Irish Canadians
The first waves of Irish immigrants took place between 1763 and 1880. when ten thousand Irish immigrants arrived on the Island. From 1800 to 1850, "10,000 immigrants from every county in Ireland" had settled in Prince Edward Island and represented 25% of the Island population by 1850.
Catholic Church and politics in the United States
The role of Catholics in American culture and elections changed dramatically as a result of the mass immigration of Catholics from Europe, especially Germany and Ireland. By 1840, there were about 600,000 Catholics in the United States. In the 1840s, 200,000 Irish immigrated to escape poverty. The Irish Potato Famine in 1845 caused the Irish population in America to reach 962,000, the number doubling in the next ten years. Even larger numbers of immigrants arrived from traditionally Catholic regions of Germany and other parts of Europe. To the extent that these new arrivals remained inside ethnic communities, they typically joined the local Catholic church that through the local diocese was in communion with Rome; how many cut their ties with the Catholic Church is a matter of speculation. The Irish Catholics took controlling positions in the Catholic Church, labor unions, and Democratic organizations in the big cities, thus forming overlapping centers of strength. The sudden new arrival of so many Catholics, charges of political corruption, and fears of papal interference caused anti-Catholicism to grow, including the short-lived Know Nothings party in the 1850s which demanded a purification of elections and statutes from Catholic influence.