This article examines historical anti-Catholic sentiment in Britain and America, tracing how fear of religious minorities shaped political events from the Reformation through the Revolutionary War.
Anti-Catholic bigotry traced back to Henry VIII's Reformation, when Catholics became associated with foreign threats to English liberty. This prejudice intensified following violent episodes like the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and the Gunpowder Plot, creating lasting stereotypes portrayed in works like Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
During the American Revolutionary period, anti-Catholic sentiment reached fever pitch. New Englanders viewed the Quebec Act — which permitted Catholic worship in Canada — as evidence of a "Popish" conspiracy. Colonial documents reveal deep anxiety that Britain might "establish" Catholicism throughout America, transforming free colonists into slaves.
Ironically, both pro-independence and pro-British factions weaponized anti-Catholic rhetoric, each claiming only their side could protect Protestant liberty. Yet the Revolutionary cause ultimately required alliance with Catholic France, creating cognitive dissonance among American Protestants.
Catholic prejudice persisted through the nineteenth century via the Know-Nothing movement and anti-Catholic cartoonery, before eventually diminishing — though Craig warns that xenophobic impulses remain embedded in American character.