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Free Soil Party

The End of the Whigs: Thurlow Weed & The Birth of the Republican Party

October 13, 2021 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Thurlow Weed ca 1865 photo by Matthew Brady from the National Portrait GalleryFollowing his political successes in the disputed Election of 1824, Thurlow Weed was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1825 and again in 1830.

In the 1820s, like many in Upstate New York with populist, anti-elite feelings, Weed strongly believed the Masons were trying to control government using secret means. He felt that political affairs should be conducted publicly and particularly opposed the fraternal secrecy of Freemasonry.  An alleged conspiracy by Masons to murder William Morgan in Western New York in September, 1826 sparked the anti-Freemasonry movement. Weed began publishing the Anti-Masonic Enquirer in Rochester, NY in February, 1828.

Soon Weed was hired as editor of the newly formed Anti-Masonic Albany Evening Journal, which began publication on March 22, 1830. The move to Albany made him a statewide leader of the fledgling Anti-Masonic Party. [Read more…] about The End of the Whigs: Thurlow Weed & The Birth of the Republican Party

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Abe Lincoln, Abolition, Albany, Anti-Masonic Party, Compromise of 1850, Free Soil Party, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Mexican War, Millard Fillmore, Missouri Compromise, Political History, politics, Slavery, Thurlow Weed, William Seward

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