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In 19th century America, many Protestants felt that Catholics were a threat to society because they gave allegiance to the pope and church over the laws of the land. This is an account in the Boston Courier of a mob who burned the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to the ground. A rumor had been circulated that a young woman was being held against her will, and this incited the mob. This rumor had been investigated by the selectmen and they found that it was untrue. However, their findings were not reported in the newspaper until after the convent had been destroyed. Reaction from the citizens of Boston, at a meeting in Faneuil Hall, was overwhelmingly in support of the nuns and denounced the actions of the mob who caused property damage and danger to the occupants.

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