Out of Defenderism: Ribbonism in the Early Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This chapter assesses the earliest history of Ribbonism within the context of its origins in the aftermath of the 1798 Rising. The chapter shows that the spread of new forms of political protest from the late eighteenth century was not exclusively the result of negative factors like population pressures but is also be attributed to positive ones including greater prosperity and developing social literacy. It demonstrates that the act of Union fundamentally altered Ireland’s constitutional status. yet the union of itself did little to alter the dramatic political, cultural, economic, and social forces—some parochial, others universal—that generated popular political protest in modern Ireland.