The Act of Union in 1800 was a significant factor to the nature of Irish nationalism in 1800. Prior to the Act, the society of the united Irishmen, a republican society who wanted parliamentary reform and Catholic Emancipation, fought, under the leadership of Robert Emmet, with physical force for their complete independence. Because of their military strand they differed from their predecessors the ‘Protestant Patriots’, this is because the society was heavily influenced by revolutionary events in France and New America in the late 18th century. The rebellion, although unsuccessful, with its leader imprisoned, had major consequential effects; which was the passing of the Act of Union in 1800. The Act set the tone for the rest of Irish history; once emancipation failed to materialize directly after the union, the Catholic issue began to dominate both Irish and English politics. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...nment in Ireland was unavoidable. By the 1900s the high levels of poverty, eviction and enforced emigration had disappeared for the great Irish majority. Even though post Famine Ireland saw the continuation of small farms, the way Irish farmers saw agriculture changed. There was a great fall in the acreage devoted to potato cultivation from 2.1 million acres (1840s) to 587,000 acres (1908) . Instead of cultivating potatoes, pasture farming became more capital and by the end of the century Ireland saw twice as many dry cattle and sheep than 50 years prior to the famine . Additionally, between 1854-6 the Crimean War gave a temporary stimulus to the demand for grain. Landlords virtually vanished and the great majority of Irish holdings became to be owned by Irish peasant proprietors, sons and grandsons of men who ‘often been treated with less respect than cattle’ .
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Show MoreThe Irish Potato Famine was one of the single most dramatic and devastating events in human history. It impacted not only the Irish, but the English and Americans as well. Millions died from this famine and millions more Irish fled from the place they had always called home to other countries such as Great Britain, Canada, and the United States with the hopes of finding a better life. It triggered one of the first big migrations of immigrants to the United States. The Famine began 1845 to 1850, beginning in the fall of 1845 when the potatoes in Ireland were harvested. The entire potato crop was discovered to be diseased by late plight. Late plight is a fungus that destroys everything in a potato plant from its edible roots to the actual potato making them not edible, which also made the Irish vulnerable to a vast array of diseases.
Ireland has a very conflicted history. Just when that history may seem to take a turn for the better, it seems that there is always another event to keep the trend of depression ongoing. The separation of the Protestant and Catholic Church would be the center of these events. However, the two different groups could potentially work together for the betterment of the nation. Through an analysis of why Protestants and Catholics split in the first place, disadvantages that Catholics would face in the coming years and also how these disadvantages were lifted, an argument will be developed in that there is perhaps the chance that they may end up working together in the future for the betterment of Ireland. Although these two groups would fight over the countless decades, they need to join into one entity if they wish to see a better future for Ireland.
Gray, Peter. Famine, Land, and Politics: British Government and Irish Society. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1999.
As a result, the famine is an event still discussed and debated today; influencing Irish politics and its position within the British Isles. Questions about morality and blame have led to historians to attempt to critique British and Irish response during the famine, whilst cataloging the short term and long-term consequences. Although most blame is primarily placed on the regional and national governments response to the famine crisis, the actions of the State do not provide an adequate analysis of early nineteenth century social structures which would shape Ireland both economically, socially and politically in the years before the famine. The establishment of the Union in 1801 led to a free market system and s...
Not a unified and separate country until 1921, Northern Ireland has had cultural, financial, and economic that makes it stand affront from the rest of the Emerald Isles. With its close proximity to England and the immigration all through the 1600s of English and Scottish, Northern Ireland has become more anglicized th...
The Irish and British governments fought for many years over the ownership of Northern Ireland. Britain had main control over Northern Ireland, and Ireland did not think that was fair. Be...
Of all of the things that could have happened in Ireland, the Easter Uprising was by far the most unpopular thing to do in the eye of the Dublin public. The majority of people in Dublin at the beginning of the 20th century did not want the Uprising to happen, because it would postpone the ability to gain their independ...
...ber in order to assess the damage that the potato crop failure had had. A challenge soon presented itself in the form of differing assessment reports so it was not clear exactly how much damage had been done. A detailed report from an agriculturist however estimated the loss of the potato crop to be between one third and one half of the potatoes that were originally thought to be free from the fungus. More charitable relief works were being set up in order to care for the now starving people. Local clergy began to devise means for the labourers to receive his provisions at a cheaper rate and to find a way of bringing food into the country in order to prevent further starvation. Following a damp Spring and Summer the complete potato crop failure occurred in 1846 and from this began a series of potato crop failures that resulted in the decade long famine in Ireland.
Meagher, Timothy. “The Columbia Guide to Irish American History.” Columbia University Press- New York, 2005
The Volunteers and The United Irishmen campaigned to achieve Irish equality for two decades. At that point they had achieved many success and were in the process of achieving total equality, ‘Catholic Emancipation’. The bill was put forward and passed through both houses of Parliament. Just as it was to be signed into law, King George III intervened.
O'Connor, Thomas H. The Boston Irish: A Political History. Boston, MA. Northeastern University Press, 1995.
In the early 1900s, Irish nationalists were fed up with the British rule that had dominated Ireland since its existence. The Irish in this situation closely resemble the American Colonists prior to the American Revolution. The Irish felt as if the British did not represent them well and they wanted to run their own country and govern themselves. There were many small rebellions and confrontations between some Irish citizens and the British army all throughout Ireland’s history with the purpose of lowering the morale of British troops that occupied Ireland, or in rebellion to specific actions by the British. However, there never was any organized uprising with a goal of completely eliminating the British like the Easter Uprising in 1916.
The history of Ireland is diverse and fact is mixed with fiction. Through the years in which Ireland had a famine, many people migrated over to the United States in order to have a better life and gain some prosperity. When they arrived they were met with less than open arms, but rather a whole new world of discrimination. I will be discussing the summary I have done on the discrimination of Irish in America today, followed by my reactions, two other Irish blooded reactions, the history, identities, and transitions, of these people of which I learned through doing this research.
...wn to 4,000 acres. The undertakers, mostly landowners from England and Wales, were bound by gain, to plant ninety families that would constitute the full gambit of the English ‘social pyramid’. They also undertook not to lease to Native Irish. Success fell far short of ambitions. The grants proved too enormous for on undertaker to supervise and much of the New English planters never materialised. As a consequence, and the willingness of the Irish tenancy to pay higher rents, most of the displaced native Irish returned to the land. This had the unforeseen modernising effect of placing the Gaelic Irish into the newly created English social structure. As a result of the vast military activity all over the island, huge areas of impenetrable terrain was opened up. This had the knock on effect of improving travel, communications and trade over the majority of the island.
In 1801, the political Act of Union created a legislative bond between Great Britain and Ireland, bringing Ireland under British control as part of the “United Kingdom”. Within the poem ‘Act of Union’ Heaney draws upon the double meaning of this titular phrase to compare the long lasting effect of this lawful union with an act of sexual domination.