O'Connell and Catholic Emancipation

Question 1

When had the issue of Catholic Emancipation been festering since?

Answer 1

Since George III thwarted Pitt’s plans for it as part of a deal with leading Catholics to agree the 1800 Act of Union

Question 2

How did the push for Catholic Emancipation gain a sense of direction in 1823?

Answer 2

Daniel O’Connell, a charismatic Irish Catholic barrister founded the Catholic Association and took up the emancipation cause

Question 3

What were the two aims of the Catholic Association?

Answer 3

• Catholic Emancipation
• Repeal the 1800 Act of Union

Question 4

Who made up the Catholic Association initially?

Answer 4

A small group of frustrated middle class professionals

Question 5

How did the Catholic Association grow its membership under the skilled leadership of O’Connell?

Answer 5

Membership was extended to all who paid a small levy of one penny a month - known as the Catholic Rent. This was collected by the priest and opened the movement up to the Irish peasantry

Question 6

What was the result of the CA expanding its membership?

Answer 6

It quickly became an effective pressure group

Question 7

What happened to the CA as a result of its rapid success?

Answer 7

It alarmed the authorities and was quickly made illegal

Question 8

How did O’Connell bypass the fact that the CA was made illegal?

Answer 8

He created a new association called the Order of Liberation

Question 9

What had O’Connell succeeded in doing through the creation of his two associations?

Answer 9

Uniting the middle classes and peasants that made up the Catholic Church so that there could be a more effective push for

Question 10

What were Irish Catholic voters encouraged to do in the 1826 GE?

Answer 10

Vote for liberal, pro-emancipation candidates, even though they were Protestant, in order to give the debate prominence

Question 11

Why does Bew argue that Irish priests had a big role to play in CE?

Answer 11

Because they had a key role in mobilising, and in some cases coercing, support for O’Connell amongst the peasantry?

Question 12

Why does Bew argue that the County Clare election convinced Wellington and Peel that CE must be conceded?

Answer 12

Edward O’Brien, an Irish Protestant landlord, commanded his tenants to vote for Fitzgerald, however, the local priest called on the peasants to vote for O’Connell in the name of their country and religion. O’Connell’s overwhelming victory confirmed the collapse of proprietorial control over Catholic voters

Question 13

Why was a by-election called in County Clare in 1828?

Answer 13

To enable Irish Protestant landlord Vesey Fitzgerald to take up a position in Wellington’s cabinet

Question 14

What allowed O’Connell to stand for parliament?

Answer 14

The resources and support of the Catholic Association

Question 15

Who had the right to vote in County Clare?

Answer 15

Small farmers with land worth 40 shillings

Question 16

How convincing was O’Connell’s victory?

Answer 16

He won by a ratio of two votes to one

Question 17

Why did O’Connell’s victory put Wellington’s government in an awkward position?

Answer 17

• It was entirely popular that Catholics could do this and be elected in every Irish seat and be elected in the next GE
• There was fear of civil unrest in Ireland
• It would be difficult to refuse O’Connell his seat without violent opposition in Ireland

Question 18

What was the only was for Peel and Wellington to preserve the union and law and order in Ireland after the by-election?

Answer 18

Introducing a CE bill in 1829. The bill passed with the support of the Whigs but 142 Tories voted against it

Question 19

How did Wellington push through the CE bill?

Answer 19

• Loudly protested to George IV that it was in the country’s best interests
• Bullied the lords into forceful submission
• Employed the support of the Whigs to get it through the commons - as 142 Tories voted against it

Question 20

What did the CE Act do?

Answer 20

Made RCs eligible for all offices of state bar Regent, Lord Chancellor and Lord Leiutenant General, as well as removing the need to take the Oath of Supremacy to sit in the lords or commons

Question 21

How did the government respond to the success of O’Connell and his campaign?

Answer 21

• Banned the CA
• Banned the 40 shilling franchise in the Irish counties, raised to £10, taking away the franchise from the Catholic smallholders that had handed victory to O’Connell
• Made O’Connell stand for re-election, with the previous election rendered illegal because it occured before the act
• This tit for tat approach soured Irish opinion towards England for years to come

Question 22

Why was the aftermath of CE so disastrous for the Tory party?

Answer 22

• Most Tory MPs felt betrayed by their leadership
• Lord Winchelsea challenged Wellington to a duel
• Peel resigned from his Oxford seat amongst taunts of cowardice and betrayal from fellow MPs