About Thomas D'Arcy McGee
Thomas D'Arcy McGee was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. The young McGee was an Irish Catholic who opposed British rule in Ireland, and was part of the Young Ireland attempts to overthrow British rule and create an independent Irish Republic. He escaped arrest and fled to the United States in 1848, after which some of his political positions reversed. He remained ardently Catholic, but his Irish nationalism moderated. He became disgusted with American republicanism, Anti-Catholicism, and classical liberalism. McGee became intensely monarchistic in his political beliefs and in his religious support for the embattled Pope Pius IX. His passion for Confederation garnered him the title: 'Canada's first nationalist'. In the United States, he achieved prominence in Irish-American circles and founded and edited the New York-based Nation and the Boston-based American Celt.
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