Two-Column Notes

Date:

Name: Jamie Fletcher

Class/Subject:
EDTL 6940

6/26

Page #
31

33

38

40

Topic or Chapter
The Course of Irish History
Chapter 2 and Chapter 20: Prehistoric Ireland and Northern Ireland
The Text Says
I Say
Notes (key concepts, direct quotes, etc.)
My notes, commentary
Before we come to the first inhabitants of
Ireland we must look at the way Europe
was changing.

IS Ireland really part of Europe? Whether we

have a set answer for this or not, Europe had
a great deal of influence on Ireland. Because of
this, looking at what is going on in Europe
helps to shape what will happen in Ireland.
From now on instead of being at the mercy This shows a major shift in the way people
of nature, man could control his
lived. They were no longer just waiting and
environment.
searching for what was already out there. They
learned how farming could make a world of
difference.
but some of them may have worshipped We saw the importance of the sun in tombs
the sun since some tombs are placed with when we went and visited New Grange. While
their entrances towards the rising sun.
we were in the middle, they even did a
simulation of what it would look like with the
sun coming through. The tour guide placed a
large amount of emphasis on this particular
idea of the suns importance.
Though their tombs were not as elaborate I included this because thats where we went
as those of the earlier people, bronze age
to visit the tombs as well.
men built great circles of stone in which
they held religious ceremonies. In a great
circle at Grange, County Limerick-the
largest in Irealnd

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They believed that under a Dublin

parliament in which they would always be
in a minority their religion, their way of
life, and their economic interests would be
endangered

This helps to explain why Northern Ireland

didnt want to become part of the Republic of
Ireland. They were the minority. It would be as
if they were being told what to do without fair
representation in government.

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Since their aim was a united Ireland, since

in otherwords they aimed not at the
overthrow of the government bat at the
destruction of the sate, they could not
play the role of an opposition in the
traditional parliamentary manner. Herein
lay the dilemma which has vitiated
political life in the north ever since. The
nationalist attitude enabled the unionists
to appropriate loyalty and good citizenship
to themselves and to use the national flag
as a party emblem. Since the nationalists
drew their support exclusively from the
catholic part of the population, it led the
protestant unionists, or at least the rake
and file of them, to identify Catholicism
with hostility to the state. It justified, in
unionist eyes, the arrangement of certain
local government constituencies so as to
prevent local government bodies falling
into nationalist hands.

This quote is a little bit longer but it explains

where the Protestants and Catholics began to
see problems.

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The two communities pursued their

separate ways, with their different outlook
and way of life. Yet both were sharing
experiences which smoothed the way for
some halting steps towards better

Im not sure if I would really saying that the

sharing of experiences paved the way for a
better understanding between the two groups.
Most of the share experiences are bad
experiences are from conflict between the

understanding for which a few individuals

and groups had always worded.
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Connectio
ns to
previous
reading
(s)

groups. Pain and suffering are a shared

experiences that can bring people together but
usually that isnt between the very people
causing the pain.
If a spirit of friendship can be established, This is a pretty strong statement that I believe
then I believe that those sterile forces of
is pretty unsubstantiated as well. If public
hatred and violence which have flourished opinion really wanted the violence to stop and
for so long will at last be crushed by the
peace to come between the two groups, I think
weight of public opinion.
that more would be done to create peace.
They are simply just there, not making things
better, not making things worse.
Reading these two pieces, it was very much a crash course in the history of Ireland from the
beginning to almost present day issues. We saw firsthand how the people in Northern
Ireland felt about Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland. I talked to people that were loyal
to the crown, people that hated the crown, people that felt they were part of Ireland, and
people that were unsure of what to even think.