The Great Irish Famine Refugees

Displaced persons may be causally related to various natural disastersThis led to the widespread immigration of Irish nationals to American shores the many other countries.

These displaced persons, driven out of their country by a fundamental absence of recourse due to the disappearance of their livelihood, the potato, also numbered in the millions and began to increase dramatically over the years. Of course, immigration policy at the time of the Great Famine was not subject to the same standards that govern American law today, and mass migration of foreigners was a popular practice; they came to the United States by the boatload.

In due time, though, some nativist Americans reacted strongly to the influx of these displaced persons from Ireland, and campaigned to organize and legislate against them, forming the Know Nothing Party and Immigration Restriction League, which affected today's immigration standards by influencing lawmakers to establish immigration quotas and institute a literacy test.

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