Irish Dbq Essay

The events of the Irish Revolution of 1798 are directly tied to the American and French revolutions. The ideas of Liberty were taken straight from American and French pamphlets. Ireland gained its nationalist identity through the formation of The Volunteers, a group that came to power because of the American Revolution. And France’s government gave legitimacy to the United Irishmen. Without these foreign influences, the United Irishmen would have never gained the support needed to launch a rebellion.

The Enlightenment thinkers changed the way common people viewed government. Before the 17th century, governments acted with impunity. While rebellions had happened prior to the 17th century, they usually consisted of fewer than 1,000 troops

The volunteers and United Irishmen allied to compound their political power. For a time things worked well, Ireland was gaining right. England having just lost the Americas years earlier saw ghosts of the past. The British did not want a repeat of the American Revolution and attempted a form of appeasement. The Catholic relief act of 1791 was one of many attempts by the British government to stop the rebellion, yet that would all end with the veto of Catholic emancipation. When Catholic emancipation failed, the dam broke. Revolution became the only option for the repressed in Ireland to achieve the equality that they now believed was an inalienable right. The decades of enlightenment ideas that had been flooding in from America and France finally came to a head in 1798 when the Irish attempted their own rebellion. However, it was not just American and French ideas that lead Ireland to war, the history is much more conjoined that that. Without the historical event of the American Revolution, Ireland would never have developed the national pride that was needed to attempt a

In the years following Ireland was able to campaign for further Catholic equality and Irish political autonomy. The Volunteers were Irelands military arm that could threaten to revolt at any time. The Irish public understood this and united under the idea of rebelling against the English. It was widely accepted that a rebelling such as the ones in America and France could take place, but the population held out hope that further political actions would bring about a peaceful solution to Irelands problems. This was not the case however and in 1798 when King George vetoed of Catholic emancipation, Ireland knew they had to