Wallender, Andrew 2018
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“A POPISH ARMY IN OUR MIDST”: THE RISE OF ANTI-CATHOLIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES, 1830-1839 A Senior Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in American Studies By Andrew J. Wallender Washington, D.C. April 25, 2018 Copyright © 2018 Andrew J. Wallender All rights reserved ii “A POPISH ARMY IN OUR MIDST”: THE RISE OF ANTI-CATHOLIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES, 1830-1839 Andrew J. Wallender Thesis Adviser: Mark Gray, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This thesis investigates why conspiracy theories have been a constant fixture of American society since the founding of the United States, specifically why they come about and what purpose they serve. By isolating a period in the 1830s when anti-Catholic conspiracy theories ran rampant and analyzing prominent texts that fueled such radical ideas, this thesis challenges the notion that conspiracies only exist on the fringes of society or for entertainment’s sake. It argues that conspiracies actually serve as a means of voicing deeper anxieties about identity and national progress. Despite the range of conspiracy theories—ranging from belief in the Illuminati orchestrating the French Revolution to the conviction that former President Barack Obama secretly practices Islam—the same principles drive the creation of any conspiracy that exists on a national level. In the case of anti-Catholic conspiracies in the 1830s, dramatically shifting population demographics and rapidly expanding western borders in the United States fueled concerns that the country would not be able to sustain such tumultuous transitions. These concerns compounded with other national worries about the long-term stability of a democratic republic as a form of government and the capacity of the country to educate the fast-growing population. Rather than address such uncertainties head-on, these concerns found a voice in the anti-Catholic conspiracy theories that community leaders and the working poor propagated in communities across the country as a means of re-affirming their identities. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank: My adviser, Professor Mark Gray, for his insight and constant reassurance throughout this thesis writing process. Thank you for taking me on as an advisee and being with me every step of the journey this past academic year. Professor Erika Seamon, who helped me find true passion in American Studies and challenged me to be a better scholar. Thank you for your constant care and dedication. Colva Weissenstein, who has been an ever-present calming force throughout the thesis process and always more than willing to answer questions, no matter how tedious. Thank you for putting up with so many anxious American Studies students. My American Studies classmates, who have been by my side since I joined the American Studies program in 2015. Your intellectual curiosity, work ethic, and personal drive have been nothing but inspiring. You’ve made this journey a fun one. I couldn’t ask for a better group of classmates or friends to be by my side during this process. A special thank you to my apartment-mate and friend, Ryan Wolfe, for the many late nights spent talking about our theses. It may have taken some convincing to get you to stick with American Studies but so happy I was able to go through this process with you. You made it not only bearable but fun. iv My friends and family, who have been with me every step of my research journey. Thank you for helping me choose a topic and supporting me through many late nights of work. A special thank you to my sister and mom, whose fascination with conspiracy theories helped give birth to this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... iv Introduction............................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One ............................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter Two............................................................................................................................ 18 Chapter Three ......................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter Four ........................................................................................................................... 32 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 37 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 41 Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 43 vi INTRODUCTION The first murmurs of an angry mob headed for the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts, reached Catholic Bishop Benedict Fenwick at around eight in the evening. Despite the threatening news, he trusted authorities to quell the crowd and made no attempt to barricade the convent.1 After all, this wasn’t the first time stories had circulated about the institution. It was Thursday, August 14, 1834, and for years the Catholic convent had been a source of animosity and suspicion among the working class Protestants in Charlestown.2 In 1830, a false story appeared in a Boston newspaper alleging the convent had swindled an orphan into giving her fortune to the institution. Not long after that, a former convert who had entered the nunnery and left after disliking it, roamed the Boston area for two years and spread rumors that the sisters at the convent had tried to kidnap her.3 And now, on this summer night in 1834, rumors of kidnapping were again pulsating through the community of Charlestown. This time, the nun was Mary John, and she had fled the religious community a couple weeks prior following a nervous breakdown or some sort of illness, scholars believe. Mary John was persuaded to rejoin the convent by the bishop and told she could leave the convent in a short while if her doubts about a religious life remained the same. Once the nun returned to the convent, rumors popped up that she was kidnapped and being tortured for her disloyalty. Fears of forced Protestant conversions overtook the suburban Boston community.4 1 Jeanne Hamilton, “The Nunnery As Menace: The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834,” Our Catholic Visitor, Winter 1996, accessed February 27, http://www.ewtn.com/library/HUMANITY/BURNING.TXT. 2 Jack Tager, Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001), 111. 3 Jack Tager, Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001), 111. 4 Jack Tager, Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001), 111- 112. These fears that Catholics would steal away Protestant faithful through conversions were fresh on the minds of the angry crowd marching through Charlestown on that August 1834 night. By the time the mob reached the convent, most of the building’s inhabitants—nuns and their students—were asleep. Dozens of rioters, armed with burning tar barrels and anti-Catholic banners, gathered outside the convent and shouted phrases like “Down with the cross” and “no Popery.” They disguised themselves with masks and American Indian face paint. About 2,000 onlookers, including the Charlestown volunteer fire departments, joined the rioters and provided them encouragement. Once at the convent, the mob demanded to see Sister Mary Jean and refused to listen when the mother superior turned the rioters away. The mother superior threatened that the Bishop would send 30,000 Irish men to burn down the rioters’ houses. Tensions only worsened. Bricks and other objects were thrown at the windows. As the rioters broke through the front door, the nuns and children escaped through a rear entrance. The convent was vandalized and then burned to the ground. None of the volunteer firemen in the crowd attempted to quell the flames. If anything, they likely aided the rioters, according to historians.5 The riot and the convent’s years of friction with the Charlestown community were a sign of deepening discomfort over the growing presence of Catholicism in the United States. As the late historian Jack Tager summarized, “The destruction of a Catholic convent and school for girls reflected the lower classes’ outrage that they felt against Catholics, their animosity to Irish immigrants as working-class competitors, their long-held dislike of the gentry, and their fear of loosening religious and moral standards.”6 It wasn’t the religious ideas of Catholicism that caused friction in Charlestown. It was all the societal anxieties that Catholicism simply exposed: the increasing population of immigrants; the lack of sufficient Protestant education systems; the 5 Jack Tager, Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001), 113. 6 Jack Tager, Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001), 108. 2 rise of uncompromising, brash women who demanded respect;