A ‘sentinel(s) of our liberties’: Archbishop John Hughes and Irish-American intellectual negotiation in the Civil War era

TLDR: The first Archbishop of New York City served his tenure at one of the classic political junctures in American history by the 840s, as the spheres of politics, religion, and ethnicity articulated powerful imperatives against a backdrop of Jacksonian expansionism, the impending darkness of sectionalism, and other key crosscurrents in American public life.

Abstract: The first Archbishop of New York City served his tenure at one of the classic political junctures in American history By the 840s, the culture teemed with contending voices, as the spheres of politics, religion, and ethnicity articulated powerful imperatives against a backdrop of Jacksonian expansionism, the impending darkness of sectionalism, and other key crosscurrents in American public life Growing threats to the security of the Union competed for attention with the onslaught of the Irish Famine influx in the major east coast cities, particularly in New York Within the burgeoning metropolis, Irish-born John Joseph Hughes rose to prominence as a leader who forcefully engaged with issues of Church and state, religion and ethnicity, and status and power in the expanding urban milieu That he achieved such prominent status by the 1840s is remarkable enough, in the first instance, but that he succeeded to national and international standing at a point when a slew of conflicting forces conspired against