for the New York State Assembly. He won his race by a significant margin and represented Monroe County in 1825's 48th New York State Legislature. While serving in the Assembly, he befriended William H. Seward, whose legal and political careers were just beginning. In 1825, Weed bought the Rochester Telegraph. During 1827, he became involved in the controversy surrounding the disappearance of William Morgan, a former Mason who had threatened to publish a book revealing the secrets of Masonic rituals and degree ceremonies. Weed recognized an opportunity to harness sentiment against the Masons and use it to oppose the policies of Democrat Andrew Jackson at the national level, and the Albany Regency of Martin Van Buren at the state level. He was an organizer of the Anti-Masonic Party, and used the pages of the Telegraph to keep Morgan's disappearance in the news. Morgan was presumed to have been carried away by Masons and drowned in the Niagara River. When a body washed ashore in September 1827, many Upstate New York residents assumed it was Morgan's. Though it was positively identified as Canadian Timothy Munro (or Munroe) by his wife, many Anti-Masons persisted in believing it was Morgan's. Weed was alleged to have said the body was a "good enough Morgan" to stoke the controversy until after the upcoming election, a remark Weed denied making. Though the party's 1828 candidate for governor of New York, Solomon Southwick, was defeated, Weed and other organizers succeeded in making it the main opposition to the Democratic Party, and experienced electoral success in several northern states, including Vermont and Pennsylvania. In 1828, Masons succeeded in forcing Weed out of the Telegraph. In 1829, he was again elected to the Assembly from Monroe County, this time as an Anti-Mason. He served a one-year term in 1830, which included the sessions of the 53rd New York State Legislature. He also started the Albany Evening Journal. The Evening Journal became the largest Anti-Masonic newspaper; Weed was editor, chief reporter, proofreader, and political expert. In 1832, Weed supported Adams's ally Henry Clay, who ran for president as the candidate of the National Republican Party. He was a strong advocate of Clay's "American System" for economic development, including a national bank, "internal improvements" such as roads and railroads, and a protective tariff. By 1834, the Adams-Clay organization that had been the National Republicans was forming into the Whig Party. Most