Mob Madness: the Philadelphia Riots of 1844

by Marianne Ruane

            In 1844 the American Republicans — a Protestant Nativist 
            group — announced that they would hold a meeting in 
            Philadelphia’s Third Ward, an Irish stronghold in the 
            Kensington district. On May 3 and again on May 6, the 
            Irish repelled their unwanted visitors with force. After the 
            second incident, in which a young Protestant man was killed, 
            the city was in an uproar. On May 7, a Protestant mob 
            marched to the Irish section. On that day and the next, the 
            mob burned down more than 30 homes. The Church of St. 
            Michael was set ablaze as was the Church of St. Augustine, 
            along with its monastery and splendid library. Firemen were 
            kept away. When Mayor John Morin Scott…pleaded for 
            calm, he was struck on the head with a stone and knocked 
            unconscious. ¹

The Philadelphia Riots of 1844 exemplify a particularly grim portion of US history. Anti-Catholic, anti-immigration sentiment stoked by urbanization, industrialization, and an economic depression erupted in several days of violence in May and again in July of that year.