[BaO]

why did many of them after emigarting to BNA move to the United States? is it because of free trade and the end of corn laws,?

[Mrs Faithorn]

I'd have thought it was more to do with anti-Catholic sentiment in BNA or possibly it's because of greater economic opportunities in the US but (as I have mentioned several times to you already) we are teachers in the UK here on this Forum and we don't study Canadian history very much at all here. However, I suppose the initial impact of the repeal of the Corn Laws in Britain would have been to depress grain prices in BNA and if Irish immigrants were mainly working in agriculture I guess that might have meant unemployment for them.
..... and thus migration to the US looking for work.I'm just making 'educated guesses' here though.

One small point .... it's always a good idea to say "please" when you are asking someone to do something for you/help you.

..... and "thankyou" would be appreciated too. You have not acknowledged several of the replies you have received in answer to other questions you have asked here recently.

[BaO]

i am sorry, i just get used to the rule "say as less as you can" of my other forums. but you're right, it was very unpolite not to say "please" and "thank you" when you're asking for help. well, another lesson for me from this forum!
anyway, this is the first time i learn history (well , actually i did in my country, but i wouldnt call that "learning history") so... you know...
again , i'm sorry about my unpolite replies and thanks alot for all your posts.

[MrJohnDClare]

Thank you for your gracious reply to Mrs Faithorn's fair point.
Having said that, I haven't any clue about the answer to your question whatsoever!!!!

I shall try to find out.

[Mrs Faithorn]

BaO, on Sep 20 2006, 05:47 AM, said:

i am sorry, i just get used to the rule "say as less as you can" of my other forums. but you're right, it was very unpolite not to say "please" and "thank you" when you're asking for help. well, another lesson for me from this forum!
anyway, this is the first time i learn history (well , actually i did in my country, but i wouldnt call that "learning history") so... you know...
again , i'm sorry about my unpolite replies and thanks alot for all your posts.

.

Thank you for the apology. I do understand what you mean about being brief and to the point on Forums, but it is always a good idea to remember that the people who answer are real people, not robots!

As for the answer to your original question, I have done a bit more searching in the meantime but have not yet found anything in any detail that would help. Maybe Mr Clare will have more luck. However, I do think my original suggestions may prove to be correct.

[MrJohnDClare]

MrJohnDClare, on Sep 20 2006, 10:49 AM, said:

I shall try to find out.

This site suggests:
1. the United States was closing its doors on the Famine Irish, which may have helped them to settle in Canada.
2. the immigrants that came to Canada were Protestants and Catholics (each about 50% of the Irish emigrants). The Protestants were welcomed just about everywhere in Canada because, they were British, English Speaking Protestants like most Canadians outside Quebec. The Irish Catholics didn't know where to go as they had the Language of English-Canada and the religion of French-Canada. So they went to the US.
3. Their hate of the English (England people) and their religion probably drove them out of Canada.

This site expains two reasons why they ever went to Canada at all:
"The British Passenger Acts attempted to deflect immigration from the British Isles to Canada rather than the United States by making it much more expensive to travel to the latter. Instead of the four or five pounds a fare to New York would cost in those years, the rate to the Canadian Maritime Provinces was sometimes as low as fifteen shillings (there were twenty shillings to the pound). In addition, Canada-bound ships left from every seaport in Ireland and were both much more convenient for Irish immigrants and much cheaper than making the twelve - to fourteen-hour crossing of the Irish Sea to Liverpool, the chief port of the immigrant trade proper. But there were few economic opportunities in Canada and the curious combination of patterns of trade and anti-American British legislation produced what Marcus Lee Hansen called "the second colonization of New England," a colonization that was largely Irish. Immigrants quickly discovered that they could get cheap transportation south from Canadian ports or, if they lacked money as was often the case, they could walk. This became well known to both captains and emigrants. When the master of the ship Ocean, sailing from Galway to New Brunswick in 1835 advertised for immigrant passengers, he pointed this out, adding (with a bit of Blarney) that "those living on that line of road being very kind to Strangers as they pass." Although the road led to Boston, many Irish found work and settled along the way, and Hansen pointed out that one can trace the Irish migration route by the pioneer Catholic churches established in Maine in those years."
quoted from Coming to America by Roger Daniels

and again, this site says it more succinctly:
The United States was traditionally the route for Irish emigrants but in 1847 America enforced an increase in the cost of passage to the US and ship confiscations for overloaded vessels. This opened new routes into the States via Canada as ship owners sought the cheaper option for their human cargo.

So I think they never intended to stay in Canada at all, but merely went there as a stop-over.
I did the same thing this summer. It was very expensive to fly to Bucharest, so I flew easyjet to Prague and trained it from there.

[Mrs Faithorn]

Mrs Faithorn, on Sep 20 2006, 06:37 PM, said:

........ Maybe Mr Clare will have more luck. However, I do think my original suggestions may prove to be correct.

Brilliant reply from Mr Clare here, BaO! I found all this very interesting too especially since it was something I really knew nothing about before.

I see my suggestion about anti-Catholic sentiment in Canada may have been something to do with it, but I had not even considered that Canada (BNA) might have just been a temporary stopping off point for Irish emigrants whose intention always was to go to the US rather than Canada.

You learn something new every day!

[BaO]

thank you so much Mrs. Faithorn, and MrJohnDClare. that was awsome!!
i learn so much from your posts.

by the way, i'm really worried about my history class now. i'm trying to find a new way to study history more efficiently. could you please help me out? as you know, i'm new to history, so i find history a bit difficult,especially for an international student like me. anwering questions is one thing but understanding questions is another thing .

thank you very much.
BaO

[Mrs Faithorn]

BaO, on Sep 21 2006, 07:32 AM, said:

thank you so much Mrs. Faithorn, and MrJohnDClare. that was awsome!!
i learn so much from your posts.

Thankyou. .... and we enjoy answering your questions when we can as it forces us to find things out that we didn't know before which is always interesting.

Quote

by the way, i'm really worried about my history class now. i'm trying to find a new way to study history more efficiently. could you please help me out? as you know, i'm new to history, so i find history a bit difficult,especially for an international student like me. anwering questions is one thing but understanding questions is another thing .

thank you very much.
BaO

I gather that you are a student (maybe from SE Asia?) currently studying in Canada. Is that right?? Also I gather that English is not your first language?

I really think that the first thing you must do is tell your own teacher exactly what you are finding difficult and ask for their support and help. It should be part of their job to ensure that all the students in the class are able to learn effectively. Don't be shy about admitting you have problems; this is not a matter of 'loosing face' at all, but the teacher will not be able to help you if you always nod and say that you understand.
Whenever the teacher sets a question and you don't understand what you are required to do .... ASK the teacher to explain.

The second thing that I suggest you do is find out whether there is any 'out of class' support for people at your school whose first language is not English. If there are several students in the same position as you then it is quite possible that there is help on offer.

Lastly I suggest you buy a small hard backed notebook (small enough to fit in a pocket). Everytime you come across a word in History that you don't understand, write it down in the notebook and then use a dictionary** ( to look up the meaning of that word. After that, try to write a sentence using the new word and maybe ask the teacher or a friend who is a native speaker to check that you have used the new word properly.

More generally, "working more efficiently" means working in a really organised way:
1. Try to make sure you keep a well-organised notebook or file for History. Make sure that you use a meaningful heading for each new topic and start it on a new sheet of paper. Set your notes out neatly with underlined sub-headings. Put the date for each piece of work that you do and then make sure you file things in date order.

2. Try to review the work you have done at regular intervals to make sure that you understand each new topic. Ask your teacher to explain if this shows there are things you are not sure about.

3. Try to make sure that you keep to a regular homework schedule and that you do not miss deadlines for the work you have been set.

I won't say anymore at the moment as there is already a lot for you to take in here. Unfortunately I do not have a simple, 'magic' answer to your question - but what I will say is this ......

I have taught many students (in the UK) who have been in a similar situation to yourself and I can assure you that things will get easier in time. As long as you are prepared to work hard (as you clearly are) and as long as you are prepared to ask lots of questions and for help from your own teacher things will improve, I promise you.

** Do you have an electronic dictionary??? Most of the students I teach (eg from Hong Kong or S. Korea) have those.