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

This project will investigate the importance of the legacy of 17th Century Irish history for the formation of Irish-Catholic
identity in the United States across the 19th century; how an understanding of Irish history as an incomparable narrative
of oppression at the hands of British rapacity informed Irish-Catholic perceptions of other European and global diaspora
communities 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 of

Independence, the Polish Uprising of 1830, the emergence of Spanish-American republics, the French conquest of
Algeria between 1830 and 1848, slavery, British imperialism in India, 1848, the Crimean War and German and Italian

Unification, 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 place

the Irish cause above all others, to make Irish-Catholics believe they were a more noble community and one more
deserving of sympathy, respect and aid. The thesis will utilise Irish-Catholic newspapers, pamphlets, sermons and
political speeches.