Discuss the significance of the political developments within revolutionary and constitutional Irish nationalism from the period 1798 to 1867
Nationalism in Ireland is said to have stemmed from the actions of Wolfe Tone, who himself was heavily inspired by the Revolution in France a few years previous, in the 1790’s. Tone founded the Society of United Irishmen which set upon forming an Irish Republic, just as France had achieved, without sectarianism. “To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils and to assert the independence of my country – these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissension and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter – these were my means.” Wolfe Tone
There was an armed uprising by the United Irishmen in 1798, sponsored by the French who at the time were an enemy of England. This uprising proved to be an utter failure as the French and Irish were severely outmanned and outgunned by English forces, thus prompting a swift end to Tones rebellion.
Tone himself was captured in a raid at Donegal in 1798; he was taken to Dublin and court-marshalled. He was scheduled to be executed by hanging after his request to be shot instead like a soldier was declined, but he died in prison of neck wounds. His death is recorded as suicide however this detail remains inconclusive.
By 1804 Catholic unrest had kick started once more after a series of meetings which sought to issue a petition to Parliament to remove Catholic disabilities. The petition proved to be futile but this showed that Catholic Nationalists were no longer content as second class citizens and that they could be organised. Henry Grattan in 1805 stated that Catholics could be loyal citizens which Parliament had major issues with believing. Grattan suggested Catholic Emancipation but giving the English crown the power to veto the bill. Having a strong Protestant in office who favoured Emancipation was a major step for the Catholics. It was this and their determination to only accept Emancipation on their own terms which brought the circumstances for quite possibly the most influential figure in Irish History to prominence; Daniel O’Connell. “My days – the blossom of my youth and the flower of my manhood – have been darkened by the dreariness of servitude. In this my native land – in the land of my sires – I am degraded without fault as an alien and an outcast.” Daniel O’Connell 1817.
He united the Emancipation movement by establishing the Catholic Association in 1823, having experience in this field from previously being part of the Catholic board, along with the collection of Catholic “rent”. “No person knows better than you do that the domination of England is the sole and blighting curse of this country. It is the incubus that sits on our energies, stops the pulsation of the nation’s heart and leaves to Ireland not gay vitality but horrid the convulsions of a troubled dream.” Daniel O’Connell 1831
Due to O’Connell’s insistence that there be no violence of any kind he decided that for the movement to succeed he needed to unite the many types of people of Ireland, he did this by making the Catholic Association a sort of ‘popular club’ which was open to everyone for only a penny per month. Due to this the support for the Catholic Association grew tremendously and the amount of ‘rent’ collected also rose with gaining support. This was crucial in the funding of the Emancipation movement. This was a stroke of genius by O’Connell as the Emancipation movement now had the might to seriously put Parliament under pressure. “The principle of my political life …. is, that all ameliorations and improvements in political institutions can be obtained by persevering in a perfectly peaceable and legal course, and cannot be obtained by forcible means, or if they could be got by forcible means, such means create more evils than they cure, and leave the country worse than they found it.” Daniel 0’Connell 1843
The next significant event to happen was in 1826 when the Catholic Association representative Villiers Stuart defeated Lord Beresford in the Waterford general election. This election was of significance because it became an election of sectarianism. It also showed that Catholics were now a force and weren’t content in their current position. Stuart’s victory was soon followed two years later with O’Connell’s win in the Claire Election. Boyce has describes O’Connell’s win in Claire as ‘the first modern election in Ireland’ due to its effective sectarian nature. However this lost O’Connell the support from liberal Protestants because of its heavily catholic focused nature. The movement eventually resulted in Emancipation for Catholics and was issued in 1829. Through mass mobilisation, the collection of ‘rent’ and the support of the Catholic Church the government could no longer resist the granting of Emancipation to Catholics.
By 1842 O’Connell was preparing to initiate his plan of repeal agitation, using the same tactic that he had successfully deployed for the emancipation movement. O’Connell’s repeal movement had a very powerful device for its campaign and this was the ‘monster meetings’, O’Connell spoke to the vast masses which had been mobilised and these meetings gained massive amounts of support and helped the movement gain momentum just as electoral contest had done previously for the emancipation movement. “I want to make all Europe and America know it – I want to make England feel her weakness if she refuses to give the justice we the Irish require – the restoration of our domestic parliament...” Daniel O’Connell from one of his ‘monster’ meetings in 1843
O’Connell lost his momentum when a ‘monster meeting’ at Clontarf, which was to be the main highlight of O’Connell’s campaign, was called off after O’Connell accepted a ban placed on the meeting by the government. Despite this O’Connell was still arrested and charged with sedition, which he was found guilty of and sentenced to a year in jail. Upon appeal however this decision was reversed and O’Connell was released. However his surrender at Clontarf was not the sole reason for the failure of O’Connell’s repeal. Other factor came into play such as Peel ‘killing repeal by kindness’, which was done through Maynooth bill and the Academical Institutions bill in 1845. Then of the course the famine played a major role in the fall of the repeal as ‘the famine destroyed the Irish political landscape’.
The Young Irelanders rose to prominence after being influenced O’Connell’s nationalist sentiments during the emancipation movement; Brian Girvin wrote that during the 1800’s ‘O’Connell formulated a view of nationalism which included all Irish people’. This idea of an Irish national identity is backed up by an inability for the majority of Irish citizen to feel British, says Linda Colley. Young Irelanders and O’Connell supporters could all agree on repeal, however many other issues could not be agreed on, this resulted in the breakdown of the repeal movement over the issue of violence in 1846.
In 1867 there was another attempted rebellion in Ireland against British rule, this time organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, called the Fenian Rising. However due to poor organisation and the infiltration of the British the rebellion was unsuccessful. The majority of the Fenian leaders in Ireland were captured, taken to London and later tried. Multiple rescue attempts were made by the Fenians which resulted in three members being captured and executed.
Despite the divisions and eventual failure of the repeal movement, it can still be considered significant as it gave rise to a new kind of nationalism which would engulf the whole of Ireland in the coming decades.
In conclusion, the significance of the political developments within revolutionary and constitutional Irish nationalism from the period 1798 to 1867 brought many consequences for Ireland, both positive and negative. It changed the political structure in Ireland from a heavily Protestant dominant position to total Catholic domination with Protestant resistance the whole way. Who themselves unable to rely on Britain as a reliable ally and also brought in a series of reforms which benefitted Ireland greatly.

References
A Biography of Wolfe Tone. Available: http://ireland-information.com/articles/wolfetone.htm. (Last accessed 20 March 2013.)
Bartlett, T, Britishness, Irishness and the act of Union, in D.Keogh and K. Whelan (eds.) (2001)
Boyce, D.G, Nineteenth Century Ireland (Gill and Macmillan, 2005)
Daniel O'Connell. Available: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_O'Connell. (Last accessed 20 March 2013.)
Girvin, B, Making Nations: O’Connell, religion and the creation of political identity, in M.R. O’Connell (ed.), Daniel O’Connell: Political Pioneer (Dublin, 1991)
Jackson, A, Ireland 1798-1998 (Blackwell, 1999)