ALS as a Massachusetts Congressman, signed “J. Q. Adams,” one page, 7.75 x 10, August 28, 1832. Addressed from Quincy, a handwritten letter to Nathan Lazell, Holmes Sprague, and Samuel Breck, “A Committee of the Anti Masonic Convention of Plymouth County, held at Halifax, on the 20th of August 1832,” in full: “I have received your Letter communicating to me, the Resolution of the recent County Convention at Halifax, which has given me the highest satisfaction, and for which the Convention are entitled to my grateful acknowledgments. In undertaking the performance of the duties assigned to me by the trust confided to me by my fellow citizens of the Congressional District of Plymouth, the first of my obligations was to promote to the best of my ability their interests, in harmony with those of the people of the whole Union. That the discharge of that obligation has been so fortunate as to meet the approbations of the large and respectable portion of my Constituents, whom you represent, is at once a precious reward for the past, and a stimulant to faithful exertion during the remainder of the term of service allotted to me. For the obliging terms, in which you have communicated the resolution of the Convention, I offer you my sincere thanks.” In very good to fine condition, with scattered light foxing, and toning along one of the multiple intersecting folds.
The Anti-Masonic party, the first third-party movement in the United States, was founded in 1826 when William Morgan threatened to pen a book divulging the secrets of Freemasonry; after publicizing his intentions, he suddenly disappeared. The founders of the Anti-Masons, along with many other American citizens, masons or otherwise, believed that Morgan had been kidnapped and murdered by the Order. Support for the Anti-Masons grew rapidly, drawing much aid from rural areas in the Northeast. The movement thoroughly opposed freemasons' secrecy, rituals, and aristocratic character, believing these qualities to be in direct opposition to a republican democracy. Thousands of masons renounced their memberships during this tumultuous time, reducing the number of lodges from 507 before 1826 to only 48 by 1832 (Dictionary of American History, I:82).
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