The Anti-Masonic Party was the first “third party” in the United States. It strongly opposed Freemasonry as a single-issue party, and later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. After emerging as a political force in the late 1820s, most of the Anti-Masonic Party’s members joined the Whig Party in the 1830s, and the party disappeared after 1838.