The Nature of the Irish Nationalism was Changed by the Act of Union in 1800

This culminated in the Rebellion of 1798, lead by Wolfe Tone and the Society of United Irishmen, in which Hugh and Jimmy participated: “The road to Sligo. A spring morning. 1798. Going into battle” (445). But, as these characters soon discovered, the rebellion failed resulting in large executions and the passing of the Act of Union in 1800. This piece of legislation, effective from 1 January 1801, brought Ireland under the direct rule of the British Crown.

The Irish were poor, working class immigrants, who were trying to improve their standard of living; therefore any threats to their jobs, were threats to their survival. The Emancipation Proclamation was the confirmation of their fears. Its enactment was the cap for two years of growing support from abolitionists, which created anxiety among the Democratic proslavery Irish. Subsequent to the Lincoln election in 1860, the conservative Democratic party warned the Irish to prepare for the freeing of southern slaves, and the labor competition they would ultimately have to face when they migrated North. Moreover, the Conscription Act enraged the Irish, forcing all men between the ages of 20 and 35 and all unmarried men between the ages of 35 and 45 to enlist in the draft. Drafted men who presented an “acceptable substitute” or paid $300 were exempt. Black men were exempt because they weren’t considered citizens, which left the Irish fearful of the upcoming influx of cheap black labor. The Conscription Act exacerbated the already substantial tension between the two parties to bloodshed. To a certain degree, the Irish were jealous of the African Americans; African-Americans were considered highly-valued property in the antebellum south, so they were not allowed to participate in dangerous or life-threatening work.

     Nineteenth-century Ireland was the most densely populated country in Europe: in 1800, its population was 4.5 million, and by 1841, it had risen to eight million (Kinealy 15). Yet much of this population existed in condition of sorrow and misery lay in the dependence of the peasantry on just one staple crop, the potato; in western countries like Mayo and Galway, nine-tenths of the people ate nothing else (MacManus 602). Here was a disaster waiting to happen, made worst by the rapid rise in population in the first half of the century which forced the peasants to subsist on smaller plots of land (O Grada, The Great Irish Famine 63).

K.H. Connell, in his paper “Land and Population in Ireland, 1780-1845”, describes and explains the significant population growth in Ireland prior to the famine of 1845 and how the uses of the Irish land changed with the population growth.

The book, “The Irish Way” by James R. Barrett is a masterpiece written to describe the life of Irish immigrants who went to start new lives in America after conditions at home became un-accommodative. Widespread insecurity, callous English colonizers and the ghost of great famine still lingering on and on in their lives, made this ethnic group be convinced that home was longer a home anymore. They descended in United States of America in large numbers. James R. Barrett in his book notes that these people were the first group of immigrants to settle in America. According to him, there were a number of several ethnic groups that have arrived in America. It was, however, the mass exodus of Irish people during and after the great

The Irish were promised the Home Rule Act, but it was taken away at the start of the Ester Uprising. “This modest promise was swept away the Easter Uprising of 1916, when a small band of rebels paralyzed the city and the Irish Republic was proclaimed from the steps of the GPO” (Hegarty). Padhraic Pearse led about 2000 people into the Easter Revolution, only a small fraction of the people that had lived in Dublin at the time. Most of the Irish were involved in World War I. “They had little support – many Irish volunteers had joined the war effort and the rebels were perceived to be traitors to the great cause” (Hegarty). It would take more violence and rebellion against the British to bring attention to their cause both locally and abroad.

Were De Valera’s personal Catholic views responsible for the religious elements in the Irish Constitution?

Before the famine in the mid-1800s, “many English politicians and social reformers began to think that Ireland was a nation in need of transformation, that it’s people now needed to be yanked into the modern world by tossing out the old Gaelic traditions” (The History Place-Before the Famine). The English reformers wanted to end Ireland’s “cycle” of poverty and misfortune because in the “1800s poverty was thought to be caused by bad moral character” (The History Place- Before the Famine). The English politicians and social reformers also wanted to change the laid-back lifestyle of the Irish peasants. “ They professed the virtues of hard work, thrift and self-reliance and regarded the Irish as totally lacking in these qualities, a point of view also shared by many British officials and politicians” (The History Place-Before the Famine).

Clearly, a large portion of the turmoil experienced during this type could be put down to the changing government of the period. Though democratically elected and in more direct control of the Irish nation, the Home Rule government what the Irish called the Free State in its first years was not as responsive to the people as some desired (Ferriter, n.d.). An effective civil service providing for many needs was set up, but the ruling party and government experienced internal strife over significant differences of opinion throughout this decade (Ferriter, n.d.). The government was a democracy, but a very young democracy, and with all of the problems that this youth entails in a newly freed and democratically empowered nation and population.

While the War of Independence was the first time Ireland would be separated from England in over 100 years, Ireland and England have had a parallel history for far longer than that. Since the Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland passed in the parliaments of both England and Ireland in 1800, Ireland has been considered a legal part of the United Kingdom. Prior to this unification by law, Ireland had been under some sort of British control since the feudal rule under the King of Britain started in 1177. Feudal rule was brought to a close by proclamation of Henry VIII, in which he became King of Ireland. The Irish rebellion of 1641 brought a slight bump to this rule, but the re-conquest of Ireland by Parliamentary forces led by Oliver

The campaign had ultimately led to the creation of the Act of Ireland of 1920. This created a twenty-six county Irish Free State and six counties in Northern Ireland (Filardo-Llamas, 2013; White, 1989). This act also allowed Northern Ireland to choose whether or not to stay with Britain or become part of the Free State. Northern Ireland ultimately decided to stay with the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland created its own parliament in Stormont in Belfast (Bosi, 2012; Filardo-Llamas, 2013). The Free State was mostly inhabited by Catholics while Northern Ireland was populated mostly by Protestants (White, 1989). But the road to have a Free State did come at a price. Over 7,500 people lost their lives or were wounded between 1917 and 1923. Many lost their homes, family and friends (Hart,

Sec.6-8 No attorney, six-clerk, solicitor, or officer shall take any papist or reputed papist to be his apprentice or clerk, or knowingly permit any popish solicitor, agent or manager to search records, pleadings, etc. or otherwise practice as such, upon pain of 50 pounds for each such offence, and to be held by the court to special bail. Provide solicitors etc. comprehended within the articles of Limerick are excepted. This law still follows the Limerick Treaty, but slowly the Treaty is betrayed, and it leaves the Catholic people with nothing. The Catholics also wanted full independence because they felt that the Protestants were affecting their identity, and they were afraid of losing it. One can see that that Irish united to fight for their cultural identity which was slowly being melded with the Protestant culture. Through the loss of the education system, they were losing their religious tradition. There were no more churches, and slowly their faith was becoming less connected to the people. By removing the identity of the Irish Catholics and influencing their culture directly and indirectly they are angering the Catholics, provoking rebellions.

Since the application of the Act of Union at the turn of the nineteenth century until 1923 the whole of Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. For a vast majority of this period Ireland was rule by Parliament in Westminster. According to Allen and Unwin the Irish Question was the greatest problem facing the British government in the late ninetieth and early twentieth century, yet the nature of the problem of Ireland meant that it was almost an impossible political issue to resolve as, no one solution would satisfy both the British electorate and the Irish population. Prior to the Irish War of Independence there had been mounting tensions

The modernization of Ireland was now vividly clear in the parliament held in Dublin in 1541 the active constitutional status of the Ireland had monumentally become altered Ireland was now established in law as a single and distinct sovereign entity joined to England only under the rule of a common monarch, it could no longer be counted as a divided lordship but now Ireland was an equal part of the United Kingdom This so called constitutional revolution understandably modernized Ireland, the Tudor resolution to Irelands problems seemed to be that a civil society would be created and obtained in Ireland through the government systems already in place there as well as using institutional development and reform. It could be stated that these reforms were not necessarily unsuccessful in Ireland throughout this time as it was not until 25 February of the year 1570 when Pope Pius V issued a papal bull, Regnans in Excelsis, declaring Elizabeth I of England a heretic and allowing all her subjects to be released from any allegiance to her therefore allowing the catholic people of Ireland to rebel against the monarchy and establishment in

There was significant development of Ireland as an independent country in the first few decades of the twentieth century. Through the examination of Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, Shaw’s O’flaherty, V.C., and Yeats’ Easter 1916 and Sixteen Dead Men readers are able to better understand the violence that allowed for that development to be possible within Ireland at the time.