Over the course of the Home Rule era, Irish unionists continuously engaged with the United States. They hoped to foster the development of a transatlantic unionist community, with resultant moral and financial support, as well as the diminishment of Irish-American nationalist credibility. Transatlantic unionist visits are one particularly revealing aspect of the relationship with the United States, reflecting the approaches and inconsistencies of unionists in direct contact with American audiences. This chapter will examine three unionist trips to America between 1886 and 1920. The visits emphasized the unionists’ concern for the cultivation of Anglo-American friendship and Protestant unity, as well as their focus on countering Irish-American nationalist influence.

Irish nationalists frequently travelled to the United States to rally both moral and monetary support from the ‘greater Ireland’ across the Atlantic. A tradition of sending money from the United States to Ireland had been established through emigrant remittances. Remittances were substantial enough to make an impact on the Irish agricultural economy, social patterns, and family emigration patterns. By the 1840s, Irish-Americans commonly sent money in support of political movements in Ireland. Daniel O'Connell and the Repeal Association collected donations sent by sympathizers in America. O'Connell's insistence on constitutional methods meant that over time he gradually lost American support to the Young Irelanders. Irish-American backing and funds played significant roles in the Young Ireland uprising of 1848, though leaders such as William Smith O'Brien were uncertain about the place of such support in the movement for Irish independence. The 1848 rising shifted the balance of external backing for Irish nationalism from Europe to America, drawn by the high numbers of Irish immigrants and political exiles in the United States.

As the century wore on, the nationalistic fervour of Irish-America became an important consideration of Fenian proponents. Fenian leader James Stephens arrived in the United States in May 1866, seeking armed aid and funding for a violent insurrection. He promised to lead an Irish revolutionary army against the British. Stephens raised about $60,000 on his trip, which culminated in a final rally in New York on 28 October. Over the next decade, expectations of military support from Irish-American soldiers faded, but monetary and moral support became even more important.