The Philadelphia Bible Riots of 1844: Contest Over the Rights of Citizens

This article seeks to illuminate the ways in which the Philadelphia Bible Riots were generated by Catholic demands for access to the rights of citizens. The rhetorical importance of the right to religious free exercise and right to education were key features of American citizenship during the mid-1800s. Doubts about Catholics’ ability to participate as citizens and claim these rights in American democracy sparked controversy over Catholic demands. The discourse of rights, however, and their widening application to more populations than just white, landholding Protestants was gaining rhetorical force. The riot can be framed as an exercise of popular sovereignty by white Protestant nativists who made attempts to enforce the “natural” order of the community. As Catholics publicly demanded rights to freedom of conscience, and rights to decide the form of education in public schools, the Protestant majority pushed back by violently asserting traditional boundaries around who could act as citizens.