sentences:  His reports from the expedition, "Geological Reconnaissance of Part of the Holy Land", were published by the United States government in 1848 and 1849.Under the aegis of the American Geographical and Statistical Society, Anderson circulated a petition urging the United States to promote Jewish colonization in Palestine, part of the Jewish restoration movement that flowered at the time.Anderson converted to Catholicism in 1849; he was active in his new faith for the rest of his life.