The Change of the Irish Question between 1800 and 1922
The Irish Question changed dramatically between the years 1800 and
1922. The Anglican Ascendancy meant that Ireland was governed
indirectly from England. The Ascendancy angered the Catholics, limited
their rights and made them pay taxes to the Protestant church. This
led to dissatisfaction amongst Catholics culminating in the 1798
Rebellion. This caused the British Government to become more involved
with Ireland, as they began to fear that Revolution could occur. It
revealed to them the weaknesses of the existing, divided system in
Ireland and the need for the Question to be addressed.
The Act of Union represented the first phase of the Irish Question. It
was a response to the 1798 Rebellion and fears of Ireland possibly
being used as a base for France to bring about revolution. It aimed to
unite Ireland and England and to dissolve the Irish Parliament into
the English Parliament. The British Government now had to take
responsibility for Ireland, but it was still treated as a separate
country and Duke of Wellington later described it as "the enemy's
country". The divides between the English and the Irish and the
Catholics and the Protestants that had existed before were
strengthened to an even greater degree after the Act of Union. This
was because Irish Protestants in the North gained both economically
and religiously from the Act as they still continued to control
Ireland via the Protestant Ascendancy; therefore they became
pro-union, and favoured the Act of Union. Whereas many Catholics in
Ireland felt betrayed, because the Act of Union was not followed by
Emancipation li...
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... North and South and to solve the Irish
Question once and for all. This was not wholly successful though
because it created peace in the South but there was continuing
violence in the North.
In conclusion it can be seen that the Irish Question had a changing
nature over time, because of the impact of certain individuals, such
as Gladstone and Parnell and outside events, such as, the First World
War. There were common links and themes that occurred, such as, the
British harsh responses to events, leading to increased support for
extremists. The Irish Question differed for the Catholics and
Protestants and the Catholic moderates and extremists, as they all had
varied needs. It is apparent that the Irish Question still had not
been answered after 1822, because the troubles continued to exist
thereafter in the North.
They also felt culturally different. The Americans were well removed from their English ancestors and felt like they were being ruled by an unworthy ruler that had no right to tell them what to do. The Irish felt the same way, but did it without a massive war
After the Act of union had been passed, Daniel O’Connell worked effectively in addressing Irish grievances; his actions were significant in contributing to the changing nature of the Irish question. Even though O’Connell tried to address the same issues as the society of united Irishmen, he abandoned the use of violence and instead took a constitutional approach such as the use of monster meetings and working alongside parliament in order to gain catholic emancipation and repeal of the union. O’Connell’s zeal for reform influenced parliament in passing the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. Even though in the short term the Act had been insignificant in Ireland as the British government purposely reduced the Irish electorate by increasing qualifications from 40 shillings to £10 in an attempt to retain Protestant dominance, it was the prime cause for the d...
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...ehind leaders such as Wolf Tone, pledging their support in the form of the United Irishmen. Even though the 1798 Uprising would ultimately fail, this milestone in Irish history had the other citizens of Ireland that the Catholics were willing to lay aside their past differences for the betterment of their nation. This begs the question that will they continue to work together in the future. Based off the past evidence, Protestants and Catholics have little to lose in assisting each other and having Ireland progress into a nation that is one unified completely. What needs to happen though is that each side has to lay out the terms with no outside influence. There can be no ambiguous statements surrounding these terms and officials have to free of bias, as much as a person can be, to effectively write equal terms that ensure economic progress and religious tolerance.
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