"Slaves of Kings and Priests": the United States, Manifest Destiny
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Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 2009 Saving the "Slaves of Kings and Priests": The nitU ed States, Manifest Destiny, and the Rhetoric of Anti- Catholicism Michael Solomon Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Solomon, M. (2009). Saving the "Slaves of Kings and Priests": The nitU ed States, Manifest Destiny, and the Rhetoric of Anti- Catholicism (Master's thesis, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1225 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SAVING THE “SLAVES OF KINGS AND PRIESTS”: THE UNITED STATES, MANIFEST DESTINY, AND THE RHETORIC OF ANTI-CATHOLICISM A Thesis Submitted to the McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts By Michael Solomon April 2009 Copyright by Michael Solomon 2009 SAVING THE “SLAVES OF KINGS AND PRIESTS”: THE UNITED STATES, MANIFEST DESTINY, AND THE RHETORIC OF ANTI-CATHOLICISM By Michael Solomon Approved March 30, 2009 _____________________________ _____________________________ John J. Dwyer, Ph.D. Holly A. Mayer, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History Assistant Professor of History Committee Chair Committee Member _____________________________ _____________________________ Ralph Pearson, Ph.D. Holly A. Mayer, Ph.D. Provost and Academic Chair, Department of History Vice President Assistant Professor of History iii ABSTRACT SAVING THE “SLAVES OF KINGS AND PRIESTS”: THE UNITED STATES, MANIFEST DESTINY, AND THE RHETORIC OF ANTI-CATHOLICISM By Michael Solomon May 2009 Thesis Supervised by Professor John J. Dwyer This paper seeks to demonstrate how anti-Catholicism, like other domestic issues such as race, economics, and politics, influenced U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America during the first half of the nineteenth century. Catholicism, the Roman Catholic Church, and monarchism/despotism were all seen by U.S. elites as interconnected forces that undermined the growth and stability of republicanism in Latin America. U.S. politicians were able to manipulate anti-Catholic rhetoric in order to justify certain U.S. diplomatic policies toward Latin America. Anti-Catholic rhetoric could be separated into missionary and exclusionary arguments. Followers of Manifest Destiny utilized missionary anti-Catholic rhetoric to sanction U.S. territorial expansion while opponents relied on exclusionary anti-Catholic rhetoric to justify halting the further acquisition of territory. Regardless of how they were used, both missionary and exclusionary anti- Catholic rhetoric resonated with Americans because they reaffirmed already held belief of American exceptionalism and Latin American inferiority. iv DEDICATION I would like to thank both Dr. John Dwyer and Dr. Holly Mayer for their advice and guidance on this paper. From struggling to come up with a topic to the inevitable last minute revisions, both Dr. Dwyer and Dr. Mayer gave me the support and insight I needed to write this thesis. The History Department also has my thanks for their financial assistance throughout my two years at Duquesne University. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family for putting up with my hermit-like lifestyle during this arduous process. More importantly, their love and support has been invaluable - without it, I would still be on page one. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract iv Dedication v Introduction 1 1. Literature Review 8 2. The Rise of Anti-Catholicism in the United States 17 3. Anti-Catholicism, Latin American Recognition, and the Monroe Doctrine 32 4. Texas Annexation and the Combination of Missionary and Exclusionary Anti-Catholic Rhetoric 63 5. Anti-Catholicism, the U.S.-Mexican War, and the Question of “All Mexico” 88 Conclusion 114 Bibliography 120 vi Introduction As American troops battled their Mexican neighbors to the south during the summer of 1847, a representative of Pope Pius IX approached Nicholas Brown, the U.S. consul stationed in Rome, with a request to open formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Papal States. President James K. Polk and Secretary of State James Buchanan agreed that diplomatic relations with the Papal States would be economically beneficial to the United States. Both Polk and Buchanan also embraced the view European liberals held regarding Pius IX; they believed that he was a liberal and reform- minded pontiff who favored expanding civil and religious liberty in the Papal States.1 Convincing Congress of this, however, was not an easy task. The Polk administration encountered fierce resistance to the opening of official diplomatic relations between the United States and the Papal States. One of the most vociferous opponents was Representative Lewis Charles Levin (A-PA). Levin accused those supporting the creation of a mission to the Papal States of being the “paid agents of the Jesuits” and railed against the perception that Pius IX was a reformer. The Pope, Levin declared, ruled “the most iron-handed hierarchy that ever flourished” and thus to send an official ambassador to the Vatican, Levin argued, was tantamount to acknowledging the spiritual and temporal power of the Pope over the United States.2 1 Pope Pius IX, upon his election in 1846, advocated various reforms for the Papal States, such as investing in scientific advancements, giving amnesty to revolutionaries and political prisoners, and allowing lay people to participate in governing the Papal States. This liberal agenda was short lived, as Pius IX, after witnessing the outbreak of revolution across Europe in 1848, became a reactionary and reinforced papal authority and conservative regimes throughout Europe. 2 Congressional Globe, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Appendix, 437-438. 1 Numerous other senators and congressmen joined the assault against the mission, which begs the question: why were members of the United States government so adamant in their opposition to an official diplomatic mission to the Papal States? The answer is simultaneously simple and complex. The behavior and attitude of these members of Congress was nothing new in the history of the American republic. Their opposition was based on an anti-Catholic bias that existed in America since the first English colonists approached the shores of Virginia. This anti-Catholic prejudice continued throughout the antebellum period and manifested itself most notably in the form of domestic Nativism. Studies of anti-Catholicism in antebellum America have traced its evolution and impact on domestic affairs. They have not, however, examined how anti-Catholicism shaped United States foreign policy during the early-to-mid-1800s. This paper seeks to do just that. The great majority of studies on anti-Catholicism in the United States deal largely with Nativism and its role in domestic politics. Because of this, few historians have thoroughly researched the diplomatic aspect of U.S. anti-Catholicism. Historians, such as Frederick Merk and Albert Weinberg, have alluded that the idea of spreading religious freedom was integral to Manifest Destiny and the push for continental empire. The vague notion that religious freedom really meant Protestantism has been suggested by historians such as Merk and Weinberg, but not explicitly fleshed out. Thomas Hietala and Reginald Horsman have singled out race and its influence on Manifest Destiny, but do not take into account how anti-Catholicism and racism intertwined during the era of American continental expansion. The few studies on the international component of U.S. anti-Catholicism focus mainly on the role of anti-Catholicism during the U.S.-Mexican 2 War (1846-1848). Ted Hinckley, Isaac McDaniel, and John Pinheiro have analyzed how anti-Catholicism became a factor during the war, but their focus remains on one particular event in U.S.-Latin American relations rather than tracing the trend in U.S.- Latin American relations throughout the antebellum era. This paper will demonstrate how anti-Catholicism, like many other domestic factors, such as race, economics and politics, influenced U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America, and more specifically Mexico, in the first half of the nineteenth century. It seeks to trace both the domestic and international aspects of U.S. anti-Catholicism to illustrate how the domestic and international past are tied together. U.S. elites saw Catholicism as one of many major reasons why Latin American politics and culture were “inferior” to “enlightened” American republicanism and Protestantism. Anti-Catholic attacks against Latin America were not simply religious in nature, but rather targeted three forces that were seen as intrinsically tied together; Catholicism as a system of religious belief, the Catholic Church as a religious institution, and monarchism/despotism as a form of government. Many Protestant and secular Americans thus believed that all three foces mutually support each other, thereby creating the political and cultural inferiority that existed in Latin America. Protestant and secular Americans viewed the Catholic religion as an agent of cultural degradation and the Roman Catholic Church as an offensive foreign political threat. First, Catholicism was used to demonstrate the cultural and