Issues in U.S. Immigration

Scotch-Irish immigrants

by Gene Redding Wynne Jr.

Identification: Immigrants to North America from Ireland who were of Protestant Scots descent

Immigration issues: European immigrants; Irish immigrants

Significance: The Scotch-Irish immigrants who came to North America and settled on the western frontier in the eighteenth century initially thought of themselves simply as Irish; however, as American nativist sentiments turned against the predominantly Roman Catholic Irish who began immigrating in large numbers during the early nineteenth century, they started calling themselves “Scotch-Irish” to dissociate themselves from the newcomers.

Now more commonly known as “Scots-Irish,” the Scotch-Irish originated largely from Ulster, the northern counties of Ireland. Their immigration to North America began around 1695 and continued through the early nineteenth century, the largest wave arriving between 1717 and 1775. These consisted of native Ulster Protestants and Scots who had settled Ulster. Mostly Presbyterian, they brought to the New World a strong Calvinist tradition. Some may originally have been Roman Catholic but adopted Protestantism after arrival, in response to social prohibitions on Catholicism. Desires for land and religious freedom were the primary motives for immigration. Edged out by English settlers for arable land in the low country, the Scotch-Irish traveled the wagon roads that led to the western areas of Virginia and the Carolinas.

The Scotch-Irish developed a reputation for being rugged, devout, and fiercely independent, leaving a stamp on the regions they pioneered. Past experiences created a deep suspicion of authority among the Scotch-Irish. A majority of Scotch-Irish Americans supported the American Revolution and later backed the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Although early Scotch-Irish settlers referred to themselves simply as “Irish,” the term “Scotch-Irish” came into use in the nineteenth century, as Protestant Irish disdained identification with a newer group of immigrant Catholic Irish, a visible immigrant community by the late nineteenth century. As such, the Scotch-Irish may be properly classified as a subculture.

Further Reading

1 

Coffey, Michael, ed. The Irish in America. New York: Disney Enterprises, 1997. Fallows, Marjorie. Irish Americans: Identity and Assimilation. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979.

2 

Griffin, William D. A Portrait of the Irish in America. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981.

3 

McCaffrey, Lawrence J. The Irish Diaspora in America. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1984.

4 

McCarthy, Karen F. The Other Irish: The Scots-Irish Rascals Who Made America. New York: Sterling, 2011.

5 

Paulson, Timothy J. Irish Immigrants. New York: Facts On File, 2005.

6 

Webb, James. Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shapes America. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Wynne, Gene Redding. "Scotch-Irish Immigrants." Issues in U.S. Immigration, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, Salem Press, 2015. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=IUSI_0191.
APA 7th
Wynne, G. R. (2015). Scotch-Irish immigrants. In C. Bankston III (Ed.), Issues in U.S. Immigration. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Wynne, Gene Redding. "Scotch-Irish Immigrants." Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. Issues in U.S. Immigration. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2015. Accessed September 15, 2025. online.salempress.com.