Chiniquy's Lincoln: Aiming Booth's Bullet at the Roman Catholic Church
This essay examines the creation of a devoutly anti-Catholic president by a former Catholic priest and its use by a once socially and politically significant movement: American anti-Catholicism. In his 1885 memoir, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, ex-Catholic priest Charles Chiniquy depicted himse...
| Published in: | American catholic studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Catholic Historical Society
[2016]
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| In: |
American catholic studies
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| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics CH Christianity and Society KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBQ North America KDB Roman Catholic Church |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This essay examines the creation of a devoutly anti-Catholic president by a former Catholic priest and its use by a once socially and politically significant movement: American anti-Catholicism. In his 1885 memoir, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, ex-Catholic priest Charles Chiniquy depicted himself as a confidant of President Abraham Lincoln; Chiniquy fashioned a president as opposed to Catholicism as he was to the spread of slavery. In so doing, Chiniquy formed a tale that has resonated with anti-Catholics from the Gilded Age well into the twenty-first century. I argue for increased attention to Chiniquy's resilient narrative as an illustration of both the enduring role of conspiracy rhetoric in anti-Catholicism and the ongoing rhetorical power of a distorted Abraham Lincoln in the American memory. |
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| ISSN: | 2161-8534 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/acs.2016.0061 |