What were conditions like for Irish people on arrival to America?
On arrival to America, huge amounts of Irish people felt discrimination from Americans. One reason they were discriminated against was because of their practice of Catholicism. Before the Irish came to America, most Americans were Anglo-Saxon and protestant. When Irish Catholics started arriving in America, they thought they were eroding at the very foundation of America. Some Anglo-Saxons went to great lengths to discriminate against the Irish. Many newspapers published derogatory cartoons about them showing them as drunken and idiotic monkeys. Blue-collar workers became worried that the Irish would take their jobs because they worked or lower pay, so they hung "No Irish Need Apply" signs in business windows. Political parties like the Know-Nothings were also formed to stop Irish people from entering America and practicing Catholicism.
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