Ignatiev Book Review

Ignatiev’s main thesis stated that the Irish immigrants felt they had to fit into American society and in order to do so; they had to discriminate against the blacks. The Catholic Church, Democratic Party and Labor Unions all played a role in shaping the immigrants into the people they became. At first, the Irish were portrayed as followers willing to go along with the status quo, but later they learned how to play the race game and incited incidents to prove to America that they too were white. They story began by the immigrants demonstrating their allegiance to America by way of denouncing their homeland.

Chapter One introduced Daniel O’Connell who was described as bein

Chapter Three traced the career of John Binns and showed how politics helped to change the Irish. Binns became involved with the Republican Party and their quest for unity until the party collapsed and the pro-South Van Buren party took over. The Democratic Party rejected nativism which made it an appealing party for the immigrants; it offered them a welcomed spot in society. Binns excluded blacks from the category of citizens and said the Philadelphia blacks were, “numerous and useless”. Binns opposed Daniel O’Connell which was further proof why the Irish rejected him. The example of Binns was effective in showing the power the Democrats knew it had and how it catered to the Irish, since they were a large population whose votes could help them in their support of slavery. The Democratic Party also seemed more sympathetic to the Irish’s concern that free blacks would take their jobs.

The Irish immigrants resented any foreign involvement in their quest to become American. The Catholic Church was vocal in their want to be left alone, Bishop John Hughes stated, “I am no friend of slavery, but I am still less friendly to any attempt of foreign origin to abolish”. Ignatiev gave other examples where the Catholic Church was influential in convincing the immigrants that loyalty to America came before loyalty to Ireland. Ignatiev portrayed O’Connell as a strong supporter of abolition in the beginning then becoming confused if it was acceptable to receive money from slaveholders for his own cause, repeal. Many characters which were presented in the book had some sort of confusion as to where their true loyalty lay. O’Connell’s credibility lost luster and former American supporters abandoned him claiming that O’Connell was becoming greedy, not caring who the money came from.

Chapter Five was about all the riots and how much the Irish and whites in general were allowed to get away with. President Lincoln stated that the riots were becoming an everyday occurrence. Ignatiev gave many examples of riots and how law enforcement turned a blind eye and allowed people to get away with murder, “there were 83 riot-related charges between September 1841 and August 1843 which produced 68 indictments and six convictions”. The rioters were at an advantage over the blacks, they were allowed to have a militia to help protect them against any retaliation by the blacks. The riots really allowed the Irish to express who they were in society; they now had their own niche and were not afraid of breaking rules to get what they wanted. They had confidence that they would have help achieving their goals, even if the goals included violence.

In Chapter Two, Ignatiev explained the discrimination against the Irish i

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