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This Saturday, 7 April marks 150 years since the death of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, the youngest of the Fathers of Confederation. A brilliant writer, outstanding orator, and charismatic politician, McGee is best known for his prominent role in Irish-Canadian politics, his inspirational speeches in support of Canadian Confederation, and his assassination by an Irish revolutionary who accused him of betraying his earlier Irish nationalist principles.
In honour, we revisit the extensive two-volume biography written by David A. Wilson: Thomas D’Arcy McGee: Passion, Reason, and Politics, 1825-1857 and Thomas D’Arcy McGee: The Extreme Moderate, 1857-1868
The first volume explores the development of those principles in Ireland and the United States. David Wilson follows McGee from Wexford, Ireland across the Atlantic to Boston, where at nineteen he became the editor of America’s leading Irish newspaper, and traces his subsequent involvement with the Young Ireland movement, his reactions to the Famine, and his role in the Rising of 1848. Wilson goes on to examine McGee’s experiences as a political refugee in the United States, where his increasing disillusionment with revolutionary Irish nationalism and his opposition to American nativism propelled him towards conservative Catholicism and sent him on a trajectory that ultimately led to Canada—his experiences are the subject of Volume 2.
As someone who took an uncompromising stand against militants within his own ethno-religious community, and who attempted to balance core values with minority rights, Thomas D’Arcy McGee has become increasingly relevant in today’s complex multicultural society.
“Wilson’s great contribution is to revive our knowledge of D’Arcy McGee and revise our understanding of his ideas. In contemporary culture we communicate through references to celebrities and public personalities. Wilson demonstrates that McGee fits comfortably into that pantheon of Canadians whose life stories resonate with importance. Altogether, both volumes make up a remarkable work of research and lucid writing, a compelling narrative of the man and his era. David Wilson conveys a sympathetic understanding of the tumult of real politics, the contradictions of real people, and the contributions of McGee to the ideals of this country.” Victor Rabinovitch, Literary Review of Canada
“A magnificent achievement. The narrative has tension and momentum, even though we know the final tragic scene. This is the triumphant finale of years of scholarship and must rank as one of the great historical biographies of our time.” Liam Kennedy, Queen’s University, Belfast
Image credit (top): Thomas D’Arcy McGee, president of the Executive Council, 1862 (NPA, McCord Museum)
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