From Patriots to Unionists : Dublin Civic Politics and Irish Protestant Patriotism, 1660-1840

This is the first full-length study of the Protestant middle-class Patriots of Dublin, who, in the eighteenth-century, made up the largest concentration of Protestants in Ireland (c.70,000). Freemen of the guilds alone--who were entitled to a parliamentary vote--were almost as numerous as the entire landed class. Hill charts the slow and difficult progress of these merchants, master craftsmen, and shopkeepers, from Patriotism in the eighteenth century to a Unionist position in the nineteenth, throwing light on all subsequent Irish history, and filling an important gap in the historiography of Unionism Dedication Epigraph Acknowledgements Contents List of Maps List of Tables Abbreviations and Conventions Maps Introduction Part 1. The Origins and Growth of Dublin Civic Patriotism, 1660—1791 1. Ancien-régime Dublin: The City and the Guilds 2. Dublin Corporation and the State, 1660—1714 3. The Challenge to Oligarchy: The Political Context, 1714—1749 4. Civic Patriotism in Action: Setbacks and Gains, 1750—1773 5. Dublin Patriots in the American Revolutionary Era, 1774—1782 6. The Indian Summer of Civic Patriotism, 1783—1791 Part 2. Patriots Divided: The Phoney War, 1792—1814 Introduction 7. The Economic and Social Background in Dublin after the Quarterage Dispute, c.1780—1814 8. ‘Protestant Ascendancy’, Challenge and Definition, 1791—1793 9. The Constitution Defended: Opposition to Rebellion, 1792—1798 10. The Constitution Defended: Opposition to Union, 1798—1814 Part 3. From Patriots to Unionists, 1815—1840 Introduction 11. The Economic and Social Background, 1815—1840 12. Security Versus Conciliation, 1815—1822 13. The Ancien Régime Defended, 1822—1832 14. The Corporate World Unravels, 1815—1840 Conclusion Appendix A. Dublin Guilds and the Trades they Served Appendix B. Dublin City MPs, 1660—1841 Appendix C. Recorders of Dublin, 1660—1841 Select Bibliography Index Eighteenth-century Dublin contained the largest concentration of Protestants in Ireland. Freemen of the guilds alone were almost as numerous as the entire landed class. Hill examines their attitudes, and their contribution to Irish Patriotism