Punishing the lies: Catholic and immigrant volunteers in the U.S.-Mexican War and the fight against nativism

Tyler V Johnson, Purdue University

Abstract

This study looks at the efforts of America’s Catholic and Democratic leadership to use the service of immigrant volunteers in the U.S.-Mexican War as a weapon against nativism and anti-Catholicism. Having grown used to the repeated attacks of nativists upon the fidelity and competency of the German and Irish immigrants flooding the country, Democratic and Catholic newspapers (the latter often run by the Church’s U.S. hierarchy) spilled copious amounts of ink defending the adopted citizens they valued as constituents and congregants. These efforts frequently consisted of arguments proving the Americanness of the recent arrivals, pointing to their hard work, love of liberty, and willingness to sacrifice for their adopted country. However, immigrants sometimes undermined this portrayal (in the eyes of nativists) by prioritizing their ethnic and/or religious identities over their identities as new United States citizens. Even some opportunities seemingly tailor-made for the defenders of Catholicism and the nation’s adopted citizens could go awry. When the supposedly well-disciplined Irish volunteers from Savannah, Georgia brawled with another Georgia company on a Rio Grande steamboat, the fight threatened to confirm the worst stereotypes of the nation’s new Irish citizens. In addition, although the Jesuits John McElroy and Anthony Rey gained admirers in the Army and in the rest of the country for their untiring care for wounded and sick soldiers in northern Mexico, anti-Catholic activists denounced them for taking advantage of vulnerable young men to win converts for the Church. Using the letters and personal papers of soldiers, Catholic and Democratic newspapers, military records, and the diaries and correspondence of Fathers John McElroy and Anthony Rey, this study illuminates the lives and actions of Catholic and immigrant volunteers and the debates over their participation in the war. Shedding light on this understudied and misunderstood facet of the war with Mexico, it adds to the scholarship on immigration and religion in antebellum America, illustrating the contentious and controversial process by which immigrants and their supporters tried to carve out a place in U.S. society. Understanding this process aids our comprehension of immigration assimilation and the contested nature of Americanness in the mid-nineteenth century.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

May, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American history|Hispanic American studies

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