The depression of 1893, not leadership, explains the anti-Catholic surge

Evidence

But the tide of sentiment he manipulated was surely not of his making. The upthrust of the A.P.A. corresponded too closely to the general expansion and intensification of nativism to be due chiefly to internal causes. Only the depression of 1893 can adequately explain the surge of Protestant nativism that year. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 480

Categorization

• XREF: Economic shock as the trigger that activates a latent manufactured threat — connects directly to reader’s question about what regenerates group solidarity. — connects to: Economic distress was redirected into anti-Catholic conspiracy rather than class conflict. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 486; Nativist ferment fell when the 1890s depression lifted — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 2026

Broader Connections

• Nativist ferment fell when the 1890s depression lifted #corroborates (0.88) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 2026
• Economic distress was redirected into anti-Catholic conspiracy rather than class conflict. #expands (0.80) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 486