Erin's Hope [microform] : Fenianism in the North Atlantic World, 1858-1876 PDF Download

Author: Steward, Patrick
Publisher: Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International
ISBN:
Category : Canada
Languages : en
Pages : 798

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Book Description
This study examines the mid-nineteenth Irish nationalist Fenian movement in a transatlantic context. Irish patriotic expression intensified in the aftermath of the Great Potato Famine as semi-skilled men and women increasingly supported violent efforts to terminate British suzerainty over Ireland. Upon the 1858 establishment of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Dublin and an auxiliary organization called the Fenian Brotherhood in New York, Irish nationalists throughout the Western Hemisphere progressively repudiated the deceased Daniel O'Connell's longstanding effort to licitly reestablish a semi-autonomous Irish Parliament. Demographic analysis of various primary sources reveals that proponents of both organizations (who were commonly known as Fenians) were generally semi-skilled individuals with aspirations of advancing into the middle class. Ardent Irish American Fenian supporters, in particular, were usually natives of southern Ireland who immigrated to the United States at a time of significant anti-Irish sentiment in America but later enlisted in the Union Army to demonstrate their admiration of democratic principles. Although hindered by mismanagement, ecclesiastical opposition, and an increasing collective Irish expatriate desire to assimilate into American society rather than return to their homeland, the Fenian hierarchy ultimately organized three arguably comical invasions of Canada between 1866 and 1871 and an ephemeral insurrection in Ireland on the night of March 5th, 1867. As many prominent Fenians later became political and civic leaders throughout the United States and Ireland, this study demonstrates how widely popular social movements can be manipulated for personal gain. The two principal leaders of the Fenians, James Stephens and John O'Mahony, were tarnished by scandal. Many of their one-time colleagues, however, were eventually served in United States House of Representatives or in other elected capacities. Irish Land League founder Michael Davitt was also a Fenian who participated in a botched attempt to convey British rifles from an arsenal in Chester. As militant Irish nationalists remain active in Ulster, this study thus depicts the type of men and women who have supported military action against the British government in the modern era.