United Irishmen, United States : Immigrant Radicals in the Early Republic

Author/Creator:

Wilson, David A., 1950- author

Publication/Creation:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2011]

Resource Type:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

United Irishmen, United States : Immigrant Radicals in the Early Republic / David A. Wilson

Series Titles:

ACLS Humanities E-Book.

Related/Included Titles:

Front matter --
Contents --
Acknowledgments --
Introduction --
Chapter 1. A Green Bough --
Chapter 2. Hordes of Wild Irishmen --
Chapter 3. The Land of Liberty --
Chapter 4. Humbling the British Tyrant --
Chapter 5. Marching to Irish Music --
Chapter 6. Signs of the Times --
Chapter 7. No Excluded Class --
Chapter 8. The Cause of Ireland --
Conclusion --
Notes --
Index

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

United Irishmen
Radicalism--United States--History--18th century
Irish Americans--Politics and government
Ireland--Politics and government--1760-1820
United States--Politics and government--1783-1809

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. A Green Bough -- Chapter 2. Hordes of Wild Irishmen -- Chapter 3. The Land of Liberty -- Chapter 4. Humbling the British Tyrant -- Chapter 5. Marching to Irish Music -- Chapter 6. Signs of the Times -- Chapter 7. No Excluded Class -- Chapter 8. The Cause of Ireland -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

Summary:

Among the thousands of political refugees who flooded into the United States during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, none had a greater impact on the early republic than the United Irishmen. They were, according to one Federalist, "the most God-provoking Democrats on this side of Hell." "Every United Irishman," insisted another, "ought to be hunted from the country, as much as a wolf or a tyger." David A. Wilson's lively book is the first to focus specifically on the experiences, attitudes, and ideas of the United Irishmen in the United States. Wilson argues that America served a powerful symbolic and psychological function for the United Irishmen as a place of wish-fulfillment, where the broken dreams of the failed Irish revolution could be realized. The United Irishmen established themselves on the radical wing of the Republican Party, and contributed to Jefferson's "second American Revolution" of 1800; John Adams counted them among the "foreigners and degraded characters" whom he blamed for his defeat. After Jefferson's victory, the United Irishmen set out to destroy the Federalists and democratize the Republicans. Some of them believed that their work was preparing the way for the millennium in America. Convinced that the example of America could ultimately inspire the movement for a democratic republic back home, they never lost sight of the struggle for Irish independence. It was the United Irishmen, writes Wilson, who originated the persistent and powerful tradition of Irish-American nationalism.

Language:

English

Language Note:

English

Physical Type/Description:

1 online resource (x, 223 p. ) ill

General Note:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Additional Physical Form:

Issued also in print.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9936950947702486

ISBN:

1-5017-1159-8

OCLC Number:

811410470
1038483598

Other Identifiers:

doi: 10.7591/9781501711596