Irish-Catholic history, and the construction of an Irish-Catholic identity in the United States - 1815-1871

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This project will investigate the importance of the legacy of 17th Century Irish history for the formation of Irish-Catholicidentity in the United States across the 19th century; how an understanding of Irish history as an incomparable narrativeof oppression at the hands of British rapacity informed Irish-Catholic perceptions of other European and global diasporacommunities in the United States, how it shaped their own ethnic Catholicism against alternative Catholic communities,and how the causes of other European peoples were interpreted and compared negatively with the cause of the Irish-Catholics. This thesis will assess American Irish-Catholic reception of the Vienna Settlement, the Greek War ofIndependence, the Polish Uprising of 1830, the emergence of Spanish-American republics, the French conquest ofAlgeria between 1830 and 1848, slavery, British imperialism in India, 1848, the Crimean War and German and ItalianUnification, and how these cases were utilised by the Irish-Catholic community to galvanise and solidify a specific Irish-Catholic identity in the United States. The thesis will assess how Irish history was compared with these cases to placethe Irish cause above all others, to make Irish-Catholics believe they were a more noble community and one moredeserving of sympathy, respect and aid. The thesis will utilise Irish-Catholic newspapers, pamphlets, sermons andpolitical speeches.