Editing Catholic emancipation (section)

==Initial reliefs==
In [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Canada]], British since 1763, the [[Quebec Act 1774]] ended some restrictions on Roman Catholics, so much so that it was called one of the "[[Intolerable Acts]]" and criticised in the Petition to George III submitted in October 1774 by the [[First Continental Congress]] of the [[Thirteen Colonies]].<ref>[http://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text7/petitionkinggeorge3.pdf Petition to King George III] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208221254/http://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text7/petitionkinggeorge3.pdf |date=8 December 2017 }}.</ref>

In Great Britain and, separately, in Ireland, the first Relief Act, called the [[Papists Act 1778]], was passed; subject to an oath renouncing [[House of Stuart|Stuart]] claims to the throne and the civil jurisdiction of the pope, it allowed Roman Catholics to own property and to inherit land. Reaction against this led to riots in [[Scotland]] in 1779 and then the [[Gordon Riots]] in London on 2 June 1780.

Further relief was given by an act of  Parliament{{which|date=January 2025}} of 1782 allowing the establishment of Roman Catholic schools and [[bishop]]s. The [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791]] allowed the free practice of Catholicism subject to certain substantial restrictions designed to make Catholicism less visible in the communities where it was practiced. In Ireland, the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793]] was enacted by the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]], extending the right to vote to Catholics. Since the electoral [[suffrage|franchise]] at the time was largely determined by property, this relief gave the votes to Roman Catholics holding land with a rental value of £2 a year. They also started to gain access to many middle-class professions from which they had been excluded, such as the [[legal profession]], [[grand jury|grand jurors]], [[university|universities]] and the lower ranks of the [[British army|army]] and [[judiciary]].