An Introduction to the Potato Famine in Ireland Essay

Ireland is a country that has had many crop failures but the Famine of 1845-1849 was the worst ever. The people had become so dependent on the potato that when it failed they had nothing else. They had no money, no parliament in country to give them relief and no rights to keep them from being evicted from the land they diligently worked each year for their landlords. Many died, many immigrated to other nations but those who stayed cried out for security. In the years following the famine tenant associations, a push for home rule and the dissolution of the Church of Ireland were just a few things to change in Ireland after this horrid period in history.The potato became the primary source of food sometime in the eighteenth century. They are very nutritious and many could be grown in a small plot of land. In 1845 the first failure of the potato crop occurred, little did the people know that this would happen the next four years. Sir Edward Peel, Tory Prime Minister, saw there was a need of relief. Though he did not have support from the House of Commons, he secretly ordered a supply of Indian corn from America. He did not plan to give the corn away but sell it just over cost price. By doing this he could keep the private merchants from raising the price of food. He kept secret how much corn the government had so the merchants would not find out how little corn they really did have. If the government had distributed it all at once they would have run out in just a few weeks. The problem with selling food though in an economy where there was not much money the poor still could not buy the food. The tenant farmers made little money and that was used to pay the rents on their farms. The government set up a public works system some...