1783 Irish General Election
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General elections were held in the
Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland (; , ) was a dependent territory of Kingdom of England, England and then of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1542 to the end of 1800. It was ruled by the monarchs of England and then List of British monarchs ...
in 1783, the first after the passing of the series of constitutional legal changes known as the
Constitution of 1782 The Constitution of 1782 was a group of Acts passed by the Parliament of Ireland and the Parliament of Great Britain in 1782–83 which increased the legislative and judicial independence of the Kingdom of Ireland by reducing the ability of t ...
, which lifted the substantial legal restrictions on the Irish parliament. The elections were fought in a highly charged political atmosphere, with a major emphasis on the issues of parliamentary reform and free trade. Following the election, Sexton Pery was re-elected
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.
Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...
, the leader of the Patriot Party, had rejected an office in government in 1782, choosing instead to continue his role in opposition. Instead, the
Dublin Castle administration Dublin Castle was the centre of the government of Ireland under English and later British rule. "Dublin Castle" is used metonymically to describe British rule in Ireland. The Castle held only the executive branch of government and the Privy Cou ...
was undertaken by a group that was referred to by
Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...
as the Junta; dominated by individuals such as John FitzGibbon, the new Attorney General and later Lord Chancellor. John Foster was appointed as the Junta's
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
, succeeding
William Gerard Hamilton William Gerard Hamilton (28 January 172916 July 1796), was an English statesman and Irish politician, popularly known as "Single Speech Hamilton". Biography He was born in London, the son of William Hamilton, a Scottish bencher of Lincoln's In ...
, who had treated the position as a sinecure posting.Ireland: A History from the Twelfth Century to the Present Day p.75
/ref> The new administration prioritised links with
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, which from December 1783 was governed by
Pitt the Younger William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom from January 1801. He left o ...
.


Background

The preceding several years had seen great social upheaval in Ireland. The 1770s had seen Britain at war with France and Spain as part of the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, and British forces stationed in Ireland had been dispatched to fight in the
Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...
. Claiming that Irish defences against potential invasion had been weakened by a negligent Dublin Castle Administration, the Irish gentry began forming Volunteer companies to defend defending Ireland. In fact only 4,000 soldiers had been dispatched to the American colonies, leaving as many as 9,000 behind in Ireland. These Volunteer Companies were independent of both the Irish Parliament and Dublin Castle, and became characterised by their patriotic and liberal political leanings. The companies were as concerned about British interference in Irish politics as they were about resisting potential foreign invasions, and pushed for free trade between Ireland and Great Britain. At the time the Navigation Acts had meant that Irish exports faced tariffs when entering Britain, although British exports met no tariffs in Ireland. Facing pressure both from the Volunteer movement and the Irish Parliament, whilst simultaneously engaged in a war with France, Spain, and the American Colonies, the British government relented and enacted a series of legal changes granting greater legislative autonomy to the Irish parliament.


Dates

At this period elections did not take place at the same time in every constituency. The returning officer in each county or
parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...
fixed the precise date (see
hustings A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Devel ...
for details of the conduct of the elections).


See also

*
List of parliaments of Ireland This is a list of parliaments of Ireland to 1801. For subsequent parliaments, see the list of parliaments of the United Kingdom. For post-1918 parliaments, see elections in Ireland. Parliaments before 1264 are not currently listed. The ...
* MPs elected in the Irish general election, 1783


References

{{Irish (Pre-1801) elections 1783 in Ireland 1783 elections 18th-century elections in Ireland
1783 Events January–March * January 20 – At Versailles, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain. * January 23 – The Confederation Congress ...