Constitutional Movement, The

DESCRIPTION: "We are leaders of this mighty Irish nation, Though some folks say our leading days are done... The Constitutional Movement must go on." The serpent tempts Eve, goes home, and says the Movement must go on. The singer flees the fight between Billy and Jim
AUTHOR: almost certainly one of the McPeake family
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (recorded from Francis McPeake)
KEYWORDS: humorous political | Constitution serpent Eve
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1689 - Battle of the Boyne between the forces of James VII and II and William III ("Billy and Jim")
1782 - Establishment of Grattan's Parliament
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, CNSTMOVE
Roud #9225
NOTES [298 words]: The only recordings I've heard of this are from, or are derived from, the McPeake Family. I have seen no copyright claim, but surely one of them wrote it. - RBW
Ireland in its history has had three constitutions (plus the Northern Irish constitution): in 1782, Ireland was granted "Legislative Independence" (its own parliament with control over internal affairs although still under the crown; OxfordCompanion, p. 312, or see "Ireland's Glory"). This was eliminated after the 1798 Rising, with the Irish representatives being sent to Westminster starting in 1800.
In 1922, after the Black and Tan War, The Irish Free State was formed, with a constitution that again gave Ireland (this time minus Northern Ireland) a large degree of self-government although still with some links to Westminster.
In 1937, Eamon de Valera promulgated a new Constitution that cut the ties with England (something the British would regret during World War II); the current nation of Ireland still operates under a modified version of this constitution (OxfordCompanion, p. 112). It was a nationalist and sectarian Catholic document -- sufficiently so to cause real fear among Protestants and others (Foster, p. 544).
I don't see how this song can apply to the movements that resulted in the 1922 and 1937 constitutions. But the 1782 constitution was a very dead letter. And this song clearly describes a peaceful movement. So it probably should be understood to refer to the Constitutional Nationalism movement "a movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that sought self-government of Ireland by way of legislation rather than revolution. It was mainly expressed through the Repeal Movement of the 1830s and 40s and the Home Rule campaigns from 1870 onwards" (EncyclopediaIreland, p. 232). - RBW
Bibliography

EncyclopediaIreland: Brian Lalor, editor (with a Foreword by Frank McCourt), Encyclopedia of Ireland, Yale University Press, 2003
Foster: R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland 1600-1972, Penguin, 1988, 1989
OxfordCompanion: S. J. Connolly, editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish History, Oxford, 1998.

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File: DTcnstmo

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