Ever at the ready to defend America from invasion.
Posted on 04/04/2006 5:34:55 PM PDT by neverdem
Today's rancorous debate over immigration has a parallel in the nativist reaction to the mass Irish immigration in the mid-19th century.
Spurred by the potato famine that began in 1845, 3.5 million mostly destitute Irish migrated to America by 1880 - about 7 percent of the population of 50 million. By contrast, today's 11 million unauthorized immigrants, of all nationalities, constitute just 4 percent of our population.
Contemporary immigration foes, like former Gov. Dick Lamm and Rep. Tom Tancredo, claim America can't absorb so many foreign-born without fatal damage to our economy and culture.
Yet, history shows we did just that. Today, there are 43 million Americans of Irish ancestry, a key element of the vibrant alloy that is America.
Today's nativists argue we can't compare today's illegal immigrants to the Irish, because the Irish came here legally. That's technically true, but the 19th century wave was just as uncontrolled, because America had virtually no bars to immigration in those days.
Kenneth Ackerman's book, "Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York," details how the desperate Irish were welcomed at the docks by the political machine that provided the only social safety net in that era.
Tweed minions would help the newcomers find housing and work and, if there was an election in the offing, they would swiftly be naturalized as citizens in mass ceremonies by Tweed's judges, so they could vote for their benefactors.
Cartoonist Thomas Nast, who hated Irish and Catholics with equal fervor, pandered to the nativist bigotry by depicting Irishmen as drunken, subhuman brutes. The accompanying Nast cartoon depicts the role immigrants played in supporting Tweed by showing an Irish thug and a Catholic priest carving up the Democratic Party goose that laid the golden eggs.
But though the Irish were despised, they were still admitted through America's golden door. That's because Americans needed them to do our dirty work.
The first generations of Irish worked largely at unskilled and semiskilled occupations, but their children found themselves working at increasingly skilled trades. By 1900, when Irish Americans made up about 8 percent of the male labor force, they were almost a third of the plumbers, steamfitters and boilermakers. Their places at the bottom of the ladder were taken by newly arrived laborers from southern and eastern Europe.
Today, those dirty, low-paying, jobs are being taken by Latinos. But if history is any guide, the daughter of that Latina who scrubs your floor today may be the doctor who delivers my granddaughter's baby a generation hence.
To some, that is a frightening prospect. But I think Clio, the muse of history, would join with Lady Liberty herself to say:
Bienvenidos, Americanos nuevos.
Bob Ewegen is The Denver Post's deputy editorial page editor.
There was NO health care per se, though there was NO "welfare", there WAS the infamous DOLE, their kids went to public schools, when public schools began in earnest, though many Irish kids didn't go to school, but hung out and joined gangs and robbed; yes, even little ones.
The first Irish immigrants took over FIVE POINTS, in lower Manhattan and turned it into a far worse slum than it was. They also destroyed the Bowery, turning it into a place no civilized person went to, without fear and trepidation; if at all. The Bowery was where the FIRST "MICKEY FINN" was used and if you don't know what that is, just ask me.
Even though most of the early Irish spoke English, the Americans claimed that they were speaking a foreign tongue, because their accents were so thick. And yes, many DID speak Gaelic, to the exclusion of English. Neither could many of them read and write, so the Tammany Hall Dems filled in their voting ballots for them.
Ummmmmmm...no, the early Irish didn't come here to be Americans, they already knew English, and they DID live in Irish ghettos...little Irelands.
Very true. They completely ignored the fact that
1) these illegal immigrants are showing up in our emerge3ncy rooms and expecting FREE service in one of the most expensive treatment areas in the hospital
2) that we have all these social systems in place that they take advantage of (but I bet they still speak of the New Deal as if it was the single greatest accomplishment in US history).
3) the Irish spoke English
4) the Irish assimilated
5) etc...
Sorry, but my family came into the US the legal way. They didn't even think to commit a violation of US law.
They actually respected the country to which they emigrated.
And yes, they were as poor and illiterate as dirt.
Let's argue today's policies (and I may agree with you). But let's not rewrite the past.
Not all of the Irish "came through Ellis Island". My forebears arrived in Philadelphia and spread to other states from there. They were granted citizenship right on the ship before landing. All they had to do was to "declare allegiance" to their new country and they were given papers upon landing.
This did not mean that they didn't have to take dirty jobs -- couldn't get much dirtier than coal mining and slate cutting. Many of the men who were old enough to bear arms went right into the Union Army. But the records show that they worked those jobs and others on the side and bought property as soon as they could. The women took in wash and worked as baby nurses and ran boarding houses.
What percentage of 19th Century Irish went back and forth to Ireland on the "coffin ships?" If you are telling me that 1/3 did, you are smoking crack. They held wakes for the Irish leaving for America, because they were never going to be seen by their families again.
Don't YOU try to rewrite history.
Most of the Irish came here BEFORE Ellis Island was established.The waves of Irish immigration started in the early 1800s, building to a peak around the 1850s. Ellis Island didn't come to be until almost 1900.
"The difference between the Irish and the illegal immigrants, though. The Irish came through Ellis Island and weren't sneaking over the border to get in. There's that whole legal thing again."
Not to mention:
1. We did not lay claim to the southwest USA.
2. We did not march in the streets waving Irish flags
3. We genuinely WANTED to become "Americans".
You have it right. Most of the Irish did NOT come through Ellis Island. And (in the case of my forebears -- 1845, arr. Philadelphia) they were granted citizenship right on the ship before landing by "declaring" for their new country.
No one denies that there was poor treatment of Irish Catholic immigrants at times. However, let us not forget that other groups, including Mormons, German Americans, Italian Americans, blacks, and the Scotch-Irish (many of whom were indentured servants in colonial times) received treatment that was far harsher than what the Irish Catholics received. In fact, in the case of Italian Americans and blacks, Irish Catholic Americans were as guilty of discrimination and prejudice as were their British Protestant neighbors. Neither Italian Americans, German Americans, nor Mormons whine as much as do some Irish Americans.
The liberals have pushed a line of "the Irish as victims" for the express purpose of enlisting Irish Americans in support of such leftist causes as unrestricted immigration and affirmative action. Unfortunately, this line of propaganda has been successful.
Geeeee .. weren't the Irish here LEGALLY ..??
And .. millions of latinos ARE NOT HERE LEGALLY!!
The only good thing I can say about Irish food is that it is better than British or Dutch food. I've never seen an Irish or British restaurant unless it was attached to a pub and I think there is a reason for that. Of course, I've never seen a Dutch restaurant at all, although I did hear there was one in Hong Kong.
Quit using that term, or lose your posting privileges.
Ever at the ready to defend America from invasion.
How about removing the "night soil" from Manhattan, one of the few jobs that the early Irish were able to get. Immigrants who want to assimilate are different from immigrants who think the USA should become like their old country....except for earning money.
That has been my observation as well. When growing up in the 50s, the more recent the immigrant, the more prejudice they showed toward blacks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.