"How important was Catholic Emancipation in religion and politics in Englandand Ireland between c1820 and 1829?"

In Ireland, the issue of Emancipation was given a lot of importance and it mobilised the Irish people for fighting for their right. The Act of Union was passed in 1801 to bind Ireland securely with Britain and was most probably agreed to by bribing the  corrupted Protestant Irish MPs.  The 1820s saw an increase in population in Ireland and wretched living conditions. People depended on potato crops and were living in mud huts and one-roomed cottages. Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), was an Irish Catholic lawyer, and saw Catholic Emancipation as the first step towards the abolition of the Act of Union. He was not a revolutionary and never urged a Civil War. His oratory and Irish grievances brought the Irish people together towards this issue. O’Connell formed the Catholic Association, which had an affordable fee of 1p a head. Priests also joined the Association, who proved to be important in influencing the thought of the Irish people. The members of the Association grew larger and larger and in London, this was seen as a threat to public order. The issue became further serious with O’Connell deciding to offer himself as a candidate in the by-election being fought in County Clare, Ireland in 1828. Not surprisingly, he won the seat: the majority of the voters in the constituency were Catholics, and probably members of the Association. Wellington and Peel at first decided to resist the demands of the Catholic Association and declared that O’Connell would not be allowed to take his seat in Parliament. The decision was not popular and led to demonstrations all over Ireland. However, Peel and Wellington were unwilling to turn Ireland into a battlefield for the sake of principle of resisting Catholic advance, thus, in 1829; Parliament passed the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act. The evidence portrays that the aim to pass Catholic Emancipation was the sole aim of the Irish politicians between 1820 and 1829. Consequently, it would be correct to say that this issue had a major impact and importance in Irish politics.

The final factor, which was important in the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act, was religion. It is very easily seen that religion was the basis of the entire movement of for the passing of the Act. Evidence had proven that for years, Catholics felt deprived and oppressed under a small proportion of Protestant landowner and officials. This demonstrates that initially, differences in religion brought together protest for the Act on its own, when Catholics and Protestants were conflicting over whether the former should receive the same rights as the latter. Generally, the Protestant opinion was dead against this Act. However, in 1828, their opinion had somewhat changed as Lord John Russell, a Whig MP introduced a bill to repeal the Test and Corporations Acts, which excluded Protestant Dissenters (Non-conformists), followers of Jewish faith and Roman Catholics from taking up public office. In 1828, both the Corporations and Test Acts were repealed by the Parliament. Now, Robert Peel felt that it was only fair that Roman Catholics can take up their seats in Parliament and also it was very difficult to resist opposition after this incident with the threat of a Revolution looming, thus, reluctantly in the end supported Catholic Emancipation Act. This evidence delineates that “social equality” without the context of religion was what Catholic Emancipation Act wanted to aim towards. People wanted to be accepted and represented without being discriminated just because they were of a different religion.

However, in light of protest and support, the Catholic Emancipation Act was duly granted in 1829. The immediate consequences of the Act included a large radical presence in the House of Commons, who were known as O’Connellites and aimed to keep Irish issues on the agenda in the 1830s. The Tories also lost a large amount of support and their spilt was further widened when Wellington lost his right-wing support by raising Irish franchise was raised from 40s to £10 in order to limit the Catholic Emancipation’s effects on the Irish countryside. Finally, this Act proved to be catalyst for further political change in the constitution without it collapsing, proven by the Reform Act of 1830 by the Whig government.

The issue of Catholic Emancipation occupied the minds of politicians in both England and Ireland during the 1820s. Once again, the issue proved too intense for and English government to bear, thus, led to the Tory downfall, in 1830. Irish politics prospered during the years of demonstrations for the Catholic Emancipation to be granted. The Irish politicians grew from strength to strength and received a lot of support, even from the main Tory opposition, Whigs, in England. The most important thing that Catholic Emancipation did was to establish the Catholicism as a mainstream religion, for the future. Religious equality formed the basis for the Irish demonstrators and placed Irish Roman Catholic views in the framework of contemporary events.

After looking at all the evidence, we can verify that Catholic Emancipation was the chief issue in the politics and religion in England and Ireland during the period of 1820-1828. To conclude, it would be correct to say that Catholic Emancipation was a very important subject matter indeed.