who was kidnapped and carried away from the village of Batavia, on the 11th day of September, 1826, by a number of Freemasons.” In it, Miller stated: Shortly after Morgan’s disappearance, Miller published Illustrations of Masonry with a scathing introduction that was written “in the absence of the author. Although it still exists, the organization is a shadow of its former self. Because of the Morgan Affair, and the ant-Masonic sentiment that followed, memberships dwindled and Masonic influence diminished all over the country. That’s not to say that the movement was a complete failure. Says Burt about the death of the movement: “Ultimately, there wasn’t enough substance to the movement to allow it to endure, and it simply collapsed under its own weight.” Infighting over who to nominate, and how to expand the party’s core platform to other issues other than hating the Masons, led to its ultimate demise. Unfortunately, the party’s first national convention would be its last. In 1830, they became the first political party to hold a presidential nominating convention, a custom eventually adopted by all major American political parties. The Anti-Masonic party-considered America’s first “third party’-had officially gone national. Even the sitting president, John Quincy Adams, declared that he had never been, and would never be, a Mason. As early as the next elections in 1828, anti-Masonic candidates were winning offices all over the country. The fervor in New York slowly made its way around the nation. That sentiment extended to the media as well, as Mason-owned newspapers were boycotted. If New Yorkers didn’t want to be ruled by the Masons, their most immediate course of action was to vote them out. Citizens from all over New York state met and declared their intent to stop voting for candidates with Masonic ties. It didn’t take long before a movement was borne.” The outrage led to calls for political action. “And that was the initial spark-headlines, outrage, crimes, a murder. “Everybody loves a good conspiracy story,” says Burt. Chesebro-received prison terms ranging from one month to two years in jail, convicted, as Burt put it, of “forcibly moving Morgan from one place to another against his will.” The all-powerful Masons had, in the eyes of those who opposed them, gotten away with murder Although they had been involved in a potential murder, the four defendants-Loton Lawson, Eli Bruce, Col. The men accused of Morgan’s disappearance were put on trial, but in January of 1827, they were handed relatively lenient sentences. The “insular, secretive, powerful” Masons, as Burt described them, soon became a popular symbol of everything that was wrong with the country. With each new county that heard the news, it seemed the brutality and drama of the kidnapping grew exponentially, while the desire to portray it accurately diminished at a similar rate. The rumors of Morgan’s disappearance spread throughout New York. Late in the evening, he was bailed out by group of Masons led by Loton Lawson-the mastermind of the kidnapping, according to Light on Masonry, a 19th century compilation of documents about freemasonry.Ģ020 Supreme Court rules in McGirt v. Soon after he arrived at the police station, the charges were dropped, but Morgan was immediately arrested for another petty debt of $2.65. It seems he had borrowed a shirt and tie from the owner of the local tavern and never returned it. On September 11, a gang of Masons showed up at Morgan’s house with an arrest warrant for petty larceny. On September 8, a posse of drunken Masons tried to destroy his print shop, and it was damaged by a small fire two days later. Miller’s offices became a target as well. Law enforcement officers loyal to the Freemasons arrested and jailed Morgan and Miller for outstanding debts. As the publish date approached, the Masons began a targeted campaign of harassment against the two would-be book publishers. Imagining the worst, committees were organized to assess the potential fallout from Morgan and Miller’s proposed story. In every neighboring county, Masonic chapters were soon gripped with panic, fear and outrage at what the two men might disclose. Miller and Morgan’s threat to reveal the innermost secrets of the Masons spread quickly.
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