Overlooked by the Tall Kingdom before Dying of Political Economy

Abstract

This chapter examines Ireland’s political experience during the first half of the Union. Among the subjects surveyed are the long delay in Catholic emancipation, the continuation of administrative colonialism, and the emergence of fiscal dependence and highly uneven economic development that culminated in the Great Famine. The latter’s significance is assessed. The author argues that, just as manslaughter should be distinguished from homicide, so “geno-slaughter” better accounts for what occurred than genocide. The limitations of efforts to make Ireland British are assessed, and the development of state–church relations critically evaluated. Protestant Ulster’s resistance to O’Connell’s movement for Repeal of the Union is assessed, as is the return of Presbyterians toward a pan-Protestant coalition against reenergized Irish Catholicism.