Greece, Poland, and the Construction of American Irish Catholic Identity in the New York Truth Teller, 1820–1845

Abstract

The Greek War of Independence (1821–1832) and the abortive November Uprising in Poland (1830–1831) were two major developments in nineteenth-century European history, and both became central to foundational narratives of European modernity. These events have, however, received scant attention by American immigration historians. Despite this neglect, both were integral to how the New York Truth Teller, the leading Irish Catholic newspaper in New York in the years before the Famine, attempted to consolidate an Irish Catholic ethnic identity in the United States. The Truth Teller's contributors interpreted the Greek and Polish conflicts through reference to a specific narrative of Irish history as one of unparalleled suffering. In doing so, the paper kept American Irish Catholics informed about contemporary events in Europe. In comparing Irish Catholic history to the contemporary struggles of Greece and Poland, the Truth Teller insisted that neither Greece nor Poland had experienced suffering comparable to the persecution of Protestant Ascendency Ireland. This article is a corrective to scholarship that has underemphasized the importance of the Truth Teller to Irish Catholic identity in the United States before the Famine and undervalued the relevance of European events for the construction of American Irish Catholic identity.