Anti-Catholicism was present in America since its founding
though, by the early 19th century it had become “largely
rhetorical.” The influx of Catholic immigrants, however, as well
as the increasingly aggressive and authoritarian stance of the
papacy, which became more outspoken in its denunciations of
modernism and liberalism, established a fear that Catholics
posed a genuine threat. Conspiracy theories of a papal takeover
of the United States abounded. A large dimension of the
Protestant revival that began in the late 1820s included
militant attacks against the Catholic Church which claimed that
the Catholic religion was threatening to America’s Protestant
culture. Nativists and evangelicals characterized Catholicism as
an authoritative religion incompatible with republicanism.
Viewed as submissive and unquestioning followers, those of
Catholic faith were seen as lacking the individuality and free
thinking required of democratic citizens. Moreover, the Catholic
immigrant, whose allegiance was to a foreign r