HIST 417 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Irish National Land League, Anglicanism, American Civil War
Document Summary
By mid-1850"s, 60% of land divided in 50+ acre plots (vs previous dominance of 1-5 acre plots) Gradually those who remained saw very slight increase in quality of life. Question of land tenure becomes more salient. Nationalist pov: absentee landlords impose extortionist rents and impose widespread eviction. Revisionist pov: eviction not as prevalent as thought, same goes for absenteeism, post-1850 rent increases generally low, generally saw a mix of cruel/more reasonable and economically savvy mix of landlords. Industrialization remains negligible, with exception of belfast and eastern ulster. Here see continued development of linen/cotton manufacturing, shipbuilding. Thus industrial 31343$ concentrated in protestant hands. Urban and catholic middle class in professions and service industries. Catholicism becomes even more important element of identity. Huge migration during famine, peaked at 250,000 people living in 1851. Migration, esp of single young people, remains high. Does solve immediate crisis/rural poverty, stabilizes subsistence farming and disincentivizes industrialization (of ag or otherwise)
