Showing posts with label Anti-Masonic Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anti-Masonic Party. Show all posts

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Samuel Clarke Pomeroy




Samuel Clarke Pomeroy, January 3, 1816 (Southampton, Mass.) – August 27, 1891 (Whitinsville, Mass.)

VP candidate for Anti-Masonic Party (aka American Party aka Anti-Secret Society Party aka National American Party) (1880)

Running mate with nominee: John W. Phelps (1813-1885)
Popular vote: 1,045 (0.01%)                       
Electoral vote: 0/369

The campaign:

The revised and resurrected version of the old Anti-Masonic Party called to "Expose, withstand, and remove secret societies, Freemasonry in particular and other anti-Christian movements, in order to save the churches of Christ from being depraved." They agreed with the Prohibition Party on the alcohol issue and with the Greenbacks on currency.

Apparently Pomeroy took no active part in the campaign.

The election results for the Phelps/Pomeroy ticket didn't exactly set the world on fire. In some states their popular vote was in the single digits.

Election history:
1852-1853 - Massachusetts House of Representatives
1856 - Republican Vice-Presidential nomination - defeated
1858-1859 - Mayor of Atchison, Kan.
1861-1873 - US Senator (Kan.) (Republican)
1868 - Republican Vice-Presidential nomination - defeated
1872 - US Senator (Kan.) (Republican) - defeated

Other occupations: teacher, speculator, newspaper publisher, President of Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad

Buried: Forest Hills Cemetery (Jamaica Plain, Mass.)

Notes:
Involved with the New England Emigrant Aid Company, bringing anti-slavery settlers to Kansas.
Buried in the same cemetery as e.e. cummings, Eugene O'Neill, and Anne Sexton.
Accused of bribery during his attempt to be re-elected to the US Senate. The case was never resolved in court.
Said to be the inspiration for Mark Twain's "Sen. Dilworthy" character in his book The Gilded Age  
 (published Dec. 1873)
Was nominated for President in 1884 by the American Prohibition Party (formerly known as the Anti-Masonic Party) but Pomeroy dropped out of the race and endorsed the Prohibition Party candidate John St. John.
Supported Salmon P. Chase over Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 Republican primary season.
Known as "Subsidy Pom"
Died from kidney disease.

Friday, May 24, 2019

Donald Kirkpatrick


Donald Kirkpatrick, September 9, 1830 (Salina, NY) - September 19, 1889 (Syracuse, NY)

VP candidate for American National Party (aka Anti-Masonic Party aka Anti-Secret Society Party) (1876)

Running mate with nominee: James B. Walker (1805-1887)
Popular vote: 463 (0.01%)                     
Electoral vote: 0/369

The campaign:
The American National Party was basically the political arm of the Presbyterian-based National Christian Association and to some degree was a descendant of the Anti-Masonic Party.

Their platform started with:

"That ours is a Christian and not a heathen nation, and that the God of the Christian Scriptures is the author of civil government"

And from that foundation it supported prohibition, equal rights for all Americans, the elimination of secret societies, the Bible should be taught alongside the sciences in schools, justice for Native Americans, ending monopolies, and eradicating the Electoral College.

The Party was on the ballot in six Midwestern states (Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ohio) but didn't poll over 1% in any of them. Their best showing was in Illinois with 0.03%. In Ohio they ran under the Anti-Masonic Party name but in the rest they were listed as Anti-Secret Society Party.

Election history: none

Other occupations: President of the National Christian Association, salt manufacturer

Buried: Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, NY)

Notes:
Member of the Anti-Secret Society Association.
His father William Kirkpatrick (1769-1832) served in the US House as a Democratic-Republican 1807-1809.
His twin brother William (1830-1900) was a major donor to the Onondaga Historical Association and the twins' papers are currently housed in the archives.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Amos Ellmaker




Amos Ellmaker, February 2, 1787 (Leacock Township, Penn.) - November 28, 1851 (Lancaster, Penn.)

VP candidate for Anti-Masonic Party 1832
Running mate with nominee: William Wirt (1772-1834)
Popular vote: 100,715 (7.78%) (Pennsylvania fusion votes for Clay and Wirt were counted for Wirt,
 accounting for 66,706 of these votes)
Electoral vote: 7/286 (Vermont)

The campaign: As the name implies, the Anti-Masonic Party started as a single-issue movement chiefly in the North, but later embraced a strong protective tariff platform. They have two firsts-- America's first major third party, and they held the first political party nominating convention in the U.S. (Sept. 1831 in Baltimore). Appealing to those who opposed the policies of President Jackson, as well as anti-elitists and conspiracy buffs, this party elected governors and congressmen throughout the 1830s. Among their number were future Whigs John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, Thaddeus Stevens, and William Seward. The Wirt/Ellmaker ticket won Vermont with over 40%, and polled a strong third place in Massachusetts (21.73%) and Connecticut (10.38%) but had no impact on the outcome where the popular Andrew Jackson was re-elected overwhelmingly.

Election history:
1813-1814, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (Democratic-Republican)
1814, US House Representative (Penn.) but did not serve
1834, US Senate (Penn.) (Anti-Masonic) - defeated

Other occupations: attorney, Deputy Attorney General for Dauphin County, Penn., Pennsylvania Attorney General, soldier in War of 1812, judge.

Buried: Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery, Lancaster, Penn.

Notes:
Ellmaker turned down offers to serve as Sec. of War (under Monroe), as a Justice for the 
 Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
His victorious opponent during the 1834 election for the US Senate was James Buchanan.
Amos Ellmaker is listed (or ranked) 48 on the list "Famous People Named Amos" in Ranker.
Mr. Beat in Youtube calls Ellmaker "A hipster way before it was hip," probably based on his portrait.