Jorge Amado
Brazilian writer (1912-2001)
Thomas Francis Meagher
Irish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
Thomas Francis Meagher was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death but received transportation for life to Van Diemen’s Landin Australia.
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About the Thomas Francis Meagher
Thomas Francis Meagherwas an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death but received transportation for life to Van Diemen’s Landin Australia.
In 1852, Meagher escaped and made his way to the United States, where he settled in New York City. He studied law, worked as a journalist, and traveled to present lectures on the Irish cause.
He married for a second time in New York. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Meagher joined the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of brigadier general. He was most notable for recruiting and leading the Irish Brigade and encouraging support among Irish immigrants for the Union. By his first marriage in Ireland, he had one surviving son; the two never met.
Following the Civil War, Meagher was appointed Montana’s Territorial Secretary of State by President Andrew Johnson and served as acting territorial governor. In 1867, Meagher drowned in the Missouri River after falling from a steamboat at Fort Benton, Montana. Historians have questioned the circumstances around his death, with varying hypotheses including weakness from dysentery, intoxication, suicide, and murder. A 2016 analysis by Timothy Egan in The Immortal Irishman suggested Meagher may have been murdered by Montana political opponents.
9 Quotes by Thomas Francis Meagher
- 1.
A jury of my countrymen, it is true, have found me guilty of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 2.
The treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, has been sanctified as a duty, and will be ennobled as a sacrifice.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 3.
Judged by the law of England, I know this crime entails upon me the penalty of death; but the history of Ireland explains that crime and justifies it.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 4.
Great interests demand great safeguards.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 5.
A good government may, indeed, redress the grievances of an injured people; but a strong people can alone build up a great nation.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 6.
I now bid farewell to the country of my birth – of my passions – of my death; a country whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies – whose factions I sought to quell – whose intelligence I prompted to a lofty aim – whose freedom has been my fatal dream.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 7.
The dependence of one people upon another, even for the benefits of legislation, is the deepest source of national weakness.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 8.
I have done what I felt to be my duty.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)
- 9.
The prosperity of a nation requires the protection of a senate. Hereafter a national senate may require the protection of a national army.
Thomas Francis MeagherIrish nationalist & American politician (1823-1867)