“We shall be a Catholic country”: Counting Catholics in the Antebellum United States

Abstract:The size of the United States Catholic population interested Catholics and Protestants in the nineteenth century. Administrative reports, missionary chronicles, directories, travelers’ accounts, and newspaper and magazine articles chronicled Catholic growth and its various causes: natural increase, immigration, conversion, and acquisition by the United States of territories with a Catholic presence. Growth estimates, whether local numbers or national totals, varied enormously throughout the century. Despite this variety, the narrative behind the numbers told a remarkably consistent story: for better or worse, Catholics were increasing. These statistics helped Catholics assert their presence in a Protestant society and Protestants used fear of Catholic growth to stimulate Protestant renewal.