AMerican Protective Association active (jan 1, 1887 – jan 1, 1898)

Description:

definition: A powerful anti-immigrant political organization, led by Protestants, which for a brief period in the 1890s counted more than two million members. In its virulent anti-Catholicism and calls for restrictions on immigrants, the APA prefigured the revived Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s.

Cultural imperialism abroad reflected attitudes at home. Starting in Iowa in 1887, militant Protestants created a powerful political organization, the American Protective Association (APA), which for a brief period in the 1890s counted more than two million members. This virulently nativist group expressed outrage at the existence of separate Catholic schools while demanding that all public school teachers be Protestants. The APA called for a ban on public officeholding by Catholics, arguing that they were beholden to an “ecclesiastic power” that was “not created and controlled by American citizens.” In its anti-Catholicism and calls for restrictions on immigrants, the APA prefigured the revived Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s (see “Culture Wars” in Chapter 21).


The APA arose, in part, because Protestants found their dominance challenged. Millions of Americans, especially in the industrial working class, were now Catholics or Jews. Overall, in 1916, Protestants still constituted about 60 percent of Americans affiliated with a religious body. But they faced formidable rivals: the number of practicing Catholics in 1916 — 15.7 million — was greater than the number of Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians combined.

Added to timeline:

Date: