Opinion: the many links between the two countries have remained resolute and stable over the 250 years since the US came into being
By Joel Herman, TCD
We are over a year and a half away from the 250th anniversary of the United States and the steady stream of events pouring out on the subject gives a taste of what's still to come. Historians’ preparations are well under way with numerous academic conferences and symposiums marking the calendar between now and July 4th 2026, and many more already in the rear view mirror.
But there are other signs that the American founding is on the mind - a record ten-week run of Hamilton in Dublin, the release of a special Apple TV series on founding father Benjamin Franklin and articles published by leading media outlets like the Atlantic, such as one by historian Beverly Gage which argued that the American left was ceding the ideals of the American founding to the right. Of course in the build-up to a presidential election, everything has the potential to become political, even more so when the very nature of the American project has been called into question in recent years by academics and journalists.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Myles Dungan asks if Americans got their Independence Day completely wrong
But as politicians posture and enlist founding ideals in the face of an ongoing American identity crisis, one thing that remains relatively stable is an Irish-American connection formed over hundreds of years. Although there is some demographic signs that this connection may be weakening, the April 2023 visit of sitting president Joe Biden seems rather to represent a high water mark of the continued links of Ireland and America.
These links run right back to the day that would eventually be enshrined as Independence Day. On July 4th 1776, thirteen British colonies running up and down the Eastern seaboard of the North American continent declared independence from Great Britain. Among the representatives in the Continental Congress that ratified the Declaration were some hailing from Ireland, just as there were many born on the island that participated on the American side in the resulting War of Independence. George Washington, the general of the American forces and first president of the United States, spoke of the bravery of his Irish soldiers, and Catholic printer Mathew Carey, who had fled prosecution in Ireland, helped to shape the early image of an American nation through his prolific printing endeavours.
Irish immigration to the North American continent preceded the founding of the United States and, although more notable acts played a part, it was the quotidian movements of peoples back and forth across the Atlantic that created the Irish-American connection to begin with and strengthened it over time. A large part of early immigration to the British colonies was made up of the Ulster Presbyterians who would become known as Ulster Scots.
In the build-up to the 250th anniversary of the United States, there is no doubt more questions will be raised about America's place in the world and what the Irish-American connection means today
But after the famine, the number of Irish Catholics fleeing the Great Hunger grew to staggering proportions and set the foundations of Irish Catholic America, especially in the cities of the Northeast like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Many of those who emigrated in the 19th and 20th century settled in these cities and over 30 million Americans claim Irish descent today.
It was from the pockets of Catholic America that much of the funding for Irish rebellions and revolutions was to come. When the Irish republic became a reality and Ireland exited the British empire, it was clear that America had played an important role. Indeed, the first Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera was born in America, and other Irish politicians involved in the Irish founding were either born or spent time in there as well.
However, it was the visit of another Irish-American politician that is perhaps useful in highlighting a time when America held out some promise as a land of opportunity. The presidential visit of John F Kennedy in 1963, described vividly in Fintan O'Toole's recent autobiography, carried with it the mythic qualities of an American dream. One might think of the character Gar, immortalised in Brian Friel's famed play, Philadelphia Here I Come, and countless others who have dreamed that dream, which seems now to have faded and lost much of its power.
The descendants of those who criss-crossed the Atlantic have kept the connection with America alive
The entrance of Ireland into the European Union brought Ireland more firmly into the political orbit of a European government, and transformed the Irish economy and the infrastructure of the island, leading an existing European identity to be felt more strongly. But the descendants of those who criss-crossed the Atlantic have kept the connection with America alive.
Of course the continued prominence of America on the world stage should be mentioned as a factor, as should the investments of American multinationals in Ireland, which reveal the critical economic links that are to some degree behind the current trajectory of Irish economy. In these things one may also discern the outlines of American empire and the recent call to reckon with Irish participation in the British Empire should also raise questions about America’s imperial past and present.
In the build-up to the 250th anniversary of the United States, there is no doubt that more questions will be raised about America’s place in the world and what the Irish-American connection means today. The places where it should be celebrated are those where human connections have been made and carried on through generations – in families that identify as both Irish and American.
I am currently working with Dr Tim Murtagh and colleagues in the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland to organise two events that will reflect on these questions both of which will take place next year. These events will be open to the public, and I would like to invite you to reflect with us, whether in person or not, on what America means to Ireland and Irish people today beyond the current bluster of the election cycle.
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland research programme is supported by the Irish Government through funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under Project Ireland 2040.
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Dr Joel Herman is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland project at Trinity College Dublin.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
