THE HIGHLAND
CLEARANCES
By JL Musgrave
Photographs by JLM
Over one and a half million Scots have immigrated
to the United States from the establishing of its colonies
.
to the present day
Nearly half a million of these
-1800’
immigrated during the mid
s to the early
1900’ ,
s
some of which found their way to the Midwest and the
.
state of Indiana
One major contributing factor to this
influx of Scots was a removal movement in Scotland
.
known as The Highland Clearances
The Highland
Clearances were an over hundred year series of forced
displacements of Scottish peoples from their tenant
.
lands
Landowners evicted their Scottish tenants in
order to make room for the expansion of sheep and
.
cattle farming to increase profits
The tenants were
,
forced from their homes with little to no notice
.
sometimes violently
Reports of physical abuse and
.
destruction of property were common
These turbulent
evictions were backed by the laws of the time leaving
the Scottish tenants with little recourse but to relocate
,
to the cities or
,
in many cases
.
leave the country entirely
Some Scots looked to America as the land of
’
opportunity to better themselves and their children s
.
futures
,
Today
one can find the descendants of these
brave Scottish souls throughout the highlands and
.
lowlands of Indiana
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