Mid-Century Politics & Society

Intro

 * The social and cultural impacts of the famine were vast
 * Primarily a sense of alienation from British rule
 * Also skepticism of leadership and goals of British leadership
 * Concern about who owned what land and why?

Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848

 * Young Ireland movement largely propagated through newspaper
 * The Nation suggested that nation happened through language, culture, race.
 * Violent agenda -> not O'Connel's nonviolent approach
 * 1840's -> Social revolution around Europe about lower / middle class rising to power
 * James Fintan Lalor -> major leader
 * "Ireland her own, and all therein, from the sod to the sky. The soil of Ireland for the people of Ireland"


 * Young Ireland movement was elite, educated, agitated.
 * Young Ireland was thrown out of the Repeal Movement

End of Repeal Movement

 * Agrarian crisis caused O'Connel to go home take care of his own
 * Also growing violence against his ideas

Social Mobilization

 * John Mitchell calls on the peasantry to arm themselves
 * British government nervous about :
 * 1) Famine
 * 2) Peasant unrest and mobilization
 * 3) 1848 rebellions around Europe
 * 1848 -> Rebellion in France, suggests ideal timing for the Irish
 * In May 48 -> Major leaders arrested by British


 * William Smith O'Brien -> July 1848
 * Was a protestant
 * Only 100 people, tried to lead the Irish people in town in Tipperary up
 * Total failure, crushed by local constabulary.
 * Ideological, Romantically very influential
 * Very successful as a site of propaganda
 * Institutionalized Irish Rebellion
 * Library of Ireland: Published by The Nation to serve as revolutionary reading materials
 * Cycle of revolution: 1798 - 1803 - 1848
 * Charles Gavan Duffy -> Lived to 1903,
 * Kept The Nation going
 * Produced histories of Young Ireland movement
 * Really mythologized the Irish Rebellion movements

Traditions of Nationalism

 * Cultural Nationalism & Socialism
 * High literacy rate in Ireland, but 1850 -> 50% of Irish could read
 * "The Irish People" -> A shifting meaning
 * Music became an important tool for producing/celebrating Nationalism
 * One of the most popular was "A Nation Once Again"
 * And "The West's Awake"
 * Name for Ireland: Eire // Erin // Hence -> Ireland
 * Skibbereen -> place in Ireland (County Cork) that suffered terrible death and loss during Famine
 * Became a part of beloved Irish ballad
 * "And that's the reason why I left old Skibbereen"
 * Little bit of Irish in this song -> "cota mor"

Emigration

 * Emigration was an alternative to very dire circumstances
 * Sometimes however, people were too weak or poor to be able to immigrate
 * Pre-paid tickets were often sent home to buy tickets out
 * Re-location of the Irish occurred to dense, specific places
 * Easiest place to re-locate to was England (Easiest, no visas (remember its part of Union) no costs)
 * 3/5 Irish Immigrants left from Ireland
 * 1) Cobh
 * 2) Dublin
 * 3) Belfast
 * 4) Galway
 * Crossing to the US was 3 pounds / Australia for 15 pounds
 * Full time laborer made 1 pound a week, but by the famine, not much money
 * After 1850 (Iron hulled steamers) 2 weeks to cross
 * Mortality rate was 2%
 * Some trips had even higher rates of mortality -> 1/6th (on trips to Quebec)

Immigrant Profiles

 * Most immigrants were unmarried
 * Equal number of women and men migrated (which was unusual)
 * b/c lots of opportunity for women (domestic work)
 * Moved to major cities
 * Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow
 * Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco (less in SF)
 * They become a dominant social group
 * Firmly established the primacy of the Catholics.
 * Irish Protestants moved to Canada -> Most became known as Scotch-Irish (Ulster Protestant Irish)
 * Also traveled to Australia, India, New Zealand
 * Irish were over-represented in the British Army (re-settled where they landed)
 * 30,000 people migrated to Argentina from Ireland

Diaspora

 * Catholic religion made them subject of discrimination
 * Australia very hospitable
 * Irish were often forced to take lowest social jobs (became considered as "low" class)
 * Irish as a separate race -> "Othering" of the Irish (How the Irish became White)
 * In Liverpool Catholic church forced assimilation
 * But also created tradition of separated
 * Gaelic Athletic Association & Gaelic League