Ye be talkin' 'bout me people, now.

Many of my ancestors came from Ireland during this time. So it is a topic of personal interest and I agree with the contents of your post. Some of those feeling still linger in subtle ways. Remember that JFK had to tell the nation that he didn't take orders from the Pope. I dated a girl in the early 80's whose family was upset that she was dating a Catholic.

You might be interested in the story of the "Know Nothing" Party, whose basic platform was being anti-Catholic.

In addition, I've been reading about the Molly Maguires lately. They were an Irish secret society that operated in the coal region of Pennsylvania during this time period, monkey-wrenching their grievances against the man. This is where my predecessors found the American Dream.

I haven't seen the movie in a very long time.