Catholics were vilified and denied civil rights by governments and protestant ministers throughout the colonies. Public disdain for Catholicism went so far as to celebrate “Pope’s day” when an effigy of the Pope was burned in the public square. However, some Catholics joined the American forces and fought against the British (who would not allow Catholics to enlist in their armies).

The March 1790 “Address on behalf of the Roman Catholic Clergy and Laity” reminded President Washington of Catholic contributions to the Revolution:

"…we shall have a well founded title to claim from her justice equal rights of citizenship, as the price of our blood spilt under your eyes, and of our common exertions for her defence… rights rendered more dear to us by the remembrance of former hardships. When we pray for the preservation of them, where they have been granted; and expect the full extension of them from the justice of those States, which still restrict them… we neither omit nor can omit recommending your preservation to the singular care of divine providence…"

Washington replied with the language that became a common theme of all his letters to religious bodies:

As mankind become more liberal they will be more apt to allow, that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the Community are equally entitled to the protection of civil Government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution, and the establishment of their Government: or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed.

Read the Correspondence

In 1632, Lord Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore, received a charter from Charles II for a Maryland colony populated with a Catholic majority. Baltimore, whose father was a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism, stressed freedom of conscience in the colony, and the royal charter given by Charles supported religious liberty. However, the European persecution of Catholics by Protestants continued even there. Lord Baltimore lost control of Maryland in 1645 and by the end of the year, no Catholic priest remained. In October, 1704, the Maryland legislature passed an "Act to prevent the growth of popery within this province," which imposed huge penalties on anyone suspected of being Catholic or of aiding Catholic endeavors. The Act included a “test oath” that prevented Catholics from voting or holding office, and was typical of laws restraining Catholics in colonial America.