The Act of Union forced mass Irish emigration by throttling industry and agriculture

Evidence

The Act, which went into effect in 1801, not only merged the two parliaments, it foreclosed the possibility of an independent Irish economy. Ireland became a supplier of agricultural products to England, and a market for English manufactures, just at the time the Napoleonic Wars closed normal sources of supply to Britain. The increased agricultural prices during the Wars led to a boom in production and brought about some improvement in living conditions in the Irish countryside. The boom also, though, fostered an increase in rents and the rise of a class of middlemen (“rackrenters”) who leased land for profit. The fall in agricultural prices at the end of the Wars left many tenants unable to pay their rents, which in turn caused their eviction, destroyed the middlemen, and led to further consolidation of land holdings. The consolidation occurred at the same time that Irish manufactures were being throttled by British competition; the surplus agricultural population, unable to find places in domestic industry, was compelled to emigrate. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 135

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Potato Famine drove Irish emigration and radicalized Irish nationalism — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 264; The Irish famine pushed many to emigrate to other countries. — Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking…, 1781; The Potato Famine drove mass emigration and extreme Irish nationalism. (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Post-Union free trade reduced Ireland to a dependent agricultural sector of England. #corroborates (0.95) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 252
• The 1801 Union reduced Ireland to a rural, dependent economy. #corroborates (0.92)
• England deliberately dismantled Irish industry into a dependent rural economy #expands (0.90) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 251
• The Potato Famine drove Irish emigration and radicalized Irish nationalism #complicates (0.78) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 264
• The Potato Famine drove mass emigration and extreme Irish nationalism. #complicates (0.78)
• The Irish famine pushed many to emigrate to other countries. #complicates (0.75) — Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking…, 1781
• Irish peasants emigrated under conditions comparable to American slavery #qualifies (0.72) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 32