the Antimasonic electoral ticket and the support of the Clay electoral ticket, with the idea that if Wirt had the greater number of votes throughout the country the ticket would be thrown for him-in fact, they proposed somewhat the same arrangement as in New York." This brought a storm of protest from the radical Antimasons throughout the State, and led to dissentions and to the dividing of the opposition to Jackson, although the National Republican papers tried to keep before the minds of the Antimasons that it was a mu

Shaded portions represent the strongholds of political Antimasonry.

tual ticket, which would be given to the highest number of votes. The coalition was unsuccessful, as Jackson received 4,707 votes for a majority. There were only about 500 votes given to Wirt independently in the State. It is entirely probable that the Antimasons of Ohio voted with a fair de

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a See Columbus Emigrant Extra, quoted in Albany Argus November 2, 1832. See also Albany Argus, October 26, 1832; Hamilton Intelligencer, October 20, 1832; Ohio Sentinel, October 25, 1832; Niles' Register, XLIII, 138.

b Albany Argus, November 1, 2, 1832; Boston Columbian Sentinel, November 26, 1832. Protests "condemning any bargain" had been made before the union took place. See National Historian, October 13, 1832, report of Uniontown, Belmont County, Antimasonic meeting.

e Ohio State Journal, October 27, 1832.

d Ohio State Journal, November 17, 1832; Columbus Monitor Extra, quoted in Albany Argus, November 17, 1832.

H. Doc. 461, pt 1-34

gree of enthusiasm for the Clay electoral ticket. They were accused of treachery by the National Republicans throughout the country, but the Ohio Clay papers did not support this charge and praised them for their zeal."

This election was the deathblow to Antimasonry in Ohio and although conventions were held after this' and petitions were sent to the legislature constantly, political Antimasonry united in 1834 with the new Whig movement in Ohio which arose over the opposition to the nomination of Van Buren.d The Antimasonic cause never had great strength in Ohio and is chiefly important for its possibilities to the party if it had developed. The Antimasonic leaders and newspapers of the East gave much attention to it, and as we shall see the party sought a president from the State in the person of Judge McLean.

a Ohio State Journal, November 24, 1832.

b Pennsylvania Telegraph, March 12, 1834; Pennsylvania Intelligencer, November 26, 1834.

Ohio Statesman and Annals of Progress, Columbus, 1899, p. 166.

d Ohio State Journal, October 25, 1834.

e For other States see the appendix.

CHAPTER XXII-ANTIMASONRY IN NATIONAL POLITICS.

As early as 1827 the leaders of the party in New York had already formed the plan of a great national organization, and efforts were made to ascertain the position of Henry Clay upon the question of Masonry, in view of making him a possible candidate."

In 1828, as we have already seen, Adams made himself the national leader of Antimasonry by his letter upon that subject during the campaign.' He, however, did not suit the purposes of the leaders; the " cause needed a new name not before identified with its history. * * * It felt that it could derive no strength or prestige from the nomination of one of its well known and practiced leaders." Then, too, he was unpopular in New York and his nomination would hurt the cause there.

It was to Henry Clay, therefore, that the party turned for a leader who would unite all the elements of opposition to Jackson; but, unfortunately, Clay was a Mason. As he was known to be but half-hearted in his adherence to the order every sort of pressure was brought to bear to make him renounce it, or at least show that he was in sympathy with political Antimasonry. But the actions of the Antimasons

a Weed, Autobiography, I, 350.

b Albany Argus, August 6, 26, 1828.

e Seward, Autobiography, I, 90.

d Seward to Weed, September 14, 1831. Weed, Autobiography, I, 41.

e Clay's Correspondence, 304, January 23, 1831. "I have been urged, entreated, importuned, to make some declaration short of renunciation of Masonry, which would satisfy the Antis. But I have hitherto declined all interference on that subject. While I do not, and never did care about Masonry, I shall abstain from making myself any party to that strife. I tell them that Masonry and Antimasory has legitimately in my opinion nothing to do with politics; that I never acted, in public or private life, under any Masonic influence; that I have long since ceased to be a member of any lodge; that I voted for Mr. Adams, no Mason, against General Jackson, a Mason." See letter to Anti masons in Niles's Register, XLI, 260, in which he said that to use the power of Government to abolish or advance the interest of Masonry or Antimasonry * ** would be an act of usurpation or tyranny."

of New York, as reported throughout the country," as well as the inconsistency of renouncing Masonry for merely political purposes, led him to "disclaim and repudiate the party." This was a hard blow to Weed and his fellow-politicians, who had carefully worked the matter up for some time under trying criticism and adverse circumstances."

The Antimasons "generally sympathized with Mr. Clay upon questions of Government policy, and especially in regard to the question of protecting American industries." So anxious, indeed, were they to secure Clay as a leader that the Antimasonic papers industriously tried to clear away and explain the Masonic stain. It was said that Clay looked upon Masonry as a "mere bauble." He had but to utter the slightest platitudes (as was afterwards the case with Wirt) to become the candidate of the party. Said the Antimasonic Providence American:

We care not about his renouncing Masonry, but he should let us know that he is bound by no oaths and no ties that have not for their [aim] his country's welfare, his whole country's good. Another year will not pass before we shall see this, or Henry Clay is not the "frank and peerless man" he has ever shown himself.

Hopeless of securing Clay, the leaders looked around for a candidate who would in some way be in sympathy with their doctrines and at the same time be popular in the three great States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Calhoun was considered, because, as Seward said, “Calhoun, more than any other of the candidates, talks Antimasonry," but he was an impossibility, because "the stain of nullification” was “too

a Weed, Autobiography, I, 353.

b Ibid.

The action of the Clay Masons in New York in the election of 1830 aroused the indignation of many of the Antimasons and made it exceedingly hard to put his name forward. The executive committee of the Antimasonic party in New York wrote to him, November 24, 1830, and told him they could not directly support him because of the election of 1830." Clay's Correspondence, 290.

Independent

d Weed, Autobiography, I, 350. See also Clay's Correspondence, 309. Chronicle, September 12, 22, 1832. This was true everywhere, except among some of the Germans of Pennsylvania.

e Albany Evening Journal, June 6, 1831. See also Ibid., August 3, 1831, and the account of the Antimasonic and National Republican meeting at Abingdon, Mass., July 4, 1832; for similar expressions. Certificates, probably false, were made to show that he had demitted. Niles Register, XLI, 346. Rush offered his services to Clay, if he would conciliate the Antimasons. Clay's Correspondence, 299.

Seward, Autobiography, I, 184. He did not believe in proscription, however.—Calhoun's Correspondence, Manuscripts Commission, 1900, pp. 293, 296.

black upon his record." Richard Rush was then thought of, but he soon made it known that he should decline if offered the nomination."

Negotiations were next opened with McLean, of Ohio. Ohio seemed to furnish good ground for the Antimasonic spirit, because of its large National Republican New England population, and it was hoped that if McLean was nominated the State would become Antimasonic. The party would then, it was thought, control the three great States. McLean was communicated with and gave his consent on condition that no other candidate should be put forward against Jackson.d New England, however, strongly favored Adams and was jealous of McLean, because it was thought that he was "a protégé" of Calhoun's, a feeling which was thought by Seward to have been "grounded upon conversation with Mr. Adams regarding McLean."e Seward went to Boston to patch the matter up, and found Adams unwilling to run, although, if nominated, he would not decline. He did not wish to disrupt the National Republican party, and regarded “a harmonious choice at Baltimore" as "vastly more important than a personal question.”/

Before the convention assembled it became known that Clay would accept a nomination from the National Republicans. This brought a letter from McLean declining the nomination." The party was thus left without a candidate when the convention opened. However, Weed, accompanied by John C. Spencer, Albert H. Tracy, of New York, and Dr. Abner Phillips, of Boston, called upon William Wirt and induced him to become a candidate, although he was a Mason and had never renounced the order. He was, nevertheless, nominated."

a Seward, Autobiography, I, 184. Says Seward, "the free, the cold, clear, intelligent North is the field for the growth of our cause. Let us not jeapordize it by transferring its main stalk into South Carolina sands. The great States which we need, and must combine, are Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. In these Calhoun is lost." Ibid., I, 195. b Adams's Diary, VIII, 403.

e Seward, Autobiography, I, 195. dWeed, Autobiography, I, 389.

e Weed, Autobiography, II, 41.

Ibid. See, also, Seward, Autobiography, I, pp. 198, 206.

g Weed, Autobiography, I, pp. 390, 391. I have not included an extended account of the convention, because the proceedings throw no new light upon the subject. The proceedings contain the average Antimasonic speeches and are of little significance.

h Stevens opposed his nomination to the last moment, thinking that if the nomination was forced upon McLean he would accept. Seward. Autobiography, I, 90.