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The Irish Potato Famine In America

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From the years 1845 to 1855 millions of adults and children fled over from Ireland to America, in order to escape the many issues their country was facing at this time. In my paper I will argue what lead to the potato famine and how this lead Irish families to seek refuge in American. In the 12th century England began their colonization over Ireland, this lead to many wars, confiscations and also rebellions. Finally after a series of fights between Ireland and England, England dominated over the Irish society and developed new ways of life for the Irish. Ireland regions had depleading populations before England took over rule but after England repopulated the Irish lands. With England overseeing their new Colony they have brought new benefits …show more content…

The Irish depended on the potato heavily and the consummation of the potato was daily. By the 1840s an estimated of seven million tons of potatoes were required each year for human consumption page 32. There was a high dependence on potatoes and before 1845 potato failures were not on high importance due to localized and short lived. Before 1845 the potato had proved to be the most reliable crop then any other crop Ireland had come to grow. Potatoes were nutritious and easy to cook, and they could be fed to pigs and cattle and fowl. And families did not need a plough to grow potatoes. All they needed was a spade, and they could grow potatoes in wet ground and on mountain sides where no other kinds of plants could be …show more content…

But not also Ireland was in a panic for the potato famine but also the other country’s that depended on the cash crop. The disease spread so rapidly, this was because of the international potato seed trade. When the potato blight first appeared there was very little concern due to the good year they had with the potato until October when the saw the potato was diseased. Soon the blight spread through the west of Ireland, but still people did not believe it would be a major issue until stored potato’s were found to be rotted. For, inevitably, it was the men with the smallest holdings, striving after self-suffciency on meager pactes of soil, whp devoted there land most completely to potato cultivation the highland ptato famine in thof the 1840s . This was to be known as the worst failure of a crop to hit Ireland even worst then the grain failure. Many believed that it was the irish fault that were not saving there crops when on reality there was nothing they could have done.
The Potato famine hit all social classes in Ireland but mostly the poor. The Government discouraged all parties into not planting potato’s there were little for poor family to eat. The poor turned over the maize, which became a suitable alternative for potatoes but still there was a short food supply for all of Ireland. This caused the planting of grain again but everything

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