The Scots-irish eventually became concentrated in?

Answer 1

THE SCOTCH-IRISHThe Scotch-Irish trace their ancestry to Scotland, but through Northern Ireland, which also belongs to the British Empire. Northern Ireland, which is composed of six counties-Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Down, Monaghan, and Tyrone, occupies an area of 5,452 square miles (14,121 square kilometers), or a territory somewhat larger than the state of Connecticut. Its capital and largest city is Belfast, where approximately one-fifth of the country's population of 1,594,000 resides.

The Scotch-Irish descend from 200,000 Scottish Lowland Presbyterians who were encouraged by the English government to migrate to Ulster in the seventeenth century. Trying to strengthen its control of Ireland, England tried to establish a Protestant population in Ulster. Surrounded by native hostility, though, the group maintained its cultural distinction. The same economic pressures, including steadily increasing rents on their land, frequent crop failures, and the collapse of the linen trade, coupled with the belief in greater opportunity abroad, caused many Scotch-Irish to leave for the American colonies during the eighteenth century. It is estimated that nearly two million descendants of the Scotch-Irish eventually migrated to the American colonies.

From 1763 to 1775, 55,000 Scotch-Irish from Ulster and 40,000 Scots arrived in America. Since Scotland was able to pursue its own colonies in the New World, several small colonies were established in the early seventeenth century in East Jersey and South Carolina. These colonies were primarily for Quakers and Presbyterians who were experiencing religious persecution by the then Episcopalian Church of Scotland. Although some Scots were transported to America as prisoners or criminals and were forced into labor as punishment, many voluntarily settled in America as traders or tobacco workers in Virginia. However, the political persecution of the Jacobite sympathizers, combined with economic hard times, forced many Scots to emigrate. Unlike the Scotch-Irish, who emigrated individually, the Scots emigrated in groups, which reflects their early organization in clans. They became a significant presence in the New World, settling in the original colonies with a particularly strong presence in the Southeast.

Many Scotch-Irish joined the mass migrations to the New World brought on by the Potato Famine of the 1840s. Substantial numbers of Scots also immigrated to the United States in the nineteenth century to work in industry. Throughout the twentieth century, immigration would rise when economic conditions in Scotland worsened; this was especially true during the 1920s when an economic depression hit Scotland particularly hard. Because British law then prohibited skilled workers to leave the country, many Scotch-Irish laborers found their way to the United States through Canada.

SETTLEMENT PATTERNSBecause of profound doctrinal differences with New England's Congregationalism, the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians opted for the religious freedom of William Penn's colony; and the earliest settlements there were near Philadelphia in the 1720s. They reached as far west as Pittsburgh before finding greater opportunities in the southern colonies. The Scotch-Irish and Scots alike were strongly represented in the push westward, though, and their participation in military campaigns was significant. Darien, Georgia, was founded by Highland Scots in service to General James Oglethorpe, and their assistance was invaluable in protecting the British colonies of the Southeast from the Spanish in Florida. These Highland Scots strongly protested against the institution of slavery in the colony, setting a precedent for strong anti-slavery sentiment that stood against the Scotch-Irish planters and English colonists who were eager for slavery to help build the colony and amass fortunes.

"P eople who had come to this country in the earlier years had told me, you'll be sorry when you get to Ellis Island. But I wasn't really sorry, I was just maybe upset a little bit. What upset me the most was having to go through so many people's hands and take such a long time."Mary Dunn in 1923, cited in Ellis Island: An Illustrated History of the Immigrant Experience, edited by Ivan Chermayeff et al. (New York: Macmillan, 1991).

Today the descendants of the Scotch-Irish number over six million, with about five million identifying themselves as descended from Scottish ancestry. In the 1990 U.S. Census "Scotch-Irish" was the eleventh most populous ethnic group, followed by "Scottish." The states reporting the highest concentration of Scotch-Irish are California, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Those claiming Scottish descent are also most populous in California, then Florida, Texas, New York, and Michigan. The issue of descent is somewhat confused since not all historians and social scientists count Scotch-Irish as a culturally distinct group. For the purposes of the 1990 census, "Scotch-Irish" was included as a classification that was a single, rather than a multiple, response to the question of national origin. Also, a significant number of African Americans and Native Americans claim Scotch-Irish ancestry.

Answer 2

the frontier areas.