In 1844, Philadelphia was held in the grip of Protestant ideologues who claimed that Irish Catholics would upend morality and murder their neighbors, steal their jobs, and overturn democracy. The rioters burned Catholic churches, chased and beat people through the streets, and exchanged shots with a militia seeking to reinstate order. In the aftermath, a stunned public debated both the militia's use of force and the actions of the mob. Drawing parallels to contemporary America, Zachary Schwag suggests that the causes of the Philadelphia Riot are still not sufficiently understood, and as a result, its lessons have not been learned.