History of the Catholic Church in the United States British-America-born Catholic priest. In 1788, after the Revolution, John Jay urged the New York Legislature to require office-holders to renounce foreign authorities "in all matters ecclesiastical as well as civil." In one state, North Carolina, the Protestant test oath would not be changed until 1868. The Catholic population of the United States, which had been 35,000 in 1790, increased to 195,000 in 1820 and then ballooned to about 1.6 million in 1850, by which time, Catholics had become the country’s largest denomination. Between 1860 and 1890 the population of Roman Catholics in the United States tripled primarily through immigration and
The Penguin History of the United States of America The Penguin History of the United States of America The Penguin History of the United States of America is a non-fiction book about the history of the United States written by Hugh Brogan and published by Penguin Books. It was originally titled "The Longman History of the United States of America", published by the Longman company from 1985 through 1999. Longman and Penguin are both part of Pearson PLC. The book starts in the pre-Columbian era and, in the first edition, ends in the mid 1970s. The second edition, or "new edition", added a chapter covering through to the end