Self-identifying as an Ulster American President

The American Presidency is seldom out of the news, but in recent weeks it's been relentless. The forthcoming election, the assassination attempt on Trump, the Biden withdrawal, the introduction of Harris and also the selection of Vance (who I have blogged about here a few times). The Ulster dimension of the Presidency has been well known for over 100 years, but it also has been exaggerated and over-stated too.

The 1942 book Ulster Links with the White House shown above proposed a list of 14 Presidents that it claimed were of Ulster Scots descent (replete with wonderful pencil portraits of each by Frank McKelvey). However the research was dubious in places, as the first three it featured - John Adams, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams - were not of Ulster descent at all, and were dropped from the 'canon' by later writers. And, as time went on, subsequent Presidents were added. We're at about 20 now. 

Excellent genealogists have meticulously traced roots, but amateur ones have overstated them.

The strongest case can only be made for those Presidents who in their own writings or speeches self-identified their Ulster-Scots roots. That might make the Ulster Presidents list shorter, but also stronger. 

For example, in recent years I have read people insisting that the controversial President Andrew Jackson only ever described his ancestry as 'Irish', not 'Scotch-Irish', as a wedge from which to de-legitimise the concept of Scotch-Irishness. But, this is merely a present day retro-fitting of a modern idea, a culturally narrow and exclusive definition of what is meant by 'Irish'. 'Irish' does not have to be a mono-cultural and ethnic term, which is sadly what it has often become. Regardless of that issue, during Jackson's own lifetime, one of his closest friends wrote a biography of him, in which it said –

“The family from which General Andrew Jackson is descended were ... among the emigrants from Scotland to the province of Ulster. They were strict adherents to the Church of Scotland, and transmitted their religion, as well as their dialect, to their descendants of the present age.” 

– From Life of Andrew Jackson, by Amos Kendall, 1843. (Kendall was one of Jackson’s ‘Kitchen Cabinet’).

So, in an era where self-identification is all-important, self-identification is the only credible way to list the Presidents of Ulster-Scots descent. They were the ones who were aware of it themselves, and for whatever reason, regarded it as culturally and politically important.

• Amos Kendall Wikipedia here

Rev James Shaw - 'The Scotch-Irish in History' and a blunt view of the 1798 Rebellion

This view, expressed here by Rev James Shaw in 1899, was almost exactly 100 years after the rebellion - "The Presbyterians in the north got frightened, withdrew after a few fights, and the rebellion collapsed". Scullabogue and Wexford Bridge are what Shaw is referring to – I posted this about those events, back in 2020.

Rev James Shaw - 'The Scotch-Irish in History' and a radical view of King William III

Rev James Shaw was a Methodist minister, born in Co Longford. He emigrated from Limavady in 1854 and settled in Indiana, USA. He became a major figure in the Scotch-Irish Society of America. His book from 1899 has tonnes of content - I think some of you will find this reference to William III and Mary II interesting - “he would have given to the Catholics emancipation, as he had the Presbyterians, but he was hindered by the prejudices of his Parliament”. This echoes precisely what figures like Henry Grattan and Rev William Steele-Dickson had written too. William of Orange wasn't the real villain - the 1700s Dublin Parliament was. • The Scotch-Irish in History (1899) is online here • Twelve Years in America (1867) is online here

Joseph Reed of Pennsylvania and the Glorious Revolution

Joseph Reed (1741–85) was one of America's 'Founding Fathers', as George Washington’s First Adjunct General and Secretary During the American Revolution.

His grandfather, also called Joseph Reed, was from Carrickfergus and emigrated to West Jersey.

In a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth written from Philadelphia on 25 September 1774, Reed said:

“No king ever had more loyal subjects ; or any country more affectionate colonists than the Americans were. I, who am but a young man, well remember when the former was always mentioned with a respect approaching to adoration, and to be an Englishman was alone a sufficient recommendation for any office of friendship and civility. But I confess with the greatest concern, that these happy days seem passing swiftly away, and unless some plan of accommodation can be speedily formed, the affection of the colonists will be irrecoverably lost...

... all the principles of the (1688) Revolution show that there are certain cases wherein resistance is justifiable”. 

 

A Liberty 12th - First Presbyterian Church, Carlisle, Pennsylvania - the "Carlisle Resolves" of 12 July 1774

250 years ago, on 12th July 1774, a committee chaired by a John Montgomery met in Carlisle First Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania to publish the 'Carlisle Resolves'. The church held some events last week to mark this: https://www.facebook.com/firstprescarlisle.org

The committee members were James Wilson, John Armstrong, John Montgomery, William Irvine, Robert Callender, William Thompson, John Colhoon, Jonathan Hoge, Robert Magaw, Ephraim Blaine, John Alison, John Harris and Robert Miller. The community of Carlisle expressed their "common cause" with the other "British Colonies in North-America" due to the Parliament of Great Britain annulling the Rights and Liberties of the people of Boston and Massachusetts when it revoked or 'abrogated' the 1691 Charter of William and Mary (see Wikipedia article here).

The Carlisle Resolves were just one of a series issued from Ulster-Scots communities in Pennsylvania. Some of the others from June & July 1774 were the Hanover Resolves, the Middletown Resolves, the Lebanon Resolves and the Lancaster Resolves.

"Scotch-Irish districts were firm yet dignified in their demands for justice and in the denunciation of British tyranny and wrong. These Hanover Resolves ... (show that) the liberty-loving Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania were the head and front of the American rebellion of 1776” 

- quoted from ‘History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon: in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania' (1883) page 78

One of those who was present at the meeting that authorised the 'Carlisle Resolves' was Ulster-born James Smith. Two years later he would sign the Declaration of Independence.

Ged on the Shankill for the 12th

One of my sons knows this guy, as you'll see in the video below he has undergone a complete faith transformation in recent months and is using his skills as an online influencer to now do evangelistic work and voxpop interviews. It's an insight into the condition of our society and deeply embedded narratives.

Pastoral Letter from The Presbyterian Synod of New York and Philadelphia, 20 July 1775

On 12 June 1775, a few weeks after shots had been fired at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress published an appeal for a national day of fasting and prayer on 20 July (full text online here). On that day, the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Philadelphia published a 'pastoral letter' to its congregations across the 13 Colonies:

"... The Synod cannot help thinking, that this is a proper time for oppressing all of every rank seriously to consider the things that belong to their eternal peace. Hostilities, long feared, have now taken place; the sword has been drawn, in one Province, and the whole Continent, with hardly any exception, seem determined to defend their rights by force of arms.

... If, at the same time, the British Ministry shall continue to enforce their claims by violence, a lasting and bloody contest must be expected ...

... Surely, then, it becomes those who have taken up arms, and profess a willingness to hazard their lives in the cause of liberty, to be prepared for death, which to many must be the certain, and to every one is a possible or probable event... let every opportunity be taken to express your attachment and respect to our Sovereign King George, and to the (1688) Revolution principles by which his august family was seated on the British throne ..."

The full text is online here.

Synod minutes image from this website. Congress order from this website.

Stolen Valour

This story was in our headlines recently - a top police officer who lied about his past record to gain career advancement. In the United States this is known as stolen valor and is a federal crime which comes with a prison sentence.

This is a lesson that would serve Northern Ireland well - various commercial brands have been revived here in recent years, whiskeys especially. This allows the companies who have renewed these defunct trademarks to effectively also acquire the emotional heritage of those brands too. 

Various "organisations" here have appropriated names from the distant past. You'll see their brand names, and their laying claim to the imagery, insignia, accomplishments and events of that past, on flagpoles during July - during the season when the original men, who would also serve with unimaginable courage in the Great War, are annually commemorated. My grandfather's cousin James Thompson was one of them, killed at the Battle of the Somme aged just 20. Below is my grandfather's memorial poem about him.

Valour stolen generations later by those with little or none. We live in a very messy society. 

Triggernometry with Rory Stewart – how political change changes nothing, because the public sector (mis)rules the nation