Michael Davitt

Michael Davitt was a Catholic from a working class family. He was a convicted gunrunner associated with the Fenian Rising of 1867 against British rule in Ireland. In 1879, Davitt founded the Irish National Land League, whose mission was to abolish the landlord system in Ireland. They demanded “Three Fs”: Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free Sale. His vision was to unite Irish nationalists into one coalition known as the “New Departure,” and to that end they raised funds all over America. They led mass demonstrations for which there were many arrests, Davitt being among them at least once. He visited Cloud City to drum up financial support at least twice between 1880 and 1895. His first visit inspired the creation of a local Land League. When Davitt returned to Leadville in the fall of 1886, he praised Leadville for being “the first American city to respond to every call of the Land League for funds.” Indeed, in 1881 the Irish World, a publication out of Boston which may have boasted up to 100,000 subscribers, listed Leadville as having been surpassed in donations only by Philadelphia and Chicago. In the context of the poverty and mortality rates faced by the Leadville Irish, this reflects a passion for justice that can only be inspired by such hardships. The National League continued to be mentioned in national publications well into the 1890s.