President Lincoln and American Catholics

American Catholic has a good post on how Lincoln was a vocal opponent of the anti Catholic Know Nothing movement. See Lincoln, the Constitution and Catholics

There was for years some horrible propaganda against Catholics that Lincoln feared the Church. Much of this can be traced back to the anti Catholic tome of the 19th Century in the U.S. That is Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, published in 1885 by Charles Chiniquy.

From this came more wild conspiracy theories such as the Vatican and the Jesuits were behind the killing of Lincoln.

Lincoln also showed his feeling for Catholics to be shown on some very personal levels. For instance when Black Catholics asked to use the White House Lawn to raise money for a Catholic Church he agreed ed and was involved himself in the function.

Lincoln of course was well versed with Catholic leaders. His critical relationship with the famed Archbishop John J. Hughes (1797-1863) of New York is often neglected in history. Which is a shame since Hughes was such a complex man. There is a good article here