Know Your Neighborhood:  The Nativist Riots of 1844  

Although virtually forgotten now, the Philadelphia Nativist Riots of 1844 had significant consequences for political and religious life in the United States, and bear an uncanny resemblance to events taking place today.

In May and July 1844, Philadelphia suffered some of the bloodiest rioting of the antebellum period, as anti-immigrant mobs attacked Irish-American homes and Roman Catholic churches before being suppressed by the militia.  

Ethnic and religious antagonism had a long history in the city.  Since the 1780s, Irish textile workers had come to Philadelphia after losing their jobs to mechanization in the British Isles.  By the time of the Riots, estimates put the Catholic population at roughly 10% of the City's population. Catholic presence provoked anxiety among American- and Irish-born Protestants.   Some of the sentiment was the age-old fear of immigrants taking jobs away from natives, lowering wages, and increasing demands on city services. Much of it, however, revolved around the bible. Alarmed by the rising Catholic population, Protestants and native-born Americans started organizing anti- Catholic and nativist groups.  

Despite its tradition of religious tolerance,  Protestant Christianity dominated the State of Pennsylvania. The Protestant King James Bible was required reading in all public schools.  Students were also required to learn Protestant hymns. The Catholic Church in the English speaking world used a different translation of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims Bible.  Catholic Bibles include several Old Testament Books rejected by most Protestants. Catholics objected to the exclusive use of the Protestant Bible in the schools and the Protestant bias in the religious curriculum.

As a result, the Board of Controllers  of public schools ordered that no child should be forced to participate in religious activities and stated that children were allowed to read whichever version of the Bible their parents wished.   Nativists inflamed hostile feelings towards Catholics by reportedly twisting this as an attack against the Bible used in Protestant devotionals.  

In May of 1844, the nativists held a series of meetings which descended into violent riots.  The violence started in Kensington, but spread south into Northern Liberties and into the city itself.  During the month, at least 14 were killed, more than 50 injured, hundreds of Catholic owned houses were destroyed, a Catholic Seminary and 2 churches were burned (one being St Augustines). 
Despite the presence of Mayor John M. Scott, Sheriff Morton McMichael, and the First City Troop Cavalry, members of the mob set St. Augustine’s on fire. The mob also burned St Augustine's academy, destroying its priceless library, and smashed gravestones in the churchyard. Within a few hours, nothing was left of St. Augustine’s except a blackened shell.  

Further riots occurred in Southwark, in early July of 1844, with another 15 deaths.

During this period in Philadelphia's history, Kensington, Southwark and Northern Liberties were not actually part of the city.  There were no police forces at this time.  The city and surrounding areas only had constables and unarmed night watchmen.  The local sheriff could form a posse but the posse would have been formed by the same people causing the violence.  It took state militias to regain the peace in these areas.  

In the wake of the fighting, Philadelphia consolidated its outlying suburbs into the city proper, and standing police forces were established.  Philadelphia's Bishop Kendrick gave up fighting over which Bible was read in schools, and worked toward creation of Catholic schools, with 17 being founded by 1860.  The friars of the Church of St. Augustine sued the city of Philadelphia for not providing the church with adequate protection, claiming $80,000 in damages, eventually being awarded $45,000.  The church was rebuilt in 1848.

The original St Augustines'

The burning of St Augustines'

Ruins of St Augustines'