ABSTRACT
The history of unionism in Ireland is one of simplification, retreat and retrenchment. Through much of the nineteenth century unionism - defined very broadly as a belief in the constitutional connexion between Britain and Ireland - was the normative condition of Irish politics. Unionism was a luxuriant intellectual and cultural growth which entwined itself around mainstream Liberal and Tory politics, and pollinated even those more popular movements which have been seen exclusively within the history of nationalist development and progression: O’Connellite repeal and Parnellite home rule were, stripped of their patriotic ebullience, campaigns for a more workable relationship with Britain - for a more refined union - rather than for absolute separation.
