Act of Union.

The British government decided to resolve problems in Ireland by uniting the two kingdoms. To persuade the Irish Parliament to pass the Act of Union in 1800, William Pitt promised that Britain would grant political rights to Roman Catholics. The first time the act went to the vote it was defeated by five votes, Cornwallis the Lord Lieutenant and his chief secretary Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh set themselves to reverse the decision. New peerages were promised, pensions and ecclesiastical preferment were granted lavishly; the propitiators of boroughs threatened with disfranchisement were assured compensation for their losses; antiunion members were persuaded to vacate their seats.In all some £1,250,000 was expended on what can only be adequately describes as bribery and corruption

When the Act of Union was presented again to the Irish house of commons in January 1800 it was passed by a majority of forty three. The union took effect in 1801.

The Act of Union was a disappoint for most of the Irish. Pitt's promise was not honoured, and political union did not bring economic prosperity. As the population grew, more people needed land. But the end of the Napoleonic Wars caused unemployment and made farming unprofitable. Irish industries were not able to compete with the more efficient British ones. The only part of Ireland to benefit from the union was Ulster, where the linen industry expanded and new industries grew up and prospered, based on coal and iron from Britain. Because of this the Protestants became convinced that their prosperity depended on the union with Britain.