Cathal Smith - American Planters and Irish Landlords in Comparative and Transnational Perspective

This is the first study to systematically explore similarities, differences, and connections between the histories of American planters and Irish landlords. The book focuses primarily on the comparative and transnational investigation of an antebellum Mississippi planter named John A. Quitman (17991858) and a nineteenth-century Irish landlord named Robert Dillon, Lord Clonbrock (180793), examining their economic behaviors, ideologies, labor relations, and political histories. Locating Quitman and Clonbrock firmly within their wider local, national, and international contexts, American Planters and Irish Landlords in Comparative and Transnational Perspective argues that the two men were representative of specific but comparable manifestations of agrarian modernity, paternalism, and conservatism that became common among the landed elites who dominated economy, society, and politics in the antebellum American South and in nineteenth-century Ireland. It also demonstrates that American planters and Irish landlords were connected by myriad direct and indirect transnational links between their societies, including transatlantic intellectual cultures, mutual participation in global capitalism, and the mass migration of people from Ireland to the United States that occurred during the nineteenth century.

Cathal Smith is a lecturer in English-speaking History and Cultures at Zhejiang International Studies University, Hangzhou, China.

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76 Corporate Policing, Yellow Unionism, and Strikebreaking, 1890-1930

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77 American Planters and Irish Landlords in Comparative and Transnational Perspective

Lords of Land and Labor

Cathal Smith

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For a full list of titles, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/history/series/MODHIST

American Planters and Irish Landlords in Comparative and Transnational Perspective

Lords of Land and Labor

Cathal Smith

First published 2021

by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2021 Cathal Smith

The right of Cathal Smith to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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ISBN: 978-0-367-69851-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-14354-3 (ebk)

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Maps

Introduction: Comparing and Connecting Lords of Land and Labor

1 Ireland, the American South, and Rural Subjection, c. 15501800

2 The Souths Second Slavery and Irelands Second Landlordism: John A. Quitmans and Lord Clonbrocks Economic Attitudes and Behaviors

3 Planter and Landlord Ideologies: Quitman, Clonbrock, and Paternalism

4 Varieties of Paternalism in Practice: Labor Relations on the Quitman Plantations and Clonbrock Estates

5 We Have Become a Second Ireland: Landed Elites, Unionism, and Nationalism in the Antebellum South and Nineteenth-Century Ireland

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

It is my pleasure to acknowledge the people and institutions that have helped to bring this book to fruition. My first thanks go to all of the staff at the History Department of the National University of Ireland, Galway, who have helped me immensely through their teaching, kindness, and encouragement. In particular, Enrico Dal Lago has provided years of essential practical guidance and advice, while his scholarship been an example to aspire to and follow. Much of the research on which this book is based was generously funded by an Irish Research Council postgraduate scholarship, for which I am extremely grateful. Like all history books, this one has been made possible by access to many libraries that act as custodians of the past, including the Hardiman Library at NUI Galway, the National Library of Ireland, Houghton Library at Harvard University, the Library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Hill Memorial Library at Louisiana State University, the Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, and the Library of Congress; my sincere thanks go to the staff of all of those libraries that facilitated access to sources.

Along the road toward completing this book I have been lucky to meet many historians who have helped me or contributed to my research in various ways that I really appreciate. This includes Catherine Bateson, Sarah-Anne Buckley, Maurice Bric, Amanda Brickell Bellows, Brian Casey, Sophie Cooper, John Cunningham, Ian Delahanty, Toms Finn, David Gleeson, Glenda Gilmore, Risn Healy, Peter Hession, Kevin Kenny, Kevin McKenna, Conor McNamara, James ODonnell, Martin ODonoghue, Florry ODriscoll, Kevin OSullivan, Andrew Phemister, Oliver Rafferty, S.J., Joe Regan, and Niall Whelehan. Special thanks to Peter Kolchin for his advice as my PhDs external examiner, his subsequent help and kindness, and his pioneering scholarship.

Thanks to the editors of the Journal of the Civil War Era for granting me permission to republish portions of an essay that originally appeared in their journal. I am also very grateful to Max Novick, Jennifer Morrow, and everyone else I worked with at Routledge for their professionalism and support in bringing this book to print. And to all my colleagues and friends at Zhejiang International Studies University, where it has been a pleasure to work: [xie xie], merci, gracias, danke, grazie, obrigado, and tesekkr ederim.

To Lorena, thank you so much for all of our adventures and for being the best of the best. Muchas gracias y te amo con todo mi corazn. To my friends, particularly Declan, Caitlin and Richard, thanks for the great times and great memories; Im looking forward to our next reunion in Galway. To my family, especially Mam, Dad, Gerard, Caitrona, Bran, Kathleen, Louise, and Adrian, thank you for everything. Finally, to the new generation of Murphys, Smiths, and McNameesAva, Maeve, Aoibheann, Aaron, and Fonnthank you for all the joy you bring to the world.