Luke Ritter provokes his readers to consider the surprising origins of our modern-day understanding of church–state separation, rightly seen by many as essential to ‘diversity,’ ‘inclusion,’ and ‘tolerance,’ in the sometimes rabid intolerance of the nativist movement in antebellum America. To do this, he invites scholars who have focused primarily on nativism in the Northeast (and only recently in the South) to turn their eyes west. It was in the West, he tells us, that rank religious bigotry was transformed into a higher ideal that is used by advocates on both the left and the right to defend religious freedom today.—Maura Jane Farrelly, author of Anti-Catholicism in America, 1620–1860
Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis is a much-needed addition to scholarship on nativism in the United States that concentrates on its manifestations in the Trans-Mississippi West. Ritter illuminates regional distinctions and contexts that historians—myself included—have all too often overlooked in ‘flyover’ scholarship that implicitly or explicitly claims that nativist expressions in northeastern cities are representative of the movement writ large. By probing unique and regional primary sources, Ritter attends to the broader contexts of increasing immigration, expansionism, and evangelicalism as well as the particular media and strategies employed by nativists to illustrate how their ideologies circulated in the urban midwestern United States. Crucially, by concentrating on those regional distinctions, Ritter is able to give immigrants agency, whether as early settlers of rapidly growing cities and neighborhoods, mobilizers against Sunday laws, or co-creators of a distinct and more inclusive—if also necessarily more generic—civil religion. What’s more, in Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis, Ritter illuminates the deep contradictions in nativist strategies and how they drove its adherents to become precisely what they mistakenly feared immigrants inherently were: insular, anti-democratic, and violent. Last, this text is a trenchant reminder that current global and national ideologies are as much as—if not more than—trope as trend. Students and scholars in American history, religion, and political science (to name just a few) will find Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis a necessary and key addition to their library.—Katie Oxx, St. Joseph’s University
Luke Ritter's Inventing America's First Immigration Crisis couldn't be more topical. Just in time for the Capitol Insurrection of 2021, Ritter's book unearths events like the Cincinnati Election Day Riot and Chicago Lager Riot of 1855, both triggered by the fear that illegal undocumented voters would seize power from the rightful constituents of the American republic. The MAGA hordes of the Trump years find their parallel in the Know-Nothings, the secretive, conspiracy-fueled brotherhood that channeled wide popular support into electoral success as the American Party... Inventing America's First Immigration Crisis is a fascinating, readable, fact-packed exploration of motifs in American culture that show no signs of going away. It may not explain why the animosities of the 2020s persist, but Ritter definitely shows that they are no new thing.—Timothy Morris, University of Texas at Austin
Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis is an impressive, important book . . . Given that we are living in an era characterized by more anti-immigrant violence than at any time since the heyday of the Know Nothings, Ritter’s message is one that Americans need to hear now more than ever.—Tyler Anbinder, Missouri Historical Review
As the US deals with current immigration issues, Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis reminds one that nativism, anti-immigration sentiment, and anti-Catholicism have deep histories... Highly recommended.
Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis is a much-needed addition to scholarship on nativism in the United States that concentrates on its manifestations in the Trans-Mississippi West. Ritter illuminates regional distinctions and contexts that historians—myself included—have all too often overlooked in ‘flyover’ scholarship that implicitly or explicitly claims that nativist expressions in northeastern cities are representative of the movement writ large. By probing unique and regional primary sources, Ritter attends to the broader contexts of increasing immigration, expansionism, and evangelicalism as well as the particular media and strategies employed by nativists to illustrate how their ideologies circulated in the urban midwestern United States. Crucially, by concentrating on those regional distinctions, Ritter is able to give immigrants agency, whether as early settlers of rapidly growing cities and neighborhoods, mobilizers against Sunday laws, or co-creators of a distinct and more inclusive—if also necessarily more generic—civil religion. What’s more, in Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis, Ritter illuminates the deep contradictions in nativist strategies and how they drove its adherents to become precisely what they mistakenly feared immigrants inherently were: insular, anti-democratic, and violent. Last, this text is a trenchant reminder that current global and national ideologies are as much as—if not more than—trope as trend. Students and scholars in American history, religion, and political science (to name just a few) will find Inventing America’s First Immigration Crisis a necessary and key addition to their library.
Luke Ritter provokes his readers to consider the surprising origins of our modern-day understanding of church–state separation, rightly seen by many as essential to ‘diversity,’ ‘inclusion,’ and ‘tolerance,’ in the sometimes rabid intolerance of the nativist movement in antebellum America. To do this, he invites scholars who have focused primarily on nativism in the Northeast (and only recently in the South) to turn their eyes west. It was in the West, he tells us, that rank religious bigotry was transformed into a higher ideal that is used by advocates on both the left and the right to defend religious freedom today.
Luke Ritter's Inventing America's First Immigration Crisis couldn't be more topical. Just in time for the Capitol Insurrection of 2021, Ritter's book unearths events like the Cincinnati Election Day Riot and Chicago Lager Riot of 1855, both triggered by the fear that illegal undocumented voters would seize power from the rightful constituents of the American republic. The MAGA hordes of the Trump years find their parallel in the Know-Nothings, the secretive, conspiracy-fueled brotherhood that channeled wide popular support into electoral success as the American Party... Inventing America's First Immigration Crisis is a fascinating, readable, fact-packed exploration of motifs in American culture that show no signs of going away. It may not explain why the animosities of the 2020s persist, but Ritter definitely shows that they are no new thing.
