Irish American voters wielded decisive electoral influence for slavery by 1840

Evidence

In January of 1840, James Haughton, Dublin grain merchant and Unitarian, supporter of Repeal, founder of the Hibernian Anti-Slavery Society, and regular correspondent of the leading North American antislavery journal of the day, William Lloyd Garrison’s Liberator, raised with O’Connell the subject of America. “[T]he Irishmen in that country,” he wrote, “are such a powerful and influential body that they exercise a paramount influence in the election of the president and in elections of the members of the various legislatures there; but most unfortunately that influence has been given heretofore in favour of slavery. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 46

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Irish immigrants held the electoral balance of power in antebellum America. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 45; By the 1840s the Repeal movement was led by established Irish-American middle classes — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 82; Southern Irish repeal associations chose slavery over loyalty to O’Connell and abolition — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 108 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Southern Irish repeal associations chose slavery over loyalty to O’Connell and abolition #exemplifies (0.85) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 108
• Tens of thousands of Irish people signed the anti-slavery Address of 1841 #qualifies (0.82) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 47
• By the 1840s the Repeal movement was led by established Irish-American middle classes #expands (0.78) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 82