Nativist Riots of 1844
Nativist Riots of 1844 were a series of violent anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant disturbances that erupted in Philadelphia during May and July 1844, killing at least 20 people, injuring hundreds more, and destroying two Catholic churches along with dozens of homes. The riots represented the most serious outbreak of religious violence in American history up to that time and reflected deep tensions over immigration, religion, and national identity in the antebellum United States. The violence was sparked by disputes over Bible reading in public schools—Catholics objected to the use of the Protestant King James Version—but the underlying causes included economic competition between native-born workers and Irish immigrants, religious prejudice against Catholics, and nativist fears that immigration threatened American institutions. The riots contributed to the movement for the Act of Consolidation of 1854, which merged Philadelphia's fragmented municipal governments in part to create a unified police force capable of preventing future outbreaks.[1]
Background
[edit | edit source]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.[2]
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.[3]
May Riots in Kensington
[edit | edit source]Violence erupted on May 6, 1844, when a nativist rally in the heavily Irish neighborhood of Kensington was disrupted by rain. When the crowd sought shelter in a nearby market house, Irish residents confronted them, and fighting broke out. Shots were fired, and an eighteen-year-old nativist named George Shiffler was killed—he would be martyred in nativist propaganda as a victim of Catholic aggression. Over the following days, mobs of nativists attacked Irish homes and businesses in Kensington, burning dozens of buildings and driving Irish families from the neighborhood. The St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church and the Sisters of Charity school were destroyed by fire, along with the rectory and a library containing thousands of volumes.[1]
The violence spread through Kensington despite the efforts of local authorities to restore order. The district had its own police force, separate from the city of Philadelphia, and the fragmented system of government that characterized pre-consolidation Philadelphia proved utterly inadequate to handle civil disorder on this scale. Militia companies were called out, but some refused to fire on the mobs, and others were sympathetic to the nativist cause. On May 8, mobs attacked and burned St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church on Fourth Street in the heart of Philadelphia, destroying one of the oldest Catholic churches in America along with its priceless library, which included books donated by Benjamin Franklin. The destruction of St. Augustine's marked the height of the May violence.[4]
July Riots in Southwark
[edit | edit source]After a lull of several weeks, violence erupted again in July when nativists discovered that weapons had been stored in the Church of St. Philip de Neri in the Southwark district. Governor David Porter ordered state militia to protect the church, stationing cannons and soldiers around the building. Mobs gathered to protest the military presence, clashing with soldiers and attempting to storm the church. On July 7, after a crowd captured a cannon from the militia, soldiers opened fire, killing several rioters. The violence continued for two more days before overwhelming military force finally dispersed the mobs. The July riots were more deadly than those in May, with most of the casualties coming from military gunfire rather than inter-communal violence.[1]
The decision to defend St. Philip de Neri with armed force represented a turning point in the response to the riots. Earlier, authorities had been reluctant to confront nativist mobs, allowing the destruction of churches and homes with minimal intervention. The military defense of St. Philip's, ordered by Governor Porter over the objections of local nativists, demonstrated that the state would not permit unlimited violence against Catholic property. The cost was high—soldiers who had fired on American citizens faced bitter resentment—but the principle was established that religious minorities were entitled to protection from mob violence, even when local authorities were unwilling or unable to provide it.[3]
Aftermath and Legacy
[edit | edit source]The Nativist Riots of 1844 left deep scars on Philadelphia's Catholic community. Two churches had been destroyed, dozens of homes burned, and Irish Catholics had been driven from entire neighborhoods. The violence exposed the inadequacy of Philadelphia's fragmented system of government, with its multiple independent municipalities each maintaining separate police forces that could not coordinate responses to civil disorder. This lesson contributed to the movement for consolidation that culminated in the Act of Consolidation of 1854, which merged the city and county into a single municipality with a unified police force. The riots also prompted Catholics to create their own institutions—schools, hospitals, and social organizations—rather than rely on Protestant-dominated public facilities.[2]
The nativist movement that fueled the riots continued to grow throughout the 1840s and 1850s, eventually coalescing into the American Party (commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party) which briefly became a major force in national politics. Anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiment would persist as recurring themes in American politics, though rarely again producing violence on the scale of 1844. The riots remain a sobering reminder of the potential for religious and ethnic prejudice to explode into violence, and of the responsibility of public authorities to protect minorities from majoritarian rage. Several historical markers in Kensington and the Northern Liberties commemorate the events of 1844, and the rebuilt St. Augustine's Church still stands on Fourth Street.[1]