well, this was the fear of the protestant workingmen. end of the time of increased irish catholic immigration. and the fear was that the irish catholics would overturn american democracy. why? because they would owe their allegiance to the pope in rome and not to the president of the united states. not only that, but the roman catholics would not adhere to democratic forms because they were accustomed to hierarchy. they were accustomed to differing, to the superiors in the church. so lyman beecher, and you may have heard that dan, lyman beecher whose daughter was harriet beecher stowe, and his son was probably the greatest evangelist of his age, henry ward beecher, moved his family from new england to the raw frontier town of cincinnati because he wanted to save the west from roman catholic. he erected a seminary in cincinnati, but he came back to boston periodically they often and he was the guy who preached the night before that this convent should be burned down. now, this occurred at a time when the westward movement had just begun.