The
Anti-Masonic Party was the first major Third Party in American Politics, formed as a state Party in New York in 1828. It was also called
the Anti-Masonic League.
Masonry had been widespread and popular in the Colonial period of American history and continued to be so after the Revolution. Many people, mostly
from the upper class though with good numbers in what today would be called the working 'upper middle class' were Freemasons, and the Fraternity
enjoyed widespread acceptance. 1826, the year of the Morgan Affair, changed that. Anti-masonic ideas became popular in New York State, where the
political machinery was operated by Martin Van Buren, a mason. The anti-masonic aggitators appealed primarily to the poor, who weren't invovled in
masonry. The party was primarily successful at getting its candidates elected to local and state offices.
By the 1830s, the party lost steam and began to fracture. Many of its members formed the Whig Party, and others joined the old Democratic Party.
Relevant Discussion Threads
Anti-Masonic Party
Anti-Mason Party in 1800s?