From the beginning of time, the Irish have played a vital role in the history of the world. But their past is spotted with feelings of ill repute and hatred from other racial and religious groups. Many times, their accomplishments have been left out of history books. Their stories blend with those of the Anglo-Saxon and they are not distinguished as a group with their own ideas and culture. But despite the fact that their history is not as well known as many other cultures, the Irish have truly helped to form the United States into what it is today. .
For centuries after the first settlement of the New World, Ireland sent large groups of newcomers to the colonies and to the United States (Glazier, 454). But the first settlers in the New World in the mid-seventeenth century did not receive a warm welcome from the English. "The Irish were the first unwanted aliens in the new republic, the first targets of hate and violence" (McCaffrey, 6). They were called savages based on the reason that they had a very different way of life. They were thought of as uncivilized because they did not wear English clothing and did not have swords as weapons. They were looked down upon for not having letters, or a written alphabet. They were nomadic herders and unlike the English, who farmed the land, they hunted for their food. Their large families "seemed to indicate a lack of self-control" which was the colonists" form of birth control. The English claimed that they lazy and idle and also lacked knowledge of good manners. But those were manners were a part of the English culture and were not known to the Irish. They were not accepted into the American way of life because their lives were different and thus, wrong in the eyes of the English.
The Irish continued to immigrate to the New World. In late August 1845, a potato famine struck Ireland. The potato was the staple crop in Ireland and the famine forced many people to leave their homes in search of refuge from a great disaster.