Discuss the success of the Irish in politics in America during the mid-to-late-nineteenth century

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Irish immigrants to the US remained in close-knit neighborhoods, where they joined the Democratic Party as an outlet for social and economic advancement. Politics enveloped them, and the Irish social structure became an integral part of the process of recruiting other Irishmen into both the party and government.
As the Irish swarmed into city politics, political office was the favored career, and politics became the secular extension of their religious identity.
Politics and government employment provided the most readily available road to social mobility. The Irish took over the political party (usually the Democratic Party) at the local level and converted it into virtually a parallel system of government.
The Irish clan system welded the Irish into a community capable of acting in concert while disregarding the formal governmental and legal structure.
Irish success in politics was also advanced by their ability to speak English, knowledge of government, and the timing of their arrival in the United States.