The Anti-Masonic Party in the United States

The Anti-Masonic Party in the United States

Author: William Preston Vaughn

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-07-11

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 081315040X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Here, for the first time in more than eighty years, is a detailed study of political Antimasonry on the national, state, and local levels, based on a survey of existing sources. The Antimasonic party, whose avowed goal was the destruction of the Masonic Lodge and other secret societies, was the first influential third party in the United States and introduced the device of the national presidential nominating convention in 1831. Vaughn focuses on the celebrated "Morgan Affair" of 1826, the alleged murder of a former Mason who exposed the fraternity's secrets. Thurlow Weed quickly transformed the crusading spirit aroused by this incident into an anti-Jackson party in New York. From New York, the party soon spread through the Northeast. To achieve success, the Antimasons in most states had to form alliances with the major parties, thus becoming the "flexible minority." After William Wirt's defeat by Andrew Jackson in the election of 1832, the party waned. Where it had been strong, Antimasonry became a reform-minded, anti-Clay faction of the new Whig party and helped to secure the presidential nominations of William Henry Harrison in 1836 and 1840. Vaughn concludes that although in many ways the Antimasonic Crusade was finally beneficial to the Masons, it was not until the 1850s that the fraternity regained its strength and influence.


The Antimasonic Party

The Antimasonic Party

Author: Charles McCarthy

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2016-09-27

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9781333764739

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Excerpt from The Antimasonic Party: A Study of Political Anti-Masonry in the United States, 1827-1840 The period In the history of the United States covering the years between the administrations of John Quincy Adams and William Henry Harrison has received much attention from American historians. It is a period full of interesting and striking events. The struggle over the charter of the United States Bank, the great money crisis, the personality and polit ical methods of Andrew Jackson, the social and economic conditions of the time, invite attention and study. In spite of the great light thrown by historical research upon the period, it is nevertheless true that certain phases of the movements of the time have received but scant attention; and this neglect has tended to impair the value of research upon correlated matter. We have had, for instance, a great deal of discussion upon the origin of the national convention, and vet the fact does not seem to have struck the investigators that the party which made that political discovery first prom inent deserves to be studied. It is strange, at least, that such an interesting movement as the Antimasonic party - a move ment with which some of the greatest political leaders in the history of our country have been connected - should have escaped the attention of scholars. True, the Morgan mystery has received its share of attention, and historians have put it down as the main cause of this peculiar political organization; in fact, it is the practice of even profound historians to call the Antimasonic party merely an outgrowth of the mysterious disappearance of William Morgan. Americans are prone to create a political partv out of anything, but a moment's re ection Should convince us that a party having for its lead ers men like Thurlow Weed and Thaddeus Stevens must have had its basis in underlying causes and must have been founded on stronger reasons than those which present themselves at a casual glance. A review of the political situation at the beginning of the period we have been considering reveals to us soil well prepared for political strife. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."


The Transatlantic Republican

The Transatlantic Republican

Author: Bernard Vincent

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 940120117X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This collection of essays by Bernard Vincent covers most aspects of Thomas Paine’s life, thought, and works. It highlights Paine’s contribution to the American and French Revolutions, as well as the active role he played in the intellectual debates of the Age of Enlightenment, in particular through his heated arguments with Edmund Burke or the Abbé Raynal. More than two centuries later, those debates—on the ‘universal’ nature of human rights or the ‘exceptionalism’ of the American experience—seem today to be more relevant than ever. Not only have Common Sense, Rights of Man and The Age of Reason become classics of Anglo-American literature, but, from the moment they appeared, they ushered in a new type of writer, a new way of writing—and a new class of readers. How Paine stormed the “Bastille of Words,” and in so doing served both the “republic” of letters and the cause of democracy, is the real subject of this book.


The Party of Fear

The Party of Fear

Author: David Harry Bennett

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 9780807817728

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

David Bennett presents a ground-breaking historical analysis of the forces shaping nativist and counter-subversive activity in America from colonial times to the present. He demonstrates that in this nation of immigrants the American Right did not emerge form postfeudal parties of privilege or from the social chaos that bred a Hitler of Mussolini in Europe.


Elections A to Z

Elections A to Z

Author: Deborah Kalb

Publisher: CQ Press

Published: 2022-08-22

Total Pages: 921

ISBN-13: 1071853678

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Elections A to Z provides readers with ready reference insight into how campaigns and elections, the hallmark of any democracy, are conducted in the United States.