In the 1840s America was beset by a wave of anti-Catholic riots. An especially violent one occurred in Philadelphia on May 6-8. These riots laid the seeds for a powerful anti-Catholic movement which became embodied in the years to come in the aptly named Know-Nothing movement. To many American politicians Catholic-bashing seemed the path to electoral success.
Lincoln made clear where he stood on this issue when he organized a public meeting in Springfield, Illinois on June 12, 1844. At the meeting he proposed and had the following resolution adopted by the meeting:
“Resolved, That the guarantee of the rights of conscience, as found in our Constitution, is most sacred and inviolable, and one that belongs no less to the Catholic, than to the Protestant; and that all attempts to abridge or interfere with these rights, either of Catholic or Protestant, directly or indirectly, have our decided disapprobation, and shall ever have our most effective opposition. Resolved, That we reprobate and condemn each and every thing in the Philadelphia riots, and the causes which led to them, from whatever quarter they may have come, which are in conflict with the principles above expressed.”
Lincoln remained true to this belief. At the height of the political success of the Know-Nothing movement 11 years later, Mr. Lincoln in a letter to his friend Joshua Speed wrote:
“I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.” When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy [sic].”
When I was visiting the Mission of San Juan de Capistrano in California, I learned that it had been seized from the Church by the Mexican government but was returned by President Abraham Lincoln.
This is one of the reasons why I don’t understand certain Catholic efforts to paint Lincoln as the villain of the Civil War.
Reconcile:
Lincoln’s enthusiastic embrace of “Total War” against not simply armies but against civilian, non-combatant populations, see, e.g., an account of Sherman’s wasting entire regions of the south with the specific intent of causing civilian suffering (http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=551)
with:
The Church greatly respects those who have dedicated their lives to the defense of their nation. “If they carry out their duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of peace. [Cf. Gaudium et spes 79, 5]” However, she cautions combatants that not everything is licit in war. Actions which are forbidden, and which constitute morally unlawful orders that may not be followed, include:
– attacks against, and mistreatment of, non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners;
– genocide, whether of a people, nation or ethnic minorities;
– indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2313-2314).
Hux, perhaps some Catholics don’t simply swallow an Americanist-tinged view of our history. There is nothing inherent in Catholicism that lends support to the centralizing, revolutionary nature of what Lincoln did, much less to his warm embrace of modern notions of warfare which are nothing but war crimes.
Um, I dunno that Lincoln embraced “total war” in the sense you describe. If you read Slate magazine’s recent article on Lincoln and the “laws” of war, you find that he more or less set the standards that we follow to this day for what is considered legitimate warfare and what isn’t.
It’s true he took fighting beyond the strict limits of 18th-century warfare, where elaborately uniformed soldiers marched in straight lines to shoot at one another. However, he did also set limits that kept Sherman’s march to the sea and other offensives from degenerating into the kind of take-no-prisoners, rape-and-pillage campaigns that, for example, the Soviets and Japanese practiced during World War II.
[…] to political power throughout the nation. Many non-Catholic politicians, including Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and Jefferson Davis, fought valiantly against this attempt to incite hatred […]
[…] outlet in the aptly named Know-Nothing Party which was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic. Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and Jefferson F. Davis were just a few of the Protestant politicians who denounced […]
[…] outlet in the aptly named Know-Nothing Party which was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic. Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and Jefferson F. Davis were just a few of the Protestant politicians who denounced […]
[…] to political power throughout the nation. Many non-Catholic politicians, including Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and Jefferson Davis, fought valiantly against this attempt to incite hatred […]
[…] the aptly named anti-Catholic movement the Know-Nothings arose in the 1840s and 1850s, Jefferson fought against it, as did his great future adversary […]
The Know-Nothings indirectly evolved into the various Blaine amendments found in numerous state constitutions that forbid any taxpayer money going to a Catholic school.
To this day there is a great hostility in some quarters against Lincoln. They are easily found in various corners of the Internet…and just as easily ignored.
Sherman’s goal was to bring the war to the South in such a way that they would never think of doing it again.
Lincoln was one in a billion individual. I don’t believe how anyone on any side of politics would hate on him…gosh, you can’t please everyone can you!
Tom:
Sherman’s march to the sea was intended to keep the Civil War ended…that the Civil War would not be reignited.
Sherman’s march to the sea was done to cripple any war effort to continue the fight as the loyalists had continued to fight the War for Independence long after the Surrender at Yorktown. Farmers had to plow their fields with armed guards taking turns as the loyalists were killing them from behind the woods.
The South will rise again…for what? Slavery?
The fight is not over either. The Know Nothings who tried to drown our first bishop, John Neuman, the Nones, the LGBTQs, those trying to destroy the Truth and our Freedom are busier than ever.
Hitler adopted Margaret Sanger’s eugenics policy for his final solution. W. Kellogg, Henry Ford, Rockefeller, they were all eugenicists. Like Peter Singer in Princeton: kill the child if you do not like him.
Yet the Marshal Plan after WWII helped rebuild Japan and Germany since there were no more men.
God bless America.
Penguins Fan:
The Blaine Amendment is anti-Catholic bias. Educating minor children is good for the common good. Some one once asked me about why she should have to pay for some one else’s children…because they are the doctors, nurses, educators of the future who will take care of us later in life.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson said the the conscience of man is the greatest proof of the existence of God. I agree.
[…] Analysis, Punditry, and News:Lincoln, the Constitution, & Catholics – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American CatholicMillennials Made Zohran Mamdani – […]
Lincoln often presented issues, especially concerning the war, in moral terms. This is interesting as he was never enrolled as a church member and reputedly was never baptized. He had once expressed his approval of the organization of the Baptist congregations but never attended.
Lincoln was brought up in a Calvinist Baptist family, and he rebelled against it, but he never stopped reading the Bible and had it in his bones. In young manhood he flirted with infidelity, but the tragedies of life, especially the death of his little son Eddie, cemented his belief in God. He frequently attended Presbyterian services with his wife and kids, but never joined that denomination. His private and public writings as President indicate a man who was thinking long and hard about God.