Nationalists disagreed about how they would achieve independence. ● Some believed in parliamentary means – that is, using the British parliament to pass laws to give independence to Ireland. This tradition used peaceful means to achieve its aim of an independent Ireland. ● Leaders associated with this tradition in the 18th and 19th centuries included Henry Grattan, Daniel O’Connell, Isaac Butt, Charles Stewart Parnell and John Redmond.
● Others supported physical force as a means of achieving independence. This would mean organising an armed rebellion or uprising to defeat the British Army in Ireland. ● Leaders associated with this tradition in the 18th and 19th centuries included Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet, William Smith O’Brien, James Stephens and Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa.
These political traditions were dominant at different times during those centuries. The traditions also continued into the 20th century, and we will look at this later.
Political traditions in modern Ireland Nationalism
Independence Parliamentary tradition
Peaceful persuasion Passive resistance Pass laws
Mainly Catholic Physical force tradition
Armed uprising/ rebellion
11 Historical concepts
Unionism
Maintain union with Britain (after 1800)
Mainly Catholic Assessing Your Learning
1. Name one primary and one secondary written or visual source from the sources for studying the 1798 Rebellion.
2. Is a podcast a primary or a secondary source? Explain your answer. 3. What are the two main political traditions in Ireland? 4. Explain parliamentary tradition. 5. Explain physical force.
6. Name one leader of the parliamentary tradition and one leader of the physical force tradition.