Drew
Major
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2012
John Joseph Hughes emigrated with his family from Ireland in 1817 at about age 20. He'd been withdrawn from school for financial reasons as a young man and put to work on his family's farm there. When his family settled in Pennsylvania, Hughes put his gardening skills to work, first in PA, later on a Maryland plantation and finally on the grounds of Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. At Mount St. Mary's he was able to negotiate entry to the college as a student and was ultimately ordained as a Catholic priest. Hughes would become Bishop of New York in 1842 and be elevated to Archbishop with the creation of the Archdiocese of New York in 1850. He served in that role until his death in 1864.
Hughes was anti-abolition and I've seen him dismissed as an historical figure for being, "no friend of the black man." Closer scrutiny of the situation reveals the relationship between abolitionists, nativists and immigrants was not a simple good vs. evil scenario, by today's standards.
'Dagger John' was a fierce advocate for perhaps a million largely poor, uneducated Catholic immigrants in the years leading to Civil War. He counseled against it, but when war came, he backed the Union war effort fully.
What do others think of this man and why?
Hughes was anti-abolition and I've seen him dismissed as an historical figure for being, "no friend of the black man." Closer scrutiny of the situation reveals the relationship between abolitionists, nativists and immigrants was not a simple good vs. evil scenario, by today's standards.
'Dagger John' was a fierce advocate for perhaps a million largely poor, uneducated Catholic immigrants in the years leading to Civil War. He counseled against it, but when war came, he backed the Union war effort fully.
What do others think of this man and why?