The Transatlantic Paddy: The Making of a Transnational Irish Identity in Nineteenth-Century America

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-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