"The
term "Scotch-Irish" is an Americanism, generally unknown
in Scotland and Ireland, and rarely used by British historians.
In American usage, it refers to people of Scottish descent who,
having lived for a time in the north of Ireland, migrated in considerable
numbers to the American colonies in the eighteenth century."
The Scotch-Irish, A Social History by James G. Leyburn.
The
Plantations of Ireland are divided into three different segments;
Ulster, Cromwellian, and Williamite. This work begins with the
Ulster Plantations around the time in which William Caldwell of
Stratton, Ayrshire, Decendant of William Caldwell, Prebendary
of Glasgow and Lord Chancellor of Scotland (c. 1349), may have
migrated to Donegal County, Ireland. John, son of William, who
married Mary Sweetenham, is said to have been born in Donegal
County in June of 1603 although the plantations of Ulster didn't
begin in earnest until 1606.
Plunkett
Caldwell of Northern Ireland, along with David Caldwell, point
out that John was in fact born in Preston, Ayrshire as is recorded
in the archive in public records office (North Ireland) ref T808
15073.
It
was at the end of the the Nine Years' War in 1603 when King James
VI of Scotland became King James I of England and brought about
a major change in direction for Ireland. The existing Scottish
and English families in Ireland expected a better deal from the
Protestant King James than they actually received.
Estates
would be granted to three kinds of people: English and Scottish
settlers, who were not allowed to have Irish tenants; Servitors
(men who had served in the English army in Ireland), who might
take both British and Irish tenants; and Irishmen, who could have
Irish tenants. Rents were low, but settlers were expected to build
fortified houses. These colonists were required to rent this land
to Protestant tenants who would cultivate it and defend it against
the native Irish.
The
majority of the settlers of the Ulster Plantation would be Scots.
The Lowland Scots were enticed by the prospect of building permanent
homes on better farmland with the hope to be free of having their
homes destroyed by Highland Scots and the English.
In
Ireland, land was the symbol of power as well as the source of
wealth, so the idea behind plantation was to take the land away
from the Catholic Irish and replace them with English and Scottish
settlers. This meant that a new Protestant community could be
established to weaken Catholic Irish resistance to English rule.
The English and Lowland Scots would become prosperous in Ulster
only to further embittered the native Irish who had been pushed
away from their ancestral homes and condemned for their Catholic
faith.
The
Plantations of Ireland are divided into three different segments;
Ulster, Cromwellian, and Williamite. This work begins with the
Ulster Plantations around the time in which William Caldwell of
Stratton, Ayrshire, Decendant of William Caldwell, Prebendary
of Glasgow and Lord Chancellor of Scotland (c. 1349), may have
migrated to Donegal County, Ireland. John, son of William, who
married Mary Sweetenham, is said to have been born in Donegal
County in June of 1603 although the plantations of Ulster didn't
begin in earnest until 1606. 
Estates
would be granted to three kinds of people: English and Scottish
settlers, who were not allowed to have Irish tenants; Servitors
(men who had served in the English army in Ireland), who might
take both British and Irish tenants; and Irishmen, who could have
Irish tenants. Rents were low, but settlers were expected to build
fortified houses. These colonists were required to rent this land
to Protestant tenants who would cultivate it and defend it against
the native Irish.