Anti-Masonic Apron

Have you ever heard of an "Anti-Masonic Apron?" Hold your horses before you get too upset at that nomenclature.

The aftermath of the set of events in 1826 known as the "Morgan Affair," was a trying time for the Masonic Fraternity. Feelings against the Masons became so intense it led to the formation of the first political third-party in the US, actually called the Anti-Masonic party. The Masons resisted the movement as best they could but anti-Masonic sentiment was intense.

One of the tools the Masons used to fight back was something called the "Anti-Masonic apron. It wasn't an apron per se, but a depiction of one in ads and flyers. Printed by William Cammeyer of Albany, New York during the 1832 presidential election campaign, the apron symbolically contrasts Masons and anti-Masons.

The left side of the apron shows a three-headed anti-Masonic hydra and the sandy foundation of the movement. The structure of anti-Masonry, shown collapsed in ruins, is built on broken planks of baseless fabrication and rottenness with associations to Benedict Arnold and even the likes of Judas. Spewing from the mouths of the serpentine hydra are the anti-Masonic traits of Vice, Perjury, Collusion, Slavery, Cowardice, Ignorance, Anarchy, Perfidy, Intolerance, and a host of other insipid characteristics billowing into a cloud called the "blackness of darkness."

The apron's right side illustrates a stone pyramid of Freemasonry built on the Rock of Ages. The pyramid's steps include Universal Benevolence, Equal Rights, Science, Sincerity, Fortitude, Charity, Honor and other Masonic characteristics. An eagle of victory sits atop the pyramid and, above that a Just and True square and compasses and the beacon of Perfect Light.

It's difficult to gauge the effectiveness of the Anti-Masonic apron. In that 1932 election Andrew Jackson, former Grand Master of Kentucky, defeated Henry Clay, also a Freemason. William Wirt, the Anti-Masonic Party candidate, oddly, was also a Mason. He garnered only 3 electoral votes. Wirt's Anti-Masonic party dissolved eight years later, but the anti-Masonic sentiment of the Morgan Affair lingered on.

Perhaps one of the interesting aspects of the apron is that we can see, even as far back as the early 19^th century, Freemasonry, as a whole, stood against slavery. It also promoted Equal Rights and Tolerance, subjects at the forefront today, nearly two centuries later.