Anti-Masonic Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Solomon Southwick Thurlow Weed William Wirt |
| Founded | First: February 1828 Second: 1872 |
| Dissolved | First: December 1840 Second: 1888 |
| Merged into | Whig Party |
| Headquarters | Albany, New York |
| Newspaper | Anti-Masonic Enquirer National Observer Albany Journal |
| Ideology | American School Anti-elitism (de facto)[1][2][3][4][5] Anti-Jacksonianism[6][7] Anti-Masonry[8] |
| Religion | Protestantism[9] |
| National affiliation | National Republican Party (1828)[7][10] |
| Part of a series on |
| Freemasonry |
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The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest third party in the United States.[11] Formally a single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry in the United States. It was active from the late 1820s, especially in the Northeast, and later attempted to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. It declined quickly after 1832 as most members joined the new Whig Party; it disappeared after 1838.
The party was founded following the disappearance of William Morgan, a former Mason who had become a prominent critic of the Masonic organization. Many believed that Masons had murdered Morgan for speaking out against Masonry and subsequently many churches and other groups condemned Masonry. As many Masons were prominent businessmen and politicians, the backlash against the Masons was also a form of anti-elitism. The Anti-Masons purported that Masons posed a threat to American republicanism by secretly trying to control the government. Furthermore, there was a strong fear that Masonry was hostile to Christianity.
Mass opposition to Masonry eventually coalesced into a political party. Before and during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, there was a period of political realignment. The Anti-Masons emerged as an important third-party alternative to Andrew Jackson's Democrats and Adams' National Republicans. In New York, the Anti-Masons supplanted the National Republicans as the primary opposition to the Democrats.
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. Several Anti-Masons, including William A. Palmer and Joseph Ritner, won election to prominent positions. In states such as Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, the party controlled the balance of power in the state legislature and provided crucial support to candidates for the United States Senate. In 1831, the party held the first presidential nominating convention, a practice that was subsequently adopted by all major parties. Delegates chose former U.S. attorney general William Wirt as their standard bearer in the 1832 presidential election; Wirt won 7.8% of the popular vote and carried Vermont.
As the 1830s progressed, many of the Anti-Masonic Party's supporters joined the Whig Party, which sought to unite those opposed to the policies of President Jackson. 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. The Anti-Masonic Party held a national convention in 1835, nominating Whig candidate William Henry Harrison, but a second convention announced that the party would not officially support a candidate. Harrison campaigned as a Whig in the 1836 presidential election and his relative success in the election encouraged further migration of Anti-Masons to the Whig Party. By 1840, the party had ceased to function as a national organization. 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.
- ^ Cooper 2017, pp. 280–283
- ^ Chip Berlet, Matthew Nemiroff Lyons, Right-wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, 2000, p. 38
- ^ Sydney Nathans, Daniel Webster and Jacksonian Democracy, 1973, p. 88
- ^ Formisano, Ronald P. (2008). For the People: American Populist Movements from the Revolution to the 1850s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-8078-3172-4.
- ^ Ronald P. Formisano, and Kathleen Smith Kutolowski, "Antimasonry and Masonry: The Genesis of Protest, 1826–1827." American Quarterly 29#2 (1977): 139–165
- ^ Brodie, pp. 38–39
- ^ a b Anne-Marie Taylor, Young Charles Sumner and the Legacy of the American Enlightenment, 1811–1851, 2001, p. 40
- ^ "Anti-Masonic Movement". Encyclopædia Britannica. July 20, 1998. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Alexander Piatigorsky (2013). Freemasonry: A Study of the Phenomenon. Random House. p. 166. ISBN 978-1860462658.
- ^ Stahr 2012, pp. 24–26.
- ^ Binning, William C.; Esterly, Larry C.; Sracic, Larry A. (1999). Encyclopedia of American Parties, Campaigns, and Elections. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-3130-0762-0 – via Google Books.