American History
Irish American History
From the coffin ships of An Gorta Mor to the White House, the Irish came starving and unwanted and built a new life that changed America forever.
1845 to the presentFamine, faith, and American democracy
An Gorta Mor: The Great Hunger
The Irish did not choose to leave. They were driven out by a catastrophe, the near-total failure of the potato crop, and by a government response that much of the world viewed as a form of abandonment.
8.2M
Ireland's population in 1841
1M+
Deaths from starvation and disease
2.1M
People who emigrated 1845-1855
4.4M
Ireland's population by 1901
Sources & Further Reading
- Library of Congress, Irish Catholic Immigration to America
- National Museum of Ireland, Irish Emigration to America
- National Archives, Irish Immigration Records
- Smithsonian, Irish Immigration
- University College Cork, Irish Emigration History
- Britannica, Tammany Hall
Famine death and emigration statistics are drawn from the National Museum of Ireland, University College Cork's emigration research, and the Library of Congress. Civil War service figures are from the National Archives. Population figures are from the Irish Census of 1841 and 1851. Tammany Hall and police/fire department figures are from Britannica and academic sources.