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schoolhouse one night to their preferred site a

The Philadelphia tragedy was certainly the

mile away from its old foundation," as well as

bloodiest of the sectarian conflicts inflamed by

trouble "in tiny Yoncalla, Oregon," where

state schooling, but it was sadly not unique.

"feuds split the district into three factions, each

Tensions between Catholics and defenders of

of which tried to maintain its own school."32

the Protestant public schools simmered, with

occasional flare-ups, for most of the 19th cen-

It was with "outsider" groups, though,

tury, and only subsided as much as they did

such as immigrants or the poor, that early

because Roman Catholics established their

common schooling created the greatest con-

own, separate schools, and because other

flicts. Among the worst divisions it exacer-

issues, such as the Civil War, periodically

bated were between Roman Catholics--a

pushed religious concerns to the back burner.

community that grew steadily with Irish

As the 19th century progressed, public

immigration in the mid to late 1840s--and

schooling created an ever growing network of

the dominant Protestants. Indeed, one of the

social fault lines. Religious divisions proliferat-

bloodiest demonstrations of sectarian ani-

ed, and new fissures appeared. In the late

mus in the nation's history was touched off

1880s, for instance, Illinois and Wisconsin

by public schools in 1844, when hundreds of

were roiled by intense education battles, as pri-

people were killed or injured and millions of

One of the

marily German-speaking Lutherans fought

dollars in property damages inflicted in the

bloodiest

against compulsory education laws that

Philadelphia Bible riots.

allowed students to attend private schools, but

The political struggle that peaked with the

demonstrations

only those in which instruction was conducted

riots began in 1838, when the Pennsylvania leg-

of sectarian

in English. In both states ethnic Germans

islature mandated that the Bible be used for

animus in the

railed against the measures, and tensions did

reading instruction--though not "religious dis-

not dissipate until Republican legislators and

cussion"--in all schools receiving money from

nation's history

governors were swept out of office by indig-

the state school fund. That set into motion a

was touched off

nant voters and the laws were eventually

series of efforts by Roman Catholics to allow

repealed.34

Catholic children to use the annotated Douay--

by public schools

rather than the Protestant King James--version

One last development made clear that

in 1844, with the

of the Bible in the de facto Protestant public

Mann's aspirations for common schools

Philadelphia

schools. Catholics' efforts, however, prompted

would go unrealized in the 19th century. By

many Protestants, as well as xenophobic

the late 1800s, industrialization was running

Bible riots.

nativists, to accuse Catholics of attempting to

at full steam, and public schooling in urbaniz-

remove the Bible from the public schools.

ing areas, which was controlled by social and

Anger over this finally exploded into violence

industrial elites, was designed to prepare stu-

when a meeting of nativists in Kensington, a

dents to work in factories, not to be free and

working class town adjacent to Philadelphia,

responsible citizens. Ellwood Cubberley, dean

precipitated violent clashes between Catholic

of the Stanford School of Education, aptly

and Protestant factions. Mob warfare soon

summarized the ruling public education phi-

engulfed the City of Brotherly Love, and it took

losophy in 1916 when he wrote: "We should

the declaration of martial law and the arrival of

give up the exceedingly democratic idea that

thousands of sailors, marines, and state militia-

all are equal and that our society is devoid of

men to end the violence.

classes. The employee tends to remain an

That peace, though, did not last. A second

employee; the wage earner tends to remain a

wage earner."35 So while factory-prep school-

round of fighting erupted two months after

the first had subsided, when it was discovered

ing did increase "unity," in the sense of

that Catholics were storing guns in a church

cementing a common future for most stu-

in Southwark, another district adjacent to

dents, it was hardly the democratic ideal in

Philadelphia. Round two did not end until

terms of promoting freedom and upward

five thousand troops occupied the city.33

mobility. In ironic contrast to Jefferson's aim

9