Abolitionism
England operated in a heavily Protestant city. During the 1820s-1830s, he defended the Catholic minority against nativist prejudices. In 1831 and 1835, the bishop established free schools for black girls and boys. In 1835, riled by the propaganda of the American Anti-Slavery Society, a mob raided the Charleston post office and the next day turned its attention to England's school for 'children of color.' Alerted, England led Charleston's Irish Volunteers to protect the school. Yet soon after this, when all schools for 'free blacks' were closed in Charleston, England acquiesced, thus divorcing Catholicism in Charleston from abolitionism.
Read more about this topic: John England (bishop)