book's sales. The generally believed version of events was that Masons killed Morgan by drowning him in the Niagara River. Whether he fled or was murdered, Morgan's disappearance led many to believe that Freemasonry was in conflict with good citizenship. Because judges, businessmen, bankers and politicians were often Masons, ordinary citizens began to think of it as an elitist group. Moreover, many claimed that the lodges' secret oaths bound Masons to favor each other against outsiders in the courts and elsewhere. Because some trials of alleged Morgan conspirators were mishandled and the Masons resisted further inquiries, many New Yorkers concluded that Masons controlled key offices and used their official authority to promote the goals of the fraternity by ensuring that Morgan's supposed killers escaped punishment. When a member sought to reveal its secrets, so ran the conclusion, the Freemasons had done away with him. Because they controlled the courts and other offices, they were considered capable of obstructing the investigation. True Americans, they said, had to organize and defeat this conspiracy. If good government was to be restored "all Masons must be purged from public office". Party foundation The Anti-Masonic Party was formed in Upstate New York in February 1828. Anti-Masons were opponents of Freemasonry, believing that it was a corrupt and elitist secret society which was ruling much of the country in defiance of republican principles. Many people regarded the Masonic organization and its adherents involved in government as corrupt. Opposition to Masonry was taken up by some evangelical Protestant churches as a religious cause, particularly in the Burned-over district of upstate New York. Many churches passed resolutions condemning ministers and lay leaders who were Masons and several denominations condemned Freemasonry, including the Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist and Baptist churches. Anti-Masonry became a political issue in Western New York, where early in 1827 many mass meetings resolved not to support Masons for public office. In New York, the supporters of President John Quincy Adams, called "Adams men", or Anti-Jacksonians, or National Republicans, were a feeble organization. Adams supporters used the strong anti-Masonic feeling to create a new party in opposition to the rising Jacksonian Democracy nationally and the Albany Regency political organization of Martin Van Buren in New York. In this effort, they were aided by the fact that Andrew Jackson was a high-ranking Mason and frequently spoke in praise of the organization. The alleged remark of Anti-Masonic organizer Thurlow