Revolutionary Nationalism, Imperialism and Anti-Slavery in the Trans-National Irish-American Press, 1840-1865

Abstract

This dissertation is a synoptic history of the Irish-American press in the antebellum and Civil War era, the role of Irish-American newspaper editors in fostering Irish-American political identity, and Irish-American reporting on European imperialism and revolutionary nationalism. This thesis focuses on Irish-American editors, who aimed to regulate and control their readers’ interpretations of major world events, and prevent their readers being seduced by alternative viewpoints from rival newspapers, both mainstream American partisan newspapers and rival Irish newspapers. The dissertation focuses on the Irish-American press’ coverage of European revolutionary nationalism, from 1840-1865, and the press’ coverage of British and European imperialism, 1840-1865. The dissertation explores a series of case studies, from the Repeal campaign (1840-1845), the 1848 Revolutions, the Crimean War, Italian Unification and the American Civil War, and how the Irish-American press covered these political developments. Furthermore, this dissertation explores the Irish-American press’ coverage of Abolitionism and anti-slavery mobilisation in the United States. The dissertation reveals that opposition to Abolitionism in the United States was a core component of the vision for Irish-American identity each editor wanted to impose on their readers. Each editor informed their respective readership that the British empire was secretly controlling the American Abolitionist movement, in an attempt to destroy the United States from within. In convincing their readers that the British controlled the American anti-slavery movement to destabilise the United states, the Irish-American press could maintain the British as the core enemy for Irishmen, and in doing so, keep the collective memory of British subjugation of Ireland central to Irish-American political identity. Overall, the thesis makes a decisive contribution to scholarship on the Irish-American immigrant experience, in the decades before the American Civil War.