The roots of colonial anti-Catholicism were planted in England and closely aligned to the complexities of European religious warfare. Under Elizabeth I, England stopped the Spanish Armada in 1588 and during most of the early to mid seventeenth century, the ruinous Thirty Years’ War devastated large sections of the Holy Roman Empire as Catholics and Protestants vied to commit massacres and atrocities. Protestant settlers, often fleeing the war-torn European regions, feared and hated Catholics. What may have become xenophobia in later generations was based, at least during the colonial period, on historical events impacting Protestants and Catholics in Europe.
European Conflict between Catholics and Protestants
In his 2003 book detailing the “New Anti-Catholicism,” History and Religion professor Philip Jenkins writes that, “Already in the seventeenth century, English and American Protestants shared an elaborate mythology about Catholic misdeeds that almost amounted to a national foundation myth.” Englishmen, however, still recalled that it was “Protestant winds” that had saved them from Spanish invasion in 1588. De Lamar Jensen of Brigham Young University states that King Philip II, “as the Most Catholic King…was committed to trying to restore Catholicism to England…”
Scholars suggest that the timing of the Armada helped in its defeat but, as Jensen noted, Philip had secured the promise of a papal subsidy which might have been withdrawn had the fleet not sailed in 1588. Despite political and economic reasons for an invasion, the religious element played a major role in the invasion attempt, especially given Elizabeth’s assistance to the Calvinist Dutch involved in a prolonged rebellion against Spanish rule. These were hardly mythologies.
New World Settlements Differ in Religious Representation
The thirteen English colonies were situated between French Canada and New Spain, both Catholic regions. For a variety of reasons, the English colonies grew rapidly in terms of population whereas French settlers, much smaller in number, were clustered around Montreal, Quebec, and some of the French fortified settlements like Detroit. New Spain never witnessed a mass exodus of European Catholics like the English settlements. Most of those coming to America were male and few, comparatively, were farmers.
This meant that in terms of European colonization, Protestantism was heavily identified and sustained by various groups like Puritans, Quakers, and Anglicans – all of whom shared a common historical fear of Catholicism as well as a distrust of each other. Puritans would just as soon hang a Quaker as a Catholic. Since widespread schooling of children is primarily associated with New England, it is obvious, although objectionable by modern standards, that anti-Catholicism would form part of the curriculum. As a Catholic American History text puts it, “For about a century and a half, attendance at public schools was a leading source of apostasy for young Catholics.”
Catholics had their own American safe haven in Maryland. The colony’s proprietors, however, doubled the headright – a land grant system begun earlier in Virginia, attracting settlers that were not Catholic. This, in part, helped expand Maryland’s population but also diluted the Catholic presence. In the other colonies, Catholics were not welcome and, much like the Jews, forced to find more hospitable regions. Colonial religious diversity did not mean equality.
Protestant Sensibilities and View of Divine Mission
The notion that America had been chosen for a divine mission helped to dictate ideologies from John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” to the apologists for late 19th Century imperialism. It began as a Protestant ideal that equated the movement begun, in part, by Martin Luther in 1517, as the “New Israel.” Added to the mix was Enlightenment philosophy producing men like Benjamin Franklin (who was raised in a strict Calvinist home) and Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence.
While Protestantism reviled Catholicism, the Enlightenment rejected superstitions its writers like Voltaire and Rousseau equated with established religion. In France this was Catholicism. One result of this thinking was the humiliation and persecution of the Catholic Church during the French Revolution.
Post Colonial Fears Tied to Long Held Convictions
In America, the notion that the Catholic Church was tied to medieval superstitions and that the papacy was intent on absolute control became even more prevalent during the post-colonial decades as large numbers of Catholic immigrants came from Ireland and Germanic regions in Europe. An 1842 book, written by Ingram Cobbin that attempted to give a true account of Catholicism, states that the reader “will see the overgrown monster of the Church without disguise, and learn the grand secrets of its growth and ghostly power.” (The Book of Popery: A Manual for Protestants)
Writing about American anti-Catholicism regarding immigrants, James Morone comments that, “…along came the Catholics, practically bred for tyranny – bound to a foreign pope, bossed by a medieval clergy, and blind to the Bible. How could such sheep become republican citizens?”
During the colonial period, Protestants were much closer in their time frame to Catholicism. The English Test Acts, passed to restrict Catholics, were not repealed until 1828. During much of his reign, James I was pressured by Puritans to involve England in the Thirty Years’ War; to his credit, he resisted. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 replaced an openly Catholic king – James II, with William and Mary. Colonial anti-Catholicism may have been based more on events than on an honest understanding of Catholic faith practices.
The Catholic Response
Once Catholics arrived in America in growing numbers, the Catholic Church leadership took steps to protect Catholics from anti-Catholicism. This included the building of Catholic schools and colleges. Compulsory public school education meant that Catholic children were forced to undergo both Protestant proselytizing as well as hearing their own faith debased. Building separate schools was, however, expensive and Protestant state legislatures balked at raising taxes to support a religion they feared and mistrusted.
What began as a colonial Protestant monopoly was threatened by the proliferation of Catholic immigrants. The hypocrisy was, of course, that immigrants were needed as a source of cheap labor and those hiring the workers were Protestants.
The Colonial Roots of Anti-Catholicism
Colonial America began as a Protestant haven. Colonial religious diversity, often divisive, failed to include Catholicism. European events tied to post-Reformation religious conflicts helped instill fears of Catholicism while military endeavors like the Spanish Armada resulted in a new spirit of pride and pre-nationalism in England. That Philip II, who had been married to the Catholic queen Mary Tudor, was behind the Armada further reminded English Protestants that during the reign of “bloody Mary,” many had fled to the safety of Calvin’s Geneva.
Historical events as well as the sparse Catholic population in the colonies enabled Protestants to expand the notion of divine mission and mercantile success without Catholic participation, furthering a deepening mistrust and fear. This anti-Catholicism would lead to more vocal and violent responses in the 1800’s, fueling xenophobia and hatred.
References:
- Ingram Cobbin, The Book of Popery: A Manual for Protestants (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1842)
- Philip Jenkins, The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (Oxford University Press, 2003)
- De Lamar Jensen, “The Spanish Armada: The Worst-Kept Secret in Europe,” The Sixteenth Century Journal, Volume XIX, No. 4, 1988
- James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics Of Sin In American History (Yale University Press, 2003)
- Puritans’ Progress: A Catholic Perspective (Angelus Press, 1996)
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