Irish, Scots, Welsh

Why were the Irish so persecuted in early America but the Scots and Welsh were not? All were Gaelic-speaking Celts with a similar culture 2000 years ago. Celts were unusual in that they were never able to create a central government.  Distrust set in once the group got larger than the clan/tribe. Yet they hung together closely in small circles. Rome invaded and remade the Bretons and Welsh into Romans.  Then they left as their empire declined leaving the population to defend themselves. At a time when the Irish became Christians (after 410), pagans swamped the Bretons who fled to the mountains of Wales or to Brittany, France.  Anglo-Saxon invaders never did conquer rocky Wales. Conquering and making cultural change in a people who hang together in clans and have no king is very difficult.  Wales was finally made partly British by Edward III, 1284, who introduced the English language. In Luther’s time, Scotland was what the isles had been before Rome—Gaelic, fierce local justice and feuds, agriculturally backwards (same pointed stick “plow” used as in Mesopotamia 3000 years before), houses were 12X12 foot shacks without furniture, and people were mostly barefoot or wore animal skins as shoes. There were just 2 towns greater than 1000 people, no skilled labor and a barter economy. Did I mention they had no soap?  Common livelihood: raiding Yorkshire farmers to the south. A writer of the era called Scots, “A savage untamed nation, rude and independent, given to rapine and exceeding cruelty.” England had launched an invasion in 1292 over this lawless frontier but couldn’t fully integrate it until 1707.  But British law and order and technology was tempting.  Lowland (southern) Scots adopted all the new ideas they could. Protestant faith had a lot to do with it.  So did English learning.  The Scottish Presbyterian church eagerly adopted universal education so that Christians could grow.  As they came to America, the Scots were adapting like Brits.  The Ulster Scots (‘Scots-Irish’) who had been relocated to Northern Ireland, were somewhat more backward and became perfect American pioneers.  Close-knit and marshal, they settled the west indomitably against the Indians.  (A key group coming behind was the Germans who built the towns and started businesses.)  In the late 1700s the Scottish Enlightenment led to domination of English universities.

            Ireland was much like Scotland in 1500.  Of the 3 things Scotland and Wales used to assimilate with the English—language, Protestantism, free economy—Ireland chose only language.  Yet the wholly Catholic label is not quite so.  10% adopted Protestantism.  However, a tragic rebellion against Cromwell in 1649 became a watershed in Irish history.  40% of the population died during the English Puritan put-down.  Prior to that, Irish owned 3/5 of the land.  That shrank to 1/5 as Cromwell confiscated lands to give his supporters.  The Irish became people without rights on their own land, unable to hold public office and harshly taxed.  By the 1830s it was estimated that the expected Irish lifespan was 19.  It was 36 for American slaves of the time. The slaves of USA had a wider diet, more meat, while the Irish had potatoes.  Slaves slept in bigger houses on mattresses, instead of straw like the Irish.  Then came the 1842 potato blight and 2 million Irish fled to America, living in the worst slums, doing the most menial jobs, and people characterized them as dirty, feisty and dumb. While the Scots established themselves as bankers, Dublin had no banks prior to 1793.

            But come to America and you’ll sing a new song.  Scot-Irish established the Bible Belt and are the force behind Southern Gospel Music, Country and Western, NASCAR and Southern cooking. Welsh established coal mining in Appalachia and Iron in Michigan, without which USA would not have become an industrial power.  Irish were assimilated by language but early Catholicism had few schools, so they did not excel like Scots in STEM skills.  (Protestantism’s universal priesthood of believers = invitation to investigate everything and walk with God closely. Hence technical skills.)  But Irish clannishness became a political skill with union organization and urban precincts. “All politics is local”—Tip O’Neill.   The human relationship fields showed their talents—law, politics, writing, journalism. Today, USA’s universal education and religious tolerance, promotes as many Irish bankers as English or Scots.  And counting friends on my fingers, probably an equal number of scientists.