David Bell (Irish Republican) facts for kids

David Bell (1818-1890) was an important Irish activist and minister. He worked to help farmers in Ireland get fair rights to their land. Later, he became a strong supporter of Irish independence. After moving to the United States, he also supported the Reconstruction efforts after the American Civil War. This included giving voting rights to Black Americans.

Bell was a Presbyterian minister. He became very active in politics after seeing the terrible poverty during the Great Irish Famine in the 1840s. He helped start the Tenant League in Ulster, Ireland, which fought for farmers' rights. However, he soon felt that peaceful methods were not enough.

He joined a secret group called the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also known as the Fenians. This group believed in using force to gain Irish independence. In 1865, he had to leave Ireland and move to America. There, he tried to connect the Fenian goal of Irish freedom with the American Radical Republican ideas. These ideas included giving Black Americans the right to vote and rebuilding the South after the Civil War.

David Bell's Life in Ireland (1818-1865)

Minister and Farmer's Rights Activist

David Bell was born in Mosside, County Antrim, Ireland. His father was also a Presbyterian minister. David studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. In 1839, he became a minister in Derryvalley, near his father's hometown in County Monaghan.

During the terrible Great Irish Famine in the 1840s, Bell saw a lot of poverty. This made him want to help. He worked with Catholic priests to promote the Tenant Right League in Ulster. This group wanted to make sure farmers could keep their land and pay fair rent.

In 1850, Bell organized a large meeting in Ballybay. About 30,000 people came, even though landowners and the Orange Order (a Protestant group) tried to stop them. Bell spoke out against these "merciless oppressors."

That same year, Bell went to Westminster (the UK Parliament) in London. He asked the government to protect the property of poor people just as much as the rich. When Bell became the leader of the Presbyterian Synod of Armagh, a newspaper called The Nation was happy. They saw it as a sign that the idea of the League was becoming popular among farmers.

However, Bell found it hard to unite people. In 1852, the Tenant Right League helped elect 49 members of Parliament (MPs) to Westminster. But none of these MPs were from the Protestant areas of Ulster, even with Bell's efforts.

In the Monaghan election, Bell tried to get people to vote together. But many people were worried about the "Union" (staying part of the UK) and "No Popery" (anti-Catholic feelings). The League's candidate was a Protestant, but he worked for a Catholic newspaper. Only a few Presbyterians who supported him actually voted for him.

The unity of the Independent Irish Party in Parliament also broke down. In the south, a Catholic leader allowed MPs to take jobs in the government, breaking their promise to work independently. In the north, Orange groups continued to break up League meetings.

In 1853, other ministers in his church forced Bell to resign. In 1855, a key leader of the League, Charles Gavan Duffy, left Parliament and moved to Australia. He felt he could no longer achieve his goals.

Joining the Fenians

In 1864, David Bell met Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa in Manchester, England. Bell then joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), also known as the "Fenians." This group believed in using force to achieve an independent Ireland.

Before joining the IRB, Bell was already promoting the IRB-linked National Brotherhood of St Patrick in London. He also edited a weekly newspaper called the Irish Liberator. He told his readers that Irish people in America would help. He believed that if they had "400,000 volunteers with rifles," Ireland could become free.

In October 1864, Bell was sent to the United States to raise money and connect with the Fenians there. He had faced some criticism in the St. Patrick Brotherhood because he was a former Presbyterian minister.

Some Fenians, who were Catholic, didn't like that their bishops spoke out against their movement. Bell's ideas about religious freedom also caused some concern. He believed that people should be free to follow any religion, or no religion at all. This made some people think that Fenianism encouraged a lack of faith.

In the summer of 1865, Bell was on the main council of the IRB. He met with other leaders to plan how to raise money for a coming fight. But in September, police raided the offices of a Fenian newspaper, and many Fenians were arrested. Bell quickly fled to Paris, then to the United States.

David Bell's Life in the United States (1866-1890)

Supporting Grant and Reconstruction

Starting in 1867, David Bell and Michael Scanlon began publishing a newspaper called the Irish Republic in Chicago. This newspaper was for "Irishmen of advanced opinions." It was different from other Irish-American papers.

Most American Fenians supported the Democrats. Another Irish leader, John Mitchel, had even supported slavery in America. But the Irish Republic newspaper supported the Fenians' goal of Irish independence through force. It also strongly supported the Radical Republican plan for Reconstruction in the South. This plan included giving Black Americans the right to vote and equal rights. The paper also criticized the strong influence of the clergy in rival Irish-American newspapers.

Republican leaders in 1865 praised the Irish who were arrested during Fenian raids into Canada. They also asked the government to recognize a state of war between Ireland and England. Ulysses S. Grant, a famous Union general, saw a chance to win over Irish voters. In 1867, he convinced Bell and Scanlon to move the Irish Republic to New York to help him win the presidential election in that important state.

Against Tammany Hall Fenians

The Irish Republic warned its readers not to support John Mitchel. It also criticized a "wicked" Democratic plan to create a system for Black people in the South that was almost as bad as slavery. The newspaper said that the Democratic Party's policy was trying to bring back old conditions that even Russia had rejected.

In New York, Bell also criticized the Fenian leader John O'Mahony. Even though O'Mahony eventually supported Grant and the Republicans, Bell felt O'Mahony wasn't fully committed to "cleansing" the spirits of Irish Americans. Bell believed that Irish people in America should "throw off bigotry" and declare that everyone deserves "life, liberty, and happiness."

However, O'Mahony was removed as president of the Fenian Brotherhood in 1866. A new leader, John O'Neill, took over. O'Neill was closely linked to the Democratic Party's political machine, Tammany Hall. O'Neill wanted to continue raiding Canada, even if it meant misusing money or not being prepared. Bell and Scanlon were clearly against him.

In 1870, O'Neill was in prison after leading his third Fenian raid into Canada. He wrote that Bell and Scanlon were very hostile towards the Fenian Brotherhood. In 1867, Scanlon (likely with Bell's help) started a separate Irish Republican Club in New York City.

The Irish Republic stopped publishing in 1873. By then, people in the North were less interested in the fate of Black people in the South. Economic problems and scandals in Grant's government also made it hard for him to continue Reconstruction. In 1874, the Democrats won many Irish votes again. In October 1875, Bell, as head of the Irish Republican Association, told Irish citizens in New York City not to vote for Tammany Hall candidates. He called them "shameless plunderers."

Later Years

Meanwhile, in Ireland, the idea of Irish-American Civil War veterans landing in Cork to fight for independence faded. It seemed that the use of force for Irish freedom was no longer the main path. In 1879, John Devoy, the head of a major Fenian group in America called Clan na Gael, met with Irish politicians in France. They discussed a "new departure." This meant the Fenians would stop planning armed revolts. Instead, they would support the movement for Irish Home Rule (self-government), if the Home Rule League supported farmers' campaigns against landlords. This was a return to Bell's original goal in Ballybay: fighting for land rights.

In 1844, David Bell married Elizabeth Clarke. They had at least one son. Towards the end of his life, Bell was again a Presbyterian minister in Brooklyn, New York. He died there in April 1890, at age 72. Bell is buried in Flushing Meadow, New York.