The continual and contentious process of defining America held particular urgency in the early national period. As immigration and territorial expansion increased, native-born Protestants feared the influence of a "foreign" influence in American culture. The nativist movement, spurred by religious, racial, and class differences in the nascent country, shaped American life at the time and lasting notions of national identity. The Nativist Movement in American History,draws overdue attention the religious dimensions of the movement. Examining the burning of the Ursuline convent in Charlestown, MA, the Bible Riots in Philadelphia, PA, and the theft and destruction of the "Pope's Stone" in Washington DC, Katie Oxx contextualizes three events motivated by religious hostility, in the history of American nativism. Drawing together trial transripts and newspaper articles, poems and personal narratives, the author introduces nineteenth century religious conflict and nativism to undergraduate audiences.