Skeleton Map of the United States, and Part of Canada
- Title:
- Skeleton Map of the United States, and Part of Canada
- Alternate Title:
- Skeleton Map of the United States, and Part of Canada
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Norton, Herman (Rev.)
- Date:
- 1844
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2542.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2542_01Adj.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1800 - 1869
- Subject:
- Bias
Religion - Measurement:
- 32 x 37 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- As a "nation of immigrants," Americans have produced persuasive maps addressing the issues of immigration and nationality over most of the country's lifetime. The collection includes a number of these maps published since the 1840s. Some are welcoming, encouraging, and provide advice to immigrants. Some assert that the diversity of our nationalities is a source of strength for the country. And yet others attack immigrants in general, or specific ethnic or religious immigrant groups, particularly Asians, Catholics, and Jews. For the range of these maps, Search > "immigration.”
This map, standing alone, seems to support plans for a charitable or religious society to expand its operations into the upper midwest of the United States and the corresponding area of Canada north of the Great Lakes. In fact, the map is intended to oppose just such an expansion. It appears in an ominous pamphlet published in 1844 entitled "Startling Facts for American Protestants! Progress of Romanism Since the Revolutionary War; Its Present Position and Future Prospects." The author, Reverend Herman Norton, describes the purported efforts of a mysterious "Society in Europe composed of Catholic gentlemen of wealth" to "establish colonies of Roman Catholics" in western North America and thereby "make Romanism the predominant religion in this country." (p.14.)
Rev. Norton begins by sounding the alarm that the U.S. faces "an increase of evil influence, that is at war with enlightened education, with strict morals and with vital Christianity," specifically "2,000,000 of Foreigners who have sworn allegiance to the Pope." (p.3.) He details the amount of foreign financing devoted to the support and expansion of Catholics in America, the growth in their clergy, and their concentration in major metropolitan areas with substantial political power. He decries the "snare" of Catholic educational institutions, a "mighty engine of destruction" whose "main design . . . is to convert the children and youth of Protestants to Romanism." (p.11.)
Turning to the work of the malign European "Society," Norton describes and quotes from a 32-page pamphlet entitled "New Plan of Emigration" written by "a London banker." (For background and details on this scheme, see ID #2581.01 (1842)). Among the leading objects of the plan as set out by Norton were: "to colonize[] the surplus Roman Catholic population of Europe in our Western states;" "to create a large demand for articles of British manufacture;" and "to make Romanism the predominant religion of this country." Norton notes that he is providing readers an "accompanying skeleton map" showing the Society's planned area of colonization, "as it was published in London." (pp. 14-16.) Apparently not convinced that his countrymen would heed his warning, Norton concludes on a note of despair: "Where there is one to be seen now, in a few years hence, there will be ten - where there are a hundred now, then, there will be a thousand." (p. 23.)
Herman Norton was a successful evangelical Presbyterian minister who became Corresponding Secretary to the American Protestant Society in 1843. When that organization later merged with the Foreign Evangelical Society and the Christian Alliance, he became a corresponding secretary of the resulting American and Foreign Christian Union.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Norton, Herman (Rev.). Startling Facts for American Protestants! Progress of Romanism Since the Revolutionary War; Its Present Position and Future Prospects. New York: American Presbyterian Society, 1844.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.