The American Protective Association, or APA was an American anti-Catholic society similar to the Know Nothings.
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The APA was founded 13 March 1887 by Attorney Henry F. Bowers in Clinton, Iowa. Its chief doctrine was that “subjection to and support of any ecclesiastical power not created and controlled by American citizens, and which claims equal, if not greater, sovereignty than the Government of the United States of America, is irreconcilable with American citizenship.” Accordingly, it opposed “the holding of offices in National, State, or Municipal Government by any subject or supporter of such ecclesiastical power.” Another of its purposes was to prevent all public encouragement and support of sectarian schools. It did not constitute a separate political party, but sought to control existing parties.[1]
It was most active between 1891 and 1897. Many members were Irish Protestants who belonged to the anti-Catholic Orange Order or German and Scandinavian Lutherans. The APA's goals included restricting Catholic immigration, making ability to speak English a prerequisite to American citizenship, removing Catholic teachers from public schools and banning Catholics from public offices. It sponsored countrywide tours of purported ex-priests and "escaped" nuns, who related horrific tales of mistreatment and abuse.
At its height in 1896, the APA claimed 3,500,000 members and 20 sympathizers in Congress, but both the APA and its enemies consistently 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 managed to get any of its proposed legislation enacted, and there is little evidence it achieved any political influence. In 1894, the APA was a major target of Democratic campaigners and in 1896, the APA attacked Republican leader William McKinley, who was elected President that year. By 1900 the APA had almost wasted away, except in rural Ohio where it lingered on for several more years. The Ohio APA still had enough strength in 1914 to contribute to the defeats of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Timothy S. Hogan and incumbent Democratic Governor James M. Cox. Its newspaper, "The Menace", depicted Hogan and Cox as puppets of the pope. The Ohio APA would disappear soon after the 1914 election.[2]