‘The majority of our people belong to the working classes’: the Ancient Order of Hibernians in the United States, c.1850–1884

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Ancient Order of Hibernians has received attention only in broad studies of class and ethnicity in various US urban centres. This article addresses the class contradictions within the Catholic fraternal and Irish nationalist Hibernian movement during the formative period from around 1850 to 1884. Slightly more affluent Hibernian leaders of the lower middle and middle class sought an accommodation with the Catholic Church and mainstream American society. However, they were frequently hampered by the activities of some sections of their rank and file who continued to operate in the mode of Irish Ribbonism. Violence was deployed by working-class Hibernians in a range of settings, forcing its leaders to denounce bloodshed at their conventions and in the press. The relationship of Hibernianism to physical force Irish republicans, determined to stage a revolt in Ireland, also brought issues around class and violence to light. Despite violence and factionalism among different layers of the movement, Hibernianism, bound together by an ethnic Irish nationalism, Catholicism and elements of militant republicanism, survived and even expanded. It was therefore well placed to capitalize on a steady stream of Irish immigrants and the ‘golden age’ of ethnic societies from the 1890s onwards.