Irish Potato Famine Research Paper

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Irish Potato Famine: The Wrong Doings of the Policies of Great Britain As a result of the Irish Potato Famine, Ireland's population dropped by about 25%, meaning that one million people had died. The main cause of the famine was potato blight, but what added to the disaster were the policies of Great Britain such as Corn Laws and British Anti-Catholicism. The famine heightened the tensions between the Irish republicans and the British rulers and also paved the way for Ireland to become a free republic from the British monarchy. Ireland was changed socially, economically, and politically. Even though the potato famine was caused by the blight, what worsened that effect was that Great Britain controlled most of Ireland economically so much so…show more content…
One of the British policies, land acquisition, was disastrous to Irish families. Corns Laws imposed regulations and tariffs on grains causing the prices to be high therefore the grains could be kept domestic. The Corn Laws made the priority English farmers and left Irish farmers not be able to sell their crops to England, one of their biggest clients. British Anti-Catholicism caused much of the Irish to hold resentment against the British because Britain wanted them to become Anglican but they were Catholic. "In fact, the most glaring cause of the famine was not a plant disease, but England's long-running political hegemony over Ireland."1 Britain’s policies against the Irish were actually the main cause of this famine. The policies caused anger, frustration, and poverty for the…show more content…
Since Ireland had been exporting most of the crops that they were harvesting, they had no crops to sell cheaply to the peasants and commoners. So the government went into action trying to soften the blow of the famine and the economy by repealing the Corn Laws, which helped the price of grains decrease. Corn Laws are laws that prohibited corns and grains from being imported so that the wealthy landowners would be able to control the prices and keep the prices high. The government also set up temporary aid to help peasants be able to pay for food. The peasants built unnecessary roads so they could get money to try and buy food. The famine also affected the politics of Ireland in many different
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