"'Ghosts of Bigotry' The Ross-Yorke Controversy: Anti-Catholic Sentiment in Late Gilded
Abstract In the last part of the nineteenth century San Francisco, a controversy between a Roman Catholic priest, Father Peter Yorke, and a Presbyterian minister and member of the American Protective Association, Reverend Donald M. Ross, erupted over the role of Catholics in society. As Americans were seeking to solidify their national identity, this controversy provides an example of resurgent religious bigotry which previously had been more evident on the East Coast. Throug