The Irish side of my family came here in “dissident” ships.
They were treated lower than slaves because they had utterly no “market value”.
Thousands of Irish died from starvation, disease, sickness and neglect in those hellish holds because the ship owners were merely providing a “trash transport service” for the English monarchy.
The Scots side were run off to here during “the clearances’.
How much am I owed?
Correct. The Irish had the most dangerous jobs, including stevedore, longshoreman, and teamster, precisely because there was no monetary investment in them. Pay the poor widow a week's pay if you were generous and hire another.
A slave, on the other hand cost money to own, and would represent a capital loss if damaged or killed.
Which flies in the face of the concept of rampant abuse. Who'd buy a new tractor and take a sledgehammer to it?
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was a novel, after all.
Still, that does not excuse a human being owning another.
The Irish probably did more to free slaves than any other group, as they spoke something akin to English right off the boat, they worked without a base capital investment, and seriously undercut the economics of the idea of having to be responsible for the housing and upkeep of slaves.
Ironic that the same people calling for yet another handout because their ancestors were slaves, just want to be fed, clothed, doctored, and housed by the rest of society--slavery without the job.