Catholic contributions to U.S. independence not a revolutionary notion

(REVIEW) As we approach another Fourth of July, interest and discussion around America’s founding becomes more commonplace. Debate continues to rage over whether 1619, and not 1776, should be considered the real origin of this nation by placing the consequences of slavery at the very center of our nation’s history.

But even before these recent debates, there have been lots of books on the American Revolution dating back decades — an Amazon search for “American Revolution” brings back 20,000 results — but very few of them tackled how Catholicism played a pivotal role in it all.

Charles Carroll, a Maryland landowner, was both a Roman Catholic and early supporter of U.S. independence. Photo courtesy Maryland Online Encyclopedia.

Most of the Catholic population in this country during the colonial period came from England, Germany, France and Ireland and they overwhelmingly settled in places like Maryland and Pennsylvania. By the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, there were an estimated 25,000 Catholics in the United States out of a total population of about 3 million.

Who were these people? How did they contribute to the fight for independence? And what did they do to help establish the United States? These are some of the questions that a new book, “Liberty’s Lions: The Catholic Revolutionaries Who Established America” from Sophia Press Institute explores just in time for people to put together your summer reading lists.

The book offers readers a detailed history of Catholic thinkers, statesman and military leaders who helped the colonists during the American Revolution. Over the course of 12 chapters, historian and teacher Dan LeRoy delves into what the fight for freedom would have been like without these figures and, almost more importantly, why they felt the need to help.

LeRoy’s writing style is a lot like that of David McCullough, offering readers a screenplay style that pieces together these historic events and lays them out for readers in a way that allows for them to be transported to the past.

LeRoy uses research and at times even humor — his reference to Alexander Hamilton as “future Broadway star” will give you a chuckle — to introduce these heroic figures at a time of “vehement anti-Catholicism” during the colonial period.

“Support of the American Revolution is remarkable among Catholics, given the abundant prejudices of the time,” LeRoy notes. “But Catholics did something more remarkable than just support the patriot cause: they helped lead it.”

“Liberty’s Lions” opens with Charles Carroll, a wealthy Maryland planter and early advocate of independence from Great Britain. Carroll was the sole Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and Confederation Congress. He later served as the first U.S. senator for Maryland.

Despite Catholics being a persecuted minority at the time, Carroll was one of the first who called on the colonies to separate from Britain. Although Maryland had a large Catholic population, battles over land with Protestants lasted for years dating back to the 1600s. By the mid-1700s, LeRoy writes that Catholics were at that moment “tolerated, but only just.”

Carroll, who died at the age of 95, had helped spearhead the fight for independence and, as LeRoy points out, was key in helping establish the country’s founding. LeRoy also points out that Carroll was not perfect and that many Catholic landowners of the time had slaves. LeRoy writes: “Carroll, like many of his fellow founders, still knew slavery was wrong.”

LeRoy’s 389-page book drills down into the lives of other major contributors to the cause for independence, including John Carroll, a Jesuit priest who would go on to serve as the archbishop of Baltimore and Casimir Pulaski, a Polish nobleman-turned-soldier. It’s figures such as these, along with their often-untold stories, that helped the colonists win the war. This book elevates their stories and influence where past historians downgraded them over the years.

Another wonderful section of the book that history and non-history buffs will enjoy is the parts regarding George Washington, whom LeRoy calls “the greatest Catholic that never was.” LeRoy addresses the mystique that surrounds the great general and America’s first president, even that he may have converted to Catholicism on his deathbed and the larger discussion of the overall piety surrounding the Founding Fathers.

Washington, who was an Anglican, was known for his strong views regarding religious freedom and commitment to allowing all people to practice their faith. Washington wrote letters reassuring Methodists and Presbyterians of their role and freedom, along with quelling fears felt by Baptists, Quakers, Jews and Roman Catholics scattered across the 13 original states.

Indeed, it was Washington’s willingness to protect religious minorities that remains one of the many legacies this great man has left behind. Washington also believed that virtue and morality is what made self-government possible. It is that belief, LeRoy writes, that persists in America to this day.

Regarding Washington’s possible Catholicism, LeRoy argued “there’s little evidence” to back up that claim.

LeRoy concludes: “There is abundant evidence all around us in America, however, that he might have been the greatest Catholic that never was.”

Clemente Lisi is a senior editor and regular contributor to Religion Unplugged. He is the former deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and teaches journalism at The King’s College in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.