The Economy
-Ireland had just gotten over a major economic depression and by the 1840's the country was back on its feet (emancipation).
-The population was increasing as manufacturing expanded and agriculture productivity was slowly but surely increasing as well.
-The urban population was thriving and the rural population was doing well also, though still generally poor, they were typically well housed, well fed, and healthy (emancipation).
-In 1844, a year before the famine began, 2.4 million acres of land sowed about 15 million tons of potatos, but by 1846, only a year into the six year blight, 2 million acres sowed barely 3 million tons of the crop (emancipation).
-The potato was also a common way of payment. Landowners that could not pay their laborers with cash or coin often paid them with small plots of land so that they too could plant and sow potatoes for themselves and their families (emancipation). The loss of this plant tore apart their steadying economy. Along with the hope of a more stable economy, rising tensions with the British government wre reasons why people chose to leave Ireland