Profs and Pints Online presents: “Ireland and the American Revolution,” with Sam Fisher, assistant professor of history at the Catholic University of America.

[ This talk will remain available in recorded form at the link given here for tickets and access. ]

What impact did the American Revolution have on Ireland? And what role did Ireland and Irish people play in the American Revolution?

Learn the answers, and get ready for St. Patrick's Day, by hearing a fascinating discussion of the many connections between Ireland and America in the Revolutionary War era.

Professor Sam Fisher, an expert on eighteenth-century Ireland, Scotland and America, will discuss the influence that earlier Irish patriots had on the constitutional thought of the American patriots. He’ll also talk about the shared commitment of the American revolutionaries and Irish patriots to resisting British control. You’ll learn why those Irish patriots were Protestant colonists and not—as you might suspect—Irish Catholics, who were more likely to support the monarchy.

Speaking of Irish Catholics, we’ll look at poems (and maybe even sing a song) in Irish to get their take on the Revolution, and we’ll talk about why the failure to fully include them in the Irish patriot cause led to its failure. In fact, we’ll look at the dark side of this American-Irish patriot network, which was held together not only by ideas about liberty but also by both groups’ fears that the British empire had begun to favor Irish Catholics (along with other “internal enemies” like enslaved people, Indians, and Scottish Highlanders) more than loyal Protestant colonists.

Long before the potato famine, Ireland and America were already building a shared history. Join us for an evening of pints, poems, and patriots when we'll reflect on the origins of Ireland and America’s special connection.

Profs & Pints Online: Ireland and the American Revolution