perience, due to the nature of their own arrival to the country.V.Histories, Identities, & TransitionsSome of the Irish history in America was shaped during the Mexican-American War, when the Irish defected and went to the aide of Mexico, which brought out the power of authority for the Irish living in the United States, giving them a step down in American society. The U.S. anti-immigrant press of the time caricatured the Irish with simian features, portraying them as unintelligent and drunk and charging that they were seditously loyal to the Pope (Martin & Nakayama, 2000, 95). Another part of their history was Irelands Great Hunger in 1845 through 1850, where 2 million people died of starvation. The part of this history which is the most important and why Ireland has so much resentment for Britain, is because the British landowners exported 25 million bushels of corn and more than 250,000 sheep to England (Krim & Early, 1995, p.31) over the same period when all these Irish died. The history based on these, has shaped how the Irish react, live, and work in Ireland even today. However, resentment is not as harsh among Irish immigrants in America. Many have moved on with their lives and jobs, looking to the future. The identity of Irish was not destroyed because of people leaving the homeland, instead of staying and attempting to win back what was lost. The Irish tend not to look down on Irish Americans or Irish Canadians (Krim & Early, 1995, p.98) for this reason. The identity which Irish-immigrants brought was a truly American one. The culture of free speech, press and religion fit perfectly for a group that had escaped from British rule, as it was for Americans here before the American Revolution. In order to describe the Irish identity, we can look at pre-Revolutionary Americans. The Irish found the ability to own land and prosper, although some were poor and suffered a hard life; the idea of manifest destiny was present fo...
