American Protective Association

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The American Protective Association, or APA was an American anti-Catholic society (similar to the Know Nothings) that was founded on March 13, 1887 by Attorney Henry F. Bowers in Clinton, Iowa. It was most active between 1891 and 1897. Many members were Irish Protestants who belonged to the anti-Catholic Orange Order; many German and Scandinavian Lutherans also belonged. The APA's goals included restricting Catholic immigration, making use of English a prerequisite to American citizenship, removing Catholic teachers from public schools and banning Catholics from public offices, and also to stop immigration.

At its height in 1896, the APA claimed 2,500,000 members and 20 sympathizers in Congress, but both the APA and its enemies always inflated the membership totals. For example, only one member of Congress acknowledged membership. At a time when it claimed hundreds of thousands of members in Michigan, the association had an empty treasury and was unable to reimburse the train fare for its state leader. In actuality the APA never enacted any of its legislation, and there is little evidence it achieved any political influence. The APA was a major target of Democratic campaigners in 1894. The APA attacked Republican leader William McKinley in 1896. By 1900 it had almost wasted away.

[edit] Further reading

Bennett, David H. The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History (1988), ISBN 0807817724.
Desmond, Humphrey J., "The American Protective Association", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911.
Lipset, Seymour Martin and Earl Raab. The Politics of Unreason: Right Wing Extremism in America, 1790-1970 (1970), ISBN 0060126477.