Anti-Masonic Party

Part of a series on
Freemasonry
Overview Grand Lodge Masonic lodge Masonic lodge officers Grand Master Prince Hall Freemasonry Regular Masonic jurisdiction Anglo-American Freemasonry Continental Freemasonry
History History of Freemasonry Liberté chérie Masonic manuscripts
Masonic bodies Masonic Masonic bodies York Rite Order of Mark Master Masons Holy Royal Arch Royal Arch Masonry Cryptic Masonry Knights Templar Red Cross of Constantine Scottish Rite Knight Kadosh Societas Rosicruciana Order of Royal and Select Masters Grand College of Rites Swedish Rite Order of Saint Thomas of Acon Royal Order of Scotland Order of Knight Masons Research Lodge Corks Side degrees The Shrine Royal Order of Jesters Tall Cedars of Lebanon The Grotto Masonic groups for women Women and Freemasonry Order of the Amaranth Order of the Eastern Star Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star Co-Freemasonry Masonic youth organizations DeMolay A.J.E.F. Job's Daughters International Order of the Rainbow for Girls
Views on Masonry Anti-Masonry Anti-Masonic Party Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition Masonic conspiracy theories Christian attitudes towards Freemasonry Papal ban of Freemasonry Taxil hoax
People and places Masonic Temple James Anderson Prince Hall William Preston Thomas Smith Webb Albert Mackey Albert Pike John the Evangelist John the Baptist William Schaw Elizabeth Aldworth List of Freemasons Lodge Mother Kilwinning Freemasons' Hall, London Mark Masons' Hall, London House of the Temple Solomon's Temple Detroit Masonic Temple List of Masonic buildings
Related Masonic ritual and symbolism Great Architect of the Universe Square and Compasses Pigpen cipher Eye of Providence Hiram Abiff Chamber of Reflection List of Masonic Abbreviations Sprig of Acacia Masonic Landmarks Pike's Morals and Dogma Propaganda Due Dermott's Ahiman Rezon Volume of Sacred Law
By country Barbados Belgium Canada China Croatia Denmark France Finland Germany Iceland India Indonesia Israel Italy Japan Lebanon Luxembourg Malaysia Malta Mexico North Macedonia Portugal Romania Russia Scotland South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Philippines Thailand Turkey Ukraine Venezuela United States
v t e

The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest

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

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.

History

Background

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] This key episode was the mysterious 1826 disappearance of William Morgan, a Freemason in upstate New York who had turned against the Masons.^[14]

Morgan claimed to have been made a member of the Masons while living in Canada^[15] and he appears to have briefly attended a lodge in Rochester.^[16]: 9 In 1825, Morgan received the Royal Arch degree at Le Roy's Western Star Chapter #33, having declared under oath that he had previously received the six degrees which preceded it.^[17][18] Whether he actually received these degrees and if so from where has not been determined for certain.^{[16]: 9 [17]}

Morgan then attempted unsuccessfully to help establish or visit lodges and chapters in Batavia, but was denied participation in Batavia's Masonic activities by members who were uncertain about Morgan's character and claims to Masonic membership.^[19] Angered by the rejection, Morgan announced that he was going to publish an exposé titled Illustrations of Masonry,^[20] critical of the Freemasons and describing their secret degree ceremonies in detail.^[21]

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.^[22] 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.^[23] The individual who intended to publish Morgan's book paid his bail and he was released from custody.^[23] Shortly afterwards, Morgan disappeared.^[24]

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.^[25] The generally believed version of events was that Masons killed Morgan by drowning him in the Niagara River.^[26][27] Whether he fled or was murdered, Morgan's disappearance led many to believe that Freemasonry was in conflict with good citizenship.^[28]

Because judges, businessmen, bankers and politicians were often Masons, ordinary citizens began to think of it as an elitist group.^[2] Moreover, many claimed that the lodges' secret oaths bound Masons to favor each other against outsiders in the courts and elsewhere.^[3]

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.^[29] 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".^[30]

Party foundation

The Anti-Masonic Party was formed in Upstate New York in February 1828.^[31] 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.^[32] Many people regarded the Masonic organization and its adherents involved in government as corrupt.^[4][5]

Opposition to Masonry was taken up by some evangelical Protestant churches as a religious cause, particularly in the

Anti-Masonry became a political issue in

Anti-Masonic Party members expanded the use of party-affiliated newspapers for political organizing by publishing over 100, including Southwick's National Observer and Weed's Anti-Masonic Enquirer.[16]^: 34–35 By 1829, Weed's Albany Journal had become the preeminent Anti-Masonic paper and it later became the leading Whig newspaper.^[41][42][43] 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".^[44]

Conventions and elections

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.^[38]

By 1830, the Anti-Masonic movement's effort to broaden its appeal enabled it to spread to neighboring states, becoming especially strong in

The Anti-Masonic Party conducted the first

Although Harrison lost the election to Democratic candidate Martin Van Buren in 1836, his strength throughout the North was hailed by Anti-Masonic leaders because the Anti-Masonic Party was the first to officially place his name in contention.^[62] By the mid-1830s, other Anti-Jacksonians had coalesced into the Whig Party, which had a broader issue base than the Anti-Masons. 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.^[63] The Anti-Masonic Party held a conference in September 1837 to discuss its situation—one delegate was former president John Quincy Adams.^[64]

The Anti-Masonic Party held a third national nominating convention at

Anti-Masonry was deeply committed to conspiracy theories, primarily the claim that Masonic elites were trying to secretly control the government.^[68] 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.^[69] With Freemasonry one of the few institutions that remained stable during this time of change, it became a natural target for protesters.^[70] As a result, the Morgan Affair became the highly visible catalyst that turned a popular movement into a political party.^[71]

Under the banner of Anti-Masons, able leaders united Anti-Jacksonians and others who were discontented with existing political conditions.^[72] 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.^[67]

The Anti-Masonic movement gave rise to or expanded the use of many innovations which became accepted practice among other parties, including nominating conventions and party newspapers.^[56] In addition, the Anti-Masons aided in the rise of the Whig Party as the major alternative to the Democrats, with Anti-Masonic positions on issues including internal improvements and tariffs being adopted by the Whigs.^[73]

Second Anti-Masonic Party

A later political organization called the Anti-Masonic Party was active from 1872 until 1888. This second group had a more religious basis for its anti-Masonry and was closely associated with Jonathan Blanchard of Wheaton College.^[74]

Members of Congress

The Anti-Masons did not elect anyone to the Senate, but elected several members of the House of Representatives.^[75]

Massachusetts

• William Jackson
• John Reed Jr.

New York

• William Babcock
• Gamaliel H. Barstow
• Timothy Childs
• John A. Collier
• Bates Cooke
• John Dickson
• Philo C. Fuller
• Gideon Hard
• Abner Hazeltine
• George W. Lay
• Henry C. Martindale
• Robert S. Rose
• Phineas L. Tracy
• Grattan H. Wheeler
• Frederick Whittlesey

Ohio

• Jonathan Sloane

Pennsylvania

• Robert Allison
• John Banks
• Charles Augustus Barnitz
• Richard Biddle
• George Chambers
• William Clark
• Edward Darlington
• Edward Davies
• Harmar Denny
• John Edwards
• Thomas Henry
• William Hiester
• Francis James
• Thomas McKean
• Charles Ogle
• David Potts Jr.
• Andrew Stewart

Rhode Island

• Dutee Jerauld Pearce

Vermont

• William Cahoon
• Benjamin F. Deming
• Henry Fisk Janes
• William Slade

Notable office holders and candidates

• Solomon Southwick, candidate for Governor of New York (1828)
• Millard Fillmore, New York State Assembly (1829–1831)
• William H. Seward, New York State Senate (1831–1834)
• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
  (1831–1835)
• William A. Palmer, Governor of Vermont (1831–1835)
• William Wirt, candidate for President
  in 1832
• Amos Ellmaker, candidate for Vice President in 1832
• William Sprague III, Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives (1832–1835)
• Thaddeus Stevens, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1833–1835)
• Augustine Clarke, Vermont State Treasurer (1833–1837)
• Governor of Pennsylvania
  (1835–1839)
• Silas H. Jennison, Governor of Vermont (1835–1841) and Anti-Mason running with Whig support who later became a Whig
• John Quincy Adams, candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 1833
• Allen Wardner, Vermont State Treasurer (1837–1838)
• Jonathan Blanchard, candidate for president in 1884

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Vote %	Electoral votes	+/-	Outcome of election
1832	William Wirt	Amos Ellmaker	100,715	7.8	7 / 286	New	Lost
1836[a]	Not presented
1840[b]	Not presented
1880	John W. Phelps	Samuel C. Pomeroy	1,045	nil	0 / 369	0	Lost

Congressional elections

United States House of Representatives Election year No. of overall seats won +/– House Speaker 1828 5 / 213 New Andrew Stevenson 1830 17 / 213 12 1832 25 / 240 8 1834 16 / 242 9 James K. Polk 1836 7 / 242 9 1838 6 / 242 1 John W. Jones

United States Senate Election year No. of overall seats won +/– Senate President 1828/1829 0 / 48 New John C. Calhoun 1830/1831 0 / 48 0 1832/1833 0 / 48 0 Vacant[a] 1834/1835 0 / 48 0 Martin Van Buren 1836/1837 0 / 52 0 1838/1839 0 / 52 0 Richard M. Johnson

1. ^ Office left vacant when Calhoun resigned to become Senator on December 28, 1832.

See also

• Freemasonry in the United States

References

1. ^ Cooper 2017, pp. 280–283
2. ^ ^{a b} Chip Berlet, Matthew Nemiroff Lyons, Right-wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, 2000, p. 38
3. ^ ^{a b} Sydney Nathans, Daniel Webster and Jacksonian Democracy, 1973, p. 88
4. ^
   ISBN 978-0-8078-3172-4
   .
5. ^ ^{a b} Ronald P. Formisano, and Kathleen Smith Kutolowski, "Antimasonry and Masonry: The Genesis of Protest, 1826–1827." American Quarterly 29#2 (1977): 139–165
6. ^ Brodie, pp. 38–39
7. ^ ^{a b c} Anne-Marie Taylor, Young Charles Sumner and the Legacy of the American Enlightenment, 1811–1851, 2001, p. 40
8. ^ "Anti-Masonic Movement". Encyclopædia Britannica. July 20, 1998. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
9. ISBN 978-0-8131-4687-4
   .
10. ISBN 978-1860462658
    .
11. ^ Stahr 2012, pp. 24–26.
12. ISBN 978-0-3130-0762-0 – via Google Books
    .
13. ^ Ulm, Aaron Hardy (February 14, 1920). "Third Parties We Have Known". Collier's. San Francisco, CA: P. F. Collier & Son Company: 18.
14. ^ "Third Parties We Have Known", p. 18.
15. ^ Ellis, Edward Sylvester (1920). Low Twelve: "By Their Deeds Ye Shall Know Them". New York: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co. p. 234.
16. ^ ^{a b c} Bentley, A. P. (1874). History of the Abduction of William Morgan. Mt. Pleasant, IA: Van Cise & Throop.
17. ^ ^{a b} Tillotson, Lee S. (1920). Ancient Craft Masonry in Vermont. Montpelier, VT: Capital City Press. p. 79. rochester.
18. ^ Morris, Robert (1884). William Morgan, Or, Political Anti-Masonry: Its Rise, Growth and Decadence. New York: Robert Macoy, Masonic Publisher. p. 61.
19. ^ Ross, Peter (1899). A Standard History of Freemasonry in the State of New York, Volume 1. New York: Lewis Publishing Company. p. 310.
20. ^ Morgan, William (1827), 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", Batavia, NY: David C. Miller
21. ^ Stokes, Jerry (2007). Changing World Religions, Cults & Occult. Menlo Park, CA: (self-published). p. 285.
22. ^ Jasper Ridley, The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society, 2013, unknown page number
23. ^ ^{a b} Morris (1884), p. 106.
24. ^ Peck, William F. (1908). History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York. The Pioneer publishing company. p. 63. Retrieved 2009-05-02.
25. ^ The Skeptic's Dictionary: Freemasons, retrieved September 9, 2014
26. ^ Pool, William (1897). Landmarks of Niagara County, New York. D. Mason & Company. p. 69.
27. ISBN 978-0195353204
    .
28. ^ Josephus Nelson Larned, The New Larned History for Ready Reference, Reading and Research, Volume 1, 1922, p. 374
29. ^ Henry Dana Ward, The Anti-Masonic Review, Volume 1, 1828, p. 290
30. ^ Rayback 1959, pp. 18–19
31. ^ William Preston Vaughn, The Antimasonic Party in the United States, 1826–1843 (1983) pp. 21–34.
32. ^ Massachusetts Antimasonic Republican Convention (1834). Antimasonic Republican Convention, for Massachusetts, Held at Boston, Sept. 10 and 11, 1834. Boston: Leonard W. Kimball. pp. 34–35 – via Google Books.
33. ^ David G. Hackett, That Religion in Which All Men Agree: Freemasonry in American Culture, 2014, p. 118
34. ^ McKinley, Erik (March 1, 1921). "The Anti-Masonic Party". The Builder: A Journal for the Masonic Student. 7. Anamosa Iowa: National Masonic Research Society: 72.
35. ^ Michael Kazin, Rebecca Edwards, Adam Rothman, editors, The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History, Volume 1, 2010, p. 39
36. ^ Neeley, Philip P. (1846). "Masonic Tribute to the Late General Andrew Jackson". The Freemason's Monthly Magazine. 5. Boston, MA: Tuttle & Dennett: 83.
37. ^ Weed, Thurlow (1877). "A Good Enough Morgan". Selections from the Newspaper Articles of Thurlow Weed. Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons and Company: 51–61.
38. ^ ^{a b c}  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Anti-Masonic Party". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 127.
39. ^ Mark Stein, American Panic: A History of Who Scares Us and Why, 2014, p. 45
40. ^ Edward S. Mihalkanin, editor, American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell, 2004, p. 451
41. ^ Jeffrey D. Schultz, John G. West, Iain S. MacLean, editors, Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics, 1999, p. 18
42. ^ Charles Elliott Fitch Encyclopedia of Biography of New York, Volume 1, 1916, p. 318
43. ^ Benson John Lossing, The Empire State: A Compendious History of the Commonwealth of New York, 1888, p. 447
44. ^ John G. Gasaway, Tippecanoe and the Party Press Too: Mass Communication, Politics, Culture, and the Fabled Presidential Election of 1840, 1999, p. 228
45. ^ ^{a b} Wells, Frederic Palmer (1902). History of Newbury, Vermont. The Caledonian Company. p. 340. Retrieved September 19, 2014. william a palmer governor vermont anti-masonic.
46. ISBN 978-0608438405
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
47. ^ Niles, William Ogden (September 30, 1837). "National Antimasonic Convention". Niles' National Register. Vol. 53. p. 68.
48. ^ Hemenway, Abby Maria (1882). The History of the Town of Montpelier, Including that of the Town of East Montpelier. A. M. Hemenway. p. 273. Retrieved September 19, 2014. augustine clark treasurer.
49. ^ Vermont Secretary of State (1902). Vermont Legislative Directory. Vermont Watchman Co. p. 199. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
50. ^ Pennsylvania Bureau of Statistics (1875). Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Pennsylvania, Volume 2. B. F. Meyers, State Printer. p. 17. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
51. ISBN 978-1584650867
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
52. ISBN 978-0870499470
    . Retrieved September 21, 2014.
53. ISBN 978-0160845789
    . Retrieved September 21, 2014.
54. ^ American Historical Association (1903). Annual Report, Volume I. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 551. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
55. ISBN 978-0786490301
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
56. ^
    ISBN 978-0307742513
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
57. ^ "PA US President – AM Convention Race – Dec 14, 1835". Our Campaigns. 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
58. Newspapers.com
    .
59. ^ "VT US President – AM Convention Race – Feb 24, 1836". Our Campaigns. 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
60. ^ "US President – AM Convention Race – May 04, 1836". Our Campaigns. 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
61. ISBN 978-0807823354
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
62. ^ Mueller, Richard Mueller (1922). The Whig Party in Pennsylvania. Columbia University. p. 276. Retrieved September 19, 2014. anti-masonic harrison 1836.
63. ISBN 978-1118290828
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
64. ^ Haywood, H. L., ed. (1921). The Builder: A Journal for the Masonic Student. Vol. 7. National Masonic Research Society. p. 77. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
65. ^ "US President – AM Convention Race – Nov 13, 1838". Our Campaigns. 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
66. ISBN 978-0393310887
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
67. ^ ^{a b} McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham (1914). Cyclopedia of American Government, Volume 1. D. Appleton and Company. p. 49. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
68. ^ Cheathem, Mark R. (April 11, 2019). "Conspiracy Theories Abounded in 19th-Century American Politics". Smithsonian. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
69. ISBN 978-0-19-532502-7
    .
70. ISBN 978-1400870080
    .
71. ^ Vaughn, The Anti-Masonic Party in the United States: 1826–1843 pp. 21–34.
72. ISBN 978-0786450763
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
73. ISBN 978-0313308284
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
74. ISBN 978-0313398759
    . Retrieved September 19, 2014.
75. ^ Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, List of Anti-Masonic Party Members of Congress. Retrieved June 17, 2014.

Sources and further reading

• Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the union (1956) vol 2 pp 273-304.
• ISBN 0-393-00331-0
  .
• Cooper, William J. (2017). The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics. Liveright Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1631493898
  .
• Formisano, Ronald P. (2008). For the People: American Populist Movements from the Revolution to the 1850s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
  ISBN 978-0-8078-3172-4
  .
• Formisano, Ronald P.; Kutolowski, Kathleen Smith (1977). "Antimasonry and Masonry: The Genesis of Protest, 1826–1827". American Quarterly. 29 (2): 139–165.
  JSTOR 2712356
  .
• Goodman, Paul. Towards a Christian republic: Antimasonry and the great transition in New England 1826–1836 (Oxford University Press, 1988).
• Holt, Michael F. "The Antimasonic and Know Nothing Parties," in History of U.S. Political Parties, ed. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (4 vols., New York, 1973), vol I, 575–620.
• Jamele, John F. (1991), The Antimasonic Party in Massachusetts, 1826–1835, College Park, MD: University of Maryland Library.
• McCarthy, Charles (1903), The Antimasonic Party: A Study of Political Antimasonry in the United States, 1827–1840, Washington: Government Printing Office, reprinted from Annual Report of the American Historical Association, vol. 1, 1902, pp. 365–574.
• Nathans, Sydney (1973), Daniel Webster and Jacksonian Democracy, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press,
  ISBN 978-0-8018-1246-0
  .
• Ratcliffe, Donald J. "Antimasonry and Partisanship in Greater New England, 1826–1836." Journal of the Early Republic 15.2 (1995): 199–239.
• Rayback, Robert J. Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President. Buffalo Historical Society. 1959. online
• Rupp, Robert O. "Parties and the public good: political Antimasonry in New York reconsidered." Journal of the Early Republic 8.3 (1988): 253–279. online
• Shade, William. "Review: The Elder Goodman's 'Light on Antimasonry'?" Reviews in American History (1989) 17#1 pp. 58–63 in jstor;
• Stahr, Walter (2012). Seward : Lincoln's indispensable man. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  ISBN 978-1-4391-2118-4
  .
• Trefousse, Hans L. Thaddeus Stevens: Nineteenth-Century Egalitarian. University of North Carolina Press. 1997.
• Vaughn, William Preston (1983) The Antimasonic Party in the United States, 1826–1843. University Press of Kentucky.
  ISBN 0-8131-1474-8
  , the standard history.
• Van Deusen, Glyndon G. Thurlow Weed, Wizard of the Lobby (1947) online.