How Successful Was The Fenian Manifesto Dbq

I have selected to write about document number one The Fenian Manifesto 1867. It was proclaimed during the unsuccessful Fenian Rising in 1867 by the Provisional Government as they styled themselves. It is often viewed as merely another failed attempt at physical force rebellion in Ireland. 50 years before Easter 1916 when a new rising would take place and an all new proclamation would be declared, it was used as a template for what not to do when planning a rising. Six years after this final rising the Irish Free State was formed in December 1922. Although the manifesto itself was a call for an all-inclusive Irish Republic and not the 26 county Free State or later Republic which was eventually declared on Easter Monday 1949, it’s declaration is impossible to ignore as a political statement. The failure of the rising was a spark for a shift in

They were the remnants of the Young Irelanders of 1948 who had rebelled in retaliation to the Great Famine 1945-52 which they believed the blame for lay at the door of the British. . The Manifesto addresses this oppression from the opening sentence “We have suffered centuries of outrage enforced poverty and bitter misery”. Similarly the famine was a driving factor which spurred the Fenians on in their quest to expel the British from Ireland once and for all. J.J Lee Irish Historian states in support of this ‘Fenianism began the grassroots revolution against fatalism, so reassuring to the official mind, which drove thousands to their famine graves.’ The movement was predominantly militaristic and they believed the time for democratic measure had long passed. Their frustration with democracy is evident in this piece “we appealed in vein to the reason and sense of justice of the dominant powers. Our mildest remonstrations were met with sneers and contempt”. They reluctantly deem war as their only option “we again appeal to force as our last