Anti Catholicism

The Anti-Catholicism riots that occurred in Philadelphia in 1844 was a significant part of that time period Religion played a very important role during the 1850s. During the Civil War, religion was one of the reasons that people were battling about. It came down between the Nativists and the catholic religion who were primarily Irish who both had different aspects of religion which they battled out between each other.

It first started when the natives who were the anti-Catholics gave false information that the pope and the Catholics were removing Bibles from in public schools. The incident occurred in one of the most famous cities in the United States, which is Philadelphia. May 3, May 8, July 6, and July 7, 1844 were all of the dates that riots occurred, and the effect of it after was death and terrible results.

On May 3, Natives wanted to hold a meeting in the Kensington part of Philadelphia, which was a very popular Irish community. They stood on a platform speaking out against the Irish. The Natives accused them of turning their back on America. Natives believed of a conspiracy theory that the Pope who was almost like a hero to the Irish was going to take over America (2). Therefore, because the Irish devoted loyalty to the Pope, they were known as very dangerous and would do violence to America and take over. It led to a very discourteous affair that made all Irish angry and started to take over the platform that the Nativists were on that day. As this occurred the natives began to withdraw (2).

On May 6, Natives returned to the platform bringing around three thousand people to speak about religion and politics (2). A few Irish people who were warned to avoid fights or confrontations, listened to the information that the Natives had explained about during that time. Another disrespectful act was when one of the Natives began to make uncalled for disrespectful comments about one Irish. The Irish did not take this very well which erupted in a brawl which started an ongoing conflict between the Natives and the Irish. There were two huge groups fighting each other, and the police had no power to stop any of them. The results were both sides had fatal injuries and it led to madness. Natives began to rampaging in Irish houses, pulling families out and hurting them. They tore the furniture, kitchen, and everything in the house in to pieces (2).

The Irish were in fear that the Natives would do such a terrible thing again. They requested that there be protection around if their churches so that they could be protected from any harm or violence coming from the Natives. Guards were placed around the Irish churches and they took guard duty