O’Connell’s legacy has lived on after him. His approach to political action – rejecting the use of force and concentrating on the mass organisation of people – infl uenced people like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King in the twentieth century. In Ireland, the rejection of violence to achieve change was represented in politics by people like Charles Stewart Parnell, John Redmond and John Hume. William Gladstone, British Prime Minister in the 1870s and 1880s, described O’Connell as ‘the greatest popular leader the world has ever seen’.
DID YOU KNOW?
Daniel O’Connell appeared on the last £20 note before the introduction of the euro in 2002.
Mahatma Gandhi
Martin Luther King Jr
COLLABORATE: In your group, fi nd out about the campaign of the one of the people mentioned above and explain how their tactics were similar to O’Connell’s. Report your fi ndings back to your class.
CHECKPOINT!
1. How did the French Revolution infl uence O’Connell? 2. How did the Catholic Association campaign for emancipation? 3. What happened in 1828? 4. How did the British government respond to O’Connell’s election? Why did they do this? 5. What were ‘monster meetings’? Why was the British government afraid of them?
6. How did O’Connell respond to the banning of the Clontarf meeting? What impact did this decision have on the Repeal movement?
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7. What was O’Connell’s legacy and impact on (a) Ireland and (b) the rest of the world? I know about Daniel O’Connell’s life and legacy.
