Irish Immigrants in America

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Irish Immigrants in America During the nineteenth century there were a large number of new immigrants to the United States. New immigrants to America faced many challenges when they first arrived in America. Irish immigrants faced more problems and prejudices than immigrants from other countries. Irish immigrants were generally poorer than immigrants from other countries and they were Catholic whereas most people in the United States were Protestant. Both of these things hurt the new Irish immigrants once they arrived in America. The Irish faced many issues and prejudices when they arrived in America. One of these issues was poverty. Irish immigrants had little to no money when they arrived and because they had no money they had trouble getting out of the cities and slums. When they arrived they needed a job right away and the hard, low paying jobs were the ones they often would find. Once they settled down on the city it was almost impossible to leave. Another problem was religious prejudice. Irish immigrants were Catholic and most Americans were Protestant and many people did not trust the Irish because of their different religious beliefs. The newly arrived immigrants were also taken advantage of by people who promised jobs, housing, etc. in exchange for money. They had to deal with the high crime rates in the cities and were often left without jobs because of economic changes such as depressions and panics that led to high unemployment. Another problem faced by the Irish was that their expectations and norms were different than those of white, middle class Americans. Most Americans were Protestant and the Irish were Catholic. Americans were suspicious of new immigrants because when they first arrived they would move to where there were other people from their country and Americans were afraid the immigrants were going to try to take over.
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