Papist Devils

Catholics in North American British Colonies

10. Catholics and the Revolution

© 2016 George E. Blanford Jr.

Type of Colonyat the

Beginningof the

American Revolution

Royal—Governor appointed by the King and laws modeled on English law

Proprietary—Governor appointed by the proprietor and governing laws approved by the proprietor

Who Would Revolt?

When the Second Continental Congress met in May, 1775 one of its tasks was to draw up Articles of Confederation Thirteen American colonies sent delegates to the

Congress Benjamin Franklin proposed Article XIII which was

an invitation to other British colonies to join the union Ireland, the West Indies, Quebec, St. John’s, Nova

Scotia, Bermuda and East and West Florida Quebec and Nova Scotia were the most likely candidates

Why they might be Quebec had only been under British rule for 15

years and prior to the Quebec Act, it resented British rule

New England migrants had replaced Acadians in Nova Scotia

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis

Who Would Revolt? Quebec

Even before being sent an invitation to join the revolt, the Continental Army captured Montreal The Quebecois initially accepted the invading Americans, began

selling them arms and formed Canadian regiments for the Continental Army

Washington forbade the Army to celebrate ”Pope’s Day” (formerly Guy Fawke’s day) for fear that it would alienate the Canadians

Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase and Charles and John Carroll were sent to Quebec in the late winter of 1776 to lobby influential people to persuade Canada to join the 13 colonies in seeking independence Canadians were well aware of the American anti-Catholic sentiment

stirred up by the Quebec Act Bishop Briand was convinced that their religious freedom would be

greater with the British He denied Mass and the sacraments to American troops He celebrated Mass with a Te Deum service when Americans

were forced to retreat in late 1776 However, getting to know and admire John Carroll softened

Benjamin Franklin’s anti-Catholicism None of invitees joined the revolt

Samuel Chase (1741-1811)by John Beale Bordley (1800-1882)

Who Would Revolt? Maryland

Revolt was difficult for all of the colonies, especially Maryland John Adam’s could not predict how Maryland would go, but he

realized they would support their final position strenuously Catholics played a unique role in supporting revolt

Maryland was the last colony to join the revolt Eastern Shore residents did not support the ruling Patriot party During the winter and spring of 1775-76, the colony was almost in

anarchy In May 1776, the Maryland convention instructed its delegates to

oppose independence Chase and Carroll returned to Maryland from Philadelphia in

mid-June Carroll pointed out to the convention that war had begun He argued that Maryland must be prepared for the change

in government that independence would bring On July 3, the Maryland convention voted to support

independence Chase and Carroll arrived back in Philadelphia on July 17, after

the Declaration of Independence had been passed They joined with the other delegates in signing it on

August 2

John Adams (1735 – 1826)by John Trumbull

Maryland Catholics and the Patriots’ Cause Politics

The ad hoc provincial government opened up political opportunities for Catholics that had been denied them for over 80 years By 1774, Catholics served in significant numbers on Committees of Observation

and Correspondence in the southern Maryland counties Four out of 76 delegates to the provincial convention of 1776 were Catholic By 1781, Catholics were 20% of the Maryland Senate in proportion to their

population Maryland pursued a policy of institutional conservatism and economic radicalism

Carroll and Chase enacted a bill that required creditors to accept paper money in payment This was strongly opposed by Carroll’s father Inflation resulting from this measure significantly affected the wealth of most

of Maryland’s elite This bill was repealed in 1780

Taxes were increased shifting a greater burden on those with the largest land holdings Carroll saw this as the price to pay to win the war

Maryland Catholics and the Patriots’ Cause Military

Forty percent of eligible Catholics in St. Charles and St. Mary’s Counties enlisted in county militias or the Continental Army before the introduction of conscription St. Mary’s County, with extensive shorelines, was particularly vulnerable to British

raids. Southern Maryland was a major provider of food and supplies to the Continental Army especially when the war shifted to the southern states

Catholics dominated the officers’ ranks in county militia regiments Maryland Catholics constituted at least a proportionate element of the “Maryland Line”

The initial unit of 1100 men came primarily from southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore

They acted as the rear guard for the retreat from the Battle of Long Island in late August, 1776 and incurred devastating losses. After the battle of Princeton, 5 months later, they were reduce to a regiment of 60 men

Clergy Many of the ex-Jesuits in America were English by birth and had strong ties to England Nevertheless, they eventually took loyalty oaths to the United States and encouraged

their congregations to do the same They provided supplies to the army, but no chaplains

Pennsylvania Catholics:Loyalists, Patriots and Neutrals

German immigrants This strong majority of Catholics primarily remained loyal to Britain or were

neutral Primarily rural, they were relatively isolated from politics They were also isolated from most of the fighting

Irish immigrants Most were Scotch-Irish and Presbyterian in religion They and Catholic Irish were primarily patriots

Many Irish Catholics became officers including John Barry, “the father of the American navy”

Even so, a regiment of Roman Catholic Volunteers was formed to serve the crown

Substantial numbers of Catholics from Ireland and Scotland served in the British Army fighting America

Catholics, Rights and the Revolution

Anti-Catholicism in America At the outset of the American Revolution, anti-Catholicism was a

major motivation for patriots The crown was seen as promoting popery Fear of popery was used to encourage enlistment in the Army

Alliance with France changed the American perspective Samuel Cooper, a Boston Congregational minister, switched

from being anti-Catholic to advocating tolerance Virginia (June, 1776) was the first to pass a bill of rights

including religious freedom and separation of church and state Similar bills were passed 3 months later in Pennsylvania and 2

months after that in Maryland. Other states began to tolerate Catholicism, but continued to put

restrictions on them especially from holding public office By 1779, leaders in all the states began to realize that religious

toleration was a sine qua non for a military victory Ironically, anti-Catholicism was virulent in Great Britain itself

Samuel Cooper (1725 – 1783)by Justin Winsor

European Catholic Volunteers

Three foreign Catholics made extraordinary contributions to the American war effort Tadeusz Kościuszko

Commissioned as an engineer by Congress in 1776 He selected the battle site for the critical Battle of

Saratoga He was chief engineer under General Gates in the

Southern theater Count Casimir Pulaski

Commissioned as a brigadier general by Congress in 1777 to lead the American cavalry

Mortally wounded while attacking Savannah in 1779 Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

Commissioned as a major general by Congress in 1777 Served under Washington from Brandywine in 1777 to

Yorktown in 1781

Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746 – 1817)by Karl Gottlieb Schweikart

Gilbert du MotierMarquis de Lafayette (1757 – 1834)by Joseph-Désiré Court

Kazimierz Pułaski (1745 – 1779)by Jan Styka

The French and Spanish Alliances The alliance that the United States entered with France in February, 1778 was the turning point in the war

France had covertly supported America with money, supplies and arms from the outset The alliance allowed direct military support as well

Loyalists were vigorously opposed to allying with a regime that was strongly anti-Protestant Benedict Arnold used the alliance as part of his justification for treason Most Americans saw this alliance and a later one with Spain as essential for winning the war

The advantages of the alliance were slowly borne out over the next 4 years The French navy gradually gained control of West Indian waters to the detriment of British

trade; Spain seized control of Florida from the British The French West Indies became America’s chief trading partner French Canadian clergy reversed their opposition to the American rebellion and aided George

Rogers Clark to gain control of what would become the Northwest Territories Nearly 7,000 French troops, including 1,400 Irish in the French army, joined with American

soldiers. 100 French army chaplains quadrupled Catholic clergy in America The French navy made it possible to pin down and to force the principal British army to surrender on

October 19, 1781 at Yorktown effectively ending the war A month after Yorktown an event unthinkable a few years before occurred in Philadelphia. A

Mass of thanksgiving was held in St. Mary Church attended by members of the Continental Congress, the Pennsylvania Assembly, the French Ambassador and other government officials

Papist Devils

Catholics in North American British Colonies

11. Epilogue: The Colonial Legacy

© 2016 George E. Blanford Jr.

Religious Freedomin the United States

Under the Articles of Confederation of 1777, each former colony became a “state.” The ensuing chaos of interstate commerce demanded a stronger central government A Constitutional Convention was called and began meeting on May 25, 1787

The United States Constitution was approved, signed and sent to the states for ratification on September 17, 1787 It did not contain a Bill of Rights and its ratification was made under the promise that Congress

would amend the Constitution to include a Bill of Rights On September 13, 1788, the Continental Congress ruled that having been ratified by 11 states, it

became law. North Carolina and Rhode Island ratified the Constitution later The First Congress met in 1789

It passed 12 amendments to the Constitution on September 25, 1789 Amendments 3 through 12 were ratified into law on December 15, 1791 and are known collectively as

the United States Bill of Rights The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting

the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Note that at that time the fear was of a government established religion that excluded other religions Supreme Court rulings on the First Amendment interpret the intent of Congress that no one may be

coerced to any religious beliefs that do not accord with the conscience of the individual

Who Was in Charge of Catholics in the United States? The Jesuit Provincial of the English Province had effectively been in charge before the

suppression of the Jesuits because all the priests in America were Jesuits The Vicar Apostolic of London was nominally in charge of the American church

American Independence broke ties with him John Carroll prodded John Lewis, the last Jesuit superior of the Maryland mission, to

call a meeting of the 23 priests in America to consider Carroll’s plan for organizing the American church Carroll was fully in support of separation of church and state America had not had close episcopal governance for a century and a half Six elected representative priests met on a former Jesuit manor in Maryland

They organized themselves into a republican body to administer the church They divided Pennsylvania and Maryland into districts to elect members

to the Select Body of the Clergy They would use the profits from the former Jesuit manors and farms to

support the church They requested that the Holy See grant someone faculties to administer

Confirmation, but they did not want a bishop

Who Was in Charge of Catholics in the United States? The exponential growth of the church in the other states quickly made it

evident that the church did not own enough plantations to support itself Congregational support, which originated in Pennsylvania, would

become commonplace in Catholic churches American law, the tradition of congregational-centered Protestant

denominations and Catholic enlightened ideology tended to foster a lay-trustee system of church governance One of the earliest breakdowns in this system occurred in New York

when a parish tried to remove its pastor The revealed authoritative vacuum precipitated the move to create an

episcopal-based hierarchy In 1788, the Select Body petitioned Rome to appoint a bishop

They requested that they elect their first bishop Rome, recognizing the unique aspects of America, granted their

request They elected John Carroll in 1789

Carroll selected Baltimore as the first episcopal see in America because it was centrally located for the American Catholic population at that time

Most Rev. John Carroll (1735-1815)by Gilbert Stuart

Growth of the American Church In 1789, Carroll formed an academy for boys in Georgetown, MD to spur vocations to the priesthood. This is now

Georgetown University In 1790, two American Carmelite nuns who headed two English convents in Belgium were persuaded to come to

Port Tobacco, MD to institute the first convent of religious women in the United States Carroll tried to persuade them to leave their cloister to establish a Catholic school for girls, but they refused In 1799, Poor Clares formed an academy for girls next to the academy for boys in Georgetown

In 1790, Carroll formed St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore taught by French Sulpician priests Just as France had become a haven for English Catholics after the Reformation, America became a haven for

French Catholics, especially clergy, escaping the French Revolution French priests and religious played a disproportionately large role in the American church over the

next 50 years In 1802, 6 former Jesuits asked Carroll to let them join the Russian Jesuits

Catherine the Great had not honored the papal brief of suppression because she valued Jesuit schools in Byelorussia too much

Carroll initially did not act, but when they acquired more support from other priests and seminarians, he approved the reestablishment of the Jesuits in America in 1805

In 1806, the Jesuits established a novitiate in Georgetown Worldwide suppression of the Jesuits ended in 1814

In 1808, Baltimore was elevated to an archdiocese; the dioceses of Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Bardstown, KY were erected

In 1808, the Dominicans wanted to begin in the U.S. and sent a Marylander, Edward Fenwick, to open a priory Carroll sent him to Kentucky to open the first Dominican priory

In 1812, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton founded the Sisters of Charity in Emmetsburg, MD

The Maryland Diaspora The westward growth of the Church began with the migration of Maryland

Catholics Southern Maryland was overpopulated Overproduction of tobacco depleted the fertility of Maryland land 40 Catholic families met in Charles Co. and agreed to migrate to a

restricted region in central Kentucky so that they would be large enough in number to have a priest sent to them

It became a ritual each spring for a group of Catholics to migrate to central Kentucky from ~1785 to ~1815

It is estimated that ¼ to ⅓ of the Maryland Catholic population migrated between 1790 – 1810

Most of those who migrated were small farmers with few slaves; the Catholic gentry remained in Maryland

The first priest ordained in America, Stephen Badin, was sent to Kentucky in 1793 He made a census of 972 Catholic families in 1807 Three orders of religious sisters formed in Kentucky: the Sisters of

Charity of Nazareth (1812), the Sisters of Loretto (1812) and the Dominicans (1822)

Maryland Catholics also migrated to Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana

Stephen Badin (1768 – 1853)“Apostle to Kentucky”

Retrospective The institutional presence of the Catholic Church was geographically

limited during the colonial period Most likely, Catholics in Maryland and Pennsylvania were a minority

of all Catholics who immigrated to America The majority of Catholic immigrants found themselves isolated from the

institutional church Most of these Catholics faced endemic discrimination Intermarriage with Protestants encouraged conversion to

Protestantism It is estimated that ~45,000 Irish Catholics converted to Protestantism

during the colonial period This would be about 12% of the total Irish population in 1790 Many of them, especially in the South, changed their names to

have more English or Scotch sounding names

Resurgent Memories The American Revolution softened the attitudes of most Protestants

toward Catholics The early atmosphere of religious tolerance in America inclined

Catholics to forget how they were alienated during the colonial period By the second quarter of the 19th century anti-Catholic sentiments had

reawakened Catholic immigration far exceeded the proportion of Protestant

immigration (~40% of the total) relative to the proportion of the indigenous population

There was also a new evangelical awakening among Protestants Anti-Catholicism became especially violent with the formation of the

Populist, Nativist or Know Nothing Party It would take the patriotic participation of Catholics in the Civil War

to quell this wave of anti-Catholicism