Background

That the violent and determined 1798 Rebellion of United Irishmen was fought in Antrim by Presbyterians, distinguishes this conflict from the uprising in the south of Ireland.

Though Presbyterians numbered only 10% of the Irish population, they formed one-third of the population of late 18th century Ulster. What, then, provoked the Ulster Presbyterian community, in the late 18th century, to contemplate armed revolution against the Crown?

Political, religious and economic persecution in 18th century Ireland had already driven hundreds of thousands of Scots-Irish (Ulster Presbyterians) to the New World where, in 1783, they helped to win the war for their own democratic independence; the lesson was not lost on their unenfranchised Presbyterian kinfolk back at home in Ulster.

There was admiration also (particularly in Ulster) for the French Revolution (1789): their abolition of tithes, establishment of religious equality, a national assembly representing the people, for example.

The Society of United Irishmen, initially, sought peaceful, political reform of the unrepresentative Irish parliament. Events forced the organisation into a revolutionary movement. Tremendous tension built in Ulster during the early summer of 1798... until, finally, rebellion exploded-- at Antrim.