Acts of Union

The Acts of Union were laws passed by the British and Irish parliaments in 1800 that took effect in 1801, joining Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom.

Irish Rebellion of 1798: An uprising in Ireland against British rule, organized chiefly by the Society of United Irishmen and suppressed in 1798. Its suppression intensified British arguments for closer political control of Ireland.
Acts of Union 1800: The English and Irish statutes that established the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 January 1801. These statutes gave the union legal force in both kingdoms.
Daniel O'Connell: Irish lawyer and politician who led campaigns for Catholic emancipation and repeal of the union. He mobilized mass support to challenge the political settlement created by union.
Irish Constitution of 1782: The constitutional settlement that granted the Irish Parliament legislative independence from Britain in 1782. It preceded the union and was reversed when the Irish Parliament was abolished.
Society of United Irishmen: An Irish political organization founded in 1791 that sought parliamentary reform and later pursued an independent Irish republic. Its republican challenge helped make union appear a security measure to British ministers.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: The state formed in 1801 by uniting Great Britain and Ireland, which lasted until the Irish Free State's establishment in 1922. It was the political entity created by the Acts.
Repeal Association: An organization founded by Daniel O'Connell in 1840 to campaign for repeal of the union between Britain and Ireland. It sought to restore an Irish legislature through constitutional agitation.
Kingdom of Ireland: A kingdom under the English and then British Crown that existed from 1542 until its union with Great Britain in 1801. It was the separate kingdom whose institutions the Acts incorporated and dissolved.
William Pitt the Younger: British prime minister from 1783 to 1801 and again from 1804 to 1806. Pitt directed the British government's campaign to secure parliamentary approval for union.
Parliament of the United Kingdom: The legislature established in 1801, with members representing Great Britain and Ireland. Irish peers and MPs joined this legislature in place of the dissolved Irish Parliament.

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