History Catholic Emancipation
What were the reasons for the passing of the Catholic emancipation act 1828?
There were many explanations for why the Catholic Emancipation Act passed. These included many reasons such as; the Act of Union, Ireland’s economic problems, a change of opinion in Parliament, the Catholic Association and Daniel O’Connell.
The act of union was passed in 1801 where Pitt promised the Irish Catholics they would have political and civil rights but King George IV failed to go forwards with this promise refusing Catholics the ability to be MPs. Catholics made up 90% of the Irish population and felt they weren’t being fully represented as the majority of MPs were protestant. The mass of the population were extremely poor whereas the ruling minority were wealthy protestant landowners who controlled the political system and owned more than 95% of the land in Ireland. However, political problems wasn’t the only problem Ireland was suffering with, the economy was also collapsing. The end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 brought huge economic problems to the whole of Britain but hit Ireland particularly hard especially since farming techniques on small enclosures of land meant low agricultural output. The shortage of food and the rising prices was made worse by the rising population. Ireland was also angry over trade restrictions that benefited English manufactures and neglected Ireland from its fair share of money. This discontent led to a fear of a possible civil war in Ireland as Revolutionary France was offering help to any countries that felt they weren’t being treated fairly. Some politicians feared for Ireland’s stability if the Catholic’s claims weren’t met while others feared the stability of the Protestant church and the constitution if they were.
Parliament felt they needed change before Ireland turned revolutionary. In 1821 the Catholic Emancipation bill passed through the commons, but was thrown out by the Lords. It was clear that no bill would pass without any royal
There were many explanations for why the Catholic Emancipation Act passed. These included many reasons such as; the Act of Union, Ireland’s economic problems, a change of opinion in Parliament, the Catholic Association and Daniel O’Connell.
The act of union was passed in 1801 where Pitt promised the Irish Catholics they would have political and civil rights but King George IV failed to go forwards with this promise refusing Catholics the ability to be MPs. Catholics made up 90% of the Irish population and felt they weren’t being fully represented as the majority of MPs were protestant. The mass of the population were extremely poor whereas the ruling minority were wealthy protestant landowners who controlled the political system and owned more than 95% of the land in Ireland. However, political problems wasn’t the only problem Ireland was suffering with, the economy was also collapsing. The end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 brought huge economic problems to the whole of Britain but hit Ireland particularly hard especially since farming techniques on small enclosures of land meant low agricultural output. The shortage of food and the rising prices was made worse by the rising population. Ireland was also angry over trade restrictions that benefited English manufactures and neglected Ireland from its fair share of money. This discontent led to a fear of a possible civil war in Ireland as Revolutionary France was offering help to any countries that felt they weren’t being treated fairly. Some politicians feared for Ireland’s stability if the Catholic’s claims weren’t met while others feared the stability of the Protestant church and the constitution if they were.
Parliament felt they needed change before Ireland turned revolutionary. In 1821 the Catholic Emancipation bill passed through the commons, but was thrown out by the Lords. It was clear that no bill would pass without any royal