Philadelphia, here we come.

Bhroimeil, Una Ni

MAURICE J. BRIC

Ireland, Philadelphia and the

Re-Invention of America, 1760-1800

Dublin: Four Courts Press. 2008. 55 [euro].

IN THIS HISTORIOGRAPHICALLY rich volume, Maurice Bric charts the pattern of migration from Ireland to Philadelphia and its environs, details the changing character of immigrants and immigration throughout the latter part of the eighteenth century and considers the impact of Philadelphia's immigrants on the development of contemporary politics. Most importantly, he details the significance of the immigrants to the key questions of citizenship and the role of the foreign-born in the new republic. Philadelphia is an appealing city for this work more than merely the site of the Continental and Confederation Conferences, the nation's first capital and the birthplace of the republic, Philadelphia was also home to a "mixed multitude" of ethnocultural groups and was, as Bric asserts, "a laboratory where local, regional and national politics interacted" (46).

In examining the process of migration during this period, Bric goes beyond the detail of statistics and numbers and recounts the promotion of Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants and indeed the importance of shipping companies' propaganda as evidenced by detailed descriptions of ships, competitive prices and testimonials as to the care and attention to passengers of particular captains. This did not mean that the immigrants' passage was easy--during the 1770s and 1780s delays in departure could last up to four weeks, the threats of piracy and the impressment of passengers were well-founded, the Delaware Bay at the zenith of the journey was treacherous and Philadelphia itself was prone to ice up in winter. In spite of the perils of passage, however, America was perceived very much as a viable and attractive economic choice during this period. In fact, Saunder's Newsletter suggested in June 1784 that "the sense of people moving is almost tangible" and emigrants were urged, according to Bric, to view America as a place to work rather than a place of refuge.

This led to a change in the kinds of people immigrating to Philadelphia after 1783 as many of them tended to be "neither unskilled nor illiterate" (124). Some ship captains banned servants and redemptioners altogether and the convict trade between Ireland and America ended. In 1784, the Providence, sailing from Cork to Philadelphia, carried:

 carpenters, taylors (sic), shoemakers,
 rope-makers, labourers, breeches-makers,
 clerks, farmers, coachmen, cutlers, weavers,
 butchers, joiners, harness makers,
 hairdressers, carvers, coach makers.
 white, black and coach smiths, glowers
 masons, dyers [and] brickmakers. (125)

The lure of America for skilled workers was regarded in Ireland as an economic threat and led to the passing of two acts in 1785 and 1791 to control and regulate passenger trade so that Ireland's prosperity would not be compromised. The enforcement of the 1791 law in particular, despite loopholes, resulted in incidents such as the recall of the ship Sally out of Limerick bound for Baltimore in 1795 and the removal of fifty mechanics who were on board.

If Ireland was reluctant to allow emigrants to leave, Americans were unsure as to what exactly the role of the foreign-born in the new republic was to be. Their influence on politics was regarded as particularly robust and was evident as early as the 1760s in the challenge of the Paxton Boys, for example. It was in the 1790s, however, that issues around the patriotism of the foreign-born came to the fore. The 1795 Naturalization Act was passed in an effort to ensure that foreigners would not threaten or undermine American institutions. The Senate elections of 1797-98 exposed instances of intimidation and corruption as well as the practice of keeping taverns open, "free of expense to all precious republicans," but were mostly notorious for the hordes of foreigners whose votes influenced chiefly the 1797 result. The possibility of the foreign-born subverting the country from within in the impending war between America and France in 1798 led to the passing of the Alien Friends Act which allowed the President to deport any alien who was suspected of working against the government. The Alien Enemies Act allowed resident aliens to be "apprehended, restrained, secured and removed." The Sedition Act, also passed in 1798, advanced a narrow concept of patriotism and essentially entailed unquestioning support for the government. And as the 1790s was a time of recession, the argument that immigrants could deprive native-born Americans of jobs was articulated in the election for governor in 1799. Overall, there was uncertainty as to the status and position of the foreign-born immigrants in American society, and Bric provides us with an insight not only into how immigrants were perceived but also into the terms in which Americanness was being defined during this period.

The disruption of the harmonious polity was blamed on the ethno-cultural societies as agents of instability. While the five main "national societies" which included the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick (founded 1771) were symbolically representative of their home countries, none of them, for example, paraded as a distinct group in the Federal Procession of 4 July 1788 and all believed that national distinctions should for the most part be avoided. The Hibernian Society for the protection of Irish Emigrants (founded 1790) was different in social composition from the Friendly Sons as it counted grocers, schoolmasters and innkeepers among its members whereas merchants dominated the Friendly Sons. Its outlook was also more ethnically aware as its main aim was to help its own countrymen and to offer services to Irish immigrants to help them survive in Philadelphia. The Irish were not unique in looking after their own. The Scots Thistle Society's members were obliged to attend funerals of their colleagues or pay a fine. The German Lutheran Aid Society insisted that all business be transacted in the German language. There was therefore a more assertive and visible ethnocentrism present in 1790s Philadelphia.

Bric is most convincing in the discussion of the significance of this associational world and its developing mediating role between government and society. He links the intensification of political discourse and the evolving political vocabulary of the supporters of Jefferson with the "ethnocultural vocabulary of the 'new Irish'" (186). This was especially evident during the Congressional elections of 1794 when the Republican candidate John Swanwick defeated the Federalist incumbent. Swanwick attended a number of Irish ethnocultural commemorations during his campaign which toasted an "injured Ireland" and called for retaliation against Britain for mistreating neutral American ships. This was not the only time that links were made between events in Ireland and politics in the United States. Bric argues that events in Ireland and their reception in America were in fact catalysts for political adjustment in America. He instances the toasts, parades and addresses that linked Ireland to America and points to newspaper opinions that focused on the commonalities between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United Irishmen. Irish immigrants' support for Jeffersonian Republicanism was linked to their opposition to Jay's treaty. In an address to Congress in 1799, the "natives of Ireland in the United States" pleaded against the Alien Acts and argued that the cause of America in 1775 and that of Ireland in 1798 were the same. The rhetoric of freedom and revolution was connected with a growing sense of ethnocultural identity and was a factor in promoting popular participation in politics and the creation of a new political space.

Ireland, Philadelphia and the Reinvention of America is a fascinating and detailed study of the evolution and dynamics of ethnic politics in America. The detail can be somewhat dense at times, especially in the opening chapters, yet, the postscript is short and restrained. Bric succeeds in placing Philadelphia and Ireland in a transatlantic convergence that relied not simply on the accident of shipping schedules but on political beliefs, principles and ideologies. This truly made the Irish immigrants of Philadelphia, as he suggests, citizens of a wider universe.

--Mary Immaculate College University of Limerick