Address of the Catholic Lay Citizens, of the City and County of Philadelphia, to their Fellow-citizens, In Reply to the Presentment of the Grand Jury of the Court of Quarter Sessions of May Term 1844, in Regard to the Causes of the Late Riots in Philadelphia

12 p.; 22 cm. Lacking wrapper. Stamped on title page: "Case 42 Shelf E." In early May 1844, Protestant nativists in Philadelphia, feeling threatened by the inscreasing number of Catholic immigrants, held public meetings accusing Catholics of seeking to have the Bible removed from public schools among other things. Incendiary language led to violence in which people and buildings were attacked. The Court of Quarter Sessions created a grand jury to investigate, which concluded that the Catholics were to blame and the nativists were "unoffending citizens." On June 18, 1844, a meeting of Catholic citizens of the city appointed a committee to draft a response. In this address they refute the unfounded charge that they sought to have the Bible removed from the schools and responded to other recent events. In Good Condition: chipping along spine; first leaf and last are partially detached; very lightly soiled.