by Hill Jill
Some Background into Appalachian American's suspicion of Government Sun Sept. 27, 2009 at 10:33:04 AM PDT
After spending some time surfing the Internet Machine, I have not come up with any new, significant details about the Bill Sparkman case. I thought it might be helpful to post a little background history about the area. Ive read a lot of chatter about "Hill-billies hating the government" and I was quite astonished to find out why folks thought that was so. I'd like to clear up some misconceptions. I'll present some history and background that is factual, and why I don't think that has a bearing on this case. The latter is speculation on my part, and I could be wrong.
Scotch-Irish immigrants make up the majority of Appalachian Settlers. The Scotch Irish began as low-land and Borderland Scots who were "persuaded" by the English to colonize Ulster Plantations in the 1600s. The English were trying to dominate both the Scots and the Irish. Somehow they thought if they could remove the lowland/borderland Scots and inflict them on the Irish, it would help solve the problems of subduing these two groups of people. What happened was both the Scots and the Irish, singularly and together, rebelled and England had a big bloody mess on her hands for many years. Immigration to America opened up in the early 1700's. Also, Ireland had a famine around 1740 which drove many people to the New World. The Scots-Irish, now a more or less cohesive group settled in the Colonies, mostly Pennsylvania, Delaware and North Carolina. Land was already becoming scarce. As the Revolutionary War loomed, many Scots-Irish were delighted to take up arms against their old Enemy, the British.
(A side note here: a great deal of Appalachian culture-language, music, manners, customs, are Celtic/Gaelic in origin. There is heavy low country Scots/Ulster Irish influences with some German, particularly in West Virginia/Pennsylvania area. For a long time, the Scots-Irish HATED the English, which is one reason why Appalachian-Americans get ticked off by the "whole Pockets of Pure Elizabethan Culture" Its sort of like saying Israel has pockets of pure Arabic culture.)
more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/27/786941/-Some-Background-into-Appalachian-Americans-suspicion-of-Government