Washington, D.C., Date: 1833. No binding. Fine. Autograph Letter Signed as Congressman, to Stephen Bates. Washington, D.C., April 1, 1833. 3 pp. 8 x 9 3/4 in. ""To all members of the Masonic fraternity, who entered it before the murder of Morgan I would extend the most liberal Toleration. Most of them took the Oaths without reflecting upon what they imported....Now the case is otherwise. How they can now take or administer the cutthroat Oath to keep Secret, what all the world knows, I cannot comprehend.""In the wake of the murder of William Morgan, a prominent anti-Mason who had threatened to reveal the society's secrets, John Quincy Adams requested the return of an old letter. Considering the political climate, Adams thought the letter would reflect poorly on its now-deceased recipient, as well as expose Adams, a prominent opponent of Freemasonry, to public criticism for having supported a man he knew to be of good character who also happened to be a Mason. The former president, now in Congress, goes on to explain his political support for anti-Masonry, one of the first third-party political movements in the United States. Complete TranscriptStephen Bates Esq. Boston Washington 1 April 1833I thank you for your kindness and attention in procuring and transmitting to me the Letter which about this Time last year I wrote to my young and now deceased friend John B. Davis, little as I imagined when it was written how sad and by what a melancholy ...