The Imperfect Storm For Sale

FORGOTTEN AMERICANHISTORY
William Morgan was a nondescript, obscure man, an alcoholic with few prospects for improvement, who had an inability to handle his finances. He arrived in Batavia, New York, in the mid-1820s, and ignited a chain of events that set the Masonic world on fire and had a profound effect on American history. A Masonic impostor, Morgan embraced the fraternity but his drunken, irresponsible lifestyle led to losing its member’s trust. Fired from the only decent job he had ever had and shunned by the Freemasons, he vowed to exact revenge. Morgan, a drunken braggart, soon let his plans slip in local bars. The Masons’ response was quick and ferocious. In a cascading series of ill-advised decisions, they had Morgan arrested, then kidnapped and imprisoned him. The plan backfired. Morgan’s disappearance and the uncertainty about his fate brought the wrath of the nation down on Freemasonry. This incident, known as the Morgan Affair, became a cancerous assailant on the American landscape, invading politics and affecting every President from Andrew Jackson to Millard Fillmore and beyond. It forced US Freemasonry to go underground and in some places destroyed the Fraternity. Nineteenth century Americans were steeped in the aftereffects of the episode. Freemasons today feel the consequences of the actions of ancient Brothers who ignored the fraternity’s own teachings.