Apush Dbq Irish Relations Case Study

“Ireland must be governed in the English interest” as Document 1 states. The Irish and English relationship is one of ethnic superiority over the other and geographical divide. The English feel like it is their duty to make the Irish people like themselves and they believe that their religion is the crux of what makes them inferior and the Irish just want to be left alone. The geographical divide between the nations is the mainly protestant, Ulster, and the Catholic rest of the island as Document 9 suggests. This has caused many disputes because of the fact that Irish Nationalists want the whole island unified.
Document 4 says, “The curse of the Popery, with its degrading idolatry and corrupting priesthood, is the root of Irelands misery.” The English Presbyterian that states this represents what the English people thought of the Irish. The Irish were not as developed as the English and the English did go in and industrialize in certain areas such as Ulster and parts of Dublin. Even though Ireland did gain wealth as Document 5 states, most of the money stayed within the Protestant population that came from England and Scotland. Document 5 blames it on the Irish character and the in general stupidity of the Irish people. The English also felt that if the Irish were given “Home Rule” then they would persecute against the Protestants in the north. Document 7 says that the worst people of Ireland (Catholics) will be under control of the best people of Ireland (Protestants). Eventually this was resolved when Ulster stayed a part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Catholics partially got

what they wanted and the English, such as Sir Edward Carson from Document 12, partially got what they wanted.
The Irish want their land back from the “profit hungry” Englishmen that have taken their land. Declaration of Principles (Document 6) claims that the English land laws help the landlords reap millions of pounds from the farms without a single dollar going to the Irish people who are the ones cultivating the land. Catholics could not own extensive amounts of land because Protestant bidders for the land always had priority over them, which gave the Catholics the rocky soil in the mountains and hills. The Irish felt that the English just want power and money as Document 13 tells us. The Irish felt they were peaceful peoples and wanted to live happy lives without the English. They felt there could be no mix between the two. The Irish felt like Protestants had taken their land in Ulster. Ulster was the main hub of the Irish economy as it was industrializing. The new Irish government would handle the Protestants like any other minority as Document 11 says, which could really mean anything so the Protestants didn’t really know what would happen other than they would probably be ruled by a majority Catholic government. What also scared the Protestants in Ireland was the movement to eliminate everything English including reinstituting Celtic language and arts as Document 8 suggests. This was a very far right reaction that never really became reality, as people don’t want to have to learn a new language after they had been speaking English all of their lives. Eventually the Catholic Irish gained independence after the Easter Rebellion and became a sovereign state in 1922, which ironically became a “religiously free nation” (Document 14) even though the Catholic Church ran public schools. This was more than likely done to try and eventually lure in Ulster to unify the island.
The American Revolution ties to the Irish Independence Movement as they also felt they were being oppressed by the English.

They also felt culturally different. The Americans were well removed from their English ancestors and felt like they were being ruled by an unworthy ruler that had no right to tell them what to do. The Irish felt the same way, but did it without a massive war

after.