Anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States goes back to the time of the pilgrims, reaching a height in the mid to late nineteenth century through the early to mid twentieth century. In its inception, the puritan pilgrims came to America on the basis of religious persecution. Hoping to practice their own religion freely, without interference from the English government. England was a protestant country at the time, a sect known as Anglicanism. There was a significant fear of Catholics and their influence in England at the time, due to rumored plots to murder King Charles II, and replace him with his Catholic nephew James the Duke of York.(Baron) Rumors swirled that this plot was sanctioned and blessed by the Pope of the time. This was not helped by the Pro French policies and attitudes of the Charles II government. The Anti-Cathilic attitude, however, was nothing new for the time. It went back to the time of King Henry VIII, who had separated England from the Roman Catholic Church and created the Church of England. It continued when his children inherited his throne. His son Edward, was a protestant ruler. When he died, his throne went to his staunchly Catholic sister Mary I, who became known as Bloody Mary for her relentless persecution of protestants and her policy of executing them. When she died without an heir, her sister, Elizabeth I, took the English throne. Elizabeth I was a staunch protestant, and brought the country together under the umbrella of protestantism. 

When the pilgrims arrived in the new world, they brought with them these inherent attitudes. During the 1700s and the early years of the 1800s, Irish immigration to the United States was steady, however it hit a peak from the 1840s to the 1860s.(National Museum of Ireland) This was due to the great famine taking place in Ireland at the time, the people were searching for a place where they could live a better life. They were also escaping a country that was offering aid in exchange for conversion to Protestantism. Irish immigrants flooded the east coast of the United States, largely congregating in New York and Boston. They joined the workforce in droves, often working the more dangerous jobs and working for less than American workers. Making them very popular hiring candidates.(Library of Congress) This led to significant tensions between Irish Immigrants and existing citizens over competitions for jobs, real estate, and immense feelings of displacement. During this time there was a significant push to create the American identity. This often meant renouncing a person's prior allegiances to their home country and swearing fealty to the United States. Many immigrants would convert to local religions, Protestantism, Baptist, Lutheranism, etc.

This attitude bred mistrust of newer immigrants, particularly Catholics(Long, 2023). The idea being that these new Catholics could not be trusted as Americans because they had foreign allegiances to Rome. That they would never be capable of truly being loyal Americans if they looked outside of the United States for their salvation. Given that most Protestant religions in the United States had their leadership based there, they were seen as more trustworthy. This ideology culminated in violent acts against Catholic institutions, such as the Ursuline Convent Riot. An event that took place in Charlestown Massachusetts, a town shortly outside of Boston Massachusetts. The Ursuline Convent was a private school used predominantly by upper class Protestant families to educate their daughters.(Digital Exhibits) At the time of the riot, there were over forty Protestant girls and only roughly five Catholic girls attending and living at the school(Long, 2023). A group of allegedly drunk local workers approached the gates of the convent demanding to see girls they believed were being held against their will. The Mother Superior refused their request, and told them to exit the premises. The rioters then dismantled the gate, used it to start a fire, and burned the convent to the ground. It’s estimated that over two thousand people watched the fires occur, including several Protestant fire companies that refused to intervene(ETWN). The subsequent trials resulted in no convictions, and the convent was never rebuilt.(Bapst, 2023)

These attitudes are pervasive even today, people still hold a massive distrust over the Catholic Church. Both due to recent issues and prior suspicions. This can be seen in the judgment of President Joe Biden(Long, 2023). Many democrats believe his religion might cause him to stray from the partisan line, and that it makes him more liable to betrayal of the party. President Biden has loud dissenters within the republican party that say the country should be concerned of the Pope having the President's ear. Rumors and vitriol that was echoed in the 1960s during the election of President John F. Kennedy, and in prior decades when Catholic candidates were in the running for office. While President Biden has never had to make statements confirming he does not speak for the Catholic Church as President Kennedy had, he frequently needs to defend himself from attacks both in the press and in congress. 

And not all aspects of constructing differences are connected to blatant violence and direct hate crimes. Sometimes when constructing differences ends up looking a bit more subtle than one might expect. One tool for constructing difference ends up being pop culture and the media. This is an extremely powerful tool that can spread and change many people's ideas about others in the other country. Imagine that you are reading a magazine that everyone you know also reads. Within its pages, you see a cartoon that depicts a recent political event, and it depicts a certain group involved poorly. This cartoon is creating a difference between you and the people within the image. You may now view them poorly or have second thoughts about the political event described. Now imagine a second scenario where YOUR community is the one being depicted negatively in the magazine. You must feel different from everyone else around you who is not being shown. I took a deeper look into how pop culture such as magazines can be used to construct differences within our society. For our second page on the website, we took a deeper look into Harper’s Weekly magazine and the frequent examples of anti-Catholic cartoons within their issues. Harper's Weekly was an insanely popular publication within the United States from the years 1857 to 1916, founded by the Harper brothers in New York City (Land 2023). The magazine had a large audience for which views could be spread around. The cartoons that are the focus matter of my page in the website were written and drawn by Thomas Naast who had all sorts of opinions that he let out within his cartoons (Land 2023). These cartoons are iconic and became the first of their kind in America, and laid the groundwork for political cartoons going forward. This set a trend going forward where these cartoons were used as a political thinking piece, where someone can share their views with the country. Political cartoons are the visual representation of difference within society and the visual representation of the author's opinions. These cartoons do not just construct difference but they also conceptualize difference. These cartoons can transform a group of people into the vision that the author portrays them as in the eyes of the reader. Naast drew his most famous cartoons about Catholics, specifically Irish Catholics. 

We cover four different cartoons in the article. The first is "The American River Ganges. The Priests and the Children'' one of Naast’s most famous cartoons. It depicts alligators rising out of the River Ganges to eat and terrorize innocent children, while the United States government falls in the background to the Vatican and Rome (Shank 2018). This cartoon is a reflection of the development of parochial schools and the fears of Catholics being involved in children's education. The Second cartoon we look at is titled “Chorus of Rising Patriots (?). 'We can not tell a lie! We did not do it!” and the cartoon depicts children and Columbia. The Children represent the Catholics, an unruly bunch who just cannot be educated or follow politics. Just like a child. They do not care about democracy and resort to violence to get what they want. They tore down “the Stick of Truth” showing how they just do not respect democracy. Colombia then represents America and all the American ideals. She is the line of defense stopping the Catholics. The third cartoon we look at is called "'The Promised Land,' as seen from the Dome of St. Peter's, Rome" and this one depicts a very famous conspiracy of the times. People were convinced that the Catholics could not acclimate with America because of their allegiance to a foreign power, that being the Pope and the Vatican. This fear extends so far as the create the idea that the Pope is going to one day overthrow America (Shank 2018). This is shown in the cartoon where the Pope looks over at the promised land AKA America. The conveyed message being shown with weapons in the background of the cartoon is that America better be prepared to fight. The fourth and final cartoon we take a deep dive into is “Something that will not "blow over." This cartoon was made following famous riots in New York, where, specifically, the Irish Catholics protested over their rights. They clashed with the National Guard to protect an Irish parade (Gordon 1993), an event eventually called the Orange Riot. This cartoon sums up prevailing views of the Catholic population well: that they are violent, unruly, unintelligent people who will just never fit in with American society. 

We also took a closer look at modern examples of a political cartoon and how that constructs difference. It is a cartoon depicting the current crisis happening in Israel and Palestine. Political cartoons never stop being a medium for expressing opinions concerning differences and conceptualizing those differences. There will be people who generate their opinions about the crisis in the Middle East, the same way there will be people who back during the time of Harper’s Weekly, used that magazine to generate their own opinions about Catholics. 

Religious differences are something that has never gone away over time. It is a prevailing issue that lasts to this day. As Americans, we are all very familiar with how religion can be used as a political and cultural tool that enacts change within our country. When reading through the articles on this website think about this: have I ever read about a similar hate crime now? Or “Have you seen a modern political cartoon that perpetuates religious difference in the same way? I think there is a good chance your answer to that question is likely a “yes.” We have seen how anti-Catholic sentiment has evolved in our country, to now other religious groups being those who are “others” within our society. The same the public reacted to John Kennedy and Joe Biden being catholic presidents, consider how some may react to a Jewish president or a Muslim president. Constructing differences towards Catholics is not the end of religious differences. Over time, every religious group has been an outcast. It is important to remember that differences within our society are a good thing and something to be treasured. Do not allow your neighbors' religion to shape how you view them, get to know someone first.