California Freemason - February/March 2010

The fact that so many Masons were prominent revolutionaries begs the question: What was the connection bet ween the ideals advanced by the fraternity and the ideals of the American Revolution?

“In the 18th century the influence of organized religion was in decline, and Freemasonry provided a framework for personal morality. At that moment in history, that was absolutely critical.”

REVOLU TION!

In the late 1600s a small, influential group of philosophers, scholars, and writers started a cultural movement to apply the principles of scientific reason to the understanding of mankind as an individual and in society.

The Enlightenment swept Europe and North America in the 18th century, rejecting traditional social, religious, and political ideas, and in their place promoting

liberty, tolerance, sociability, and above all, the use of reason. The ideals it introduced to the masses were a major catalyst for the American Revolution.

Those ideals, by slightly different names – truth, brotherly love, self-improvement – had been championed by Masonry for centuries. (For a summary, see the sidebar on page 7.) And Freemasons naturally gravitated to the Enlightenment – and the revolution it was spurring.

FR A MEWORK
FOR MOR ALIT Y

A popular myth is that the fraternity masterminded the American Revolution. The truth is that Masonry wasn’t responsible for the Revolution – the ideals its members embraced were.

Ph.D. student Matthew Crow currently teaches a class entitled “Freemasonry, Civil Society, and American Democracy” at the University of California, Los Angeles, funded through the 2008-9 Grand Master’s Project to Advance the Study and Understanding of Freemasonry. He cautions overstating the connection between Masonry and the American Revolution. But

the fraternity did advance ideas and moral codes that played into the Revolution.

“Freemasonry was, in many
ways, an alternative community
that provided a forum for men
to associate with gentlemen of a
certain level of social and political
achievement,” Crow says. “In
the 18th century the influence of
organized religion was in decline,
and Freemasonry provided a
framework for personal morality.
At that moment in history, that was
absolutely critical, and it influenced
In fact, Masonry may
have influenced the whole
Enlightenment movement.

Masonry and the Enlightenment reached America at roughly the same time, and the timing is no coincidence: Some academics maintain that Freemasonry was one of the main channels by which the values of the Enlightenment were transmitted from Britain to France, the Netherlands – and America.