the trade itself, but had little bearing on slavery in the US.

The Irish were more concerned about being conscripted to end slavery (since most couldn’t pay for a substitute as easily as a WASP); I wouldn’t say they “supported the institution” (they fought well to help end it). The strangest thing is “Gone With The Wind” is that the slaveowner is Irish - hardly typical.