“Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion”

On this day in 1884, during the presidential campaign, Reverend Dr. Samuel D. Burchard, addressing a gathering of the Religious Bureau of the Republican National Committee, a week before the general election, stated: “We are Republicans, and don’t propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been rum, Romanism, and rebellion. We are loyal to our flag.” What Burchard was referring to was this: Democrats at the time tended to be against the prohibition of alcohol, that they were pro-immigrant at a time when most immigrants were Catholic, and the fact that Southerners traditionally voted Democrat. Burchard’s speech hurt the Republican candidate, James G, Blaine, tremendously. The Republicans came off looking like anti-Catholics, even though Blaine’s mother was Catholic and he had a sister who was a nun. The Democratic political machines in the city’s urban centers were dominated by Irish Catholics, and they rallied against Blaine, who lost the popular vote by only 25,000. It was the only time between 1856 and 1912 that a Democrat was elected President, and the Catholic vote played a significant role therein.