Malicious rhetoric, religious propaganda, and the development of nativism in Ohio, 1830-1856

Abstract

This thesis chronicles the rise and decline of nativism in Ohio and the development of the state's Know Nothing Party through an examination of the rhetoric and methods of propagandists. It illustrates that nativism in Ohio did not suddenly emerge in 1854 with the appearance of the Know Nothing Party, but rather stemmed from a long tradition of Protestant-Catholic animus. The first chapter traces the origins of nativism in Ohio by examining important events of the 1830s and 1840s. During this period, animosity between Catholics and Protestants intensified, particularly over the controversial issue of public school funding. In Cincinnati, Lyman Beecher established the idea that Catholics were plotting to undermine American republican ideals and Protestant values, which became the main impetus for the rise of the anti-Catholic sentiments. Cincinnati Bishop John Purcell vehemently denounced this notion, and became an important opponent to anti-foreign, anti-Catholic propagandists throughout his diocese. Chapter Two describes the conditions in the early 1850s that contributed to an increase in nativism, focusing on events in the volatile city of Cincinnati. During the early 1850s, Ohio concomitantly experienced an increase in the number of foreign-born residents, the deterioration of the Second American party system, and a rise in nativist sentiments. A series of events in Ohio cultivated the development of an organized nativist movement in advance of the appearance of the Know Nothings. In particular, the reemergence of the public school controversy, the temperance campaign, and the visit of papal nuncio Gaetano Bedini promoted the rise of political nativism in the state. This chapter also examines the important impact of the nativist newspaper, the "Dollar Weekly Time," to the flowering of anti-Catholicism. The final chapter analyzes nativist newspapers in Cincinnati and the Western Reserve to demonstrate the importance of extensionism in the collapse of the state's Know Nothing Party.