Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"[This book] looks at efforts of America's Democratic Party and Catholic leadership to use the service of immigrant volunteers in the U.S.-Mexican War as a weapon against nativism and anti-Catholicism\"--Jacket.

In Devotion to the Adopted Country, Tyler V. Johnson looks at the efforts of America's Democratic Party and Catholic leadership to use the service of immigrant volunteers in the U.S.–Mexican War as a weapon against nativism and anti-Catholicism. Each chapter focuses on one of the five major events or issues that arose during the war, finishing with how the Catholic and immigrant community remembered the war during the nativist resurgence of the 1850s and in the outbreak of the Civil War. Johnson's book uncovers a new social aspect to military history by connecting the war to the larger social, political, and religious threads of antebellum history. Having grown used to the repeated attacks of nativists upon the fidelity and competency of the German and Irish immigrants flooding into the United States, Democratic and Catholic newspapers vigorously defended the adopted citizens they valued as constituents and congregants. These efforts frequently consisted of arguments extolling the American virtues of the recent arrivals, pointing to their hard work, love of liberty, and willingness to sacrifice for their adopted country. However, immigrants sometimes undermined this portrayal by prioritizing their ethnic and/or religious identities over their identities as new U.S. citizens. Even opportunities seemingly tailor-made for the defenders of Catholicism and the nation's adopted citizens could go awry. When the supposedly well-disciplined Irish volunteers from Savannah brawled with soldiers from another Georgia company on a Rio Grande steamboat, the fight threatened to confirm the worst stereotypes of the nation's new Irish citizens. In addition, although the Jesuits John McElroy and Anthony Rey gained admirers in the army and in the rest of the country for their untiring care for wounded and sick soldiers in northern Mexico, anti-Catholic activists denounced them for taking advantage of vulnerable young men to win converts for the Church. Using the letters and personal papers of soldiers, the diaries and correspondence of Fathers McElroy and Rey, Catholic and Democratic newspapers, and military records, Johnson illuminates the lives and actions of Catholic and immigrant volunteers and the debates over their participation in the war. Shedding light on this understudied and misunderstood facet of the war with Mexico, Devotion to the Adopted Country adds to the scholarship on immigration and religion in antebellum America, illustrating the contentious and controversial process by which immigrants and their supporters tried to carve out a place in U.S. society.

In May 1846, in the midst of the largest wave of immigration up to that point in its history, the United States went to war with Mexico. The nation's attention became focused on northern Mexico as General Zachary Taylor's army marched up the Rio Grande and fought Mexican forces in the major battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista. Hundreds of the same immigrants then pouring in to the country volunteered to serve under Taylor. Catholic and Democratic Party newspapers and leaders friendly to the immigrants used their service to fight nativist prejudice on the home front, defending Catholics and immigrants as loyal citizens. This study examines the efforts of Catholic and Democratic leaders by focusing on three phenomena of the war in northern Mexico: the fall 1846 riot on the Rio Grande between the Irish Jasper Greens of Savannah and their fellow Georgia company the Kennesaw Rangers, the exploits of immigrant volunteers in battle and the use of those who died as martyrs, and the service of two Jesuits, Reverends John McElroy and Anthony Rey, as chaplains to Taylor's men. Newspapers and letter writers defended the Greens from charges of riot and drunkenness, praised their valiant soldiers and the heroic dead, exalted the compassion and courage of the two Jesuits, and used all three scenarios to fight nativist prejudice and counteract anti-Catholic propaganda. This understudied corner of the U.S.-Mexican War sheds light on the continuing process of assimilation and acculturation for antebellum immigrants and points out the importance of religious and ethnic identity in deciding who could be an American.

Scholars of the antebellum era in U.S. history have traditionally understood the MexicanAmerican War of 1846 to 1848 as an extension of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the United States had a divine mandate to spread across the breadth of North America. Historians usually describe this ideology as a distinctly Protestant phenomenon, especially in the case of the war with Mexico, noting the existence of widespread anti-Catholic prejudice among the men who fought in the war and the citizens of the nation at large. This article seeks to problematize that picture by discussing the service of Catholics among the volunteer units of the U.S. Army in Mexico. Why did U.S. Catholics volunteer their services to fight a Catholic neighbor in the name of an overwhelmingly Protestant nation? This and other questions challenge our understanding of Manifest Destiny, American expansionism, and nationalism in the early republic.

In Devotion to the Adopted Country , Tyler V.Johnson looks at the efforts of America's Democratic Party and Catholic leadership to use the service of immigrant volunteers in the U.S.-Mexican War as a weapon against nativism and anti-Catholicism.

Scholars of the antebellum era in U.S. history have traditionally understood the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 as an extension of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the United States had a divine mandate to spread across the breadth of North America. Historians usually describe this ideology as a distinctly Protestant phenomenon, especially in the case of the war with Mexico, noting the existence of widespread anti-Catholic prejudice among the men who fought in the war and the citizens of the nation at large. This article seeks to problematize that picture by discussing the service of Catholics among the volunteer units of the U.S. Army in Mexico. Why did U.S. Catholics volunteer their services to fight a Catholic neighbor in the name of an overwhelmingly Protestant nation? This and other questions challenge our understanding of Manifest Destiny, American expansionism, and nationalism in the early republic. Adapted from the source document.

Scholars of the antebellum era in U.S. history have traditionally understood the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 as an extension of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the United States had a divine mandate to spread across the breadth of North America. Historians usually describe this ideology as a distinctly Protestant phenomenon, especially in the case of the war with Mexico, noting the existence of widespread anti-Catholic prejudice among the men who fought in the war and the citizens of the nation at large. This article seeks to problematize that picture by discussing the service of Catholics among the volunteer units of the U.S. Army in Mexico. Why did U.S. Catholics volunteer their services to fight a Catholic neighbor in the name of an overwhelmingly Protestant nation? This and other questions challenge our understanding of Manifest Destiny, American expansionism, and nationalism in the early republic. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd

This study looks at the efforts of America’s Catholic and Democratic leadership to use the service of immigrant volunteers in the U.S.-Mexican War as a weapon against nativism and anti-Catholicism. Having grown used to the repeated attacks of nativists upon the fidelity and competency of the German and Irish immigrants flooding the country, Democratic and Catholic newspapers (the latter often run by the Church’s U.S. hierarchy) spilled copious amounts of ink defending the adopted citizens they valued as constituents and congregants. These efforts frequently consisted of arguments proving the Americanness of the recent arrivals, pointing to their hard work, love of liberty, and willingness to sacrifice for their adopted country. However, immigrants sometimes undermined this portrayal (in the eyes of nativists) by prioritizing their ethnic and/or religious identities over their identities as new United States citizens. Even some opportunities seemingly tailor-made for the defenders of Catholicism and the nation’s adopted citizens could go awry. When the supposedly well-disciplined Irish volunteers from Savannah, Georgia brawled with another Georgia company on a Rio Grande steamboat, the fight threatened to confirm the worst stereotypes of the nation’s new Irish citizens. In addition, although the Jesuits John McElroy and Anthony Rey gained admirers in the Army and in the rest of the country for their untiring care for wounded and sick soldiers in northern Mexico, anti-Catholic activists denounced them for taking advantage of vulnerable young men to win converts for the Church. Using the letters and personal papers of soldiers, Catholic and Democratic newspapers, military records, and the diaries and correspondence of Fathers John McElroy and Anthony Rey, this study illuminates the lives and actions of Catholic and immigrant volunteers and the debates over their participation in the war. Shedding light on this understudied and misunderstood facet of the war with Mexico, it adds to the scholarship on immigration and religion in antebellum America, illustrating the contentious and controversial process by which immigrants and their supporters tried to carve out a place in U.S. society. Understanding this process aids our comprehension of immigration assimilation and the contested nature of Americanness in the mid-nineteenth century.