ns. When the Cincinnati school board voted in favor of banning the Bible and hymn singing from all public schoolsùa practice of traditional public schools, a widespread controversy ensued (McAfee 28). According to the anti-Catholic faction, the school board action stemmed from a worldwide Jesuit conspiracy to impose anti-progressive notions on the American society (McAfee 29). The Republicans seized upon the anti-Catholic fervor and made it their own because they felt that it could unite the nation against the invasion of an external Jesuit entity (McAfee 29).
The subsequent attempt by the Catholics to demand a division of school funds generated an even more fiery controversy. The Catholic schools fought for a division of the school funds to finance their schools. Some Republican advocates proposed that Congress should be given the constitutional authority to reconstruct any Northern State that risked becoming Catholic (McAfee 62). This issue brought together Protestants, atheists and free-thinkers in favor of the Republicans for the sake of retaining the public schools in their original form. They feared that other religious groups might follow in the footsteps of the Catholics by demanding their share of the school funds (McAfee
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