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

Prologue: ‘‘Disorder to None But Papists’’: Leisler’s Rebellion and the Making of Anti- Catholicism in Colonial New York

Prologue ‘‘Disorder to None But Papists’’: Leisler’s Rebellion and the Making of AntiCatholicism in Colonial New York In the spring of 1691, English authorities in New York City executed Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milbourne for the crime of treason. Leisler, born in Frankfurt, had come in about 1660 to what was then New Amsterdam, the capital city of the Dutch colony in North America. He was the leader of a party that had claimed power in the province of New York in the wake of England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688– 89. At that time, the Catholic King James II was forced to flee England ; he was replaced by Protestant monarchs William and Mary, who had been living in Holland. Jacob Leisler and his faction believed that their main duty was to put into place the Glorious Revolution in New York, a conviction that Leisler maintained until the end of his life. As acting lieutenant governor of the province, Leisler had pursued a vigorous policy designed not only to eliminate Catholic influence from New York, but also to deny individual Catholics all religious and political liberties. A bitter and tragic irony thus surrounded the execution of Leisler and his son-in-law, Jacob Milbourne , a radical Protestant who had immigrated to North America from England. Defiant to the end, Leisler declared on the gallows that he had acted only ‘‘to maintaine against popery or any Schism or 1 2 Citizens or Papists? heresy whatever the interest of our Sovereign Lord & Lady that now is & the reformed Protestant Churches.’’ He also urged his fellow New Yorkers with his final words not to hesitate in ‘‘uniting . . . against a Common enemy’’ to advance ‘‘the Glory of the protestant interest.’’ Proclaiming their devotion to the Protestant cause, Leisler and Milbourne were put to death on May 16, 1691. A martyr’s fate at the hands of the hated ‘‘papists’’ would surely have made more sense to Leisler and Milbourne, given their worldview, than being dispatched by those acting in the name of King William and Queen Mary.1 Even as official New York prepared to execute Jacob Leisler, it was locking into place the core of his agenda, which did in fact deny Catholics all political and religious rights. Although the years from 1689 to 1691 have generally been thought of as ‘‘Leisler’s Rebellion,’’ those who took part referred to it as a ‘‘Revolution,’’ or ‘‘Reformation ’’ (which has religious overtones), and it illustrates how the Leislerians believed themselves to be acting on behalf of Protestantism and in firm opposition to Catholicism. Just three days before New York authorities carried out the death sentences of Leisler and Milbourne , the provincial government enacted laws guaranteeing the right to religious freedom. Under these statutes, Catholics, who had the legal right to worship publicly under laws passed in the 1680s, were now expressly denied the right to practice their faith openly. The new law stipulated that ‘‘always provided that nothing herein mentioned or contained shall extend to give liberty for any persons of the Romish religion.’’ This measure was in keeping with English policy; New York’s new governor, Sir Henry Sloughter, in his official instructions from London, was ordered to ‘‘permit a liberty of conscience to all Persons (except Papists).’’ In England itself, Catholics were denied political and religious equality in the aftermath of William and Mary coming to power. This directive to Governor Sloughter , however, required no change from the spirit or policies regarding Catholics that Leisler had championed. As he prepared to die, Jacob ‘‘Disorder to None But Papists’’ 3 Leisler may have felt a measure of vindication as the central principles of his program were written into law in New York.2 The ramifications of the Glorious Revolution were especially important for the history of colonial New York. The province had been originally established under Dutch auspices earlier in the seventeenth century and was called New Netherlands. It had been subsequently conquered by English forces and was briefly retaken by the Dutch before the English reestablished their rule in the 1670s. Unlike that which prevailed in less diverse New England and the southern colonies, the people of early New York were marked by an impressive array of ethnicities and religions. New York was also home to the only two Catholics to serve as governors in the thirteen English colonies in North America between Spanish Florida and...