Search citation statements
Paper Sections
Citation Types
Year Published
Publication Types
Relationship
Authors
Journals
In September 1828, societies of the ‘Friends of Ireland’ were founded throughout the United States and British North America for the purpose of raising funds and disseminating propaganda in support of the O’Connellite campaign for Catholic emancipation. In March 1831, the societies were briefly revived to agitate for repeal of the Union. The first Irish diasporic social movement to appear in Britain’s overseas empire, the British North American Friends of Ireland enjoyed greatest support in French-speaking Lower Canada, where for a time sympathetic local patriotes perceived a common cause with their new Irish neighbours. This article explores the transatlantic reciprocal interactions, cross-ethnic alliances and regional distinctions which characterised early O’Connellism in Lower Canada. It follows its initial successes to its virtual collapse in the early 1830s, as an increasingly polarised Lower Canada slid towards rebellion. Comparisons are employed with similar agitation elsewhere in British North America, in the United States, and in Ireland. It is argued that instrumentalist explanations for Irish diasporic nationalism, typically drawn from studies of post-famine Irish-America, do not convincingly account for the appearance and form of O’Connellite nationalism in British North America.
In September 1828, societies of the ‘Friends of Ireland’ were founded throughout the United States and British North America for the purpose of raising funds and disseminating propaganda in support of the O’Connellite campaign for Catholic emancipation. In March 1831, the societies were briefly revived to agitate for repeal of the Union. The first Irish diasporic social movement to appear in Britain’s overseas empire, the British North American Friends of Ireland enjoyed greatest support in French-speaking Lower Canada, where for a time sympathetic local patriotes perceived a common cause with their new Irish neighbours. This article explores the transatlantic reciprocal interactions, cross-ethnic alliances and regional distinctions which characterised early O’Connellism in Lower Canada. It follows its initial successes to its virtual collapse in the early 1830s, as an increasingly polarised Lower Canada slid towards rebellion. Comparisons are employed with similar agitation elsewhere in British North America, in the United States, and in Ireland. It is argued that instrumentalist explanations for Irish diasporic nationalism, typically drawn from studies of post-famine Irish-America, do not convincingly account for the appearance and form of O’Connellite nationalism in British North America.
The papers of Bartholomew O'Brien, innkeeper and broker of silver, offer a fresh look at Montreal's Irish Catholic community in the 1840s. His interventions illustrate the way an individual navigated an "ethnicized" social network and circulated resources between the market economy and the gift economy, spheres that Ferdinand Tönnies termed the Gesellschaft and the Gemeinschaft (1887). In a city embarked on the revolution of steam power, the two circuits were braided together, and, despite the obsolescence of Tönnies' original formulation, the distinction reveals some persistent features of the invasive nature of capital and human responses to its perennial re-structuring of the urban economy. When the market faltered, each of the several ethnic communities worked to buffer its members through a personal web of trust. The evidence is based on archival sources: O'Brien's own correspondence and daybook, parish registers, and leases and loans conserved in notaries' repertories. Les papiers de Bartholomew O'Brien, aubergiste et changeur d'argent, offrent une nouvelle perspective sur la communauté irlando-catholique de Montréal. Membre de la génération pionnière, ses interventions au cours des années 1840 font comprendre comment l'individu naviguait dans un réseau social «ethnicisé» pour faire circuler des ressources entre l'économie du marché et l'économie du don, les deux sphères que Ferdinand Tönnies nommait Gesellschaft et Gemeinschaft (1887). Dans une ville qui amorçait une révolution industrielle, les deux circuits s'entrecroisaient. Bient qu'elle soit dépassée, la distinction de Tönnies découvre la nature envahissante du capital et la réponse humaine à la restructuration de l'économie urbaine. Lors d'une défaillance du marché, chaque communauté culturelle s'acharnait à protéger les siens en mobilisant son propre réseau de confiance. L'interprétation est fondée sur des sources archivistiques: un journal de bord tenu par O'Brien, une correspondance et comptabilité, et baux et prêts conservés dans les répertoires des notaires.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.