Perceived incompatibility with national liberty, not doctrine, fed Protestant nativism

Evidence

One reason lay in the character of American institutions. Catholic traditions continued to look dangerously un-American partly because they did not harmonize easily with the concept of individual freedom imbedded in the national culture. Americans regarded political liberty as their chief national attribute and supreme achievement. Observing the authoritarian organization of the Catholic Church and its customary association with feudal or monarchical governments, they were tempted to view American liberty and European popery as irreconcilable. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 38

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Nativism mirrors national anxieties and defines tolerance boundaries — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 16; Nativism is a distinct phenomenon, a defensive nationalism of perceived national crisis — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 971; Anti-Catholic and anti-radical nativism shared one core assumption of immigrant disloyalty (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Anti-Catholic and anti-radical nativism shared one core assumption of immigrant disloyalty #complicates (0.85)
• Nativism is a distinct phenomenon, a defensive nationalism of perceived national crisis #expands (0.75) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 971
• Nativism rises and falls with broader nationalist sentiment #expands (0.72) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 28