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The Relationship Between Constitutional And Physical Force Republicanism: The Language Of Nationalism And Republicanism

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This analysis will look at how historians have attempted to explain the relationship between constitutional and physical force nationalism/republicanism.
In the book Irish Peasants Violence and Political Unrest 1780 – 1914 editors Samuel Clark and James S. Donnelly Jr. suggest, in the opening paragraph, that poverty related rebellion in Ireland became commonplace during the late 18th and early 19th century that led to the ideas of a separatist republic. These events gave rise to, at first, a constitutional nationalist party called The Society of United Irishmen that sought parliamentary reform and to make this change they worked through parliament before later becoming an armed revolutionary group. Focusing on this time period and going on the writings of Clark and Donnelly it could be argued that the relationship between constitutional and physical force nationalism was, at this time, a unified one …show more content…

Perry Curtis Jr. in his article ‘Moral and Physical Force: The Language of Violence in Irish Nationalism’ points out that constitutional and physical force nationalism existed side by side in Irish politics up until the Anglo – Irish Treaty of 1921. It appears that for a substantial period in Ireland constitutional nationalism and physical force republicanism stood on equal ground until people had an opportunity for their own parliament and then the physical force tradition succumb to constitutional politics. Curtis also alludes to a point made earlier in this piece in how both nationalist traditions shared similar goals despite having different approaches to the issue of British rule. Curtis argues that the relationship between constitutional and physical force nationalism became ’’bound in a close and complex’’ way that had the effect of increasing both the strength of nationalism and the difficulties for Britain in dealing with the Irish Question. This relationship in question can be said to be a bit unusual but worked out to be extremely effective for

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