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| author |
Patrick J. Mahoney
| | title |
The Fenian Empire: Irish Nationalism and American Expansion (1865–1871)
| | abstract |
Between 1865-1871, international politics reached a fever pitch in the Americas. In that time, the French sponsored monarchy of Maximilian rose and fell in Mexico, Spanish rule was challenged, first in Santo Domingo and then in Cuba, and conversations about British neutrality during the late Civil War loomed large over Anglo-American relations. Meanwhile, the U.S. found itself preoccupied by its own domestic developments, as increased settlement of the trans-Mississippi West and occupation of the defeated South stretched the limits of its post-war military strength. Nevertheless, an optimistic vision emerged which held that having vanquished slavery from its own shores, the U.S. should broaden its aims and spread republicanism and democracy throughout the globe. This renewed image of expansion, with its rhetorical emphasis on liberty, the championing of oppressed peoples, and the vanquishing of monarchies and aristocracies, was particularly well-received within the ranks of American Fenianism. In the years that followed, Ireland stood alongside Cuba, Santo Domingo, Canada, and the islands of the British West Indies as potentially apt locations for U.S. intervention. Meanwhile, cadres of U.S.-based Fenians began to champion the idea of U.S. expansion and portray their own actions within the emerging vision of global republicanism. Plans for Fenian "colonies" in the American West soon emerged, as did conversations about the establishment of a "New Ireland" in the Americas, which might politically align itself with the United States and eventually bring about Irish independence. Nevertheless, such plans were often accompanied by a complicity in the subjugation and cultural othering of indigenous peoples in North America. Drawing from a wealth of previously overlooked archival material, including private and public correspondences, meeting minutes, sermons, intelligence reports, and diary entries, as well as popular forms such as newspapers, songs, poetry and literature, this study tracks the ideological convergence of American Fenianism and U.S. nation and empire-building, which as historian Steven Hahn contends, occurred simultaneously during the 1860s. In doing so, it offers a nuanced view of Fenianism which considers how the movement was viewed and experienced by a diverse range of groups and individuals in the Americas.
| | school |
The Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University
| | degree |
Ph.D. (2021)
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| advisor |
Wyatt Evans
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| committee |
Christine Kinealy
Enrico Dal Lago
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| full text | PJMahoney.pdf - requires Drew uLogin |
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