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. “By examining the shortcomings and weaknesses of the Boston Irish, their strengths and achievements, their ability to adapt and to survive, their religious fidelity and their propensity for political chicanery, we may better understand the fascinating contradictions so apparent in their character as they have made their way through the long tortuous maze of Boston politics.” -Thomas H. O’Connor, The Boston Irish, p. xix The way in which the Irish transformed Boston is perhaps the most remarkable story of immigration changing America. Though commonly associated with the Great Potato Famine of the 1850’s, Irish immigrates began to voyage across the Atlantic as early as the seventeenth century. However, following the Famine in Ireland, an unprecedented flood of starving Irish arrived in New England seeking opportunity, political freedom, religious toleration, but above all, a meal. “The one hundred and fifty thousand Irish who sailed for America in 1848 were pursuing the glimmer of hope contained in the words often heard around the peat fire: ‘the States.’” Many of these optimistic Irish landed in Boston, a fairly important port of entry. Because