An Irishman behind the first documented use of the term “United States of America” is to be honoured at an event this week as the US prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American declaration of independence.
Gen Stephen Moylan served as an aide-de-camp to general George Washington during the American Revolution which broke out on April 19th, 1775. Less than a year later, he used the term United States of America in a letter to a fellow officer in the continental army.
According to Michelle O’Mahony, a history consultant to the commemorative group Irish America 250, Moylan used the term in a letter dated January 2nd/3rd, 1776, well before it was used in the declaration of independence on July 4th, 1776.
“Moylan used the term in a letter to Col Joseph Reed, who was also one of George Washington’s aides-de-camp, in which he expresses his desire to travel to Spain and serve as a representative of what he explicitly calls the United States of America,” said Ms O’Mahony.
READ MORE
“The original handwritten letter is preserved in the Joseph Reed Papers as part of the Thomas Addison Emmet Collection at the New York Public Library and historians and archivists have identified this as the earliest surviving written appearance of the nation’s name in this form.”
Ms O’Mahony said a 1908 biography of Moylan by Martin IJ Griffin revealed that he had been born on Blarney St in Cork in 1737 but emigrated to the United States, settling in Philadelphia where he helped found The Friendly Sons of St Patrick in 1771.
Moylan will be honoured at the Villanova University’s Center for Irish Studies in Philadelphia on Wednesday at a special event hosted by the Friendly Sons and Daughters of St Patrick and Irish America 250, a group set up to celebrate the Irish contribution to the nation.
The organisation’s current president, Theresa F Murtagh, explained that Moylan set up the association to welcome and support Irish emigrants arriving in Philadelphia.
Among those attending the celebratory event will beIrish Ambassador to the United States, Geraldine Byrne Nason, as well as a descendant of General Moylan’s from Cork, Kieran Moylan, who will present the Cork coat of arms to the group.
Friendly Sons and Daughters of St Patrick historian, Joe Heenan said it was important to recognise Moylan as an Irishman who helped shape the American republic at its very beginning, beginning what would prove an important contribution by the Irish to the United States over the last 250 years.
“Moylan’s early use of the words United States of America reflects not only political insight but a belief in unity that bridged Ireland and America long before that bond was every described as unbreakable,” he said. “Honouring Moylan is a way of honouring that shared history.”
