Proletariat Persecution Research Paper

The Proletariat Persecution: The Treatment of Irish Immigrants in the “Melting Pot” of America Perhaps no other group of immigrants to the United States has been romanticized to the degree the Irish have. The caricature of the arrival of an Irish immigrant is something that present-day Americans have latched onto as a symbol of the stalwart sense of American determination and ruggedness. However, even though present-day Americans are fascinated with the idea, their 19th century counterparts were less enthused with the influx of Irish immigrants. Confusing to those unfamiliar with the culture surrounding this seemingly unwarranted hatred of the Irish, the prejudice towards Irish immigrants, and immigrants in general, was founded in deep seated…show more content…
Few, if any, places in America would have been open-armed to an incursion of Irish immigrants during this time period. There are numerous accounts of inhumane, degrading things that happened to Irish immigrants, thanks to nativists, Know-Nothings, and general anti-Catholic fear mongers. The men who built Duffy’s Cut have been heralded as the would-be patron saints of all the adversity and torment that Irish immigrants had to endure in the 1800s. Within a few months, every single man of the fifty-seven person crew had died while constructing “mile 59” (Watson 59). The worst part about the story of Duffy’s Cut is the unsurprising element about how the Irish men died, which was as nameless and as faceless as when they came to…show more content…
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