No King, No Popery: Anti-Catholicism in Revolutionary New England

by Francis D. Cogliano

Overview

This book explores the complex relationship between anti-Catholicism, or anti-popery to use the contemporary term, and the American Revolution in New England. Anti-Catholicism was among the most common themes in colonial New England culture. Nonetheless, New Englanders entered into an alliance with French Catholics against Protestant Britons during the American Revolution. As New Englanders traditionally associated Catholicism with tyranny and oppression, they were able to extend these feelings to the popish British upon the passage of the Quebec Act. As a consequence, anti-popery helped enable New Englanders to make the intellectual transition that war with Britain required. During the Revolution, anti-popery became less popular as the American rebels relied on Catholic France for aid. By the end of the revolutionary era, Catholics were extended legal toleration in all of the New England states. The book's conclusion explores the change in religious tolerance and the decline of anti-popery with a study of New England's first Catholic parish.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313297298
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/28/1996
Series:	Contributions in American History , #16
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1420L (what's this?)

About the Author

FRANCIS D. COGLIANO is Senior Lecturer in American History at La Sainte Union College in Great Britain.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Exposing the Idolatry of the Romish Church: Anti-popery and Colonial New England
Deliverance from Luxury: Pope's Day, Social Conflict, and the Anti-papal Persuasion
The Pope of Canada and the Fool of England: Anti-popery and the Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
However Erroneous It Might Appear to Me as a Protestant: The Beginning of Religious Toleration for Catholics
The Perfidy of My Countrymen: Whigs, Tories, and the French Alliance
Our Ancient Prejudices Were Very Far from Being Eradicated: The French in Massachusetts, 1778-1782
An Unalienable Right of All Mankind: Religious Freedom for New England Catholics
How Would Our Fathers Have Stared: New England, Popery, and the Reverend John Thayer
Conclusion
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Eighteenth-century New Englanders, whatever their social or political differences, agreed on one point: a fundamental Protestant opposition to Roman Catholicism. Cogliano (American history, La Sainte Union College, Great Britain) studies the changing role of anti-popery in New England from the siege of Louisbourg in 1745 until 1791, demonstrating the important role it played in the definition of New England identity, and in the American Revolution. He argues that the decline of anti-popery was elite driven, stemming from a conviction that anti-Catholic sentiment endangered the success of the revolution. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews