Fears of Franco-American Conspiracy

SECTION THREE - The reception of franco-americans

From: A Distinct Alien Race

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In the twenty years before 1900, a segment of the U.S. press presented the view that the Québec Roman Catholic hierarchy conspired to conquer New England. The Franco-American workers, this theory posed, had been sent by their clergy as the advance-guard of an attempt to annex New England to a newly independent country, a resurgent New France. This chapter explores fears of Franco-American Conspiracy in the United States, the notion of the "good immigrant," Protestant aggression, and Catholic responses to these tensions and conflicts.