Immigration into America has shaped and molded us into
             who we are today. Without groups such as the Scotch-Irish,
             English, Dutch, etc. America would not be the great melting
             pot that it has now become. Each of these cultures brought
             with them a sense of religion, culture and spirit. They
             took a chance to better themselves, leaving everything that
             was remotely comfortable in their life behind, bringing with
             One such group is the Scotch-Irish. The Scotch-Irish
             history begins with the Scots in the 1600s. By the end of
             1600, Europe was at the end of the Renaissance, but Scotland
             had not taken part in the resurgence of learning and
             culture. It was still a primitive, wild country, one of the
             poorest in Europe. Poor soil and backward farming methods,
             frequent border wars with England, and the wildness of the
             isolated Highlanders had all contributed to Scotland's slow
             The colonization of Ulster began in the 17th Century.
             British monarchs had been trying unsuccessfully for
             hundreds of years to subdue Ireland, but it was not until
             1603 that the Ulster Irish finally surrendered to the
             Englishman, Lord Mountjoy. In 1609, James I informed the
             Scots that they could participate in this colonization of
             Ulster. Many Scotsmen felt they could overcome their
             poverty and the fact that the landlords in Ireland were more
             willing to extend longer leases to farmers than the
             landlords in Scotland were willing to do (Leyburn).
             In 1717, the Great Migration commenced. The term
             Scotch-Irish originated in the mid-eighteenth century in
             America to distinguish the Ulster Presbyterian emigrants of
             Scottish ancestry from other Irish settlers in the colonies.
             It has been asserted that during that time frame
             approximately one-third the Presbyterian population of
             Ireland migrated to British North America (Jackson 61-62).
             The Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745 saw a great number
             of pe...