Anti-Masonic Party
After experiencing unexpected success in the 1828 elections, the Anti-Masons adopted positions on other issues, most notably support for internal improvements and a protective tariff.
The Anti-Masons brought with them an intense distrust of politicians and a rejection of unthinking party loyalty, together with new campaign techniques to whip up excitement among the voters.
In subsequent decades, former Anti-Masonic candidates and supporters such as Millard Fillmore, William H. Seward, Thurlow Weed and Thaddeus Stevens became prominent members of the Whig Party.
Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other The opponents of Freemasonry formed a political movement after the Morgan affair convinced them the Masons were murdering men who spoke out against them.
[13] Morgan claimed to have been made a member of the Masons while living in Canada[14] and he appears to have briefly attended a lodge in Rochester.
[18] Angered by the rejection, Morgan announced that he was going to publish an exposé titled Illustrations of Masonry,[19] critical of the Freemasons and describing their secret degree ceremonies in detail.
[20] When his intentions became known to the Batavia lodge, an attempt was made to burn down the business of the printer who planned to publish Morgan's book.
[21] In September 1826, Morgan was arrested on flimsy allegations of failing to repay a loan and theft of a shirt and tie in an effort to prevent publication of his book by keeping him in jail.
[30] Anti-Masons were opponents of Freemasonry, believing that it was a corrupt and elitist secret society which was ruling much of the country in defiance of republican principles.
[33] Anti-Masonry became a political issue in Western New York, where early in 1827 many mass meetings resolved not to support Masons for public office.
Adams supporters used the strong anti-Masonic feeling to create a new party in opposition to the rising Jacksonian Democracy nationally and the Albany Regency political organization of Martin Van Buren in New York.
[40][41][42] The newspapers of the time reveled in partisanship and one brief paragraph in an Albany Journal article opposing Martin Van Buren included the words "dangerous", "demagogue", "corrupt", "degrade", "pervert", "prostitute", "debauch" and "cursed".
[43] A national Anti-Masonic organization was planned as early as 1827, when the New York leaders attempted unsuccessfully to persuade Henry Clay to renounce his Masonic membership and head the movement.
[37] By 1830, the Anti-Masonic movement's effort to broaden its appeal enabled it to spread to neighboring states, becoming especially strong in Pennsylvania and Vermont.
[45][46][47] Other Vermont Anti-Masonic electors in 1832 included former governor Ezra Butler and former United States representative William Strong.
[49] In addition to Palmer and Ritner, Silas H. Jennison, an Anti-Mason, was elected Lieutenant Governor of Vermont with Whig support in 1835.
By the late 1830s, many of the Anti-Masonic movement's members were moving to the Whigs, regarding that party as a better alternative to the Jacksonians, by then called Democrats.
[65][66] Anti-Masonry was deeply committed to conspiracy theories, primarily the claim that Masonic elites were trying to secretly control the government.
[67] As people became more mobile economically during the Industrial Revolution and began to move west when new states were populated by white settlers and added to the Union, the growth of the Anti-Masonic movement was caused by the political and social unrest resulting from the weakening of longstanding family and community ties.
[71] The fact that William Wirt, their choice for the presidency in 1832, not only was a former Mason, but also defended Freemasonry in a speech before the convention that nominated him indicates that opposition to Masonry was not the Anti-Masonic movement's sole issue.
