Jonathan Swift’s satirical work, A Modest Proposal, demonstrates his extreme frustration with the inaction and disregard toward the crisis of poverty in Ireland at the time. Feeling as though the impoverished could be dehumanized no more so than they already had, Swift put forth a final “modest proposal” that the poor children of the streets be put to use in feeding the wealthier members of society. This last ditch effort to awaken both Ireland and England to the humanitarian crisis at hand may not have had the effect that Swift intended, but it does shine a spotlight on one of history’s most unique examples of persecution: one in which a minority population suppressed an entire country. The socio-economic climate in Ireland in the eighteenth century, marked by English oppression and religious discrimination, cultivated the conditions of widespread poverty that led to Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal.

The oppression of Ireland by England, especially legislation limiting Ireland’s commercial capabilities, served to keep Ireland in its impoverished state. This was, of course, beneficial to England because it meant that Ireland could pose no threat of rebellion. After English landowners complained that Irish competition in the cattle market lowered English rents, laws were enacted “prohibiting the importation into England, from Ireland, of all cattle, sheep, and swine, of beef, pork, bacon, and mutton, and even of butter and cheese. In this manner the chief source of Irish prosperity was annihilated at a single blow” (Lecky 173). It was restrictive legislation such as this that Swift was referring to in his “innovative” proposal: “But, as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal, which, as it is wholly new … we can incur no danger in disobliging England. For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation…” (Swift #). In other words, because there is no existing market for human babies anywhere else in the world, England should have no reason to disapprove. England also levied further restrictions, through export tariffs, preventing Ireland from exporting most goods. As a result, many Irish manufacturers emigrated elsewhere, leaving the Irish economy in disarray (Lecky 180). England’s effective crippling of the Irish economy vastly reduced, if not eliminated, the number of available jobs for common citizens.

Central to many of Ireland’s problems during the eighteenth century, and beyond, was the divide between the catholic majority and the prosperous protestant minority. Though Swift was a member of the latter group, he still expressed a desire for the country as a whole to improve, if only due to his resentment toward England for their neglect (Cody). Swift’s disdain for the Catholics is apparent in his proposal; “…because the number of popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom: and therefore it will have one other collateral advantage, by lessening the number of papists among us” (Swift #). The widespread discrimination toward the Catholic majority played a large role in the continuation of poverty in Ireland. Of the many contributing factors were the penal laws meant to subdue the Catholics after the revolution. Perhaps the worst among these restricted Catholics from attending universities, teaching, or even sending their children to school. The only exception was that a Catholic child may be sent away to a school where they would be raised to be protestant (Lecky 149). There is no better way to control a populace than by depriving them of knowledge. Further adding to the sense of hopelessness that Irish Catholics must have felt, England ensured that the Irish parliament was occupied entirely by protestants, leaving no chance for their circumstances to improve. It is no great surprise that the impoverished were almost exclusively Catholic given the many disadvantages they faced. 

In discussing who might be interested in purchasing and consuming the children, Swift remarks, “I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children” (Swift #). The landlords in Ireland at the time did nothing to help their tenant’s situation. In fact, the landlord-tenant relationship was quite volatile; “A long series of oppressions, aided by many very ill-judged laws, have brought landlords into a habit of exerting a very lofty superiority, and their vassals into that of an almost unlimited submission. Speaking a language that is despised, professing a religion that is abhorred, and being disarmed, the poor find themselves in many cases slaves even in the bosom of written liberty…” (Lecky 285). Naturally, the Catholics were tenants of malevolent protestant landlords, this being yet another barrier to social advancement for the Catholic majority.

Limitations on the Irish economy, oppression of Irish Catholics, and a vast class divide between the protestants and the Catholics all but ensured the resulting widespread poverty in Ireland during the eighteenth century. The fact that Swift’s A Modest Proposal did not incite change upon its publication speaks to the level of animosity felt by the protestants in both Ireland and England toward the Irish Catholics. Near the end of Swift’s essay, he dismissively lists what are, presumably, his prior proposals for the betterment of Ireland. Notably missing from the list of otherwise good suggestions is any mention of better treatment, or perhaps even equality, for Irish Catholics. Even if the changes that Swift described were enacted, Ireland could not possibly lift itself out of poverty until the needs of the impoverished majority were addressed. When some three-fourths of a nations citizenry are limited in their ability to purchase land, or even obtain an education, the resulting poverty should not be surprising.
