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Article: Irish Americans
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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IRISH AMERICANS
IRISH AMERICANS.
More than 7 million Irish immigrants have come to America since the 1600s. This mass movement transformed Irish society and played a significant role in shaping American politics, religion, culture, and economics during the country's most formative years. More than 40 million people in the United States claim some degree of Irish ancestry.
Colonial and Pre-Famine Immigration
Approximately 50,000 to 100,000 Irishmen, over 75 percent of them Catholic, came to America in the 1600s, while 100,000 more Irish Catholics arrived in the 1700s. A small number of prosperous merchants formed communities in Philadelphia and other cities, but most immigrants were ...