Our nation's history is littered with conspiracy theories. From the 1830s to the mid-1850s, the anti-Catholic movement alleged the pope was using recent immigrants as pawns in his plot to take over America. Movement leaders spun out thousands of documents detailing the scheme. They formed political parties and underground organizations to combat the enemy. Their influence grew quickly.
New York City public schools required children to read overtly anti-Catholic texts. Henchmen chased Catholic voters from the polls in Baltimore. Anti-Catholics torched a cathedral in New York, a convent in Massachusetts and most of Philadelphia's Kensington District; 13 people died in the latter incident alone.
At the movement's peak, one anti-Catholic organization claimed 1.3 million members. Were they all mentally ill? The movement's leadership included college presidents, scientists, reverends and business leaders; Millard Fillmore formally affiliated with an anti-Catholic group while president. Were they, too, insane?
[For more of this story, written by Jody M Roy go to http://www.jsonline.com/news/o...068z1-309931001.html]
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