against Daniel O'Connell, the Irish politician, and his Repeal Association movement to repeal Ireland's union with England and Scotland known as the 1800 Act of Union. O'Connell looked to draw upon the Irish immigrants and implemented Repeal Clubs throughout America. Levin proposed that these clubs were in fact beachheads for Catholic power and were being used to support an eventual papal takeover of the United States. On May 3, 1844, nativists attempted to give a speech in the center of the Irish-Catholic neighborhood of the Third Ward, Kensington. The locals ended up chasing all of the protesters out of the neighborhood. The following Monday, May 6, Levin returned with 3,000 protesters. The ensuing fighting led to several people killed and injured, and hundreds more left homeless as most of the neighborhood homes were burned by rioters. In addition the Catholic Churches St. Michael and St. Augustine were demolished completely by fire. New riots broke out in Southwark in July of that same year when a group of protesters threatened to destroy St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in the Southwark District. This time Levin used his influence to prevent the mob from burning the church. Following the July riots, Levin and his colleague Samuel R. Kramer (publisher of the Native American) were arrested for "exciting to riot and treason" in inciting locals to invade and burn several Catholic churches and a convent. However, the case never went to trial. Political career Levin was one of the founders of the American Party in 1842. Shortly after the 1844 Philadelphia riots, Levin ran for Congress and was elected on his party's platform: (1) to extend the period of naturalization to twenty-one years; (2) to elect only native born to all offices; (3) to reject foreign interference in all institutions, social, religious, and political. He was the first Jewish member elected to the United States House of Representatives. Levin was returned to Congress in 1846 and 1848. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Engraving during the Thirtieth Congress, 1847–48. After leaving Congress in 1851, Levin continued to campaign for the Native American or Know-Nothing movement, as it became known. He attempted to campaign for U.S. Senator, which was a seat elected by the state legislature rather than by popular vote. Levin was accused of bribing members of the Pennsylvania Assembly and was subpoenaed by a state investigation in February