Skip to main content
Service phase: Beta

This is a new service. Help us improve it and give your feedback (opens in new tab).

Talk

Divided loyalties: Ireland and the American War of Independence

Discover how Ireland engaged with ideas of rebellion and liberty in an age of revolutions.

Date
1 July 2026
Location
Online
About this image

In the late summer of 1776, anyone picking up a newspaper in Ireland would have read about the intensifying American conflict across the Atlantic, culminating in the US Declaration of Independence on July 4.

Some in Ireland were sympathetic viewing the American Revolution as a parallel to their own fight for free trade and legislative freedom from the British. Others were sceptical: one writer in Dublin’s Freeman’s Journal commented on the recent Declaration, ‘Once united to us as dear brethren … They now declare themselves to be Free Independent States’.

Join historian Joel Herman, Trinity College Dublin, who will use records from the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland and The National Archives to show how diverse communities in Dublin and Ireland responded to revolutionary events and ideas from across the Atlantic. He will also discuss the extent to which these events and ideas shaped the course of Irish history.

Event details

Date
1 July 2026, 19:30 to 20:30
Price
Free

Pay what you can

Location
Online, Live-streamed on Vimeo
Part of series
Revolution 250 season

This event has sold out.

Dates for this event

1 July 2026 (past event)

  • 19:30 to 20:30

Newsletter

Get priority booking

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for exhibition updates and early booking for events, including talks and tours.

Speakers

  • Joel Herman

    Historian, Trinity College Dublin