Illinois had been a state (1818) less than a decade when the Morgan affair took place and political Antimasonry became a reality. Although there is no evidence of an organized effort against Freemasonry in this state, the weak and struggling grand lodge, chartered in 1822, collapsed in 1828, probably more from internal problems than as a result of outside pressures. . . .

Although reliable statistics are scarce and estimates vary, total Masonic membership in the United States may have declined as much as two-thirds, from more than 100,000 in the mid-1820s to some 40,000 a decade later.