No Irish Need Apply

• As Irish immigrants entered by the thousands into America, their unknown customs and their obvious desperation to obtain jobs caused Americans to resent them and take advantage of their conditions, like they once did for African Americans. Kinsella (2008) argued that life in America for Irish immigrants was a battle for survival. Since the majority of Irish immigrants did not have any money, they settled in the port of arrival. One Irish immigrant wrote, "Our position in America is one of shame and poverty." No group was considered lower than an Irishman in America during the 1850's. Ads for employment were usually followed by "NO IRISH NEED APPLY." The Library of Congress records that Irish immigrants often crowded into subdivided homes that were intended for single families, living in tiny, cramped spaces. Cellars, attics and make-do spaces in alleys became their home. A lack of adequate sewage and running water in these places made proper sanitation out of the question. Diseases (such as cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, and mental illness) rose from these miserable living conditions. Thus, when the Irish families moved into neighborhoods, other families moved out fearing the risks of disease, fire hazards, unsanitary conditions and the social problems of violence, alcoholism and crime. The Chicago Post wrote, "The Irish fill our prisons, our poor houses...Scratch a convict or a pauper, and the chances are that you tickle the skin of an Irish Catholic. Putting them on a boat and sending them home would end crime in this country." According to A Growing National Economy, by Aboukhadijeh (2012), the arrival of immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s posed a threat of unknown languages and customs. Some Americans feared that foreigners would outnumber them and eventually overrun the country. The natives saw the mass settlements of Irish and German Catholics as a threat to their hard-won religious and political liberties. This hostility resulted in several conflicts between Protestants and Catholics.