UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Transatlantic Paddy: The Making of a Transnational Irish Identity in Nineteenth- Century America A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Kathleen Diane McGuire June 2009 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Rebecca Kugel, Chairperson Dr. Thomas Cogswell Dr. Molly McGarry Copyright by Kathleen Diane McGuire 2009 The Dissertation of Kathleen Diane McGuire is approved: __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements Just as it takes a village to raise a child, so too does it take a village to complete a dissertation. Certainly this dissertation could not have been completed without the help of my own village in the UC Riverside History Department. As peers, councilors, guides and friends, the following people have brightened my journey through graduate school: Scott Kistler, Michael Drake, Moises Medina, Omar Ronquillo, Brendan Lindsay, Tim Russell, Jon Ille, Liz Von Essen, Mike Cox, Karen Wilson, Tim Watson, Owen Jones, John Bawden, and Cathy Nista. Additionally, Anne Longanbach and Vanessa Wilkie provided unwavering support, crucial advice, and plenty of laughter during our “ABD Ladies Lunches”. Without their friendship and encouragement, I would never have survived this process. And of course, the magnificent staff in the History Department at UC Riverside, Susan Komura, Deisy Escobado, Connie Young, Rosie Mamaril, and Christina Cuellar, all provided incredible support throughout my entire time at graduate school. The faculty of the History Department at UC Riverside also helped to shape and guide my academic career and this dissertation. In particular I would like to thank Richard Godbeer, Anne Goldberg, Brian Lloyd, Ray Kea, and Dale Kent for their guidance in the classroom. Cliff Trafzer, Roger Ransom, and Francois Forester-Hahn (Art History) offered invaluable advice during the early stages of researching this dissertation. The members of my dissertation committee, Molly McGarry and Tom Cogswell each offered important insights and commentary on both the content of the dissertation, and its overall structure. Thanks to you both for reading my material quickly iv and critically. Finally, I owe my advisor, Rebecca Kugel, an enormous debt of gratitude. She took on my unique situation and never hesitated to offer support and encouragement throughout this entire process. Her patience, understanding and kindness, coupled with the fresh eyes she brought to this project played a crucial role in the development of this dissertation, and her prompt turnaround of all my chapters encouraged me to keep plugging away! Thank you for always treating me with the utmost kindness and cheerfulness, which were essential to keeping my sanity throughout the writing of this dissertation. Various library and archive staffs have also been quite enormously helpful in completing the research for this dissertation. The staff at the Newspapers and Current Periodicals Reading Room at Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. always offered patient advice and speedy service. Likewise, the staff at the Colindale branch of the British Library were extremely helpful in giving advice and finding materials. I spent a week at the New York Public Library, and their kind staff, thanks to a grant from the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. Finally, the Interlibrary Loan staffs at UC Riverside, Vanderbilt University, and Georgetown University all made doing a dissertation in California, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. an easier task than would have been possible without their assistance. Finally, my largest debt of gratitude goes to my family who have always supported me and for the last two years have heard with patience about all the intricacies of writing a dissertation. Thank you to Diane and Scott Adams, Chris Adams, Amanda Walsh, Bob and Katy Swanson, Joel and Lisa Swanson, Justin and Danielle Swanson, v Sharon and Bob Miller, Rudy and Cindy Hendrickson, Rick and Suzanne McGuire, Morgan and Rachel McGuire, Amanda McGuire, and Peter McGuire. Thank you also to Grandma McGuire and Grandma and Grandpa Swanson for your unwavering support, understanding and encouragement throughout my life. I’m so lucky to have grandparents like you. Graduate school also gave me the gift of amazing in-laws, and I have to thank all the Bickfords, especially Wendy and Bob, as well as Jim and Rianah Stephens for all their love and support these past few years. Finally, my parents Mike and Nancy McGuire deserve all the thanks I could possible give for their love and support all my life. They were the first to show me the fun and great stories found in history, from the cannons at Gettysburg to the green hills of Ireland, and they have always encouraged me to strive for the very best. Thank you mom and dad for believing in me from the very beginning and supporting me I every step of the graduate school process. My final thanks go to my husband, Isaac Stephens, who supported me every step of the way and was my inspiration and model by doing all of this first. Without his love, patience, understanding, sympathy and encouragement I would never have made it this far. Thanks for pushing me to be my best and for loving me even when I’m not at my best. vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Transatlantic Paddy: The Making of a Transnational Irish Identity in Nineteenth- Century America by Kathleen Diane McGuire Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in History University of California, Riverside, June 2009 Dr. Rebecca Kugel, Chairperson This dissertation addresses the image of Irishmen in political cartoons from England, Ireland and the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The image of “Paddy,” as this violent Irish figure was popularly called, which was so pervasive in the British and Anglo-American political cartoons of the late nineteenth century has provided scholars with a new medium for re-examining American and British attitudes towards the Irish. It is important to note, however, that the variety of Irishmen depicted in political cartoons from the late nineteenth-century offer a more nuanced picture of Irish experiences during the period than can be found in the image of “Paddy” alone. Furthermore, scholars have not paid similar attention to images produced by the Irish themselves. This dissertation addresses the issue of the Irish image in cartoons by utilizing a transnational framework that compares images of the Irish produced by Anglo- vii Americans and Britons, with Irish images of themselves with a particular emphasis on the 1880s. This decade was chosen for two specific reasons; not only was the Irish nationalist movement particularly vibrant during this decade, but it also was the decade in which Irishmen produced cartoons on a consistent basis. This dissertation will show that the American Irish-produced cartoons concentrated on the theme of Irish nationalism, rather than addressing the prejudices of British and American cartoons or exploring the Irish experience in the United States, subjects one might expect they would address, given their prevalence in the mainstream press. Additionally, this dissertation reaffirms the importance of the burgeoning scholarship associated with political cartoons and their value as a tool for historical analysis. As the first in-depth study of Irish-American produced political cartoons in the 1880s, this dissertation opens up a variety of new avenues for scholarly investigation concerning the experiences of the American Irish in the nineteenth century. viii Table of Contents Acknowledgements iv Abstract vii Table of Contents ix List of Illustrations x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Popular Press, Political Cartoons and The Irish-American 18 in the Late Nineteenth Century Chapter 2: Charles Stewart Parnell: “The Uncrowned King of Ireland” or the 54 King of American Irish Hopes? Chapter 3: “The Day We Celebrate:” St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations in Images 114 Chapter 4: Dynamite, Bombs, and Knives: Images of Violence and the Irish 183 Chapter 5: “And on the Ground Two Lifeless Bodies Lay:” The Phoenix 234 Park Murders in Political Cartoons Chapter 6: “Tammany Bridget” or “The Proud Beauty?” Conflicting Images 279 of Irish Women in Political Cartoons Conclusion 331 Bibliography 339 ix List of Figures Introduction Figure 0.1: “The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things” 1 Chapter 1 Figure 1.1: “A Blunder Worse Than A Crime” 35 Figure 1.2: “An Expensive Blunder” 36 Figure 1.3: “More Than He Reckoned For” 38 Figure 1.4: “Cause and Effect” 39 Figure 1.5: “The Resources of Civilization” 41 Figure 1.6: “Tory ‘Government’ in Ireland” 43 Figure 1.7: “American Industry’s True Protector” 47 Figure 1.8: “Master of the Situation, and Intensely American” 49 Figure 1.9: “Four More Years of This” 51 Chapter 2 Figure 2.1: “Columbia’s Welcome to Parnell” 67 Figure 2.2: “Doing Don Quixote at a Distance” 71 Figure 2.3: “Boycotting the Pope” 75-76 Figure 2.4: “Ireland to Parnell” 79 Figure 2.5: “Erin Presenting New Colors to Her Soldiers” 79 Figure 2.6: “Fag-an-Bealach” 83 Figure 2.7: “The Irish Barons Compelling King John Bull to Sign the 86 New Magna Charta” Figure 2.8: “Great Expectations” 89 Figure 2.9: “The Times ‘Hoist’ on its Own Petard” 93 Figure 2.10: “Sir Parnell Having Overthrown the Giant Times 97-98 Demands Liberation of the Maiden Hibernia” Figure 2.11: “Under Which Flag” 102 Figure 2.12: “Hail to the Chief” 104 Figure 2.13: “Reconciliation” 107 Figure 2.14: “No!” 109 Figure 2.15: “October: The Stump Orator is Loose” 111 Chapter 3 Figure 3.1: “The Day We Celebrate” 115 Figure 3.2: “The Day We Celebrate” 128 Figure 3.3: “The Riot on St. Patrick’s Day” 130 Figure 3.4: “Design for a Mural Decoration of the Interior of a Club 133 Room of the Ancient Order of Hibernians” Figure 3.5: “Suggestions for a St.