Taoiseach’s tribute to Cork man who named the United States of America

The Oval Office isn’t as Irish as the main White House, but despite that, Taoiseach Micheál Martin managed to lay on the Blarney on Tuesday, making sure to mention the Cork man who named the United States.

“Thirty-five million people in this country claim Irish descent and Irish heritage,” Mr Martin told an evidently impressed US president Donald Trump on St Patrick’s Day.

“Three people born on the island of Ireland signed the [American] declaration of independence, it was printed by an Irishman, John Dunlap, and disseminated across the colonies, and Charles Thompson … designed the bald eagle on the seal of the US.

“Our connection is foundational, it’s historic, the Irish helped to build America.”

Connections

One of the foundational connections mentioned by Mr Martin relates to this year’s America 250 birthday celebrations.

“A guy from my own city, a guy called Stephen Moylan who was an aide-to-camp to [George] Washington, he’s regarded as the guy who came up with the phrase ‘the United States of America’,"  he said.

Stephen Moylan was born on Blarney St in 1737, the son of a Catholic merchant on Shandon. His older brother, Francis, became bishop of Cork, and his other brother, John, served with him in the Revolutionary War.

Stephen moved to Philadelphia in 1768, where he founded the Friendly Sons of St Patrick, and in 1775 he joined the Continental Army, going on to become a general.

Moylan is principally remembered today as the first person recorded to write down the words, ‘The United States of America’, in a letter dated January 2, 1776.

New song

A new song, ‘Philadelphia’s Fields – The Ballad of Stephen Moylan’ written by Dave McGilton and sung by John McDermott, has been recorded to celebrate the link between the Shandon bells, which first rang in 1752, and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

As to the Irishness of the White House, the original, central building was designed in 1792 by Kilkenny-born architect James Hoban, heavily influenced by Leinster House, and built by African-American slave labour.

The West Wing was built for Teddy Roosevelt in 1902, and the current Oval Office was built for Franklin Roosevelt in 1934.