page_title: Anti-Masonic Party
section_title: Members of Congress
hierarchical_section_title: Anti-Masonic Party / Members of Congress
caption_attribution_description: English: Grattan H. Wheeler, Congressman from New York
context_page_description: The Anti-Masonic Party, also known as the Anti-Masonic Movement, was the first third party in the United States. It strongly opposed Freemasonry as a single-issue party and later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. After emerging as a political force in the late 1820s, most of the Anti-Masonic Party's members joined the Whig Party in the 1830s and the party disappeared after 1838.
  The party was founded in the aftermath of the disappearance of William Morgan, a former Mason who had ultimately become a prominent critic of the Masonic organization. Many believed that the 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. 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's National Republicans.
context_section_description: The Anti-Masons did not elect anyone to the Senate, but elected several members of the House of Representatives.
  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
caption: Grattan H. Wheeler, Anti-Masonic congressman from New York
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