There is an entire group of Irish people that are citizens of the United Kingdom (not England) that wish to remain citizens of the United Kingdom. Their fellow citizens within the UK did their best to help see that their fellow citizens rights were protected.Originally Posted by Gawain of Orkeny
Basically, think of Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh as a person from the areas of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales for a second (forget the political construct of nations for a second). In American translation, let's try an applachian hillbilly, a Great Plains farmer, a pacific surfer and a rocky mountain lumberjack. They're from different areas too, right? But they form one political union and all are citizens of the United States. Notice I did not use states explicitly. States are political entities and there is no political entity of 'England'. It's a cultural-geographic area, not a political reality (at least not at this time).
Now, the United Kingdom would be the equivalent of the United States. People from these various areas formed into a political union. Like us, they didn't want to lose their unique culture, so they kept the idea of being Irish, being English, being Scottish and being Welsh, but politically, they are united under in one kingdom, with one parliament and one monarch.
One of those groups decided they wanted out. Only not all of those people wanted out. Those that wanted to stay were concentrated in one area. So the political union (the UK) came together and came up with a compromise: those that lived in an area where a majority wanted to leave the union could. But those who lived in areas where the majority wanted to stay in the union could as well, more or less.
In American terms, imagine if Lincoln had granted the CSA it's independence, but insisted that Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, where a majority were in favor of federalism, had to stay in the United States. Now, imagine that the CSA is sympathetic to the slave holders in those three states that want to join the CSA, but they don't actually make a war with the USA to break them off. And then, the CSA supporters in those 3 states (who are a very large minority at the time) decide to start a guerilla war to drive the US army out. It's not a perfect analogy, but it's the best I can come up with.
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