Grand Scheme for planting Irish Catholic Colonies in the Western States

Stirring anti-Catholic sentiment across the Midwest in the early 1840s.

“That there is a formal conspiracy of the crowned heads of Europe, to bring our republic under Papal control, as has sometimes been asserted, may be, or may not be true. But there can be no doubt that many of the potentates and grandees of Catholic Europe greatly desire such a result. In this desire, of course, the whole Romish Church sympathizes.” – pg. 13

This inflammatory map and pamphlet was published in New York by the American Home Missionary Society in 1842. The former purports to show a broad swathe of the U.S. Midwest and British Canada that was allegedly subject to possible emigration by those supported by the Society for Colonizing the Irish Catholic Poor. It’s possible this organization never even existed, as the only online reference I’ve found pertains to this particular map.

The shaded territory deliberately extends across the Mississippi River, implicitly threatening the future of the United States during a period of tremendous westward expansion. Furthermore, the large region was popular among Protestant emigrant communities, particularly those from Germany and Scandinavia.

Over half of the accompanying 24 pages of text is dedicated to outlining the ‘Grand Scheme for planting Irish Catholic Colonies in the Western States.’ It references a circular issued in London and Dublin during the summer of 1842. Allegedly, its contents proposed a deliberate plan of exporting “excess population” in an effort to “create a larger demand for British manufactures” and “render the Catholic religion predominant in the United States.” The remaining pages present correspondence from missionaries across the Midwest, notes on the organization of the American Home Missionary Society, and an excerpt from ‘The Pastor’s Journal’ (written by Rev. Stiles Hawley).

Source.