Citizens or Papists?: The Politics of Anti-Catholicism in New York, 1685-1821

Chapter 6: ‘‘A Middle Party?’’: Catholics and Republican Nationalism

c ha pt er 6 ‘‘A Middle Party?’’ Catholics and Republican Nationalism As the only Catholic Church among the many houses of worship in New York City, St. Peter’s had enjoyed two decades of general peace since its founding in the 1780s. That period of quietude was interrupted quite suddenly at Christmas in 1806. Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in the nineteenth century was the occasion for elaborate , public processions and ceremonies in predominantly Catholic nations. In New York City in the early nineteenth century, however, such open displays of Catholicism were not held, ‘‘lest the novelty, by attracting crowds at an untimely hour of the night, might terminate in broils and riots.’’ This reticence on the part of Catholics did not prevent about fifty members of a gang of native-born Protestants , known as the Highbinders, from gathering at St. Peter’s around midnight on Christmas Eve in the hopes of seeing Catholic rituals for themselves. The Highbinders, disappointed to find that no part of the service at St. Peter’s was to be held outside, demanded noisily that the doors of St. Peter’s be opened so that they could see what was happening inside the church. Some of the parishioners became alarmed and called for Andrew Morris to come immediately. Morris, who had just been reelected as an assistant alderman from the city’s first ward a month earlier, was able to persuade the gang to disperse without harming person or property.1 133 134 Citizens or Papists? The next day, on Christmas, a number of Irish Catholics, fearing that the Highbinders might return, armed themselves and surrounded St. Peter’s. Come back the Highbinders did, and a melee ensued in which Catholics fought with the Highbinders ‘‘from the door of the church to Irish town.’’ ‘‘Irish town’’ was the sixth ward, where many poor immigrant Irish Catholics lived. During the brawl, one of the Irish Catholics apparently stabbed to death Christopher Newfanger, a member of the city watch. This enraged the Highbinders , who roamed through the sixth ward destroying Irish grogshops. Order was only restored when a large contingent of the city’s watch, led by Mayor DeWitt Clinton, arrived on the scene. Ten Irish Catholic men were subsequently arrested for riot and assault, all of whom were residents of the sixth ward. John Brown, John McCosker, and Patrick Waters were grocers; Patrick Curran, John McGown, Michael Dunn (acquitted of the charges), and Luke Whim (convicted) were laborers; John Hanley, also acquitted, was a mason; Michael Conner was a mariner and Thomas Henry was a cordwainer.2 The various political factions and parties in New York responded to the fracas in ways that reflected their relationship to Catholics. DeWitt Clinton’s initial reaction was to take the Highbinders to task for ‘‘insulting the congregation of the Roman Catholic Church.’’ Clinton also offered a reward to anyone who identified the ‘‘leaders of the disturbances at the Roman Catholic Church.’’ The disturbance at St. Peter’s came less than a year after Clinton had been instrumental in changing the oath of office in the state legislature. Catholics now recognized him as an ally; one parishioner of St. Peter’s, Elizabeth Seton, remarking on the threat to St. Peter’s and Clinton’s reaction to it, said that ‘‘they say it is high time the Cross is pulled down, but the mayor has issued a proclamation to check the evil.’’ As Mayor, Clinton had responsibilities to the larger community as well, and so he denounced the killing of Christopher Newfanger, the watchman, and offered a reward for any person naming the guilty parties. Nationalist Republicans, however, refused to point the finger ‘‘A Middle Party?’’ 135 of blame at the Highbinders, noting cautiously that ‘‘many rumours are in circulation with respect to the causes of these disgraceful and bloody tumults,’’ and that ‘‘it is perhaps impossible to ascertain the true state of facts.’’ That faction, whose leader was once Aaron Burr, now had a new chief in Governor Morgan Lewis. He had been elected in 1804, with the help of the Clinton faction, over Burr, who ran as a Federalist. Disputes over patronage and the chartering of banks led to a rift in which, as one Federalist observer put it, ‘‘the Clintonians have excommunicated him (Lewis) from the democratic church.’’ The Atlantic Republicans now referred to this faction as Lewisites, or occasionally the Quids...