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Frank Cogliano, Citizens or Papists? The Politics of Anti-Catholicism in New York, 1685–1821, Journal of American History, Volume 93, Issue 2, September 2006, Pages 500–501, https://doi.org/10.2307/4486254
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Jason K. Duncan's study of Catholicism in the politics of New York during the early republic begins with the premise that, with the exception of perfunctory references to the origins of colonial Maryland, Catholics have largely been excluded from histories of the United States prior to the 1830s. While that is something of an overstatement, Duncan is correct that Catholics, a rapidly growing segment of the population, have not received their due from political and religious historians of early America. This excellent book makes a valuable addition to the literature and helps redress the historiographical imbalance.
Duncan surveys the place of Catholics in New York politics from Leisler's Rebellion in 1689 until the New York constitutional convention of 1821. He persuasively demonstrates that the limited tolerance for Catholics in New York during the seventeenth century gave way to exclusion and intolerance by the turn of the eighteenth century. Duncan shows that anti-Catholic prejudice became an integral part of the British identity among New Yorkers during the eighteenth century. The American Revolution was a crucial turning point in Duncan's story. Rebellion against the Protestant British state, a rebellion which relied on crucial assistance from Catholic powers such as France and Spain, undermined anti-Catholic feeling in the state. In the aftermath of independence, New Yorkers, inspired by the libertarian ideology of the revolution, debated the nature and extent of religious liberty in the new republic. The place of Catholics in public life figured prominently in the debates over the New York and federal constitutions. Between 1777 and 1821 the trajectory of public policy went in the direction of greater inclusion and increased political rights for Catholics. Those debates, Duncan shows, occurred against a backdrop of increasing Catholic importance in New York politics. In the aftermath of the Revolution increasing numbers of Catholics, particularly Irish immigrants, arrived in the state. As they campaigned successfully for increased political rights, Catholics emerged as an important constituency in New York politics and were wooed by various political factions and parties.
