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Suzanna Melendez
2nd Blog Post
9/27/16
David Sim’s in depth narrative The United States in the World: A Union Forever: The Irish Question and U.S. Foreign Relations in the Victorian Age offered a new perspective of Irish-American involvement in Ireland’s nationalist movement. His scholarship not only addressed the Irish’s yearn for independence but also the relationship between both counties. “Though we have a number of exceptional studies of Irish America, we have few that seriously historicize Irish nationalism and its complex connections with the American Union over the long nineteenth century.”(3) The framework of his book brilliantly incorporated a transnational methodology which emphasized on diplomatic history. As a historian, Sim concluded that politicians’ utilized the Irish question to push America’s diplomatic and political agenda. By investigating U.S. foreign relations with Ireland Sim highlighted one of many Anglo-American tensions throughout the world.
Sim and Elija Gould’s book Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire have provided me with two new perspectives about the America’s global position during the early nineteenth century. Previous early colonial history courses highlighted America’s transatlantic relations with other nations. One key component not mentioned in those classes was the U.S.’s efforts to be recognized as an independent and reliable country. The idea of national recognition by world powers was not only emphasized in Sim’s text but also in Gould’s political narrative. Mark_t_garcia wrote in his blog that Gould argued “in order for both to gain the respect of their sovereignty they used the treaties and alliances to obtain it.” Aside from the U.S trying gain global notoriety, I also learned about Irish-American relations. Prior to reading Sim’s book I knew little to nothing about Irish history let alone U.S. foreign relations with Ireland. Not only was his narrative easy to understand with some exceptions concerning political figures and key events, but the accumulation of academic sources was very impressive. Some of the documents cited were newspapers, manuscripts, official government documents, letters, etc.
From the perspective of U.S. diplomacy, the new republic did not want a conflict with Great Britain. Sim wrote that “historians are increasingly attentive to the continued deep cultural, material and political entanglement of the United States with British imperialism after 1783 and to the impact that this had on the new nation’s foreign policy.” (5) But by the mid-1840s it was evident that a great famine had swept throughout Ireland killing millions of people. One of the most interesting facts in the book was that the Irish famine sparked philanthropic activity throughout the U.S. public. “Throughout the Union, citizens formed relief committees to collect and forward money, food, and clothes to Ireland. Whigs in particular were active in promoting Irish charity as a means of improving Anglo-American relations.” (39-40) Compared to U.S. citizens who felt compelled to act in a philanthropic manner, politicians tried to enforce America as a nation of reliance both politically and economically.
In conclusion, Sim’s book provides readers with knowledge about Irish American history. Whereas many historians have overlooked the U.S. foreign relation with the Irish and their contribution to Anglo-American diplomacy, Sim’s book provided readers with a detailed political context that intertwined both countries. Ireland’s nationalistic efforts to gain independence relied heavily on the growing power of the American republic. The framework of the book was a bottom up approach while the context specifically focused on elite statesmen and the political intensions between both nations. Although the structure could have been organized vice versa. Furthermore, it could have focused a bit more on the social aspect of the Irish immigrants who migrated to America. In reality, they were the majority affected by the new policies implemented to ease the famine abroad and liberate them from Britain.