American Slavery, American Freedom, American Catholicism

Scholars who focus on American Catholic history have not fully examined the relationship between slavery and Catholic identity in the United States. They have acknowledged that the Church tolerated—and even supported—the institution of slavery. Scholars have also explored the Catholic Church’s active opposition to the forces of abolitionism. They have not, however, considered the role that slavery may have played in shaping a distinctly “American” variety of Catholicism that was comfortable with the individualism and republicanism that defined American identity at the time of the Founding. This essay, therefore, explores the relationship between American slavery and American Catholicism.