The Irish freedom struggle made common cause with American slaveholders.

Evidence

The prominence in the Repeal movement of the son of the slave-holding President was the concentrated expression of the contradiction at the heart of this narrative: the man who hated tyranny in every form and was the leading spokesman in America for the struggle for Irish freedom was at the same time identified with what O’Connell had called the “worst of all aristocracies—that of the human skin,” the slaveholders of America, who would find their reward “in the deepest hell, [where] there is a depth still more profound.” — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 75

Categorization

• XREF: Core to reader’s comparative project: an oppressed group seeking status aligned with the oppressor of another group rather than with fellow sufferers of tyranny — relevant to how reclassification dynamics can flip solidarity. — connects to: Pro-slavery Irish Americans argued Irish peasants were worse off than American slaves — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 87; Irish nationalists like John Mitchel openly embraced slavery in America — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 125; Irish-American leaders feared losing native acceptance if O’Connell attacked slavery. — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 44 (+4 more)
• QUESTION: Why did the movement’s champion of anti-tyranny, Robert Tyler, not see slavery as tyranny? Worth chasing how Irish nationalists reconciled these.

Broader Connections

• The Irish freedom cause in America allied openly with slaveholding interests. #corroborates (0.98) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 75
• Abolitionists courted the Irish as fellow laborers against slavery #complicates (0.82) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 55
• Pro-slavery sentiment moved from America back into Irish nationalism #expands (0.80) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 126
• Irish absorption into whiteness helped sustain slavery rather than vice versa. #complicates (0.78) — Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 261