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John Hughes Research Paper

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Every March 17th, more than 150 million Americans put on their green hats, and begin celebrating in the memory of St.Patrick, the missionary who first converted the Irish isles to catholicism. More than one hundred years ago, however, such celebrations would have caused rioting- and even turf wars between Irish Catholics and ‘Native American’ Protestants. In today’s society protestant-catholic sectarianism is limited to the far flung corners of Ulster and Belfast. However, in the mid 1800s, cities like New York or Philadelphia were on the verge of civil war, stopped only by the toils, kindness and wisdom of ‘The Dagger’ John Hughes, the naturalized Irish born archbishop of New York in the mid 1800s.
Born to extreme poverty in the religiously …show more content…

Although Irish-American made a large plurality at the time, John Hughes and his family represented the tip of the iceberg of irish immigrants, the number of whom drastically increased over the next fifty years. In a source of irony, although the Irish were a major population group in America, they would often face extreme persecution from Irish and English protestants already occupying the country, who saw the new arrivals as agents of the pope and uneducated masses looking to steal their jobs. [5]
To a certain extent, however, the ‘native americans’ had a point. The Irish did seem to be taking over cheap factory jobs. By 1840, the vast majority of workers in the massive Lowell industrial complex would be cheap Irish workers. And again, in the 1840’s, the Know-Nothing-Party would be established in an attempt to curtail the Irish American influence and growth in the country. Irish americans seemed to be lowering the quality of the American dream- creating massive hatred of the Irish Americans who seemed to be flooding the country. …show more content…

Over the course of the next few years, the fiery young pastor would be sent to different churches all over the city of brotherly love, subduing revolting parishioners, converting protestants,opened an orphanage, and even constructed a new church, all within 6 years! John would also come into much conflict in his early years with a presbyterian clergyman, John Beckenridge. Breckenridge vehemently believed that catholicism had no place in America, where the ideals of freedom and liberty often came into conflict with the catholics supposed adherence to Rome. Not only was Mr.Hughes a public works organizer, but he was also a pugnacious defender of the catholic faith, a fact that would cause him to easily stand out.
Finally, his hard work payed off, and in 1837, at the young age of 40, he was chosen for the diocese of New York by Pope Gregory XVI, a position he would hold until his death. He quickly butted heads with the status quo again, something called ‘trusteeism’. A practice purely in America, it was where the parishioners elected their own bishop, not the pope. John quickly passed a referendum in 1841 which solidified the power of the holy see, but this only added to his unpopularity (he was a dark horse for the diocese in New York, surpassing candidates who many saw as more

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