Ireland 1700s

The history for 18th century Ireland was marked by the dominance of the Protestant Ascendancy. They were families of the Anglican Church of Ireland. English had previously settled in Ireland after its conquest by England and colonisation. Many of them identified as Irish. At the time, Ireland had its own parliament but in reality was controlled by the King of Great Britain. Most of its population, Roman Catholics, were excluded from power and land ownership under the Penal laws. Presbyterians owned land and businesses but had no political control.


Culture
Technically, there were two existing cultures in Ireland at the time and they had little contact with each other. The first was Catholic and Gaelic and the second was Anglo-Irish and Protestant. There was Irish language literature and the Aisling genre of Irish poetry existed. They were dream poems featuring a woman that represented Ireland who was pleading with young men to save her from slavery and oppression. Many of these poets clung to a romantic attachment but some wrote in praise of the United Irishmen in the 1790s. Non-political poetry was often sexually explicit. Gaelic poets of this era include Aogán Ó Rathaille and Brian Merriman.
Anglo-Irish writers were also creative in this period for example, Jonathan Swift. John Toland, an Irish speaking Catholic who converted to Protestantism, crossed the cultural divide. He became a leading philosopher in Scotland, England, Germany and Bohemia. A lot of Ireland’s urban architecture stems from this era such as Georgian Dublin and Limerick. The crescent is an architectural masterpiece.





Politics
Most people were Catholic peasants who were poor and inert politically as most leaders converted to Protestantism to avoid penalties. There was still a growing Catholic cultural awakening. There were two Protestant groups; The Presbyterians and the Anglo-Irish. It was a separate kingdom ruled by King George III. In 1720, Ireland was dependent on Britain and there were laws binding Ireland and Britain. The king set the policy by appointing the viceroy who lived in England and affairs in the island were controlled by an elite group of Protestants. They controlled Parliament and became even wealthier than before. A series of reform proposals caused change in 1767. George Townshend served 1767-72 and lived full-time in Dublin Castle. He had the support of the king and dismantled the previous system. His party took charge of the Irish House of Commons. Patriot opposition emerged to challenge this.
The Patriots demanded self-rule. The King and his cabinet made a series of concessions to the Patriot faction. Protestant "Volunteer" units were set up against French invasion.
New laws making Irish Parliament powerful were made and they were independent of the British Parliament but still supervised by the King. Instead of being content, The Irish Patriots intensified their demands which led to violence in 1798 with French support. Britain suppressed it and there was a complete noon between Britain and Ireland in 1801 and the Irish Parliament was abolished.



Legacy
This time period was called “the long peace” and for almost a century, there was little violence in politics. There was however, violence in the 1790s that shattered the hopes of many radicals that the old sectarian divisions could be forgotten.