Union Forever

David Sim

Description

In the mid-nineteenth century the Irish question-the governance of the island of Ireland-demanded attention on both sides of the Atlantic. In A Union Forever, David Sim examines how Irish nationalists and their American sympathizers attempted to convince legislators and statesmen to use the burgeoning global influence of the United States to achieve Irish independence. Simultaneously, he tracks how American politicians used the Irish question as means of furthering their own diplomatic and political ends. Combining an innovative transnational methodology with attention to the complexities of American statecraft, Sim rewrites the diplomatic history of this neglected topic. He considers the impact that nonstate actors had on formal affairs between the United States and Britain, finding that not only did Irish nationalists fail to involve the United States in their cause but actually fostered an Anglo-American rapprochement in the final third of the nineteenth century. Their failures led them to seek out new means of promoting Irish self-determination, including an altogether more radical, revolutionary strategy that would alter the course of Irish and British history over the next century.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• United States of America
• Diplomacy
• Ireland
• International relations
• History of the Americas
• History of Europe
• Stephen Ireland
• États-Unis
• Diplomatie (homonymie)

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801469688
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A UNION FOREVER

A volume in the series

TheUnitedStatesintheWorld edited by Mark Philip Bradley, David C. Engerman, and Paul A. Kramer

A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

A UNION FOREVER

TheIrishQuestionandU.S.Foreign Relations in the Victorian Age

DavidSim

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2013 by Cornell University

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, NewYork 14850.

Firstpublished2013byCornellUniversityPress PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica

LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Sim, David, 1985– author.  A union forever: the Irish question and U.S. foreign relations in the Victorian age / David Sim.  pages cm. — (The United States in the world)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801451843 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. United States—Foreign relations—Ireland. 2. Ireland— Foreign relations—United States. 3. United States—Foreign relations— Great Britain. 4. Great Britain—Foreign relations—United States. 5. United States—Foreign relations—19th century. 6. Irish question. 7. Ireland—Politics and government—19th century. I.Title.  E183.8.I6S56 2013  327.730417'09034—dc23 2013021194

CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

“What to that redoubted harpooner, John Bull, is poor Ireland, but a FastFish? What to that apostolic lancer, Brother Jonathan, is Texas but a FastFish? And concerning all these, is not Possession the whole of the law?” —HermanMelville,Moby Dick(1851)

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: An Atlantic Triangle

1. Challenging the Union: American Repeal and U.S. Diplomacy 2. Ireland Is No Longer a Nation:The Irish Famine and American Diplomacy 3. Filibusters and Fenians: Contesting Neutrality 4.TheFenianBrotherhood,Naturalization,andExpatriation:Irish Americans and AngloAmerican Comity 5.TowardHomeRule:FromtheFenianstoParnell’sAscendancy 6.ASearchforOrder:TheDeclineoftheIrishQuestion in American Diplomacy

Epilogue: Rapprochement, Paris, and a Free State Notes Bibliography Index

ix

1

11

39 69

97 129

153

175

187 243 259

Acknowledgments

This book owes much to the patience, generosity, and insight of many people. In particular, I’d like to thank Jay Sexton for his assistance and sagacity throughout the project’s progress. Despite inflicting much impen etrable prose and numerous bewildering arguments on him over the years, he agreed to act as my supervisor and has been unfailingly supportive. Special thanks also go to Donald Ratcliffe, Gareth Davies, Stephen Tuck, Martin Crawford, Adam Smith, David Gleeson, Eric Rauchway, Kevin Kenny, Peter Onuf, Lizabeth Cohen, and Richard Carwardine for innu merable conversations, book recommendations, and scholarly advice. Ian Tyrrell, Frank Brinkley, Daniel Peart, and Steve Tuffnell all read drafts of sections of the manuscript (the more masochistic read a whole draft), and I thank them for their suggestions. I’d also like to thank Michael McGandy, Sarah Grossman, David Engerman, Kate Babbitt, and the anonymous read ers at Cornell University Press for their help.Their comments improved the book immeasurably. I’ve also benefited from feedback and questions received at various sem inars and conferences, particularly those held by the Rothermere American Institute, the Institute of Historical Research, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, and, of course, the Association of British