Erin’s Hope, Irish Blood and Indefeasible Allegiance: Reconfiguring Citizenship and Nationalism in an Era of Increased Mobility

In the wake of the 1867 Rising—a failed attempt to establish an Irish Republic by force—a ship named the Erin’s Hope delivered to Ireland a number of Irish-American officers whose objective was to continue the fight. They were arrested immediately, and despite their protestations, charged as British subjects with treason-felony against the Queen. This paper illuminates their plight, the manner in which they attempted to reframe their predicament, and how the UK and the US responded legislatively to such troublesome mobility during a period when Ireland was governed in a draconian fashion and Irish nationalism was stronger amongst the Diaspora overseas. This case study is considered as historical evidence not only of how such concepts as subjecthood, citizenship, expatriation, and naturalization were reconfigured in an era of increased mobility, but also of how Irishness came to be determined by descent, the latter of which is a legacy of colonialism in need of redress in the postcolonial present