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Emancipation - Catholic Relief Acts in 18th Century - Coggle Diagram
Emancipation - Catholic Relief Acts in 18th Century
1774 Catholic Relief Act
Introduced oath of alligence
First of Catholic discriminatory laws
Seen as symbolic and a legal step
Allowed Catholics to participate in public life
Allowed Catholics to demonstrate their loyalty to the Crown without compromising their beliefs
1778 Catholic Relief Act
Aimed to bolster British military due to American revolutionary war
Encouraged the recruitment of Catholics into the army
By Luke Gardiner in June 1778
First breach of the comprehensive system
Allowed Catholics to inherit land without it being automatically divided allowing preservation of family estates
Allowed Catholics to lease land for 999 years if they took the oath
1782 Catholic Relief Act
Strategic to detach Irish Catholics from the Volunteers
Wanted to undermine the Volunteers demands and portray them as partial and partisan
No longer prohibited from owning a horse worth more than £5
Catholic schools opened with consent of local protestant bishops
Permitted priests and bishops to reside in Ireland
1792 Catholic Relief Act
Right to marry protestants
Allowed minor roles in the judiciary
Catholics could access some professions
Introduced by protestant Irish MP Sir Hercules Langrishe
Could join lower ranks of the army and navy
1793 Catholic Relief Act
Introduced by Chief Secretary Robert Hobart
Gave Catholics the right to vote
Few affected by the remaining exclusions and mostly now placed o the same level as protestants
Meant they could hold most military offices
Still excluded from Parliament and public offices
Catholic emancipation not fully achieved after final Catholic Relief Act due to rising threat of revolution and war, this caused the end of the reforms
Act of Unions appeared almost like a new Penal Law
In 1795 Vice Royalty of Earl Fitzwilliam appeared certain emancipation would be conceded but he withdrew this