There has been a great deal written lately of Irish "slavery" in the United States. Firstly, it should not need to be pointed out that slavery, as practised in Classical times or in the plantations of the Caribbean and Brazil, was abolished by the Founding Fathers in our great Constitution. The correct term as used by historians and scholars is "Life-long Inheritable Transferable Indenture".
The War Between the States which pitted the Confederacy of New England against the Union Aggressors was not sought by we in the North; we simply wished to preserve our own Anglo-Saxon Race and Culture (I would like to point out here that my own ancestors who fought for the noble Lost Cause were neither mill-owners nor holders of Contracts of Indenture).
We fought for States Rights- yes, the right to hold indentures, but also the right to set up tariffs to strengthen our great American Nation, as opposed to those in the Middle and South who would sell our heritage to Foreign Manufacturers.
There has been a great deal of vile slander written about the "peculiar institution" of indenture. Did we not deliver the Irish from their dreadful darkness and poverty? Did we not free them from the worship of idols and superstition, and lead them to the light of the True Protestant Religion?
Left to themselves, they were idle and shiftless, though much fond of singing and dancing- our uniquely American contribution to music derives from the Irish: "jizz" from the Irish jigs, and "ruck'n'reel" from the Irish reels, which would dissolve into often unseemly rucks of a low and lustful nature.
Being the nature of the Irish to lack self-discipline, it was often necessary to impose strict measures, but the slander of our foes is unwarranted. It was in the self-interest of the mill-owners to treat his indentured workers well; they represented a considerable investment. Compare that to the so-called "free" agricultural workers, especially on the plantations of the South- free to be mercilessly exploited by wage-slavery in the farming season, free to be ruthlessly cast aside when not needed, free to fester in the squalid camps inhabited by the dregs of Europe- Italians, Greeks, Slavs, and even, Lord help us, Africans!
A great deal of this misunderstanding is due to the pernicious influence of one best-selling book: "Uncle Paddy's Shanty" by Harriet Becher Stowe.
Stowe was a writer of considerable talent; thus her heart-rending scenes of families being torn apart as members were shipped "Up North" to the lumber camps of Maine and New Hampshire- where admittedly, conditions were harsher.
Or who can forget poor Bridget scrambling across the ice floes of the Hudson, fleeing New Hampshire to seek refuge in New York, hounds on her trail, clutching Baby Seamus to her breast?
Nevertheless, we reject the slanderous accusations of racism- why, some of my best friends are Celts- and glory in our Northern Heritage:
Oh, I wish I was in the Land where they weave cotton,
Far away, and not forgotten..."
The War Between the States which pitted the Confederacy of New England against the Union Aggressors was not sought by we in the North; we simply wished to preserve our own Anglo-Saxon Race and Culture (I would like to point out here that my own ancestors who fought for the noble Lost Cause were neither mill-owners nor holders of Contracts of Indenture).
We fought for States Rights- yes, the right to hold indentures, but also the right to set up tariffs to strengthen our great American Nation, as opposed to those in the Middle and South who would sell our heritage to Foreign Manufacturers.
There has been a great deal of vile slander written about the "peculiar institution" of indenture. Did we not deliver the Irish from their dreadful darkness and poverty? Did we not free them from the worship of idols and superstition, and lead them to the light of the True Protestant Religion?
Left to themselves, they were idle and shiftless, though much fond of singing and dancing- our uniquely American contribution to music derives from the Irish: "jizz" from the Irish jigs, and "ruck'n'reel" from the Irish reels, which would dissolve into often unseemly rucks of a low and lustful nature.
Being the nature of the Irish to lack self-discipline, it was often necessary to impose strict measures, but the slander of our foes is unwarranted. It was in the self-interest of the mill-owners to treat his indentured workers well; they represented a considerable investment. Compare that to the so-called "free" agricultural workers, especially on the plantations of the South- free to be mercilessly exploited by wage-slavery in the farming season, free to be ruthlessly cast aside when not needed, free to fester in the squalid camps inhabited by the dregs of Europe- Italians, Greeks, Slavs, and even, Lord help us, Africans!
A great deal of this misunderstanding is due to the pernicious influence of one best-selling book: "Uncle Paddy's Shanty" by Harriet Becher Stowe.
Stowe was a writer of considerable talent; thus her heart-rending scenes of families being torn apart as members were shipped "Up North" to the lumber camps of Maine and New Hampshire- where admittedly, conditions were harsher.
Or who can forget poor Bridget scrambling across the ice floes of the Hudson, fleeing New Hampshire to seek refuge in New York, hounds on her trail, clutching Baby Seamus to her breast?
Nevertheless, we reject the slanderous accusations of racism- why, some of my best friends are Celts- and glory in our Northern Heritage:
Oh, I wish I was in the Land where they weave cotton,
Far away, and not forgotten..."
Heh, "Uncle Paddy's Shanty"...