In investigating this question, the following facts should be considered:

• During the eighteenth century the British Parliament had exerted its power on political and economic matters concerning Ireland.
• Many people who were associated with the Irish Parliament in the 1770s, and later the United Irishmen, saw similarities with the situation of the American Colonies and sympathised with their cause.
• Ireland’s proximity to Britain made its situation different from those of other more distant territories, as many of its leading political and economic figures had significant interests in Britain.
• In 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, as Scotland had done nearly a hundred years before.

Concluding Activity

Re-examine the dictionary definition of a colony. In the eighteenth century, to what extent did Ireland match the following definitions:

• a settlement
• settlers in a new country forming a community
• partly subject to a mother state

What would have to change under the Union to make Ireland an equal partner in the United Kingdom?

Question 2

Why were many people in Ulster inspired by the American and French Revolutions?

In investigating this question, the following facts should be considered:

• In the late eighteenth century, many Presbyterians and Catholics were becoming better educated and more prosperous, yet they were barred from taking leading public roles in society.
• Many Presbyterians who emigrated to America supported the revolutionary cause and wrote back to relatives in Ulster telling of their experiences and ideas.
• The Presbyterian Church encouraged its members to participate in its organisation, so the ideas of greater equality and freedom which emerged from America and France appealed to many of them.
• Since the late sixteenth century, many Irish Catholics had looked to Spain and, later, to France as possible sources of support to restore their position.

Concluding Activity

In the light of the evidence available, complete the following paragraph:

Question 3

Who supported the United Irishmen?

When examining this question, the following facts should be considered:

• The societies of United Irishmen in Dublin were almost entirely composed of small groups drawn from the middle classes.
• In Counties Antrim and Down large numbers of Presbyterians supported the cause of the United Irishmen.
• In 1796 in these counties and elsewhere in Ulster, many Protestants, including Presbyterians, joined the Yeomanry in opposition to the organisation.
• As a result of Lake’s campaign in 1797, and rumours of attacks against Protestants in Wexford, many United Irishmen had second thoughts and did not take part in the uprising.
• In parts of Ulster and elsewhere in Ireland, the Defender Movement was influenced by United Irish ideas, and some of its members took part in the Ulster uprising.
• The events in Wexford and Kildare took the form of an uprising by mainly peasant Catholic farmers which degenerated into sectarian attacks on landowners and was followed by harsh military measures from government troops.

Concluding Activity

Reconstruct an enquiry into the causes of Protestant unrest in Ulster in 1795—8 by role-playing interviews with a United Irish sympathiser in County Antrim and an Orange Order supporter in County Armagh. Write out role-cards for each. How would their views toward the British government, Catholics, and the Church of Ireland differ?