Editing Nativist Riots of 1844 (section)

== Background ==

The waves of Irish Catholic immigration that began in the 1830s and accelerated dramatically during the Irish Famine of the 1840s transformed American cities, including Philadelphia. Irish immigrants, fleeing poverty and oppression in their homeland, arrived with few resources and were willing to work for lower wages than native-born Americans, generating economic resentment. Their Catholic faith made them targets of Protestant suspicion—anti-Catholic prejudice had deep roots in Anglo-American culture, viewing the Pope as a foreign tyrant and Catholic immigrants as potential agents of tyranny. Nativist political movements emerged demanding restrictions on immigration and naturalization, warning that the "Popish horde" threatened American liberty and Protestant civilization.<ref name="billington">{{cite book |last=Billington |first=Ray Allen |title=The Protestant Crusade, 1800-1860: A Study of the Origins of American Nativism |year=1938 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York}}</ref>

The specific spark for the 1844 riots came from controversy over Bible reading in Philadelphia's public schools. The public school system required daily Bible reading using the Protestant King James Version, which Catholics considered a corrupted translation. When Bishop Francis Kenrick petitioned the school board to allow Catholic children to use their own Douay-Rheims Bible or be excused from Bible reading, nativists seized on his request as evidence that Catholics sought to "drive the Bible from the schools." The American Republican Party, a nativist political organization, organized rallies in heavily Irish neighborhoods to protest the supposed Catholic assault on American values. These rallies set the stage for violent confrontation.<ref name="weigley">{{cite book |last=Weigley |first=Russell F. |title=Philadelphia: A 300-Year History |year=1982 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York}}</ref>