Editing Anti-Masonic Party (section)

=== Background ===
{{conservatism US|parties}}
[[File:William Morgan (anti-Mason).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[William Morgan (anti-Mason)|William Morgan]], whose disappearance and probable murder led to creation of the Anti-Masonic Party]]

The opponents of Freemasonry formed a political movement after the [[William Morgan (anti-Mason)#Disappearance|Morgan affair]] convinced them the Masons were murdering men who spoke out against them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ulm |first=Aaron Hardy |date=February 14, 1920 |title=Third Parties We Have Known |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YmgwAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA72 |journal=Collier's |location=San Francisco, CA |publisher=P. F. Collier & Son Company |page=18 |ref={{sfnRef|"Third Parties We Have Known"}}}}</ref> This key episode was the mysterious 1826 disappearance of William Morgan, a Freemason in upstate New York who had turned against the Masons.{{sfn|"Third Parties We Have Known"|page=18}}

Morgan claimed to have been made a member of the Masons while living in Canada<ref>{{cite book |last= Ellis |first=Edward Sylvester |date=1920 |title=Low Twelve: "By Their Deeds Ye Shall Know Them" |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5wOAAAAYAAJ&q=%22william+morgan%22+%22lodge%22+%22york%22+%22brewer%22&pg=PA234 |location=New York |publisher=Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co. |page=234}}</ref> and he appears to have briefly attended a lodge in Rochester.<ref name="Bentley 1874">{{cite book |last= Bentley  |first= A. P.|date=1874 |title=History of the Abduction of William Morgan |url=https://archive.org/details/historyabductio00bentgoog |location=Mt. Pleasant, IA |publisher=Van Cise & Throop}}</ref>{{rp|9}}  In 1825, Morgan received the [[Royal Arch Masonry|Royal Arch]] degree at [[Le Roy (village), New York|Le Roy]]'s Western Star Chapter #33, having declared under oath that he had previously received the six degrees which preceded it.<ref name="Tillotson 1920 79">{{cite book |last=Tillotson |first=Lee S. |date=1920 |title=Ancient Craft Masonry in Vermont |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientcraftmas00tillgoog |quote=rochester. |location=Montpelier, VT |publisher=Capital City Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientcraftmas00tillgoog/page/n85 79]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Robert |date=1884 |title=William Morgan, Or, Political Anti-Masonry: Its Rise, Growth and Decadence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZNAAQAAMAAJ&q=york&pg=PA132 |location=New York |publisher=Robert Macoy, Masonic Publisher |page=61 |ref={{sfnRef|Morris (1884)}}}}</ref> Whether he actually received these degrees and if so from where has not been determined for certain.<ref name="Bentley 1874"/>{{rp|9}}<ref name="Tillotson 1920 79"/>

Morgan then attempted unsuccessfully to help establish or visit lodges and chapters in [[Batavia, New York|Batavia]], but was denied participation in Batavia's Masonic activities by members who were uncertain about Morgan's character and claims to Masonic membership.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Peter |date=1899 |title=A Standard History of Freemasonry in the State of New York, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GciAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA310 |location=New York |publisher=Lewis Publishing Company |page=310}}</ref> Angered by the rejection, Morgan announced that he was going to publish an exposé titled ''Illustrations of Masonry'',<ref name="illustrations">{{Citation | last=Morgan | first=William | title=Illustrations of Masonry by One of the Fraternity Who has Devoted Thirty Years to the Subject: "God said, Let There be Light, and There was light" | publisher=David C. Miller | place=Batavia, NY| year=1827 | url=http://utlm.org/onlinebooks/captmorgansfreemasonrycontents.htm}}</ref> critical of the Freemasons and describing their secret degree ceremonies in detail.<ref>{{cite book |last= Stokes |first=Jerry |date=2007 |title=Changing World Religions, Cults & Occult |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTPJpanTizwC&pg=PA285 |location=Menlo Park, CA |publisher=(self-published) |page=285}}</ref>

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.<ref>Jasper Ridley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5VItAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT208 ''The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society''], 2013, unknown page number</ref> 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.{{sfn|Morris (1884)|page=106}} The individual who intended to publish Morgan's book paid his bail and he was released from custody.{{sfn|Morris (1884)|page=106}} Shortly afterwards, Morgan disappeared.<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York |last=Peck |first=William F. |year=1908 |publisher=The Pioneer publishing company |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IvssAAAAYAAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IvssAAAAYAAJ/page/n63 63] |access-date=2009-05-02}}</ref>

Some skeptics argued that Morgan had left the Batavia area on his own, either because he had been paid not to publish his book, or to escape Masonic retaliation for attempting to publish the book, or to generate publicity that would boost the book's sales.<ref>[http://www.skepdic.com/freemasons.html The Skeptic's Dictionary: Freemasons], retrieved September 9, 2014</ref> The generally believed version of events was that Masons killed Morgan by drowning him in the [[Niagara River]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Pool |first= William |date= 1897 |title= Landmarks of Niagara County, New York |url= https://archive.org/details/landmarksofniaga00pool |publisher= D. Mason & Company |page= [https://archive.org/details/landmarksofniaga00pool/page/69 69]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Cornog |first= Evan |date= 1998 |title= The Birth of Empire : DeWitt Clinton and the American Experience, 1769–1828 |url= https://archive.org/details/birthofempiredew00corn |url-access= registration |publisher= Oxford University Press |page= [https://archive.org/details/birthofempiredew00corn/page/167 167]|isbn= 978-0195353204 }}</ref>  Whether he fled or was murdered, Morgan's disappearance led many to believe that Freemasonry was in conflict with good citizenship.<ref>Josephus Nelson Larned, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fTcFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA374 ''The New Larned History for Ready Reference, Reading and Research''], Volume 1, 1922, p. 374</ref>

Because judges, businessmen, bankers and politicians were often Masons, ordinary citizens began to think of it as an elitist group.<ref name="books.google.com">Chip Berlet, Matthew Nemiroff Lyons, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Md1aRhWNk1QC&pg=PA38 ''Right-wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort''], 2000, p. 38</ref> Moreover, many claimed that the lodges' secret oaths bound Masons to favor each other against outsiders in the courts and elsewhere.<ref name="Sydney Nathans 1973, page 88">Sydney Nathans, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iPg6AAAAIAAJ&q=outsiders ''Daniel Webster and Jacksonian Democracy''], 1973, p. 88</ref>

Because some trials of alleged Morgan conspirators were mishandled and the Masons resisted further inquiries, many New Yorkers concluded that Masons controlled key offices and used their official authority to promote the goals of the fraternity by ensuring that Morgan's supposed killers escaped punishment.<ref>Henry Dana Ward, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oARAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA290 ''The Anti-Masonic Review''], Volume 1, 1828, p. 290</ref> When a member sought to reveal its secrets, so ran the conclusion, the Freemasons had done away with him. Because they controlled the courts and other offices, they were considered capable of obstructing the investigation. True Americans, they said, had to organize and defeat this conspiracy. If good government was to be restored "all Masons must be purged from public office".<ref>Rayback 1959, pp. 18–19</ref>