The American Staffordshire terrier is a large breed of dog. Early bulldog–terrier crosses were brought to the US by British and Irish settlers, especially after the American Civil War, where they were mainly used as hunting dogs, farm dogs, and guard dogs. This has since become a very popular breed. In the early 1830s, after the Human Ethics Act passed, animal fights, especially the formerly extremely-popular and bear-baiting, became illegal in Britain and Ireland.