Comparing The Orange Order And Social Violence In Mid-Nineteenth Century Saint John

This comparison essay will be analyzing the arguments of Scott W. See’s “The Orange Order and Social Violence in Mid-Nineteenth Century Saint John” and Gordon M. Winder’s “Trouble in the North End: The Geography of Social Violence in Saint John, 1840 – 1860” and their perspective of what the caused the social violence in Saint John. By finding the pros and cons of the arguments of each article, this paper will determine which article had the more realistic arguments.

The focus of Scott W. See’s article “The Orange Order and Social Violence in Mid-Nineteenth Century Saint John” is the explanation of the violent riots between the Orangemen and the Irish Catholics in 1840s New Brunswick using New Brunswick’s crippled economy as the root cause.

The problem initiated in 1840 when Britain increased colonial duties and dropped foreign tariffs for free trade. It triggered an increase in unemployment, increased price for commodities, commercial bankruptcies and legislative indebtedness. New Brunswick was also suffering from a decline in exporting lumber due to a decrease in demand for lumber and overexploitation of New Brunswick’s forest. Simultaneously, the potato famine in Ireland triggered an increase of Irish Catholics immigrating to New Brunswick by 150 percent. The protestant associated New Brunswick’s turmoil with the increased immigration of the Catholic Irish. As a response, an organization known as the Orange Order was established. The purpose of the Orange Order was to unite the Protestants and discourage Irish Catholics from immigrating and permanently settling in St. John. The Orange Order believed that this was the solution that would end New Brunswick’s suffrage. The Orange Orders received a lot of support due to purpose and the people’s fear that the Irish Catholics will hinder the protestant belief and the British hegemony. The conflict between the Orangemen and Catholic constantly grew that violent riots began to occur. By 1850, New Brunswick’s downturn has recovered from its economic depression. As capital investments and job opportunities increased, the Catholics were no longer the scapegoats for New Brunswick’s suffrage.

In Gordon M.

Winder’s “Trouble in the North End: The Geography of Social Violence in Saint John, 1840 – 1860” explains the violence in 1840 Saint John through the perspective of political geography. Normally, an ethnic segregation occurs because of various reasons whether it be to maintain culture, protection, or the ghettos are the only affordable shelter to the newly immigrants. The segregation of the ethnic groups kept the populations at peace. However the geological segregation between the Catholics and Protestants did not occur since the potato famine lead to an overpopulation of Catholic immigrants in Saint John. The over populated Catholics expanded where the two populations collided and no line of segregation was determined. The dispute between the Irish Catholics and a group of Irish Protestant who refer to themselves as the Orangemen was about territorial control. The Protestants began asserting their control over Saint John by gaining position of authority that enabled them to have monopoly over the violence within the city. Their power allowed them to freely exclude, discriminate against all elements all things that they disproved of. The Catholics retaliated where the contempt for each group escalated into violent acts and skirmishes. The purposes of the battles were not to demonstrate superior military power, but targeted strategic and symbolic locations to demonstrate sovereignty over

territory.

The authors differ in their belief on what was the main cause that led to the social violence in 1840s Saint John.

Scott W. See’s perspective is from an economic standpoint. By examining New Brunswick’s economy during the 1840s, he concluded that the cause of the social violence in Saint John, New Brunswick is because of an economic depression that occurred during the same time as the Irish potato famine. The potato famine influenced a large population of Irish Catholics to immigrate to New Brunswick and because the two phenomena occurred at the same time, the protestant native to Saint John correlated their economic suffrage with the immigration of the Irish Catholics. The high population and the scarce availability of jobs turned into a competition between the Protestants and the Catholics for survival. The protestant’s violent act towards the Catholics was in hopes that the Catholics will migrate to another location and New Brunswick’s economy will recover. See also points out the violence between the Protestant and the Catholics declines after New Brunswick’s economy recovered.

See effectively used the timeline to portray his perspective on what caused the social violence in Saint John. The correlation of violence in Saint John starting and ending at the same time as New Brunswick’s economic depression makes it easier to believe that there is a relation between economy and the social violence, thus strengthening See’s view. By demonstrating the timeline correlation of

social violence and economy, and providing explanation of how poor economy increases violence, See was very persuasive in his arguments.

In contrast, Gordon M. Winder’s analysis of what caused the violence in Saint John is from a political geographer’s lens. Winder explains that ethnic and cultural segregation is common occurrence in human settlement; except the segregation did not occur in Saint John. The lack of segregation made it difficult to determine the territorial borders between the Protestant and the Catholics. Winder states that the competition was not for economic power but for territorial power. Winder supports his arguments by examining the intent of each action by both groups. The act of gaining authoritative positions indicated sovereignty over the territory. The two groups battled for control over symbolic location to demonstrate their place in the city.

Winder has definitely demonstrated that geography contributed to the social violence in New Brunswick. While Winder presented a plausible explanation of why violence may have occurred, however Winder’s arguments lacked evidence to back up his theory. As arguments needs to be supported by evidence to be considered valid argument

In conclusion, See’s version of what caused the social violence in Saint John, New Brunswick in the 1840s seems to be a more plausible theory. While the geography may have been a key component that attributed to the violence in Saint John, Winders failed to demonstrate how a dispute between borders was the triggering factor that escalated into violence and instead of a peaceful negotiation. See was able to provide arguments that explained how the conflict started and ended through the use of New Brunswick’s economy. The correlation of the time the social violence ravaged through Saint John matching the same time period of New Brunswick’s economic was the convincing factor that made See’s explanation of what cause the social violence in Saint John a more plausible theory over Winders.