Complete List of Terms and Definitions for Scots-Irish

Terms Definitions
Urban Ghetto not yet defined
Boxing not yet defined
Single and Unskilled not yet defined
Tenant Farming System where farmers rented their land from the landowner and were allowed to grow whatever crop they wanted.
Whiskey In the 1790s, the new American government assumed the debts the individual states had amassed during the American Revolutionary War, and the Congress placed a tax on whiskey (among other things) to help repay those debts. Large producers were assessed a tax of six cents a gallon. Smaller producers, many of whom were Scottish (often Ulster-Scots) descent and located in the more remote areas, were taxed at a higher rate of nine cents a gallon. These rural settlers were short of cash to begin with, and lacked any practical means to get their grain to market, other than fermenting and distilling it into relatively portable spirits. From Pennsylvania to Georgia, the western counties engaged in a campaign of harassment of the federal tax collectors. "Whiskey Boys" also conducted violent protests in Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. This civil disobedience eventually culminated in armed conflict in the Whiskey Rebellion. President George Washington marched at the head of 13,000 soldiers to suppress the insurrection.
Rents and Tithes not yet defined
Organized Crime The unlawful activities of the members of a highly organized, disiplined, association engaged in supplying illegal goods and services, including gambling, prostitution, loan-sharking, narcotics, and labor racketeering.
Coffin Ships Ships that carried immigrants to North America, overcrowded, filthy, noisy and smelly. Ships that millions of Irish left on...25% died on the voyage. Disease and death ridden British cargo ships used to carry passengers.
Fleeing from the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852, large numbers of Irish came to the U.S. and Canada. Many died en route due to disease and dismal conditions. As a result the vessels they traveled on became known as coffin ships.
19th Century Irish Immigration Irish immigration, mostly males, had greatly increased beginning in the 1820s, as many became involved in canal building, lumbering, and civil construction works in the Northeast. The large Erie Canal project was one such example where Irishmen were many of the laborers. Small but tight communities developed in growing cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Providence.
Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish constituted over one third of all immigrants to the United States, and two-thirds of these Irish immigrants were Catholic. This trend reached its peak in the 1840s, when nearly half of all immigrants to the United States originated from Ireland.
Fleeing from the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852, large numbers of Irish came to the U.S. Aother 900,000 came in 1851-99.
Anchor Immigrant not yet defined
The Great Famine Was a period of starvation, disease and mass emigration between 1845 and 1852, during which the population of Ireland was reduced by 20 to 25 percent. The proximate cause of famine was a potato disease commonly known as potato blight. Although blight ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, the impact and human cost in Ireland—where a third of the population was entirely dependent on the potato for food—was exacerbated by a host of political, social and economic factors which remain the subject of historical debate.
Family Groups not yet defined
Railroads and Canals Beginning in the early 19th century, many Irish migrated individually to the interior for work on large-scale infrastructure projects such as canals and, later in the century, railroads.
Traveling Ministers not yet defined
Ulster Province (Northern Ireland) In 1790 there were 400,000 United States residents of Irish birth or ancestry, with half of this group descended from the Irish province of Ulster, and half from the other three provinces of Ireland. Most of those of Ulster origin eventually came to be known in America as the "Scotch-Irish." They were descendants of Scottish and English tenant farmers who had been settled in Ireland by the British government during the 17th century Plantation of Ulster. An estimated 250,000 migrated to America during the colonial era. The Scotch-Irish settled mainly in the colonial "back country" of the Appalachian Mountain region, and became the prominent ethnic strain in the culture that developed there.
Religious Toleration Acceptance of people who held different religious beliefs. Massachusetts was the least tolerant, excluding non-Christians and Catholics; Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were the most liberal; everyone had varying degrees of religious tolerance. Ordered by Lord Baltimore after a Protestant was made governor of Maryland at the demand of the colony's large Protestant population. The act guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians.
The Great Awakening helped bring people together. This led to greater religious toleration, or acceptance of religious differences.
New York Draft Riots 1863-, were a series of violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests degraded into civil disorder directed against African Americans.
Uprising of wroking- class Irish-Americans in protest of the draft.
"The Backcountry" During the 1720's, Irish-Scots and German settlers expanded into deeper territory of Virginia and Pennsylvania. The men here planted corn and hunted for food. They had no land claim so they had to protect themselves from the Indians and other settlers. This was the first movement that expanded the original territory in America.
Institutional Catholic Church not yet defined
Land not yet defined
Catholic not yet defined
Bridget and Paddy not yet defined
John F. Kennedy The 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963., A Catholic who ran and won the Presidency of the U.S. Ended the blatant anti-Catholic bias in national politics. Introduced a bill that became known as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Pope's Army not yet defined
Living Conditions/Crude Housing/No Privacy not yet defined
Religious and Political Issues The religious distinction became important after 1820, when large numbers of Irish Catholics appeared in America. The Protestants redefined themselves as "Scotch Irish," to stress their historic origins in Protestant Ulster, and distanced themselves from newcomers. Protestant Irish became active in explicitly anti-Catholic organizations such as the Orange Institution and the American Protective Association. Indeed tensions between the Catholic and Protestant Irish in America escalated into violence, typified by the Philadelphia riots of 1844, and the Orange Riots in New York City in 1871 and 1872.
Five Points The New York City slum that was known as a place of prostitution, racial tension, and competition.
Overpopulation not yet defined
Family/Clans and Feuds not yet defined
Tenements Poorly built, overcrowded housing where many immigrants lived.
Southie not yet defined
Political Machines During the 1800's and early 1900's, some state and local party committees became political machines dominating party activities. Committee members would promise new recruits money, jobs, and other benefits for joining and voting the straight party ticket. The Democratic Party was especially successful at using this method to recruit immigrants and inner city poor. These groups functioned largely as welfare organizations controlling elections through corrupt means.
Irish "Race"/Black Inside/Apelike not yet defined
Steerage A large open area beneath a ship's deck, often used to house traveling immigrants. The most basic and cheapest accommodations on a steamship; where most immigrants traveled.
Voting Blocs not yet defined
Domestics not yet defined
Penal Laws Laws that impose a penalty or punishment for a wrong against society. 1695-imposed by british, punished any catholics, stripped Irish Catholics of rights, catholic church and language banned. Facilitated the takeover of Irish-owned land by instituting discriminantory legal policies that (1) prohibited traditional land inheritance practices among Catholic citizenry / (2) Catholic Irish prohibited from purchasing land from Protestants (but not vise versa) / (3) denied Catholic Irish person the right to marry a Protestant / (4 ) denied right to attend any university or even travel abroad to recieve university education / (5) prohibited from voting / (6) serving on juries / (7) speaking Gaelic / (8) holding political office / (9) entering legal profession - ASSURED IRISH WOULD BECOME MINORITIES.
Chain Migration The migration event in which individuals follow the migratory path of preceding friends or family members to an existing community.
"Baby Killers" not yet defined
"Scots-Irish" The early Ulster immigrants and their descendants at first usually referred to themselves simply as "Irish," without the qualifier "Scotch." It was not until more than a century later, following the surge in Irish immigration after the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, that the descendants of the Protestant Irish began to refer to themselves as "Scotch-Irish" to distinguish them from the predominantly Catholic, and largely destitute, immigrants from Ireland. The two groups had little interaction in America, as the 18th century Ulster immigrants were predominantly Protestant and had become settled largely in upland regions of the American interior, while the huge wave of 19th century Catholic immigrant families settled primarily in the Northeast and Midwest port cities such as Boston, New York, or Chicago. However, beginning in the early 19th century, many Irish migrated individually to the interior for work on large-scale infrastructure projects such as canals and, later in the century, railroads.
Presbyterian Member of a Protestant Church governed by elders (Presbyters) and founded on the teachings of John Knox. Refers to a number of different Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition. The main religion in Scotland. Each congregation is governed by its own elected elders or presbyters who, in turn, join together with other Reformed teaching and ruling elders in conclaves that together make important decisions for the denomination.
Potato Blight Disease of plants caused by a fungus. This was responsible for the great Irish famine of the 1800s. Potatos, staple of the irish diet, were infected by the Phytophthora infestans, causing them to rot in the fields. By 1846, the potato harvest was so meager that hunger-based diseases were widespread. 1.24 million people died, and 1.2 million people emigrated. This remains an economic threat to potato farmers today. This is what caused the Irish population to immigrate to America to avoid starvation.
Pub Culture not yet defined
Proto-Industrial Revolution not yet defined
Ship Fever not yet defined
Day Laborers not yet defined
"No Irish Need Apply" not yet defined
"Blood Drinkers" not yet defined
Unskilled Labor Those who work primarily with their hands because they lack the training and skills required for other tasks.