Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Anti-Masonic Party was the first national third party in American politics. Formed in western New York State in the aftermath of a spirited wave of anger and suspicion of the Masonic fraternity after a controversial incident in that community, this short-lived party had a substantial effect on both the national political landscape and the methodology of party politics. In the early nineteenth century, a large resentment was growing in American society against fraternal societies such as the Freemasons. Motivations ranged from leaders of various churches who saw these organizations as rivals, to others who were seeking a new “other” to demonize with the elimination of the British crown as an object of scorn, while still others grouped the fraternal organizations with other groups held in suspicion, such as Catholics. In 1826, an incident in Batavia, New York, became sensationalized and lit the metaphorical fire that spawned the birth of the Anti-Masonic Party. A former member of the Freemasons began to publish pamphlets exposing the society's secret ceremonies. After some time, he was no longer seen in town, and allegations were raised that he had been murdered by members of the Freemasons both as an act of revenge and to silence him. A body was produced, discovered some miles away on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario, and at the instigation of Thurlow Weed, a local New York ... log in or subscribe to read full text