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How the Potato Famine Continues to Impact us to This Day

How may of you have Irish blood, even a drop? Janet Nolan, who has written extensively

about Ireland and her people, wrote that there are at least 45 million Americans alive today with

Irish roots. I’m one of them. My great-great grandparents immigrated to America during the

Great Potato Famine of 1845. In my opinion, the Famine is an intensely interesting period of

history, one which shaped America, and continues to affect our lives to this day. Today, I’m

going to summarize the events in history that led up to the Great Famine. Second, I will examine

the tremendous impact the Famine had on the Irish. Third, I’ll show the role that the Famine and

Irish-Americans played in American history, and in turn, our daily lives.

You may think that the Great Potato Famine was caused by form of fungus. True, but

there were many important factors, such as the penal laws. According to historian Robert Kee, in

1690, William of Orange or William III defeated the deposed Catholic king of England, James II,

who had fled to Ireland (10). The penal laws were enacted in 1695 against James’ loyal Catholic

supporters in Ireland. To paraphrase Kee, these laws forbade any Catholic from holding state

office, standing for Parliament, voting, joining the army or navy, becoming a lawyer, or buying

land. This created a “Protestant Ascendency” because only professed Protestants could advance

in society. Fortunately, it was impossible to fully enforce the penal laws when such a vast

majority of the Irish were Catholic (54). In the 1790s, a group of Irish Protestants called the

United Irishmen made a brave attempt to start a revolutionary war, but they were defeated and

Ireland remained a province of England under the new Act of Union. During the war, both the

Irish and the English committed atrocities with only strengthened the sectarian attitudes between

Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants. According to Christine Kinealy of History Today, the penal

laws were relaxed somewhat in the following years. However, the damage was done. According
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to Kee, by this time, though a majority of Ireland was Catholic, a majority of land, and therefore

power, was held by the “Protestant Ascendancy.” From 1641-1714 the percentage of land owned

by Catholics had shrunk from 59%-7% (48).

All these events helped set the stage for the Famine. Because of the limited land, explains

Kee, the average Irish farmer could only rely on one crop to support his family: the potato,

because you can grow a moderately good crop of potatoes on a small amount of land (78). When

potato blight hit Ireland, it wiped out the one food source that many Irish families depended on.

Year after year, from 1845-1849, whole crops were devastated (11). Another problem was that

the British government was hesitant to help the Irish people. Some felt that helping the Irish

would interfere with natural selection, and others claimed that the famine was God’s judgment

on the Catholic faith. The Head of Treasury, Charles Trevelyan, once said, “…Too much has

been done for the people…Ireland must be left to the operation of natural causes” (Kee 98). Kee

estimates that approximately 1,000,00 Irish men, women, and children died during the Potato

Famine, left to those natural causes (101).

Now, you are probably thinking, “This is really interesting history, but how does the Irish

Potato Famine affect me personally?” I contend that it affects you in ways you can’t even

imagine! Throughout the centuries, Irish immigrants have shaped American history and their

descendents continue to affect you to this day. Let’s talk about the dramatic affect the Potato

Famine had on American history. According to economists Hatton and Williamson, 4.5 million

men and women emigrated from Ireland from 1850-1913. When they set shore in America, these

hard-working Irish-Americans began contributing to our society in a myriad of ways. According

to historians Keller and Doherty, many Irish Catholics were “very supportive” of the abolitionist

movement. “During the American Civil War, approximately 144,000 Irish Americans filled the
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ranks of the Union Army,” wrote Susannah Ural Bruce in the Journal of Military History.

Second, Irish-Americans made great contributions in the field of education. In the Journal of

Social History, Miller wrote that “by the late 1800s and early 1900s Irish-American women

compromised a disproportionately large number of the teachers in American urban public

schools and therefore…were instrumental as intermediaries and ‘Americanizers’ in their

relationship with the ‘new immigrants’ from southern and eastern Europe.” What this means is

that Irish Catholics played an integral role in the education of immigrants and the children of

immigrants from many countries.

So, to summarize, as a direct result of the Potato Famine, millions of Irish men and

women came to America to make a new life, and they helped improve our country by their hard-

work. Today, their descendents number over 45 million. 45 million people teaching, writing,

working, creating businesses, changing lives. I guarantee that every day, these Irish-Americans

are affecting our daily lives in some way. Let me leave you with this perfect example of how

individual Irish-Americans have affected our lives. I searched the biographies in eLibrary to find

out if any U.S. Presidents were of Irish decent. To my surprise, there have been six in just the

20th century: Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Ronald

Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Presidential candidate John McCain, who just last week spoke before

the Irish-American Presidential Forum, is also of Scotch-Irish decent. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the

decisions of these Irish Americans continue to affect our lives.