Originally published in 1988. The new-found freedom and changing attitudes towards Catholics after the American Revolution presented the Catholic Church with its first real opportunity to prosper in the English speaking "new world." But the Catholic Church could not take advantage of this opportunity unless it shook off some of its "old world" characteristics and became accustomed to the American environment. This study attempts to analyse the very nature of American Catholicism by investigating the impact of the American environment on the development of the Catholic Church in American during the episcopacy of John Carroll. This title will be of interest to students of history and religious studies.