BACKGROUND, HISTORY, AND INFLUENCE
TO 1846
By James Davis Carter
INTRODUCTION BY WALTER PBESCOTT WEBB
PUBLISHED IN WACO BY THE
COMMITTEE ON MASONIC EDUCATION AND SERVICE
FOR THE GRAND LODGE OF TEXAS
A.F AND A.M.
1955
Chapter4- —————————+-+—-++——pages 119-154
FREEMASONRY AND UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT
THE ROLE of Freemasonry and individual Masons prior to and through the American Revolution was that of the destruction of the traditional social and political order based on an authoritarian philosophy and characterized by inequality and privilege. Speaking generally, in the ancient regime the church and state mutually supported each other in maintaining their respective places of predominance and privilege. Liberalism and liberals, which included Freemasonry and Masons, were declared to be traitorous by the state, and heretical and atheistic by the Church.
With the victorious end of the American Revolution, Masonic philosophy had, for the first time in history, an opportunity to play a constructive role in the erection of a political and social order. The experience of Masonic organizations before the Modern Age had taught Masons that liberty for the individual has never been handed down by the government—that liberty is gained through the limitation of the powers of government, not the increase of them. Masons had also discovered that freedoms are learned—the individual has freedom of thought only as he learns to move within the limits established by a rational intelligence; he has freedom to form opinions only after he has learned to distinguish the true from the false; he has social freedom only after he has learned to live according to accepted standards of social intercourse; he has political freedom to the extent to which the law protects his political rights; and he has freedom to extend his liberties only when he has learned to fulfill obligations and conditions of those liberties. Masons have long recognized that: “The discovery of the power to aim at ideals ends freely chosen by his own will and intelligence is the supreme achievement of man, and in that, more than any other in any other single fact, lies hope of the future.” (1)
It is often contended that a close relationship between government and operative masonry was already established when man entered the historic age. It is possible that government, in its first rude form, may have come into being in connection with some building activity by a community of men. The magnitude of some ancient ruins indicates that such buildings could not have been erected without a highly developed system of government to control and coordinate the vast number of workmen employed for long periods of time and to train the craftsmen that were required. Investigation shows that as the Dark Ages gave way to the Middle Ages, the builders were organized into craft guilds and by the end of the Middle Ages a highly developed corporate structure, based upon written charters or constitutions, had developed not only for the builders but for all crafts and trades.
Attention has already been called to the surviving British Masonic
manuscripts of the Middle Ages and their relationship to the formation of the philosophy of modern Freemasonry.(2) These documents contain three classes of materials: Legends of the Craft, Regulations and Masonic Ceremonies. The portion of interest here is the Regulations. The provisions of these early codes of regulations applied to: ethics of the Craft; relations between master and apprentices; duties of fellows and apprentices; payment and acceptance of wages; moral behavior of Masons to God, the Church, and the King.
The medieval craftsmen bound himself to his craft government by an oath of obedience and allegiance just as the citizen of today binds himself to his civil government. An example of such is found in the oath to the Guild of St. Katherine at Stamford:
I shall be a true man to God almighty, to Saint Mary and to St. Katherine, in whose honor and worship this Guild is founded; and shall be obedient to the Alderman of this Guild and to his successors, and come to him and to his Brethren when I have warnings and not absent myself without reasonable cause. I shall be ready to pay scot and bear lot and all my duties truly to pay and do; the ordinances, constitutions and rules of the Guild to keep, obey, perform, and to my power maintain, to my life’s end, so help me God and holydom and by this Book.(3)
The Masonic lodges, as a part of the guild system, possessed three
constitutional factors that gave them a certain amount of political
experience as follows:
They exercised a degree of restraint upon the state through their right to exercise certain judicial functions.
They served as an integral part of an independent. unit of local
government.
They possessed and exercised the right of voluntary association which included the right of assembly and discussion(4)
It seems that masons exercised a considerable degree of self-government under the guild system of the Middle Ages and that they probably had progressed as far in the evolution of political practices as any other organization not excepting the State or Church. There is no doubt that Masonic government, through assembly, discussion, and election of it’s officers and representatives for cooperation with other guilds in city government, exercised a greater degree of democracy than either state or church government at the beginning of the Modern Age. The Masons had not permitted the development of highly autocratic hierarchy with positions of privilege that could not be controlled by democratic means from below.
An offshoot of the guild system was the trading company.(5) In 1463, Edward IV granted a charter to a wool exporting company. In 1554, the Russia company was incorporated; in 1581, the Turkey Company; in 1600, the East India Company. The latter two of these companies, with charter provisions for the establishment of local government, brought the germ of a written constitution to America. The charters of the proprietary colonies were appropriate modifications of the written contract or constitution concept. In the case of Mary land, Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore, a roman Catholic and the founder, was made a constitutional monarch by the terms of the charter.(6) William Penn, the Quaker proprietor of Pennsylvania, a religious dissenter and Mason,(7) was empowered to establish a government for his colony in accordance with his philosophy.
Before leaving England Penn prepared, with the advice of prominent
landholders who planned to emigrate to Pennsylvania, a constitution and a body of laws for the colony. This Frame of Government, with some emendations and omissions, was adopted by an assembly representing the freemen of Pennsylvania in 1682. This First Frame was revised in the Second Frame in 1683 and by the Charter of Privileges of 1702 which became the fundamental law of the province.(8) This fundamental law was based on the consent of the governed; that authority should be vested in the law, not man.(9) This code in it’s final form was mild and humane for the age. Prisons were converted into work houses and reformatories and prisoners were not forced to pay fees or provide their own support. All law-abiding persons who “acknowledged one Almighty and eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the World” were to be free to worship God in the manner of their choice.(10)
The colonial charters, the immediate antecedents of the American state and federal constitutions, are therefore traceable to two major sources; charters of incorporation, such as the joint stock trading companies; and the doctrine of fundamental law and rights.(11) These principles are fundamental in Masonry and Penn, since he was a Mason, may have drawn his ideas, as well as those of representation and religious toleration for those who believed in God, from this source but there is no proof that he did.
It has already been pointed out that early in the seventeenth century, the operative Masonic lodges in Britain began to admit members who were not craftsmen as “accepted” Masons. This practice resulted in the fundamental change from an operative craft guild to a speculative school of philosophy. The survival of the Masonic organization while related organizations were dying out in Britain and on the Continent is of some significance. The first Grand Lodge which had it’s origin in London in 1717, adopted a constitution defining it’s powers and it’s relations with subordinate lodges and individual Masons. The constitution was drafted by Grand Master George Payne in 1720, and adopted by the Grand Lodge in 1721. It was revised by the Reverend James Anderson, and printed in the book form as Anderson’s Constitutions in 1723.
Anderson’s Constitutions conformed so perfectly to Masonic ideas of government that adoption followed in the Irish and Scottish Grand Lodges. In America, Benjamin Franklin issued a reprint of Anderson’s Constitutions at Philadelphia in 1734 (12) for the use of American Masons.
The connection between the old constitutions of Masons and Anderson’s Constitutions is not left to speculation; Anderson states that the Grand Lodge in September, 1721, “finding fault with all the copies of the old Gothic Constitutions, order’d Brother James Anderson A. M. to digest the same in a new and better Method.” (13) The widespread acceptance of Anderson’s and Anderson’s statement that he had been ordered to -compile a digest of old constitutions supports the conclusion that the climax of a long period of evolution in Masonic jurisprudence and is a positive link in conilecting the old operative to the new speculative lodges.
The government established for the Masonic fraternity under the
Constitution of 1723 was a federal System. The subordinate lodges
retained control of purely local lodge affairs under a set of by-laws of their own adoption and the Grand Lodge administered the general affairs of the order.
A fundamental code of law beyond the legislative power of the Grand Lodge was recognized in Article XXXIX thus:
Every Annual Grand Lodge has an inherent Power and Authority to make new Regulations, or to alter these, for the real Benefit of this Ancient Fraternity; Provided always that the Old Land Marks be carefully Preserv’d.(14)
The principles of representative government and majority rule were
adopted in Article X in these words:
The majority of every particular Lodge, when congregated, shall have the Privilege of giving Instructions to their Master and Wardens, before the three Quarterly Communications hereafter mentioned, and of Annual Grand Lodge too; because their Master and Wardens are their Representatives, and are supposed to speak their Mind. (15)
The principle of electing the officers and providing a rudimentary means of protecting the ballot and elections from undo influence was established in the Grand Lodge by Article XXXIX as follows:
The Grand Master and his Deputy, the Grand Wardens, or the Stewards, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Clerks, and every other person, shall withdraw, and leave the Masters and warden of the Particular Lodges alone; in order to Consult amicably about electing a New Grand Master. (16)
Section 3 of Article XII established the term of office of the Grand Officers at one year:
Grand Lodge must meet Annually in order to chuse every year a new
Grand Master, Deputy, and Wardens. (17)
Section 2 of Article XXIX established the principle that fiscal agents are responsible to the legislative body in this manner:
The Grand Wardens and the Stewards are to account for all money they receive or expend, to the Grand Lodge, after Dinner, or when the Grand Lodge shall see fit to receive their accounts. (18)
The idea of checks and balances appears in the reservation of the power to impeach the chief executive officer as implied in Article XIV:
If the Grand Master should abuse his Power, and render himself unworthy of Obedience and Subjection of the Lodges, he shall be treated in a manner to be agreed upon in a new Regulation: because hitherto the ancient Fraternity have had no occasion for it, their former Grand Masters having all behaved themselves worthy of the honorable office. (10)
Majority rule, a limited executive, and universal suffrage are provided for in Section 2 of Article XII as follows:
All Matters are to be determined in the Grand Lodge by a Majority of
Votes, each Member having one Vote, and the GrJames Davis Carterand Master (hvo)? Votes, unless the said Lodge leaves any particular thing to the determination of the Grand Master for the sake of Expedition. (20) (to be corrected, page 6 PDF file)
Freedom of speech and equality of participation in discussion are
guaranteed to all Masons in Article XXXVII:
the Grand Master shall allow any Brother Fellowcraft, or Apprentice to speak, directing his Discourse to his Worship; or to make any Motion for the good of the Fraternity, which shall be either immediately consider’d and finish’d , or else referred to the Consideration of the Grand Lodge at their next Communication. (21)
Though it was expected that Masonic education activity should continue to be a most important part of the work of the subordinate lodges, Article XXXVIII provided that:
The Grand Master or his Deputy, or some Brother appointed by him, shall harangue all the Brethren, and give them good Advice.(22)
Article XXVIII constituted the Grand Lodge as a supreme court of appeals and arbitration, either by the body or by committee, in these words:
All members of the Grand Lodge must be at the Place long before Dinner. . .in order to receive any appeals duly lodg’d that the Appellant may be heard and the Affair amicably decided; but if it cannot, it must bereferr’d to a particular Report to the next Quarterly Communication.(23)
The basic principles of government employed in Anderson’s Constitutions are: popular sovereignty by majority rule; government limited by constitution; local lodges self-governing; Grand Lodge supreme in federal system; a type of judicial review by the Grand Lodge; implied powers exist in constitutional provisions.
It is impossible to state with certainty, the number, if any, of the principles laid down in the Masonic constitutions that had their origin in Masonry. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that, since builders were organized into groups or lodges at a very early period in civilized society, they might have originated some of them and certainly aided in their refinement.
The origin of these basic democratic principals of government is not as important as the fact that they had been discovered and were being practiced, after1734, in the area that became the United States. Any serious student of American history and government can identify other institutions practicing some of these same concepts, but probably no other institution was so widely distributed in the colonies as Freemasonry.
Differences in religion, government, and economy, difficulties in
transportation and communication, and a spirit of localism and
individualism existed from north to south from east to west in varying degrees, but the basic principles of Freemasonry were identical in the approximately one hundred colonial lodges established by 1775, not excepting the colonial governments, had so many leaders of the people in thought or in action from the local community level, as were contained in the ranks of Masonry. This general acceptance by a large segment of the leaders of the people of fundamental concepts is significant in the formation of a federal union type of government and becomes doubly so when those leaders are bound to one another by fraternal ties which engender trust and confidence. Events will show that such a condition must exist in America to make union possible, even under the threat of
common dangers.
The first ideas of a union of the English colonies were no doubt conceived as a defensive measure against hostile Indians, the Dutch in New Amsterdam, the French in Canada, and possibly the Spanish in Florida. Such proposed unions were regional in character and their effectiveness was related to the degree of danger felt by the colonists. The New England Confederation was formed in 1643 but ceased to function within a few years. In 1697, William Penn called a conference of the twelve governors of the colonies; they discussed the creation of a common army, currency, and mint, but the only definite action taken was the creation of a postal system under a Postmaster General for North America. Other suggestions for the formation of a union were made in 1698 and 1701 but no action followed. In 1722, Daniel Coxe, the first Provincial Grand Master of New England outlined a plan of union in the preface of his Descriptions of Carolina “which strikingly resembled the scheme
submitted by Franklin to the Albany Convention.” (24)
The Albany Congress was called by the Board of Trade in September, 1753, to meet at Albany, New York, on June 19, 1754, for the purpose of trading with the Indians and making plans for the defense of the colonies against the French who were challenging British expansion into the Ohio Valley. At the appointed time, twenty-five delegates from seven colonies; Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut. Pennsylvania, and Maryland—arrived at Albany and began their labors.
It was decided unanimously that a union of the colonies was desirable, and a committee consisting of “Hutchinson of Massachusetts, Hopkins of Rhode Island, Smith of New York, Tasker of Maryland, and Franklin of Pennsylvania”(25)was appointed to draw up a plan of union. Hutchinson, Hopkins, and Franklin are known to have been Masons. Franklin, in particular, was convinced that political union of the American colonies desirable before the meeting of the Albany Congress. On May 9, 1754, Franklin undertook to impress on the readers of the Pennsylvania Gazette the need for united action by printing a one-column, two-inch wood-cut of a snake divided into eight segments, each of which bore the initials of one of the colonies, with the caption “Join or Die.” “The cartoon was
immediately reproduced in four other newspapers in Boston and New York.” (26)
It should come as no surprise that Franklin submitted a plan of union.
said to have been outlined while on his way to Albany. The plan provided for a president-general to be appointed by the Crown, and for a grand council to be elected by the colonial assemblies—the identical plan of organization of American Provincial Grand Lodges at that time. The grand council empowered to raise and pay soldiers, to build forts, and to equip vessels to guard the coasts. The necessary funds were to be raised by the grand council which was to have the power to levy taxes and impose general duties—the identical type of general functions as exercised by a Grand Lodge over subordinate lodges. Each colony was to retain it’s charter, making only those changes necessary to comply with the formation of the union but leaving the colony government in complete control of local affairs—the federal union idea employed in the relationship of local lodges to Grand Lodges. The plan was not adopted; Franklin explained in his Autobiography that the plan had too much prerogative in it to suit the colonial assemblies and too much democracy to suit the royal government.(27)
Franklin left no hint that he used the constitution of Freemasonry as a model for his Albany Plan but, since he published Anderson’s
Constitutions in 1734 and had served as Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania also in 1734 ,(28) there can be no doubt that he was familiar with the Masonic constitution. The fact that he called the council of representatives of the several colonies a grand council and that the council of the representatives of Masonic lodges is called a Grand Lodge is circumstantial evidence that Masonry was influencing his thinking. In the light of this evidence, the similarity of the two plans of government leads to a reasonable conclusion that the Masonic constitution was used as a model for Franklin’s Albany Plan.
It is generally agreed among American historians that had Franklin’s
Albany Plan been adopted, the American Revolution might never have occurred. The Albany Plan contained the essence of the Constitution of 1789 and the evidence just presented shows that the Albany Plan contained the essence of Masonic ideas on government.
The outbreak of the Revolution brought the collapse of royal government in the colonies. Only the town and county systems of local government remained capable of exercising any governmental functions until de facto revolutionary state governments were organized, largely at the insistence of Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and the Masons controlling the prorogued Virginia assembly, under a System of Committees of Safety. These men set up the dependent Continental Congress which cannot be considered a truly national government for a permanent union of the stares. But was a step in that direction.
Richard Henry Lee’s resolution of June 7, 1776, in the Continental
Congress calling for a declaration of independence also called for the appointment of a committee to draw up articles of confederation. This resolution makes the fourth attempt by Masons to unite the American colonies. The Congress was composed of fifty-six delegates, thirty-two of whom are known to be Masons.(29) On June 12, 1776, a committee was appointed to draw up a plan for a union of the states consisting of one delegate from each state. The following Masons were members of the committee: John Dickinson. Chairman, Josiah Bartlett, Samuel Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas McKean, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Joseph Hewes, Robert R. Livingston, Stephan Hopkins.(30) This committee reported a draft of the Articles of Confederation on June 20, 1776, but did not secure approval until November 16, 1777, because of the extreme reluctance of Congress to propose a central government which would infringe the sovereignty of the states. The states were even more reluctant to establish a union than the Congress for it was three and one-half years before the states completed ratification of the plan and placed it in operation. Weak as the central government was under the articles of Confederation, it represented a victory for the unionists and was a necessary step in the evolution of a satisfactory national government for the United States.
The Masonic Convention that took place at Morristown, New Jersey, in December, 1779, under the auspices of American Union Lodge, seems to be significant. Over one hundred Masons from the various military lodges were present. This group drew up a petition to the several Grand Lodges to establish a General Grand Lodge for the United States and proposed General George Washington as General Grand Master. The Grand Lodges of Pennsylvania and Virginia agreed to the plan but that of Massachusetts declined and the project was dropped. The leaders in government, the army, and in Masonry—often the same men—were seeing the need for a closer and stronger union among American Masons in their attempt to establish a strong central government in the new nation.
Under the articles of Confederation, two other ideas basic in Masonry were introduced into American government. A review of the origin and history of the craft masonry reveals that one of the purposes of the organization was to train apprentices to be master workmen. This tradition of educational activity was carried forward into Speculative Masonry and there expanded. In the days of Operative masonry secrecy was employed to prevent an oversupply of skilled workmen, but after the transition from builders in stone to builders of a social structure, there need be no limitation of workmen except to those capable of receiving the instruction. The Masonic educational concept now became two-fold: (1) each lodge became a school for the teaching of Masonic philosophy to those who gained admission; and (2) each Mason., through his life, became a teacher of Masonic philosophy to the community. In other words Freemasonry became the missionary of the new order—a liberal, democratic order in which Masons sought to lead mankind through education into a more equitable and just society. The implementation of this educational concept aided if it did not inspire the establishment of the public free schools, financed by the state, for the combined purpose of technological and sociological education of the mass of humanity, beginning in childhood. The public free schools were considered free, in that no sect could prescribe the teachings of it’s dogmas: and free, in that they were open to all citizens without charge except as to his proportion of the taxes used for their Support. A German printer, Christopher Sowrs, of Germantown, wrote to Conrad Weise, in complaint of the activities of Benjamin Franklin and the Freemasons generally on behalf of the free schools as follows; “The people who are the promoters of the free schools are Grand Masters and Wardens among Freemasons, their very pillers.” (31)
The opposition to the ideas of Masons on the subject of free public
schools was strong in 1785, but it was not strong enough to prevent a provision for such education being incorporated in the Ordinance of May 20, 1785, as follows: “There shall be reserved the lot No.16, of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within said township; (32) This action was further confirmed in Article 3 of the Northwest Ordinance of July 13, 1787, in these words: “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged.” (33)
The Masons of the revolutionary generation did not live to see the
consummation of their dream of a state supported public school system but they made a start toward its realization, Accepting the fact that adoption of the idea would take time, they did the next best thing—-they endowed schools where they could not induce state or local political units to establish them. The following are a few examples of their efforts:
George Washington founded a free school in Virginia at Alexandria, urged the founding of a national university, supported the establishment of the Military Academy at West Point, and left a bequest for a national university that was ultimately bestowed on Washington and Lee University. (34) Benjamin Franklin was the moving spirit in the organization of the Library Association of Philadelphia in 1731, the founder of the first free school in the city, and one of the founders of the Academy which grew into the University of Virginia.(36) Abraham Baldwin sponsored and was largely responsible for the founding of the free school system and the University of Georgia. The majority of the founding first Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia were Masons.(37) John Macon and David Ker were founding members of the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina.(38) Gamaliel Painter gave his entire estate to Middlebury College.(39) John Dickinson was president and benefactor of Dickinson College.(40) Michael Myers founded Oneida Academy.(41) Samuel Kirkland founded Hamilton Colledge.(42) Stephan Girard founded Girard Colledge.(43) Henry Knox proposed and Henry Burbeck founded West Point Military Academy.(44) John Kendrick erected a school at Wareham, Massachusetts.(45) DeWitt Clinton, the son of general James Clinton, founded the public school system of New York.(46) The minutes of Lodge No.2 of Philadelphia for February 13, 1781, read as follows: “A Representation of the unfortunate situation of the family of Brethren of Bro. Ad Betten deceas’d being laid before this Lodge from the Brethren of No. 29 it was therefore unanimously agreed that this Lodge pay Ten pounds specie, annually towards the Education of our deceased Bros. Eldest son until he is able to procure a subsistence for himself.”(47) the first normal school in America was opened in a portion of the Masonic Temple at Lexington, Massachusettes. (48)The Grand Lodge of Virginia set up the first Grand Lodge Educational Fund in 1812. (49)
When the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, ending the Revolutionary War, much of the territory of the United States within the limits established by the treaty was politically unorganized. The Americans were just beginning to penetrate beyond the mountains when the war began; with the end of the war occupation of the western lands presented the nation with a major problem. The United States, just emerged from a colonial status, was itself a mother country before it had a firmly established government. The Northwest Ordinance of July 13, 1787, established the precedent for the creation and admission of new states to the union on a basis of complete equality with the original thirteen. This was a new colonial policy. Heretofore colonies had been free and independent of the mother country, like the ancient Greek colonies, or dependencies, like the English colonies in America had been. Masons were familiar with this equality concept because new Masonic lodges were always constituted on an equal basis with other lodges in the fraternity. This policy is indicated in the concluding statement of the constitution ceremony in Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723 as follows:
“And this Lodge being thus completely constituted, shall be register’d in the Grand Master’s book, and by his Order notify’d to the other Lodges. (50)
It has already been observed that, at the time the Articles of
Confederation were in process of formation, leaders in the army,
government, and Masonry were of the opinion that a stronger central government was necessary . In 1780, Washington, Hamilton, and Madison advised the strengthening of the Confederation.(51) A specialized study of the background of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 reveals that the Society of Cincinnati, the officers of the Revolutionary Army, and the Masons began the agitation for the writing of the Constitution of the United States. The records show that the most influential officers of the Revolutionary Army and members of the Society of Cincinnati were active Masons. Their experiences in Masonry had shown them the value of unity while experiences during the Revolution had demonstrated the limitations resulting from lack of unity and singleness of command.
Disagreements between states developed almost immediately after the formation of the government under the articles of Confederation and it was one of these conflicts that gave the proponents of a stronger central government a chance to propose a measure leading in that direction. James Madison induced Maryland to establish a commission in 1785 to prepare rules to end the confusion in navigation on the Potomac. The Commission found that changes, if made would affect Pennsylvania and Delaware and, if they adopted the changes, other states would as well. Madison persuaded the Virginia legislature to invite the states to a convention to be held at Annapolis, Maryland, September 11, 1786, for the purpose of considering a uniform code of regulations for commerce. Nothing was accomplished at Annapolis but the convention, before adjournment, issued a call for another to meet at Philadelphia the second Monday in May of 1787.
The Congress was not pleased at being thus ignored but public opinion was developing in favor of a stronger central government. After Virginia and other states elected delegates to attend the Philadelphia convention, Congress issued a call for a convention to meet at the same place and time to consider the revision of the Articles Of Confederation.
Fifty-five delegates assembled in accordance with the call, of this number, thirty-three listed below were Masons:
Abraham Baldwin, Gunning Bedford, John Blair, William Blount, David Brearley, Jacob Broom, Daniel Carroll, William R. Davie, Jonathan Dayton, John Dickinson, Oliver Ellsworth, Benjamin Franklin, Eldridge Gerry, Nicholas Gilman, Alexander Hamilton, William Houston, William Samuel Johnson, Rufus King, John Langdon, John Lansing Jr., James McClung, James McHenry, James Madison, Alexander Martin, Robert Morris, William Paterson, William Pierce, Charles Pinckney, Edmund Randolph, George Read, Roger Sherman, George Washington, George Wythe. (52) Of this group, two were Past Grand Masters, Franklin and Blair; two were Grand Masters, Randolph and Brearley; and two were later elevated to the Grand Mastership, Bedford and Davie. (53)
Philadelphia was one of the greatest centers of Masonic activity in the New World, and it is inconceivable that the Masons of that city, who had done so much to foster growth of Masonry in pre- revolutionary days, overlooked the opportunity to entertain appropriately the distnquished Masons who were attending the Convention. The City Tavern was the rallying place of Philadelphias leading Masons, who met there socially on many occasions before the revolution and held lodge there when Freemasons Lodge was used as a hospital during the war. (54) The City Tavern, too, became the rallying place for members of the Convention. Here the members dined, slept, and held many conferences. Since in the nature of things whenever men of different opinions and interests congregate for the purpose of coming to agreement, they do most of their real work, carrying on their most important discussions, and determine most of their course, in of two or three off the record, one can only guess to what extent Masonic brotherhood smoothed the path for the compromises and agreements effected in the Convention.
The Convention had been called for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, but, after examining the magnitude of that task, decided to build a new frame of government. This decision was in itself a revolution but men who had challenged the might of Britain were not prone to quibble over this technicality. I t had been said of this men that; Though divide in their Opinions, they were among the best leaders of the day, and no superior men could have been found for the task before them. (56) William Gladstone, a British statesmen and prime minister, once described the American Constitution as the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man. (57) A more sober evaluation is that the Convention of 1787 was one of the great creative assemblages in history.
The Constitution of the United States, as written by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, has been the study of many specialists in the field of government, and they are in substantial agreement that its fundamental concepts include: popular sovereignty, limited government, local self-government. Supremacy of the national government in the federal system, separation of powers, supremacy of the judiciary through judicial review, and individual rights protected by constitutional provisions. (58) It was one thing for a group of men possessing the abilities and experiences of those who made up the Convention to write the
Constitution and entirely another to secure its acceptance by diverse and conflicting interests of the states. Most of the members of the Convention took part in the ratifying conventions in their states. (59) James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote eighty-five letters called the Federalist that are considered the greatest argument ever produced for the federal system of government. The Federalist is one of the classics in the literature of federalism, and is one of the great books produced by Americans in the field of government. (60) While propaganda in favor of the Constitution, The Federalist was propaganda on a high plane and probably did more to secure the ratification of the Constitution than any other factor. In the realm of practical politics, Madison, Hamilton, Washington, Sherman, Ellsworth, Dickinson, Randolf, and Johnson contributed the influence, which tipped the balance in favor of ratification in the hard fought battle in the state conventions. The efforts of Madison in the Constitutional Convention, composing part of The Federalist, and in the Virginia ratification convention has earned him the sobriquet of Father of the Constitution. Masons of lesser reputation were influential in the state conventions. In Georga, for example, William Stephens, Joseph Habersham, James Powell, George Handley, and Henry Osborne, all members of Solomons lodge, worked for ratification with success that Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the Constitution. (61)
Ratification had been won not only only the merits of the Constitution but by the promise of the federalists to submit a series of anendments to meet the objections of opponents. Madison took the lead in carrying out this promise; he collected some two hundred proposed amendments from state legislatures, learned societies, and prominent individuals, reduced them to seventeen, and submitted them to Congress which approved and submitted twelve of them to the states for ratification. Ten were ratified and these ten are usually referred to as the Bill of Rights because, in general, they provided additional protection to the natural rights of the individual. Included in these amendments were principles long advocated by Masons: religious toleration; freedom of speech; a speedy trial according to law before equals when accused of law violation; no
imposition of excessive punishment; and the reservation of all powers not delegated in the Constitution.
A comparison of the principles of government contained in Andersons Constitutions, universally adopted by Masons, with those contained in the Constitution of the United States reveals that they are essentially the same in both documents. There is conclusive evidence that the majority of the men who worked for a federal union and wrote the Constitution were Masons. Some of these Masons were the most influential leaders of the fraternity in America, fully conversant with Masonic principals of government. Freemasonry was the only institution at that time governed by a federal system. There is not a scrap of evidence left by any member of the Constitutional Convention indicating that these principals were drawn from any other source. Since the government of the United States bears such a startling similarity to the government of the Masonic fraternity, both in theory and in structure, it is difficult to ascribe the similarity to coincidence.
Some students of history and government profess to see the philosophy of John Lock as the dynamic force in the shaping of the Constitution. There is in Lockes theory but little that had long been current coin in political philosophy. (62) If this is true, where did Locke find his ideas? The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania printed in the 1781 edition of the Ahiman Rezon, a letter by John Locke in which he says, speaking of Masons: However of all their arts and secrets, that which I most desire to know is: The skylle of becommynge and parfyghte, [quoting an ancient manuscipt]; and I wish it were communicated to all mankind, since there is nothing more true than the beautiful sentence, That the better men are, the more they love one another; Virtue having in itself something so amiable as to claim the hearts of all that behold it. (63) The Leland Manuscript, the authenticity of which has been challenged but stoutly defended, contains notes and comments written May 6, 1696, by Locke to Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, a part of which reads as follows: I know not what the effect the sight of this old paper may have upon your Lordship; but for my own part I cannot deny, that it has so much raised my curiosity, as to induce me to enter myself into the fraternity, which I am determined to do (if I may be admitted) the next time I go to London, and that will be shortly. (64) Locke was residing at Oates, near London, at the date given in the Leland Manuscript. His letters to Mr. Molyneaux, dated March 30 and July 2,
1696, prove that he was initiated into Masonry between those dates (65) although the Grand Lodge of England has no Masonic documents with which to determine his lodge membership. (66)
In 1667, Locke drew up the fantastic, feudalistic fundamental
Constitutions of Carolina as a frame of government for the proprietors. (67) The only provision of the document in any way similar to the Constitution of the United States was a slight measure of religious liberty. A powerful intellectual force must have entered the orbit of Lockes thinking after 1667 to alter his viewpoint that a desirable social and political order should be based upon property and privilege to one based upon natural rights and equality. The evidence that Locke had studied some Masonic documents; that he was sufficiently impressed to become a Mason; and the parallelism between the philosophy in his later writings with that of Masonry supports to some degree the conclusion that Locke drew his ideas from Masonry. In view of this evidence, any influence that Locke may have ha d on the formation of the Constitution was indirectly Masonic.
A study of the members of the Constitutional Convention discloses that only James Madison and James Wilson had done a substantial mount of reading and thinking about political theory. Others appear to have read the subject smatteringly, and to have reflected on it even less. Most members of the Convention in mentioning political theory seem merely to be repeating catch phrases. This being true, the product of the Conventions labors was a document of expediency based largely upon those practices of social control consistently throughout the states and that the majority of the members were well acquainted with its principles and structure. It may be assumed that the basic principles of such an institution, which had already formed wide-spread acceptance, should be used as the pattern for a civil government.
A new frame of republican government had been written but it yet
remained to be tested in operation. On June 21, 1778, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the new constitution, the required number for the organization of the new government. On July 2, 1788, the last Congress under the Articles of Confederation resolved that the states should choose presidential electors on the first Wednesday in January, 1789, who, a month later, should select a president and vice president; and that a congress elected under the Constitution should meet the first Wednesday in March following in New York.
Washington was the unanimous choice for president and John Adams, a non-Mason, was chosen vice-president. On April 30, 1789, Washington took the oath of office as President of the United States administered by Chancellor Robert B. Livingston, Grand Master of the grand Lodge of New York. (68) General Jacob Morton, Worshipful Master of St. Johns lodge in New York City—the oldest lodge in the cityand Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of New York, was marshal of the inauguration ceremonies. It was one of his duties to provide a Bible for the occasion. Morton brought from tile alter of St. Johns Lodge the Bible upon which Washington placed his hand while repeating the obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States and then kissed the sacred volume to complete the ceremony. (69)
Washington was not considered a brilliant man but his character was such as to command the respect and confidence of both Americans and foreigners. (70) It has been written that Washington had imbibed the Wisdom, strength, and beauty of Masonry. It exerted a profound influence upon his career, from the time when he was raised a Master Mason, in 1753, through all the vicissitudes of war, peace, and nation building. In him the sublime truth of the Order found practical expression in shaping the character of the United States of America. (71)
Of those who accompanied Washington in the inauguration ceremony, Roger Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, Baron von Steuben, General Henry Knox, and John Adams, all except Adams were Masons. It may be added that the Governors of the thirteen states at the time of Washingtons inauguration were Masons. (72)
Washington chose four Masons for his first Cabinet as follows: Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton; Secretary of War, General henry Knox; and Attorney General, Edmund Randolph, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia in 1788. (73) There can be no doubt that these men were chosen because of their fitness for public office but in the minds of such men as Washington, Masonic membership was another evidence of a mans reliability and fitness for trust. (74) Washington wrote as follows: being persuaded that a just application of the principles on which the Masonic fraternity is founded must be promotive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall always be happy to advance the interests of the Society and be considered by them a deserving Brother. (75)
One of Washingtons first duties was to appoint the first Chief Justice and four Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. Four of the five were Masons as follows: John Jay, Chief Justice, and Associate Justices William Cushing, Robert H. Harrison, and John Blair. (76) There is a possibility that Associate Justice James Wilson may have been a Mason, but no evidence that he was has been discovered.
The first Congress elected under the Constitution had several Masons in its membership. In the Senate of the twenty-six members twelve are known to have been Masons: Oliver Ellsworth, James Gunn, William S. Johnson, Samuel Johnston, Rufus King, John Langdon, Richard Henry Lee, James Monroe, Robert Morris, William Paterson, George Read, Phillip Schuyler. (77)
John Langdon was elected as Presiodent of the Senate pro ternpore.
Twenty of the sixty-six men who served in the House of Representatives are known to have been Masons as follows: Abraham Baldwin, Theodorick Bland, John Brown, Daniel Carroll, Elbridge Gerry, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, John Page, Josiah Parker, John Sevier, Nicholas Gilman, Thomas Hartly, James Jackson, John Lawence, James Madison, Roger Sherman, William Smith, John Steele, Thomas Sumter, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, (78) Frederick A. Muhlenburg was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The possible connection between Masonry and government may be found in the famous painting by Samuel Jennings which appeared in 1792 sometimes called “The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks. The important point is that the symbols appearing in the painting are unmistakably Masonic symbols. The central figure is the Virgin, traditional symbol of the Freemasons craft, sitting on a couch near the East Gate of the ground floor or checkered pavement of the temple of Virtue. The right arm and shoulder, the side of strength and fidelity, support the Stewards rod, one end of which rests upon a dark stain, representing spilled blood, on the checkered pavement while the other holds high the cap of Liberty. Before her on a pedestal and leaning against it are five of the books of the Liberal Arts and Sciences and to the right are a lute and sphere representing the arts of music and astronomy, seven in all. At her feet lies a broken Corinthian Column, the Column of Beauty representing a murdered Grand Master, and near it is a bust representing the features of Grand Master Joseph Warren who was killed at Bunker Hill. Between the broken column and the bust lies the Masters Square among the scattered and confused designs of an Unfinished Temple. Attentive to her words of Light are dark-skinned persons representing all people still in the darkness of ignorance and superstition. This painting, of course, is the product of one mans thought and has no official connection with the government of the United States but it is so suggestive as to justify some further interest in symbolism. Man is an enigmatic creature having a dual nature, temporal and spiritual. His institutions reflect the multiple facets of his complex and varied mental processes. He is at once occupied with the routine of satisfying the human needs for food, clothing, and shelter and the less tangible and more varied spiritual and social needs. His viewpoints are as varied as the individuals, subject not only to the external changes of environment but to self-created internal changes. Man alone has within himself any considerable power of thought or imagination. One facet of mans behavior to come out of his imagination, superstition, spiritual groping, and reasoning is symbolism.
Signs, pictures, objects, emblems, words, numerals, music or any means of conveying ideas from one individual to another become the vehicle of symbolism or symbols. Certain of mans activities lend themselves more readily to symbolism than others. The ritual of Freemasonry is especially rich in symbols familiar things that convey a hidden meaning to the initiated. Philosophic Masonry is the heir to the symbolism practiced in the ancient mysteries, the Hebrew Cabal, and medieval Rosicrucian societies.
In this present age, where material things engross almost every waking hour, symbolism has lost much of its fascination, but it was not so in the eighteenth century when the revolutionary heroes pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the erection of a new nation. As the crisis moved toward its climax the ideals for which they fought began to assume symbolic form. Late in the afternoon of July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to prepare a device for a Seal of the United States of America. On August 20 the committee reported its design to Congress; but the report was tabled, and for three years and a half no further action was taken. On March 25, 1780, the report of the first committee was referred to a new committee consisting of James Lovell, John Morin Scott, and William Churchill Houston. This committee received artistic assistance from Francis Hopkinson. A new design was reported on May 10, (or 11), 1780, but debate was followed by recommital to the committee with no further progress for two more years.
In the spring of 1782 a third committee, composed of Arthur Middleton, John Rutledge, and Elias Boudinot with the assistance of William Barton, A.M. reported a third design for a seal to Congress which was found not satisfactory. On June 13, 1782, Congress referred all of the committee reports to Charles Thomason, Secretary of Congress. Thomason immediately wrote his report to Congress and submitted it on June 20, 1782; the report was accepted the same day and thus the design of the great seal was fixed. It is described as follows:
ARMS. Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules; a chief. azure; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinster a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper. And in his beak a scroll, inscribed with the motto, E Pluribus Unum.
For the CREST. Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the
escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen stars, forming a constellation, argent, on an azure field.
REVERSE. A pyramid unfinished. In the Zenith, an eye in a triangle,
surrounded with a glory proper. Over the eye these words, Annuit
Coeptis. On the base of the pyramid the numerical letters MDCCLXXVI. And underneath the following motto, Novus Ordo Seclorum. (79)
[NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, the new secular order]
Among those who helped design the Great Seal of the United States the following are known to have been Masons: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, William Churchill Houston, and William Barton. Whether they drew heavily upon Freemasonry in this work it is impossible to assert but when an informed Mason examines the Great Seal here is what he sees:
On the obverse is an eagle whose dexter wing has thirty-two feathers, the number of ordinary degrees in Scottish Rite Freemasonry. The sinister wing has thirty-three feathers, the additional feather corresponding to the Thirty-Third Degree of the same Rite conferred for outstanding Masonic service. The tail feathers number nine, the number of degrees in the Chapter, Council, and Commandery of the York Rite of Freemasonry. Scottish Rite Masonry had its origin in France; the York Rite is sometimes called the American Rite; the eagle thus clothed represents the union of French and American Masons in the struggle for Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. The total number of feathers in the two wings is sixty-five which, by gematria, is the value of the Hebrew phrase yam yawchod (together in unity). This phrase appears in Palms 133 as follows: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, and is used in the ritual of the first degree of Freemasonry. The glory above the eagles head is divided into twenty-four equal parts and reminds the observer of the Masons gauge which is also divided into twenty-four equal parts and is emblematic of the service he is obligated to perform. The five pointed stars remind him of the Masonic Blazing Star and the five points of fellowship. The arrangement of the stars in the constellation to form overlapping equilateral triangles and the Star of David calls to the Masons mind King Davids dream of building a Temple, to his God, the Companions who rebuilt a desecrated Temple, and the finding of the Word that was lost. The gold, silver, and azure colors represent the sun, moon, and Worshipful Master, the first that rules the day, the second, the night, and the third, the lodge. While silver, connected with the letter Gimel or G and being surrounded on an azure ground by a golden glory, reminds the Mason of the letter G, a most conspicuous furnishing of a proper lodge room. The shield on the eagles breast affirms by its colors, valor (red), purity (white), and justice (blue), and reminds the Mason of the cardinal virtues. The value of these colors, by gematria, is 103, the value of the phrase ehben ha-Adam (the stone of Adam) and suggests the perfect ashlar, or squared stone, of Freemasonry. One hundred and three is also the value of the noun bonaim, a Ranbbinical word signifying builders, Masons. Thus the national colors spell out, by gematria, the name of the fraternity. The scroll in the eagles beak, bearing the words E Pluribus Unum (of the many) reminds him also of the unity which has made brothers of many.
On the reverse, is the All Seeing Eye within a triangle surrounded by a
golden glory. Besides the obvious Masonic significance of this design, it has a cabalistic value of seventy plus three plus two hundred, equaling two hundred and seventy-three which is the value of the phrase ehben mosu habonim (the stone which the builders refused) familiar to all Royal Arch Masons. It is also the value of the Hebrew proper noun Hiram Abiff, the architect of Solomons Temple and the principal character of the legend used in the Master Mason degree. The triangle is isosceles, formed by two right triangles having sides of five, twelve, and thirteen units in length, illustrating the 47th Problem of Euclid. The triangle also represents the capstone of the unfinished pyramid and reminds the Mason of the immortality of the soul and that in eternity he will complete the capstone of his earthly labors according to the designs on the trestle-board of the Supreme Architect of the Universe. The unfinished pyramid cannot fail to remind him of the unfinished condition of the Temple when tragedy struck down its Masters architect. The blaze of glory found on either side of the Great Seal cannot fail to remind the Mason of the Great Light in Masonry which is the rule and guide to faith and practice and without which no Masonic lodge can exist. It reminds him that only more light can dispel the pall of ignorance in which he stumbles until he enters tile Celestial Lodge where all light is given. Returning from this short excursion into symbolism to summarize the investigation into the possible connections that might exist between Masonry and United States government, several appear to be significant:
(1) The fundamental principles laid down for the government of the
Masonic fraternity by its oldest surviving documents are found to be
present in the Constitution of 1789.
(2) Many of the leading spirits in the development of a federal union
were Masons.
(3) The evolution of the idea of a free public school system supported by the state was fostered by many Masons.
(4) The policy of admitting new states to the Union on a basis of
complete equality with the old finds its counterpart in Masonry in
the creation of new lodges equal in every respect to the position held by older lodges.
(5) A number of tile men who influenced the writing and who wrote
the Constitution of 1789 were Masons well informed in Masonic
philosophy, practice, and organization.
(6) Masons occupied many influential offices in the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of the government in this period of
its greatest plasticity.
These points of significance lead to the conclusion that investigators in the fields of history and government have overlooked an in influence in the formation of the government of the United States that may well have been as important as the economic pressures of the age. It also appears that political theorists have overlooked an influence of major importance in the evolution of American democracy; a democracy that may be defined as much broader than a special political form, a method of conducting government by means of officials elected by popular suffrage; a democracy in which these processes are only a means, the best means so far discovered, for realizing the idealistic goals for the full development of human potentialities. This democracy is a way of life, social and individual, founded on faith in human capacity and intelligence and in the just power of accumulated and cooperative experience; and in equality before the law and in its administration and in the right to have and express opinion—a democracy whose final definition coincides with that of Freemasonry.
The fundamental pattern of Anglo-American life was now cut. It remains now to follow the pioneer westward to Texas and take note of the place Masons and Freemasonry occupied along the trace.
