The Only Universal Monarchy F reemasonry, Ritual, and Gender in Revolutionary Rhode Island, 1749-1803
Samuel Biagetti
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
2015
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© 2015 Samuel Biagetti all rights reserved
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! Abstract
The Only Universal Monarchy: F reemasonry, Ritual and Gender in Revolutionary Rhode Island, 1749-1803
Samuel Biagetti
Historians, in considering Freemasonry in the eighteenth century, have tended to define it in political terms, as an expression of enlightened sociability and of the secular public sphere that supposedly paved the way for modern democracy. A close examination of the lodges in
Newport and Providence, Rhode Island, between 1749 and 1804, disproves these received notions. It finds that, contrary to scholarly perception, Freemasonry was deeply religious and fervently committed to myth and ritual. Freemasonry in this period was not tied to any one social class, but rather the Fraternity attracted a wide array of mobile, deracinated young men, such as mariners, merchants, soldiers, and actors, and while it was religiously heterogeneous, the
Fraternity maintained a close relationship with the Anglican Church. The appeal of Masonry to young men in Atlantic port towns was primarily emotional, offering lasting social bonds amidst the constant upheaval of the eighteenth century, as well as a ritually demarcated refuge from the patriarchal responsibilities of the male gender.
Masonry celebrated the holiness of kingship in its myths and symbols; far from hotbeds of revolution, the lodges were haunted by the Jacobite movement, which was firmly royalist and traditionalist. Its main political impact in Anglo-America came in the aftermath of independence, when Masonic art and rhetoric helped to carve out a sphere of sacred institutions and loyalties²such as the Constitution, the Navy, the judiciary, and the figure of George
Washington²that purportedly stood above partisan politics, and hence could take the place of !
! the overthrown monarch. Far from proto-GHPRFUDWLF)UHHPDVRQU\DSSHDOHGWRPHQ¶VORQJLQJ for the unity and stability of a restored Biblical kingdom; the lodges operated largely by social deference and suppressed internal politicking. The Masons summed up their mission in their
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! CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A “Holy and Spiritual Temple” ...... 1
Section I: Cornerstones Chapter 1: Foundations of Freemasonry...... 26 Chapter 2: The Unfinished Temple—Interpreting Masonic Ritual i. The Nature of Masonic Science...... 43 ii. The Esoteric Background of Masonry...... 54 iii. Masonic Degree Rituals...... 61 iv. Other Rituals...... 82
Section II: The Colonial Babel—The Rise and Fall of Freemasonry in Colonial Rhode Island, 1749-1779 Chapter 3: “Behold a Master Mason Rare”—The Social Makeup of Colonial Rhode Island Masonry, 1749-1765...... 97 Chapter 4: “Fair for All to Read and See”—Masonry in the Colonial Public Sphere ...... 159 Chapter 5: The Trials of Early Freemasonry in Jamaica, 1739-1780...... 190 Chapter 6: “But Few There Are to Whom They’re Known”—Masonry in the Colonial Enlightenment ...... 216 Chapter 7: The Collapse of Masonry in the Imperial Crisis, 1763-1779...... 244
Section III: “Refined By Aethereal Fire”—The Higher Degrees and Revolutionary Masonry, 1776-1782 Chapter 8: The Revolution and the Return of Masonry to Providence, 1776-1779 ...... 279 Chapter 9: The French Alliance and King David’s Lodge, Newport, 1779-1782 ...... 311 Chapter 10: The Higher Degrees and Masonic Royalism ...... 348 Chapter 11: “A Revolution in Fullness of Time”—Masonry and Apocalypse ...381
Section IV: “The Consummation of all Things”—The Freemasons in the Early Republic, 1781-1803 Chapter 12: “The Western Pilgrims”— James Mitchell Varnum and the Peacetime Transition, 1781-1789 ...... 409 Chapter 13: “The Thirteenth Arch”—The Rhode Island Freemasons and The Constitution, 1785-1790 ...... 442 Chapter 14: “The Only Universal Monarchy”—Freemasonry in the Federal Heyday, 1790-1799...... 478 Chapter 15: “Plots and Conspiracies”—The Crisis of the French Revolution ....515 Chapter 16: The Expansion of Masonry, 1796-1802...... 538 Chapter 17: “A Double Portion of His Spirit”—The Masonic Apotheosis, 1799-1800 ...... 595
Section V: Guarding the Gates—The Limits of Masonic Brotherhood Chapter 18: The Freemasons and the Slave Trade, Slavery, and Racism...... 611 Chapter 19: Freemasonry, Women, and Gender...... 651
Conclusions: Masonry at the Opening of the Nineteenth Century i. The Completion of Masons Hall, Newport, 1803...... 697 ii. The Results of Ritual—The Disillusionment of Dr. Case, Providence, 1801-1802 ...... 703 iii. The Masonic Masque—Harlequin Free-Mason, Providence, 1803-1804 ...... 711 iv. The Destruction of the Philadelphia, Tripoli, 1804...... 714
Bibliography ...... 718
Appendix: Biographical Glossary...... 736
Acknowledgments
It is appropriate that such a long dissertation should include a long list of sincere expressions of thanks. The journey that led to this dissertation would have been impossible without years of help and support from too many people to catalogue, including archivists, libriarians, scholars, friends and family, and Masons themselves. With regard to the research on which this work is built, four people are entitled to particular thanks: Bert Lippencott of the
Newport Historical Society; Rick Lynch of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Rhode Island; David
/DYHU\RI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHno. 1, Portsmouth, Rhode Island; and Susan Snell of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry at the United Grand Lodge of England. I am forever grateful for their frankness and their generosity with time and knowledge. Many other archivists and historical professionals have also made this dissertation possible through their patience and diligence, such as Aimee Newell and others at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library;
Katherine Chansky and others at the Rhode Island Historical Society; Cynthia Allcorn of the
Masonic Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; the archivists of the Jamaica Archives and Records
Department; and the librarians of the American Antiquarian Society, among others.
Additionally, I am grateful to the other scholars who have shown unwavering support for my project and provided me with invaluable guidance. Foremost among them are Christopher
Brown and Evan Haefeli, who have provided me with scholarly perspective while allowing almost free rein to my Masonic obsession. Many other scholars, both at Columbia and elsewhere, have provided important assistance and insight, particularly Pamela Smith, Matthew
Jones, Euan Cameron, Elisheva Carlebach, Elaine Crane, Herbert Sloan, and Charly Coleman, as well as Barbara Fields, Jane Kamensky, Steven Bullock, Natasha Lightfoot, Gertrude Yeager,
Jonathan Sarna, Yoni Applebaum, Chernoh Sesay, John Brooke, Dale Van Kley, John Millar,
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! and others. In addition, fellow graduate students have provided invaluable feedback to my ideas and to drafts of this dissertation, and I am especially grateful to Justin Reynolds and Asheesh
Siddique for organizing social spaces in which I learned so much from my peers.
The research and writing of this dissertation was feasible also because of the constant support DQGSDWLHQFHRIP\FORVHIULHQGVDQGIDPLO\LQWKH³UHDOZRUOG´SDUWLFXODUO\P\PRWKHU and father.
Finally, I must acknowledge the patience, generosity, and good will that greeted me from almost every Freemason and every Masonic lodge that I encountered in my research. In addition to Rick Lynch and David Lavery, I am grateful to Bob Sinclair of Washington Lodge in Warren,
Rhode ,VODQG /HRQDUG³7RXJK\´6DQIRUGRI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHLQ%ULVWRO5KRGH,VODQG and the Brethren of Friendship Lodge in Chepachet, Rhode Island, of Hiram Lodge in Providence,
Rhode Island, RI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDQG6WRQH7RZHU/RGJHLQ1HZSRUW5KRGH,VODQGDQGRI
Friendly Lodge and other lodges in Kingston, Jamaica. Many times, these Masons helped me to find and understand the most important historical sources on which this work is built, or simply provided me with sympathy and encouragement when I needed it. Indeed, on almost all occasions, the Fraternity has presented to me the very picture of intellectual openness and good fellowship. In this dissertation, I have tried to examine Freemasonry in the eighteenth century with an impartial eye (and I hope that my scholarly readers will think that I have succeeded), and so I cannot claim to return the favors that so many Masons have done for me. I can only hope that my Masonic readers find the knowledge contained herein enlightening, and point out to non-
Masons that such a dissertation would itself have been impossible without Masonic support.
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! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Since it has no interest in definite beginnings or endings, mythological thought never develops any theme to completion: there is always something left unfinished« And in seeking to imitate the spontaneous movement of mythological thought, this essay, which is also both too brief and too long, has had to conform to the requirements of that thought and to respect its rhythm. It follows that this book on myths is itself a kind of myth.
²Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked
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! Introduction²$³+RO\DQG6SLULWXDO7HPSOH´
On June 27, 1791, the young Episcopal minister William Smith gave an oration at Trinity
Church in Newport, in honor of the formation of the Masonic Grand Lodge of the state of Rhode
Island. Smith exhorted the Brethren gathered at Trinity to use their various talents to further a single purpose,
that of co-operating with the sovereign architect, in his grand and immutable design RIEXLOGLQJXSKLVFKLOGUHQDVµOLYLQJVWRQHV¶LQWRRQHKRO\DQGVSLULWXDO temple, to himself.1
7KH5HYHUHQG0U6PLWK¶VDGPRQLWLRQFRPHVDVFORVHDVDQ\VLQJOHXWWHUDQFHFDQWRFDSWXULQJ the meaning of Masonry in the eighteenth century. The Freemasons were inveterate organizers, forming a network of Masonic bodies around the Atlantic basin while helping to lay the groundwork for an array of civic and commercial institutions, from libraries to militias to legislatures to banks. Underpinning this constant organizational activity was a sense of religious mission²DEHOLHIWKDWWKH0DVRQVZHUHLQ6PLWK¶VZRUGV³IHOORZ-ZRUNHUVZLWK*RG´,Q creating order and stability from an unstable world, the Masons sought to prepare the way for a restored Temple and a new Jerusalem.2 !
As this dissertation seeks to show, Masonry in the eighteenth century was secretive,
GHHSO\UHOLJLRXVDQGHPRWLRQDOO\SRZHUIXOIRULWVPHPEHUV7KH0DVRQV¶XQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKHLU special role was rooted in the Old Testament, casting the Fraternity as a covenanted people like the Israelite kingdom, and in the European esoteric tradition, which runs from the ancient
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 William Smith, Discourse Delivered Before the Grand Lodge of the Most Antient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, of the State of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1791), p. 9-10. 2 Smith, 1791, p. 13, 17.
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! mystery cults through alchemy, astrology, and Kabbalah to the eighteenth century. The notion of
0DVRQU\DVD³VHFXODU´LQstitution, still commonly held by lay observers, stems from the mischaracterizations of the Inquisition, which cast the Fraternity as an enemy of the Church.
Scholars have thankfully moved beyond this misconception, but still have not grappled with the fact, let alone the nature, of Masonic religious belief.
The Masons celebrated the antiquity of their order, abhorred innovation, and obsessed over symbols and rituals carrying secret meanings. Publicly, they engaged in a continual game of masking and unmasking, using words and signs with multiple meanings to communicate selectively with their audiences. Privately, ritualized actions and utterances promised to transform Masonic initiates through the attainment of ineffable knowledge, engaging the body, the senses, and the passions; Masonry was a visual, oral, and bodily culture more than a written one. As Abraham Lynsen Clarke, another Episcopal minister, pointed out in a Masonic oration in South Kingstown, Rhode Island in 1799,
The knowledge of Masonry is not contained in any of the present known languages of the world (for as I observed, it has a language peculiar to itself) but LQHPEOHPVKLHURJO\SKLFVVLJQVWRNHQVDQGZRUGV«DQGLWLVIURPWKHVWXG\RI these emblems and hieroglyphics, that the mysteries of the ancient art are obtained, secured and diffused among the various nations of the Earth.3
5LWXDOVV\PEROVDQGP\WKVVKDSHGWKH0DVRQV¶XQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKHLUUHODWLRQVKLSZLWK*RG
DQGZLWKRQHDQRWKHU WKH³P\VWLF´ERQGDPRQJ0DVRQLF%UHWKUHQFarried emotional and
UHOLJLRXVLPSRUW:KLOHPHQRIYDULRXVIDLWKVFRXOGEHFRPH0DVRQVWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VUHOLJLRXV views were not a neutral ground between denominations, but a distinct religious position in itself, with its own cosmology, theology, and ethics; hence its power to inspire passionate commitment.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 Abraham Lynsen Clarke, The Secrets of Masonry Illustrated and Explained (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1799), p. 7.
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! Masons found in the lodge a refuge from the patriarchal responsibilities and social contention of manhood in an early modern town; mariners, soldiers, and artisans gained therein a network of surrogate kin that promised a refuge from dislocation or destitution. Masons often
PDUULHGRQHDQRWKHU¶VVLVWHUVRUGDXJKWHUVDQGDGPLQLVWHUHGRQHDQRWKHU¶VHVWDWHVUHLQIRUFLQJD sense of trust and kinship. Most importantly, Masonic myth and symbolism helped the Brethren to cope with the specter of death, which often struck men in early modern port towns at a young age, leaving behind many widows and orphans. Masonic rituals were replete with images and symbols of death and immortality, and the only life-cycle ceremonies that Masons customarily performed for their Brethren were funerals. Indeed, the promise of memorialization and a dignified burial was without a doubt one of the principle advantages that attracted men to
Masonry in the eighteenth century.
WhiOHLWVUHOLJLRXVDQGHPRWLRQDOSRZHULVFOHDU0DVRQU\¶VSROLWLFDOLPSDFWLQWKH eighteenth century is more ambiguous. Masonry feared political controversy as an existential threat; as Thomas Pollen declared in his oration at Newport in 1757, the FraterniW\³UHOLJLRXVO\
REVHUYHVWREHRIQRSDUW\DWDOO´4 In the English-speaking world, the emotional advantages of
Masonry appealed across the political spectrum, with the Craft finding strong constituencies both among Whig reformists and among their most extreme opponents²the Jacobites, the supporters
RIWKHGHSRVHG&DWKROLF6WXDUWG\QDVW\$OWKRXJKWKH\HVFKHZHGSDUWLVDQWLHVWKH0DVRQV¶ organizing activity inevitably drew them into the line of fire of the political conflicts of the eighteenth century, including the British imperial crisis, the American and French revolutions, the ratification of the federal constitution, and the abolition of the slave trade. When they rose to
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 Thomas Pollen, Universal Love: A Sermon Preached at Trinity Church (Boston: Green and Russell, 1758), p. 16.
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! a sufficient level of intensity, these controversies could tear apart Masonic lodges. In the
American Revolution, Masons found themselves on both sides of the schism between Patriots
DQG/R\DOLVWV GXULQJWKLVSHULRGRIFULVLVWKH5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQDV\VWHPRI0DVRQLF³KLJKHU
GHJUHHV´RULJLQDOO\GHYHORSHGDPRQJ-DFRELWHFLUFOHVLn France, gained popularity in North
$PHULFDWUDQVPLWWLQJWKH-DFRELWHV¶FRQFHUQVDQGDQ[LHWLHVDERXWWKHOHJLWLPDF\RIPRQDUFK\WR a generation of revolutionaries.
These three core defining qualities of Masonry in the eighteenth century²its religiosity, its emotional power, and its political ambivalence²have generally been obscured in academic scholarship, which has repeatedly sought to define Masonry in fundamentally political terms.
The right-ZLQJ)UHQFKKLVWRULDQ%HUQDUG)D¹LQ ¶VFreemasonry and Revolution, possibly the first scholarly history of the Fraternity, emphasized its connections to political radicalism and the French and American Revolutions. More recent work on the subject has tended to temper
)D¹¶VWKHVLVDFNQRZOHGJLQJ0DVRQU\¶VIRrmal political neutrality and the conservatism of some of its members, but still seeks to define Masonry as the vehicle of a political movement or agenda. $VVFKRODUVKDYHVORZO\PRYHGDZD\IURP)D¹¶VVZHHSLQJFKDUDFWHUL]DWLRQRIWKH
Fraternity as a radical conspiracy, they have been left with the question of precisely what the
)UDWHUQLW\¶VVLJQLILFDQFHZDVDQGWKHLUH[SODQDWLRQVJURZSURJUHVVLYHO\PRUHYDJXHMargaret
-DFRELQ ¶VThe Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans, seizes on the Fraternity as a symbol of individualist and egalitarian forms of association, which supposedly spread in tandem with religious skepticism²although the documents that originally
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! inspired Jacob to pursue this line of argument were not Masonic at all, but belonged to a separate group that merely borrowed some Masonic terms and practices.5
The Radical Enlightenment drew Margaret Jacob into a decades-long debate with
Jonathan Israel, who sees the Enlightenment as the unfolding of democratic and materialist ideas stemming from Spinoza. Israel gives little weight to middle-and upper-class fraternalism, particularly as practiced by a social club that excluded women and espoused belief in God.
-DFRE¶VGHEDWHZLWK,VUDHOKDVOHGKHUWRHQWUHQFKKHUXQGerstanding of Masonry as a vehicle of
WKHVXSSRVHGO\UDWLRQDOLVWHJDOLWDULDQDQGVHFXODUL]LQJFXOWXUDOWUHQGVRIWKHDJH,Q ¶V
Living the Enlightenment, she represents the Craft as an expression of British-style Enlightened gentility, constitutionaOLVP:KLJYDOXHVDQGSHUKDSVPRVWYDJXHO\³FRVPRSROLWDQLVP´,Q
GLVFXVVLQJD3DULVLDQORGJHLQWKHV-DFREREVHUYHV³SHUKDSVZHKDYHILQDOO\ORFDWHGWKH
HDUOLHVWPRPHQWVLQWKHIRUPDWLRQRIFLYLOVRFLHW\´DQGFLWLQJ+DEHUPDVDVVHUWVWKDWWKHORdges
VHUYHGDV³XQGHUSLQQLQJ>V@«IRUWKHUHSXEOLFDQDQGGHPRFUDWLFIRUPVRIJRYHUQPHQWWKDW
IRUPHGILWIXOO\LQ:HVWHUQ(XURSHIURPWKHODWHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\RQ´6
0DUJDUHW-DFRE¶VZRUNQRWRQO\PLQLPL]HVWKH0DVRQV¶HPRWLRQDOUKHWRULFDQGDUFDQH myths aQGULWXDOVLQIDYRURIYDJXHDOOXVLRQVWR³FRVPRSROLWDQLVP´DQG³(QOLJKWHQPHQW´EXW overlooks important research on the origins of the Craft. As historian David Stevenson finds in
¶V2ULJLQVRI)UHHPDVRQU\ 6FRWODQG¶V&HQWXU\ and The First Freemasons, the practices of
ORGJHJRYHUQDQFHDQGULWXDOLQLWLDWLRQVFHQWHULQJRQD³0DVRQZRUG´GHYHORSHGPDLQO\LQ
Scotland between the later sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries, where lodges of working
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 Margaret Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment, London: Allen & Unwin, 1981; Margaret Jacob, ³7KH5DGLFDO(QOLJKWHQPHQWDQG)UHHPDVRQU\ :KHUH$UH:H1RZ"´Revista de Estudios Historicos de la Masonería, Special Issue, UCLA ± Grand Lodge of California, 2013, p. 11-25. 6 Margaret Jacob, Living the Enlightenment (Oxford University Press, 1991): 5.
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! stonemasons gradually came to accept gentlemen, professionals, and artisans who were not
PDVRQVEXWZKRZHUHLQWHUHVWHGLQWKHORGJHV¶VHFUHF\DQGIUDWHUQDOLVP7 The Masonic myths and rituals, which form the universal core of Masonic experience, thus predate the eighteenth- century Enlightenment. Jacob, in 2006¶VOrigins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions, accepts
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The Scottish historian, David Stevenson, sees Scotland as the home of modern freemasonry. It was²since lodges there were the first to become social clubs for the genteel. But the freemasonry of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment²the fraternity, ideals and constitution exported to continental Europe²encoded not the local Scottish customs and clan governance, but the institutions and constitutional ideals originating in the English revolution against royal absolutism.8
Jacob does not explain exactly what it means for one iQVWLWXWLRQWR³HQFRGH´DQRWKHUEXWEHLQJ committed to the idea of a Whiggish Enlightenment emanating from London, she falls back on the common notions of early modern Scotland as isolated, clannish, and anti-modern. The
ZHDNQHVVHVRI-DFRE¶VZRUNRQ)UHHPDVRQU\VWHPPRVWO\IURPWKHIDFWWKDWLWIRUPVRQHVLGHRI
DGHEDWHRYHUWKHQDWXUHRIWKH³(QOLJKWHQPHQW´ KHUSULPDU\Joal is not to understand
Freemasonry in and of itself, but to use it as a means towards the end of characterizing something else.
Steven Bullock, the foremost historian of Masonry in North America, continues to view
Masonry from a political vantage point, with unclear results. IQ ¶VRevolutionary
Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1830,
Bullock FRPHVWKHFORVHVWRIDQ\VFKRODUWKXVIDUWRH[SOLFDWLQJWKH0DVRQV¶VHOI-understanding !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7 David Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonr\ 6FRWODQG¶V&HQWXU\, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988; David Stevenson, The First Freemasons, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 8 Margaret Jacob, Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 13.
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! and social impact without imposing on them preconceived notions of Whiggish politics. Still,
Bullock falls prey to the urge to slot the Fraternity into an eighteenth-century milieu of gentility,
WKHJURZLQJSXEOLFVSKHUHDQG(QOLJKWHQHGVRFLDELOLW\,QKLVILUVWFKDSWHU³1HZton and
1HFURPDQF\´%XOORFNDFNQRZOHGJHVWKDWULWXDOLVPVHFUHF\DQGUHOLJLRXVV\PEROLVPIRUPHG part of the seventeenth-century background to Masonry; however, he claims that these esoteric obsessions faded out in the eighteenth century, leaving behind an enlightened, polite fraternity concerned with social status and respectability.9 Relying mainly on printed orations and pamphlets, and occasionally on documents that are not actually Masonic but concern other
JHQWOHPHQ¶VVRFLDOFOXEV10 Bullock repeatedly attempts to link Masonry to Newton, Locke, and other familiar symbols of the Enlightenment. He puts great emphasis on the schism between the so-FDOOHG³0RGHUQ´DQG³$QFLHQW´EUDQFKHVRI0DVRQU\DVDFDWDO\VWIRUWKHSRSXODUL]DWLRQDQG politicization of the Craft in the American Revolutionary period, and after 1790, he sees, among
RWKHUVRFLDOWUHQGVD³VDFUDOL]DWLRQ´RUDUHWXUQWRUHOLJLRXVDQGHVRWHULFLQWHUHVWVDPRQJ
Masons, in tandem with the Romantic movement.11
Relying on a sampling of documents culled from across a wide geographic and temporal setting, Bullock presents a misleadingly selective picture of Masonry before 1790. Ignoring
'DYLG6WHYHQVRQ¶VZRUNKHPLQLPL]HVthe importance of pre-Enlightenment esoteric beliefs and practices to the Fraternity, including in the eighteenth century. The obsession with myth and
ULWXDOGLGQRWIDGHRXWRI0DVRQU\RQO\WRUHWXUQODWHU LWZDVWKHPRYHPHQW¶VPRVWIXQGDPHQWDO constant. Moreover, painting the Fraternity in large brushstrokes, Bullock does not examine the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9 Steven Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996): 9-49. 10 Bullock, 51-9. 11 Bullock, 239-75.
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! smaller struggles over social inclusion and lodge governance that gradually led to democratization within both Modern-Rite and Ancient-Rite Masonry. A more fine-grained study of the Fraternity, including all types of documents and evidence that Masons produced, shows that devotion to myth and ritual were the very heart of the Craft, while questions of governance and politics were debatable and changeable from lodge to lodge and from year to year.
Jessica Harland--DFREVLQ¶VBuilders of Empire: Freemasons and British
Imperialism, 1717-1927, puts aside the notion of the Masons as having a partisan or radical political agenda, but maintains the link between Freemasonry and politics by selecting the Craft within a particular imperial sphere as her object of analysis. Harland-Jacobs takes the contrast
EHWZHHQUDGLFDO:KLJDQGUHDFWLRQDU\-DFRELWH0DVRQV¶SROLWLFDOYLHZVLQWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\ as evidence of the Craft¶V³SURWHDQQDWXUH´DQGLWV³DELOLW\WRDFFRPPRGDWHDUDQJHRISROLWLFDO
SRVLWLRQVLQWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\´12 This solution is vague, and serves as much to avoid the problem as to resolve it. Harland-Jacobs proceeds to cast Masonry as an instrument of the extension of the British Empire, while ignoring its popularity among French, Dutch, Spanish, and Ottoman subjects, among others.
Most recently, Ric Berman, in his 2012 book, The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry, seeks to restore the connection between Freemasonry and the Whiggish Enlightenment by focusing selectively on a VPDOOFLUFOHRI0DVRQLFOHDGHUVWKDWKHFRQVLGHUVWKH³IRXQGHUV´DQG
³FRUH´RIWKH)UDWHUQLW\+HUHFRQVWUXFWVWKHJHQWHHOVRFLDOFLUFOHVRIPHQZKROHGWKH*UDQG
Lodge of England, founded in 1717, most of whom were linked to the Whig-Hanoverian establishment and to the natural-SKLORVRSKLFDOQHWZRUNVWKDWKHWHUPV³WKHVFLHQWLILF
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12 Jessica Harland-Jacobs, Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 (U. of North Carolina Press, 2007), 109.
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! (QOLJKWHQPHQW´2QWKLVEDVLVKHDUJXHVWKDWWKHOHDGHUVRIWKH/RQGRQ*UDQG/RGJHLQWKLV
SHULRGJDYHELUWKWR³PRGHUQ´0DVRQU\,QPDNLQJWKLVDUJXPHQW%HUPDQLVREOLJHGHLther to ignore or to explain away a number of important facts, eg: that lodges composed of non- stonemasons already existed in both Scotland and Ireland for some time before 1717, and never recognized the authority of the Grand Lodge in London; that the London Grand Lodge did not plan or direct the formation of new lodges under their jurisdiction, which usually organized locally on their own initiative; that many eighteenth-century English lodges, such as the one in
Fredericksburg, Virginia that initiated George Washington, operated for decades without any affiliation to any Grand Lodge at all; and that as early as 1705, another Masonic body calling
LWVHOID³*UDQG/RGJH´KDGEHHQRSHUDWLQJDW UHJLRQ¶V+LJK-Church Anglican, Catholic, and Jacobite gentry, the very antithesis of the Whig- Hanoverian grandees that Berman finds in London.13 %HUPDQ¶VQDUURZIRFXVRQWKH/RQGRQ*UDQG/RGJHUHIOHFWVVHYHUDORIWKHDFDGHPLF biases that have tended to obscure the traditionalist and backward-looking character of Masonry. Like many English scholars, Berman refuses to consider the rich evidence of Masonic activity in the fringe areas of the British Isles, including Scotland, Ireland, and northern England. Additionally, he assumes that eighteenth-century Masonry must be forward-looking and ³PRGHUQ´²more specifically, Whiggish, enlightened, and scientific²despite the many repeated connections between Masonry and the Tory, Jacobite, and Catholic social networks that stood against the Whig ascendancy. For instance, Berman dismisses the York Grand Lodge, with its KHDYLO\-DFRELWHDQG&DWKROLFOHDGHUVKLSDV³DQH[DPSOHRIORFDOIUDWHUQDOQHWZRUNLQJ´in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 13 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York (New York: J. J. Little and Company, 1899): 131-3; Ric Berman, Foundations of Modern Freemasonry: The Grand Architects: Social Change and the Scientific Enlightenment (Sussex Academic Press, 2012): 34-6. ,! ! FRQWUDVWWRWKH³SROLWLFDOO\ZHOO-connected, affluent and influential pro-Hanoverian aristocrats WKDWSURYLGHGWKHQRPLQDOOHDGHUVKLS´RI0DVRQU\LQ/RQGRQ14 He fails to see the circular reasoning in assuming Masonry to be fundamentally Whiggish and then using that quality as a criterion to discern who was an influential Mason. In fact, so many Masonic leaders of both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were traditionalist and pro-Stuart that the London Grand Lodge appears as something of an aberration; indeed, it is probable that the London Grand Lodge was formed specifically in order to distance the Craft from its generally traditionalist and pro- Stuart roots²to re-brand it for the benefit of the Whig government. As we will see, this re- branding was not entirely successful, and Masonic links to the Jacobite world endured. FinalO\%HUPDQ¶VZRUNOLNHWKDWRIVRPDQ\RWKHUVFKRODUVEHIRUHKLPLVFRPPLWWHGWR characterizing Masonry in terms of the Enlightenment. Yet if the continuing debate between 0DUJDUHW-DFREDQG-RQDWKDQ,VUDHOSURYHVDQ\WKLQJLWLVWKDWWKHFRQFHSWRI³WKH(QOLJKWHQPHQW´ is infinitely changeable and debatable, corresponding to no concrete, bounded historical entity. The two scholars are arguing over angels on a pinhead. The line of reasoning that attempts to XQGHUVWDQGWKH&UDIWLQWHUPVRIWKH³(QOLJKWHQPHQW´OHDGVTXLFNO\LQWRFLUFXODULW\ RQHGHILQHV the Enlightenment as a social movement exemplified by forums of sociability, and sociability as an expression of the Enlightenment. This circularity can be seen in the very title of Margaret -DFRE¶VSULQFipal book on the subject, Living the Enlightenment, which seems to suggest that merely by being a Mason one took part in the Enlightenment, while it defines the Enlightenment only as the sort of things that Masons did. More broadly, the concept of the Enlightenment is vague and diffuse in itself, varying both from nation to nation and from scholar to scholar. While all may agree in applying the label !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 14 Berman, Foundations, 36. $-! ! to a small core group of rational-empiricist philosophers²or in truth, to only one, David Hume²beyond this limited consensus, the notion quickly falls into ambiguity and contradiction. ,QGHHG³(QOLJKWHQPHQW´PD\VHUYHPHUHO\DVDSODFHKROGHUE\ZKLFKWRODEHODQHUDZLWKQR unifying theme. As Paul Monod aptly remarks, +LVWRULDQVFDQSHUKDSVGLVFHUQDµ9LFWRULDQPHQWDOLW\¶RUDQµ(GZDUGLDQPLQG¶ the eighteenth century, however, was a period of intellectual confusion. It was QRWWKHµDJHRI/RFNH¶ EXWLWZDVQRWWKHDJHRI&KDUOHV/HVOLHHLWKHU15 0RQRG¶VSHUVSHFWLYHVXUHO\GHULYHVLQSDUWIURPKLVH[DPLQDWion of Jacobitism, a counter- revolutionary royalist movement among both the British populace and the intelligentsia in the eighteenth century²and, as discussed in Section 3 of this work, in the ranks of both British and Continental Masonry. Scholars have continued to link Freemasonry to the Enlightenment because the latter serves as a founding myth for modern-day intellectuals. Rational and secular inquiry can supposedly be traced back to the eighteenth century, with Locke and Newton standing as the movemHQW¶V³WZLQIRXQGHUV´16 as Romulus and Remus did for Rome. The Enlightenment myth suppresses the complexities and contradictions of the eighteenth century²including, as it happens, the profound differences between Locke and Newton themselves. The two phiORVRSKHUV¶PHWDSK\VLFVZHUHLQFRPSDWLEOHDQG1HZWRQYLHZHG/RFNHZLWKGHHSZDULQHVV VXVSHFWLQJWKHODWWHU¶VGHQLDORILQQDWHLGHDVWREHDFRYHUWDWWDFNRQUHOLJLRQ7KHFRXSOLQJRI the two was carried out mainly by French propagandists, particularly Voltaire, who had only a superficial understanding of their ideas and who tended to link them together because the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 15 Paul Monod, Jacobitism and the English People (Cambridge University Press, 1993): 42. 16 -$*5RJHUV³/RFNH1HZWRQDQG&DPEULGJH3ODWRQLVWV´Journal of the History of Ideas, 40 (1979), 191-205, quoted in B. W. Young, Religion and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century England (New York: Oxford University press, 1988): 91n. $$! ! Inquisition placed both of them on its index of prohibited books.17 Hence, whatever overlap existed among the devotees of Locke, Newton, and Freemasonry in Continental Europe may be accounted for by the fact all three were condemned by the Catholic Church, and hence attracted those who were willing (or eager) to flout ecclesiastical bans. This affinity does not imply, however, that Masonry in and of itself propagated the ideas of Newton, Locke, or any other Enlightenment thinker. In fact, references to Newton in the Masonic literature of the eighteenth century are extremely rare (and in Rhode Island are totally non-existent) while those to Locke are only a little more common and are usually deployed for politically defensive purposes. It is true that some British Masons in the mid-eighteenth century falsely claimed Locke as a Masonic Brother²as they did many prominent men of the past, from Euclid to Peter the Great²but the fact that Masons occasionally claimed as a forebear a philosopher who was politically in vogue at the time does not demonstrate that his ideas defined Masonry.18 6FKRODUV¶FRQWLQXLQJDVVRFLDWLRQRI0DVRQU\ZLWK/RFNHDQG1HZWRQ points to the distortions that can result from imposing grand narratives of the eighteenth century onto Masonry. If we wish to understand the Fraternity historically, we must first examine it on its own terms as a distinct phenomenon, uncoupled from the vague notions that scholars ordinarily use to describe the eighteenth century. Firstly, one must examine it in detail in a particular place, taking into account all of the various types of men that became Masons and the various sorts of documents that they produced about the Fraternity²orations, letters, logbooks, journals, songs, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 17 B. W. Young, Religion and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century England (New York: Oxford University press, 1988): 90-3, 115-18. 18 Jacob, Living the Enlightenment, 63-4; Bullock, 49. In Rhode Island, no Mason is known to KDYHLQYRNHG/RFNHXQWLO:LOOLDP+XQWHUGLGVRLQLQWKHFRQWH[WRIFHOHEUDWLQJWKH0DVRQV¶ commitment to religious tolerance. $%! ! ritual texts and objects, etc. Such an exhaustive local study may not produce definitive answers as to the political impact of Masonry everywhere that it existed in the eighteenth century, but it at least promises a deeper social and psychological understanding of the movement, ruling out unwarranted generalizations and opening a path for a broader re-interpretation. Furthermore, a reconsideration of Masonry in this period, when it first became internationally popular, is valuable as a means to a more nuanced understanding of the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. This dissertation seeks to put forward such a local study of Masonry in the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries in Rhode Island, from the formation of the first recorded lodge in Newport in 1749 to the completion of Masons Hall in the same town in 1803. During this period, the Masons fitfully pursued their dream of building their own temple, amidst the upheaval and dislocation of the later eighteenth century. In addition, it considers other sites in the Atlantic basin that were closely connected to Rhode Island²in particular, Jamaica, which was the principal hub of Masonry in the New World in the 1760s and 1770s, and which transmitted many important Masonic ideas and practices to North America. A brief examination of Masonry in Jamaica is indispensable as a point of comparison, illustrating the social conditions under which Masonry thrived. Several factors influence the choice of Rhode Island as a principal site of study. The OHJDF\RI5RJHU:LOOLDPVDQGWKHFRORQ\¶VSROLF\RIUHOLJLRXVIUHHGRPDOORZHGIRUDQXQXVXDO degree of religious diversity; the colony offers a laboratory for examining how the Fraternity attracted men of different faiths, and in an environment without an established or even predominant church, Masonry was crucial to the formation of a non-denominational civic religion. In addition, during the imperial crisis, Newport was fiercely divided between Whigs and Tories, allowing for an examination of the purported connections between Masonry and $&! ! revolution. Furthermore, Rhode Island was the principal center of the eighteenth-century slave trade in North America, and so illustrates the conflicts and dilemmas that slavery and racism presented to the Fraternity and its universalist ideals. The final reason that this study focuses on Rhode Island is purely Masonic: Rhode Island was the critical center of the spread of the so- FDOOHG³KLJKHUGHJUHHV´DVHULHVRIP\VWLFDODQGFKLYDOULFP\WKVDQGULWXDOVEH\RQGWKHRUGLQDU\ three degrees practiced in most lodges. Both Moses Michael Hays, who lived in Newport between 1771 and 1782, and Thomas Smith Webb, who settled in Providence in 1799, used Rhode Island as a base for their propagation of the higher degrees. A study of Masonry in Rhode Island enables both a clearer picture of its position in eighteenth-century society beyond the ORGJHDQGDGHHSHUXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKHPRYHPHQW¶VLQWHUQDO beliefs and practices. This study does not find that the Masons were politically unimportant; on the contrary, their impact on North American politics was profound, particularly in the 1780s and 1790s. +RZHYHUWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VSROLWLFDOLQIOXHQFHIORZHd from its deeper commitments to myth and ritual, rather than vice versa. Hence, the inner life of Freemasonry must be taken seriously and analyzed first, before its political significance can be discerned. As eighteenth-century Anglo- American society faced division and upheaval, particularly in the American Revolution, the 0DVRQV¶VHQVHRIPLVVLRQSXVKHGWKHPLQWRWKHUROHRIFUHDWLQJDQHZFLYLFFXOWXUH7KURXJK their responses to the crises of the 1700s, the Masons offered a conceptual order through which to cope with change. The Brethren responded to divisions within the Masonic sanctum and to attacks from without by referring back to their mythic history, which purportedly linked them to King Solomon and the building of the Temple. While these myths offered a source of legitimacy and shared principles for the Fraternity itself, the metaphor of temple-building also provided a PRGHOIRUWKHUHFRQVWUXFWLRQRI1RUWK$PHULFDQVRFLHW\7KH5HYROXWLRQOLNHWKH0DVRQV¶ $'! ! initiations, was itself a rite of passage, involving the symbolic breaking of old bonds and the constitution of new ones in their place. The most important aspect of Masonic myth and symbolism that allowed the Freemasons to act as architects of a new public culture was their obsession with kingship. The Masons supposedly received their original charges from King Solomon, and Masonic rituals make frequent reference to Cyrus the Great and other divinely anointed monarchs, who act as intermediaries between the earthly and heavenly realms; as a commonly reprinted Masonic song GHFODUHVRIWKH6RORPRQLFDJH³7KH5R\DO$UWZDVWKHQGLYLQH7KHFUDIWVPHQFRXQVHOO¶GIURP DERYH´19 The Masons viewed themselves as conservators of the divine favor that rested upon kings, and in much of Europe eagerly sought royal patronage. Beginning with the pioneering work of Marc Bloch and Ernst Kantorowicz, many scholars have placed sacral kingship at the center of early modern politics. This complex of beliefs allowed monarchical states to claim divine authority independently of the Church; however, sacral kingship faced a series of dilemmas and crises in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, forcing dynastic states to experiment with secular and contractual justifications for their rule.20 In this context, the Masons could transfer the divine aura that had previously surrounded the Crown onto new, non- monarchical institutions. 7KH0DVRQV¶UROHDVWUDQVPLWWHUVRIGLYLQHOHJLWLPDF\ZDVQRZKHUHPRUHFUXFLDOWKDQLQ North America, where monarchy lost its formal authority during the imperial crisis and the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 19 ³0DVWHU¶V6RQJ´from James Anderson, Constitutions of the Free-Masons (London: William Hunter for John Senex, 1723): 77. 20Marc Bloch, Les Rois Thaumaturges (London, Oxford University Press, 1924); Ernst Kantorowicz, The KiQJ¶V7ZR%RGLHV (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957); Ronald Asch, Sacral Kingship Between Disenchantment and Re-enchantment: The French and English Monarchies, 1587-1688 (Berghahn Books, 2014). $(! ! 5HYROXWLRQ$V%UHQGDQ0F&RQYLOOHKDVQRWHGWKH5HYROXWLRQEHJDQZLWKDQ³LFRQRFODVP´D ritual attack on the symbols of the monarch;21 in the liminal period after this symbolic break, Masonic symbols and rhetoric helped to forge a political theology for the new republic. Through toasts, songs, orations, processions, and cornerstone-layings honoring the army and the navy, the Constitution, the judicial system, and other republican institutions, the American Masons carved out a sphere of sacred loyalties purportedly above the vicissitudes of interest and partisan politics, much as the Crown had once inhabited in early modern Britain; since the Masons themselves purported to be above politics, any loyalty that they espoused was sanctified by H[WHQVLRQ7KH0DVRQVRI5KRGH,VODQGLQWKH VIUHTXHQWO\WRDVWHG³0D\XQLYHUVDO 0DVRQU\EHWKHRQO\XQLYHUVDOPRQDUFK\´FODLPLQJWKHPDQWOHRIVXFKDQFLHQWXQLYHUVDONLQJV as Cyrus and Alexander. The principal symbol for the transferral of royal sanctity to the Masons themselves and to the new republic was the man whom the Brethren cast as the American Solomon: George Washington. $FRQVLGHUDWLRQRIWKH0DVRQV¶SXEOLFUROHFDQKHOSWRFODULI\WKHUHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQ the ideas of politics and sovereignty in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At issue is whether the symbolically unifying function of monarchy can carry over into liberal-democratic societies. The philosopher Claude Lefort, in observing modern French society, has argued that WKHRYHUWKURZRIWKH&URZQOHIWEHKLQGDQ³HPSW\VSDFH´WKDWPHUHLQWHUHVW-based politics cannot fill; the state has lost its symbolic anchor.22 On the other hand, the American theorist Paul Kahn DUJXHVWKDW&DUO6FKPLWW¶V IDPRXVGLFWXPWKDW³DOOVLJQLILFDQWFRQFHSWVRIWKHPRGHUQWKHRU\RI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21 Brendan McConville, 7KH.LQJ¶V7KUHH)DFHV: The Rise and Fall of Royal America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006): 281-303. 22 Claude Lefort, Democracy and Political Theory (Cambridge: Polity, 1988). $)! ! WKHVWDWHDUHVHFXODUL]HGWKHRORJLFDOFRQFHSWV´KROGVWUXHLQWKH$PHULFDQFDVH WKHUDWLILFDWLRQRI the Constitution creates an eternally sovereign authority outside of the democratic process, much OLNHWKHNLQJ¶VKHDYHQO\ERG\7KHVROHPQLW\DQGULWXDOWDERRVVXUURXQGLQJWKHUXOLQJVRIWKH Supreme Court, for instance, dramatize its role as an oracle speaking for the popular sovereign.23 (It is no coincidence that a Freemason, James Mitchell Varnum, largely invented the doctrine of judicial review.) 7KHGLIIHUHQFHVEHWZHHQ/HIRUW¶VDQG.DKQ¶VYLHZVRIPRGHUQSROLWLFVVXUHO\VWHPLQSDUW from their divergent French and American perspectives, but the missing element that both theorists fail to note is the transferability of sanctity. Religious awe and theological language have detached from their monarchical context to reappear in republican rhetoric. The Masons, in a quasi-shamanic role, helped to achieve the transition from a monarchical to a republican society with minimal loss of divine legitimacy. As monarchy faced repeated challenges in Anglo-American society, from the coup of 1688 to the creation of the American federal republic, Masons have sought to square the circle; as this study will show, politically engaged Masons have repeatedly recognized the legitimacy of Whig demands for civic and religious liberty while simultaneously calling for a unifying authority, whether in the form of the Crown, the established church, or the federal Constitution, as a matter of principle. Masons abhorred a symbolic vacuum. 1RQHWKHOHVVWKH0DVRQV¶UROHLQFUHDWLQJDSROLWLFDOWKHRORJ\IRUWKH$PHULFDQUHSXEOLF should not obscure the fact that Masonic loyalties, for most men who joined the Fraternity, were not political, but personal and emotional. As recent scholars have found, eighteenth-century !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 23 Paul Kahn, Political Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011). $*! ! British-$PHULFDQVYDOXHG³SDVVLRQ´DQG³DIIHFWLRQ´DVWKHIXQGDPHQWDOPRWLYDWRUVRIKXPDQ action. The century was an age of sensibility as well as an age of reason; Thomas Paine invented WKHODWWHUWHUPRQO\LQ ZKHUHHDUOLHULQWKHFHQWXU\KHPDGHDSSHDOVWRWKH³SDVVLRQV´DQG ³IHHOLQJV´RIPDQNLQG24 )UHHPDVRQU\LQWKHZRUGVRIRQHLQLWLDWHDWRQFH³HQWKUDOO>HG@WKH SDVVLRQV´DQGEXLOWD³WLHRIEURWKHUO\DIIHFWLRQ´ DVa Masonic orator declared to the Grand Lodge conventon at 1HZSRUWWKHIRXQGHURI0DVRQU\ZDVD³SRHW´ZKRNQHZKRZWR³LQIODPH WKHSDVVLRQV´25 Since a central objective of this study is to de-couple Freemasonry from the ³(QOLJKWHQPHQW´WKHSXEOLFVSKHUHDQGRWKHUH[WHUQDOLGHRORJLFDOWUHQGVWKHTXHVWLRQPD\DULVH of why the Fraternity spread so dramatically in the eighteenth century rather than earlier or later. The growth of Masonry after 1700, as far as this study finds, did not depend on a modern or secular cultural environment, but rather on demographics: the increasing concentration of deracinated young men in growing cities; the growth of the slave trade; and the integration of 6FRWODQGLQWR%ULWDLQ¶V$WODQWLFHPSLUH Men joined the Fraternity not because they subscribed to any particular political program, but in order to find a rock of stability, both social and conceptual, in an unstable early-modern world²DQ³LPPXWDEOHIUDWHUQLW\ILUVWRUGDLQHGLQ +HDYHQ´DQGDQHPRWLRQDOVXSSRUW³that will remain to which recourse can be had when the assistance of earthly friends are denied´26 The vectors of its spread in North America were !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 24 Nicole Eustace, Passion is the Gale: Emotion, Power, and the Coming of the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Caroline Press, 2008), 3-4. 25 0HPRUDQGXP-XQH³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´9DXlt A, Box 69, Folder 3, NHS; William +XQWHURUDWLRQEHIRUHWKH*UDQG/RGJH9DXOW$%R[)ROGHUODEHOHG³0HPRLUVRI7KRPDV 'XQQ´1+6 26 0HPRUDQGXP-XQH³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´9DXOW$%R[ )ROGHU1+6; James Mitchell Varnum, An Oration Delivered Before a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons (Providence: John Carter, 1779), 10. $+! ! itinerant young men²merchants, mariners, artisans, and actors²unable to set down roots and seeking a place of belonging amidst the colonial Babel. Masons celebrated neither variety nor change but unity and permanence: cosmopolitanism was not the solution, it was the problem that fraternalism might overcome. Indeed, while Masons occasionally cHOHEUDWHGWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VUHDFKWKURXJKVSDFHHPERGLHGLQ its inclusion of men of different lands and nations, they placed much greater stress on its FRQWLQXLW\LQWLPHLWV³DQFLHQW´FXVWRPVRULJLQDWLQJLQ³WLPHLPPHPRULDO´7KH³VROHPQLW\´WKDW characterized all Masonic rituals was the unifying emotional mood of encounter with the mysterious and the timeless. This dissertation comprises five sections, the first and last of which are thematic, while the three in between are chronological, dealing with the colonial, revolutionary, and early republican periods, respectively. The first section sets forth general observations about Freemasonry, its emergence, its structure, and its fundamentally constitutive practices, i.e. its rituals. This introductory section considers evidence from the Masonic world at large while UHLQWHUSUHWLQJLWLQOLJKWRIWKHFDVHVRI5KRGH,VODQGDQG-DPDLFD&KDSWHU³7KHUnfinished Temple,´GHDOLQJZLWKWKHPHDQLQJVRI0DVRQLFULWXDOWDNHVLVVXHZLWKRWKHUVFKRODUV¶ misunderstandings of the Fraternity as rationalist and Newtonian. A careful analysis reveals the Masonic rituals to be the fount of all salient aspects of the Fraternity in the eighteenth century, including its sense of religious mission, its emotional power, and its egalitarian and cosmopolitan rhetoric. Masonic beliefs and practices owe a great deal to neo-Platonism, and certain practices are rooted in a substratum of Eurasian shamanism. Mircea Eliade has argued that shamanism, WKHVSLULWXDOWUDYHOWRWKH³VDFUHG´ZRUOGZKLFKLVDOVRWKHZRUOGRIWKHGHDGQHFHVVDULO\IRUPV $,! ! part of a quest to recover a paradisal state outside of time and mortality.27 While it is doubtful whether this assertion applies to all practices around the world normally grouped under the label RI³VKDPDQLVP´LWGRHVDSSO\WRWKHVKDPDQLVWLFDVSHFWVRI0DVRQU\7KH)UDWHUQLW\¶VULWXDOV return obsessively to symbols of death and to the gateways between the mundane and divine worlds²(GHQWKH7RZHURI%DEHO-DFRE¶V/DGGHUDQGRIFRXUVH6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH²through which Masons ritually travel in pursuit of divine knowledge and immortality. 7KHVHFRQGVHFWLRQ³7KH&RORQLDO%DEHO´WUDFHVWKHULVHDQGIDOORI0DVRQU\LQFRORQLDO Rhode Island, beginning with the formation of lodges in Newport in 1749 and in Providence in 7KHORGJHV¶OHDGHUVVRXJKWWRLQWHJUDWH0DVRQU\LQWRDSHDFHIXOLPSHULDORUGHUFHQWHUHG RQWKH&URZQ WKRXJKKHDYLO\ZHLJKWHGWRZDUGVWKHFRORQ\¶V$QJOLFDQ-mercantile elite, the lodges moved gradually toward broader social inclusion and greater local autonomy as they matured. The Fraternity inspired deep emotional attachment among its members, but still could not withstand the divisive controversies over the Stamp Act and related Parliamentary policies; both lodges collapsed by 1769. 7KHWKLUGVHFWLRQ³5HILQHG%\$HWKHUHDO)LUH´GHDOVZLWKWKHUHFRQILJXUDWLRQRI1RUWK American society that allowed Masonry to be reborn as a patriotic, republican institution. In the breakdown of the 1760s and 1770s, Masons were forced to choose sides in the imperial conflict and the ensuing war, giving rise to rump populations of Whigs and Tories. In 1778, former colonial Masons in Providence revived the lodge in that town, enabling Masonry to serve as a social bridge between civilians and Continental troops. Newport, meanwhile, remained under British occupation until 1779, but the following year, Moses Michael Hays, a Jewish Mason !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 27 Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries (London: Harvill Press, 1960): 60-6; Douglas Allen, Myth and Religion in Mircea Eliade (New York, Garland, 1988): 93, 143, 168-77. %-! ! IURP1HZ The fourth VHFWLRQ³7KH&RQVXPPDWLRQRI$OO7KLQJV´FRQVLGHUVWKHJURZWKDQG influence of Masonry in the early republic. In the uncertainty and chaos of post-war North America, Rhode Island Masons both spearheaded the formation of new civic institutions and conferred upon them the divine sanction that had formerly belonged to the Crown. The most famous case of this process is surely the ratification of the Constitution; though Rhode Island was adamantly anti-federalist, flatly rejecting the Constitution for almost three years, the Masons in the state campaigned for ratification and cast federalization as a moral and religious duty. Following on the heels of ratification, the Masons formed a Grand Lodge of Rhode Island in 1791; this new body took up the work both of responding to the anti-Masonic controversies stemming from the French Revolution and of managing the rapid and unprecedented growth of Masonry in the state between 1796 and 1800. Finally, the Masons sought to solidify their position in Rhode Island, and in American society more broadly, in their dramatic mourning and memorialization of George Washington, whom they cast as the embodiment of Masonry. 7KHILIWKVHFWLRQGHDOVZLWK0DVRQV¶FKRLFHVDVWRZKRPWRH[FOXGHIURPWKHIUDWHUQDO sanctum, and how thoVHGHFLVLRQVUHIOHFW)UHHPDVRQU\¶VGLVWLQFWLYHUROHLQHLJKWHHQWK-century VRFLHW\7KHWLWOHRIWKLVVHFWLRQ³*XDUGLQJWKH*DWHV´LVFRQVFLRXVO\DPELJXRXVUHIHUULQJERWK %$! ! WRWKH0DVRQV¶FRQWURORYHUPHPEHUVKLSLQWKH)UDWHUQLW\DQGWKHLUDVVXPHGUHOLJLRus role as guardians of the points of contact between the visible and invisible realms, the worlds of the living and the dead. Firstly, the idea of women becoming Masons was often discussed and sometimes realized in the eighteenth century, though never in Rhode Island. Newport, like most Atlantic port towns of the eighteenth century, was predominately female, and the Masons were UHSHDWHGO\IRUFHGWRDGGUHVVDQGGHIHQGWKHLUSROLF\RIJHQGHUH[FOXVLRQ,URQLFDOO\WKH0DVRQV¶ continuing refusal to admit wRPHQXQGHUVFRUHVWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VUROHDVDUHIXJHIURPWKH patriarchal habits and responsibilities of the male gender, which men ordinarily performed in the presence of women and subordinates. In contrast to the question of gender exclusion, the Fraternity did not openly mention²let alone take any concerted stand on²slavery, the slave trade, or the legal status of Afro-Americans. While individual Masons advocated for or against VODYHU\WKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VSRVLWLRQUHPDLQHGXQGHILQHGH[SRVLQJWKHOLPLWVDQd ambiguities of Masonic fraternalism. Afro-American men tested these limits towards the end of the century when they attained the Masonic mysteries and formed their own lodges. In the course of its narrative, this dissertation turns repeatedly to a few critical individuals who used Rhode Island Freemasonry as a platform to comment on Masonry in general or on its role in the creation of the American state. Most important among them is James Mitchell Varnum, the lawyer from East Greenwich who served as a Brigadier-General in the Continental Army and as the first American judge in the Northwest Territory. I focus heavily on Varnum not because he was necessarily more influential in the development of Masonry than many other Rhode Islanders, such as Moses Michael Hays or Thomas Smith Webb, but rather because he was more loquacious. In the context of a secretive organization, Varnum was exceptionally willing to apply his Masonic beliefs to the American political experiment, which he saw as a %%! ! restored Temple and the fulfillment of an apocalyptic quest. The general is a manifestation of Masonic influence in the civic realm, not a Masonic innovator. Other historians have sought to XQGHUVWDQG0DVRQU\E\ORRNLQJLQWRLWV³FRUH´ZKLFKWKH\WDNHWREHDIHZSRZHUIul men in government or the republic of letters. I also seek the defining core of the Craft, but find it not in a small selection of men but in a set of myths and practices. The most central defining myth of Masonry is the one dramatized in the third-degree LQLWLDWLRQDFFRUGLQJWRZKLFKWKHOHJHQGDU\DUFKLWHFWRI6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH+LUDP$ELIIZDV unable to see the structure completed before he was murdered by lower-level builders. For the Rhode Island Masons, the myth of the unfinished temple re-enacted itself repeatedly on all scales of life, from the quest to construct a cohesive American polity after the breakdown of British DXWKRULW\WRWKH1HZSRUW%UHWKUHQ¶V-year struggle to build their own meeting hall in Newport. The popularity of Masonry in eighteenth-century America must be attributed in part to the power of the Hiram legend, which captures the mood of the Atlantic world as most men experienced it²not as a world of genteel sociability, but as one of violence, division, and tragic hope. Ultimately, Freemasonry belies rather than confirms common scholarly perceptions of the eighteenth century. The period surrounding the American Revolution largely revived the ideas and questions that had obsessed the seventeenth century. It was not a period of VHFXODUL]DWLRQ³UDWLRQDOLVP´RUSURJUHVVLYHVWDELOL]DWLRQEXWRQHRIFRQWLQXLQJGLVUXSWLRQDQG uncertainty, to which many Anglo-Americans responded in religious, esoteric, and millenarian terms. Freemasonry offered some residents of the Atlantic rim a sense of stability and permanence in the face of displacement and early death. In Masonic funerals²the only life- cycle ceremonies that Masons customarily performed for their Brethren²the members of a %&! ! lodge formed an oblong rectangle around their deceasHG%URWKHU¶VJUDYHV\PEROL]LQJWKH³KRO\ DQGVSLULWXDOWHPSOH´WKDWWUDQVFHQGHGGHDWKDQGWKHVKRFNVRIWLPH %'! ! SE C T I O N I: C O RN E RST O N ES %(! ! Chapter 1: Foundations of Freemasonry In 1749, an unnamed printer in Newport, Rhode Island published a book, the only known surviving copy of which now rests in the library of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. It is an edition of the long pamphlet Masonry Dissected, which had originally been published in London in 1730 by a printer named Samuel Prichard. This book mainly comprises secret questions that a Mason must ask another man who wishes to enter a Masonic lodge in order to verify that he is a Brother. The questions deal with the symbolic contents of the lodge and the forms of the initiation ritual, such as, Q. Who brought you to the lodge? $$Q(QWHU¶Gµ3UHQWLFH Q. How did he bring you? A. Neither naked nor cloathed, bare-foot nor shod, deprived of all metal, and in a right-moving posture. Q. How gained you admittance? A. By three great knocks. This book represents the earliest surviving evidence in Rhode Island of Freemasonry²a fraternal society structured around a set of shared myths and rituals, which developed gradually in late medieval and early modern Britain before exploding across much of the world in the HLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\7KHERRN¶VH[LVWHQFHGHPRQVWUDWHVWKHFRQWLQXLQJFHQWUDOLW\RI0DVRQLF P\WKVDQGULWXDOVWRWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VH[SDQVLRQDQGRQO\E\DWWHQWLRQWRWKLVULWXDOFRUHRI Masonic experience can its success be understood. The precise origins of Freemasonry are obscure and subject to much scholarly debate, which tends to hinge on the interpretation of a small number of early surviving documents. Still, PRVWKLVWRULDQVRI0DVRQU\DJUHHWKDWVRPHRIWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VEDVLF ideas and practices have WKHLUURRWVLQWKHVWRQHPDVRQ¶V³ORGJHV´RUPDNHVKLIWJXLOGVWKDWRUJDQL]HGDWEXLOGLQJVLWHVLQ %)! ! Britain in the late Middle Ages. Most artisanal guilds maintained secret signs or passwords to control their trades and to distinguish trained masters from apprentices; hence, the bodies were VRPHWLPHVNQRZQDV³PLVWHULHV´7KHPDVRQV¶ORGJHVZHUHQRH[FHSWLRQDOWKRXJK stonemasons, who travelled frequently to large building sites, were particularly aloof and isolated from ordinary medieval society. While all craft guilds practiced secrecy in some form, the PDVRQV¶ORGJHVWRRNRQDSDUWLFXODUO\WKLFNKD]HRIP\VWHU\DQGE\DERXWWKH\KDG adopted a grandiose self-conception, teaching their initiates an elaborate mythic history tracing the origins of their trade to Adam, Noah, and the Tower of Babel.28 %HWZHHQWKHODWHVL[WHHQWKFHQWXU\DQGWKHHDUO\HLJKWHHQWKWKH0DVRQV¶ORGJHV changed²although it is unclear exactly when, where, or why. What had been a shadow guild of building craftsmen became a popular fraternal society for learned gentlemen, professionals, and PLGGOLQJDUWLVDQV6FKRODUVGLVDJUHHRYHUWKHQDWXUHRIWKLVWUDQVLWLRQIURP³RSHUDWLYH´WR ³VSHFXODWLYH´0DVRQU\EXWWKHEHVWHYLGHQFHVXJJHVWVWKDWLWEHJDQLQ6FRtland, where King James VI¶s Master of Works, William Schaw, issued a series of statutes regularizing the VWRQHPDVRQV¶WUDGHLQWKH V7KHUHDIWHUWKURXJKWKHVVXUYLYLQJORJERRNVVKRZWKDW Scottish lodges began to admit a range of other artisans and gentlemen who were most likely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 28 Ric Berman, The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry, 9-13; Jasper Ridley, The Freemasons (London: Constable, 1999): 1-8; Douglas Knoop and G. P. Jones, The Mediaeval Mason (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1933): 151-2; Heather Swanson, Building Craftsmen in Late Medieval York (York: University of York, 1983): 10; Steven A. Epstein, Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe (Chapel Hill: U. of North Carolina Press, 1991): 34-40; Antony Black, Guilds and Civil Society in European Political Thought from the Twelfth Century to the Present (London: Methuen, 1984): 1-15, 24; Gervase Rosser, Medieval Westminster, 1200-1540 (New York: Oxford U. Press, 1989): 151; Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, 14, 38-40. For the especially secretive and aloof nature of the lodges, which I FDOOD³VKDGRZJXLOG´VHHP\0DVWHU¶VWKHVLV³/LJKWVDQG6KDGRZV 7KH5RRWVRI0DVRQLF ([FHSWLRQDOLVP´ %*! ! DWWUDFWHGWRWKH0DVRQV¶VRFLDOIHOORZVKLSULWXDOLVPDQGP\WKRORJ\29 Whether a parallel transition took place at the same time in England, where internal Masonic records are far more scarce, is unclear; certainly, by the 1670s, a coterie of royalist English intellectuals, centering on the alchemist and antiquary Elias Ashmole and closely linked to the Stuart court, also became 0DVRQVZKLOHWKH)UDWHUQLW\JDLQHGDUHSXWDWLRQLQ/RQGRQIRUWKHLU³LQYLVLEOH´DQGSRVVLEOy magical signs and gestures.30 Masonic organization reached a new level in 1717, when four lodges in London joined WRJHWKHULQIRXQGLQJD³*UDQG/RGJH´WKDWZRXOGUHJXODWHWKH&UDIWZLWKLQ/RQGRQDQGPDQDJH its rapid spread. The architects of this new institution were apparently a group of intellectual JHQWOHPHQZKRKDGMRLQHG/RQGRQ¶V+RUQ7DYHUQ/RGJH PDQ\RIWKHVHOHDGHUVZHUHOLNH Ashmole before them, Fellows of the Royal Society. In 1723, the Grand Lodge published the first edition of the Constitutions of the Free-Masons, a booklet containing a mythic history of the Craft and a set of procedures for the formation of new lodges. Dozens of lodges in England quickly affiliated with the new Grand Lodge, as did scores of new lodges that formed both within Britain and, after 1730, in the overseas colonies. In addition, the London Grand Lodge DXWKRUL]HG³3URYLQFLDO´*UDQG/RGJHVWRPDQDJH0DVRQLFDIIDLUVRYHUVHDVLQFOXGLQJRQHLQ Boston in 1733.31 The quick success of the London Grand Lodge in consolidating the growing English Masonic movement is impressive; nonetheless, historians such as Jessica Harland-Jacobs and Ric !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 29 David Stevenson, 2ULJLQVRI)UHHPDVRQU\ 6FRWODQG¶V&HQWXU\; David Stevenson, The First Freemasons. 30 Ric Berman, The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry, 13-34; Douglas Knoop, Genesis of Freemasonry (Manchester: Manchester U. Press, 1947): 108-58. 31 Ric Berman, The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry, 4, 31, 38-9, 65. %+! ! Berman have tended to exaggerate the importance of the new body founded in 1717, to the GHWULPHQWRIRXUXQGHUVWDQGLQJRI0DVRQU\¶VGLYHrsity. The Grand Lodge did not create or define Freemasonry, but merely offered a source of legitimacy and consensus for part of the movement. Based on the social milieu surrounding the London Grand Lodge, scholars often cast Masonry in the eighteenth ceQWXU\DVIXQGDPHQWDOO\:KLJJLVK³VFLHQWLILF´DQG³HQOLJKWHQHG´ despite the ambiguity or even anachronism of these terms in reference to the early 1700s. These scholarly biases have obscured the deeper underlying political values that Masons shared regardless of their partisan commitments. For instance, in his examination of the Whig inner circle that led the London Grand Lodge, Ric Berman minimizes the influence of James Anderson, the Grand Warden at London who authored the Constitutions of the Free-Masons of 1723, because Anderson was not part of the Whig-Hanoverian elite. A Scottish Presbyterian minister, Anderson had been born in Aberdeen, where his father was a leading Mason and the :RUVKLSIXO0DVWHURIWKHWRZQ¶VORGJHLQWKH V32 In fact, James Anderson stands at the fulcrum between the Whiggish and Toryish wings of Masonry, and he serves to reveal the underlying thread connecting the two: royalism. Like most Presbyterians of his time, and like most members of the London Grand Lodge, Anderson was a Whig, but he was very careful not to allow his support for the Protestant succession to call into question his reverence for kingship. ,QWKH\HDURIWKHODUJHVW-DFRELWHXSULVLQJKHSXEOLVKHGWKHVHUPRQ³1R.LQJ-.LOOHUV´LQ order to deny thH3UHVE\WHULDQV¶UROHLQWKHHxecution of Charles I sixty-six years earlier; he dedicated the work to his mentor, Daniel Williams, ³DSURIHVV¶GDQGILUPIULHQGRIPRQDUFK\DQG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 32 'DYLG6WHYHQVRQ³-DPHV$QGHUVRQ 0DQDQG 0DVRQ´Heredom, vol. 10 (2002), 93-138; Berman, Foundations, 64-6. %,! ! Presbytery, [who] HYHUDVVHUWHGWKHPWREHKLJKO\FRQVLVWHQW´33 Seventeen years later, in 1732, he produced the obsessively thorough Royal Genealogies; or, the Genealogical Tables of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, from Adam to these times.34 Other Whig Masons in London VKDUHG$QGHUVRQ¶VGHHSDWWDFKPHQWWRPRQDUFK\GHVSLWHWKHLUUHMHFWion of the Stuart claim; they sought royal patronage from the House of Hanover, which they obtained with the initiation of Frederick, the Prince of Wales, in 1737.35 In sum, Freemasonry was decentralized both geographically and politically, with deep roots in Scotland and other fringe regions outside of London. While the elder statesmen of the Grand Lodge of England may have striven to cultivate a Whig-Hanoverian branch of the Fraternity, associations between the Craft and the pro-Stuart side of Britain remained strong. The unifying thread between the different political manifestations of Masonry was deep respect for royal authority. This fact should not be surprising, as kingship lies at the heart of the 0DVRQLF)UDWHUQLW\¶VIXQGDPHQWDOP\WKVDQGULWXDOV²WKHWUXH³IRXQGDWLRQV´RI0DVRQU\ Myths and rituals were the warp and weft of Freemasonry from its very beginnings as a VRFLDOPRYHPHQW,WZDVWKHULWXDOVRILQLWLDWLRQWKDWDFWXDOO\³PDGH´DPDQD0DVRQDQGWKH mythic history that placed his Masonic life into a larger, unifying narrative. Masons sometimes H[WROOHGWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VJHRJUDSKLFUHDFKDFURVVVSDFHEXWIDUPRUHRIWHQWKH\FHOHEUDWHGLWV FRQWLQXLW\WKURXJKWLPHLWV³DQFLHQW´SUDFWLFHVVWUHWFKLQJLQWR³WLPHLPPHPRULDO´)URPWKH fourteeQWKWKURXJKWKHVHYHQWHHQWKFHQWXULHV%ULWLVK0DVRQV¶³FKDUJHV´RU³FRQVWLWXWLRQV´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 33 :-&KHWZRGH&UDZOH\³7KHUHY'U$QGHUVRQ¶VQRQ-Masonic Writing, 1712-1739,´Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (London: H. Keble), vol. 18, 1905, p. 30. 34 James Anderson, Royal Genealogies; or, the Genealogical Tables of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, from Adam to these times, London: James Bettenham, 1732. 35 Harland-Jacobs, 109; William R. Denslow, ed., 10,000 Famous Freemasons (Richmond: Macoy Publishing, 1957): vol. 1, p. 70. &-! ! FODLPHGDJHQHDORJ\IRUWKHPDVRQ¶VFUDIWEHJLQQLQJZLWK$GDPDQGKLVJUDQGFKLOGUHQZKR engraved the secrets of the trade on two stone pillars that survived the Great Flood. Afterward, Pythagoras and Hermes (probably inspired by the legendary Hermes Trismegistus) passed these VHFUHWVGRZQWRWKHEXLOGHUVRIWKH7RZHURI%DEHODQG6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHZKRLQWXUQ organized the Masonic Fraternity.36 The mythic history of Masonry was apparently taught to Masons who had undergone two initiations²RQHDVDQ³(QWHUHG$SSUHQWLFH´DQGDQRWKHUDVD³)HOORZ&UDIW´RUPDVWHU DIWHU attaining these two degrees, a Mason would be a full-fledged member of the lodge. The two basic degree ceremonies were similar, and had apparently taken on a fairly consistent form in Scotland by no later than the 1690s.37 In each ceremony, the initiate, blindfolded and wearing only one shoe or slipper, must wait for a long period of time in a dark and silent side room. (YHQWXDOO\KHLVOHGLQWRWKHORGJH¶VPHHWLQJURRPVWLOOEOLQGIROGHGDQGVHWRQKLVNQHHVZLWK his hand upon a Bible. Finally, his eyes are uncovered, revealing the point of a sword or compass held to his breast, and he takes an oath agreeiQJWRNHHSWKH0DVRQV¶VHFUHWVRQSDLQRI death. He would then be taught the secret passwords and symbols of his degree, and shown the layout of the lodge room. At least at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Fellow Craft initiation would concluGHZLWKWKH³ILYHSRLQWVRIIHOORZVKLS´DQHODERUDWHFHUHPRQLDO handshake and embrace. The initiation would then be followed by a festive meal.38 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 36H. L. HeywooG³7KH0DWWKHZ&RRNH0DQXVFULSWZLWK7UDQVODWLRQ´The Builder, 1923, reproduced by Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, &$! ! We cannot, at this juncture, undertake a thorough analysis of these two basic degree rituals. Rather, we must only note a few important facts about the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft degrees that shed light on the inner nature of Masonry: that the rituals follow the EDVLFWULSDUWLWHVWUXFWXUHRIZKDWDQWKURSRORJLVWVFDOO³ULWHVRISDVVDJH´PDUNLQJWKHWUDnsition from one life stage to another; that the rituals are fundamentally bodily and emotional as much as verbal; and that the rituals serve to introduce the candidate into a complex symbolic world FHQWHULQJRQ6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH7KH³FDWHFKLVPV´XVHGWRverify that one is a Mason involve various coded facts about the form and contents of the lodge room which parallel both the human body and the Temple, which in turn connects the earthly sphere to the cosmos. In the earliest known such catechism, which dates from 1696, the questioner asks, Q: How stands your lodge A: east and west as the temple of jerusalem. Q: Where was the first lodge A: in the porch of Solomons Temple39 7KHFHQWUDOLPSRUWDQFHRI6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHZRXOGILQGDQHZH[SUHVVLRQLQWKHFreation RIDWKLUGGHJUHHRILQLWLDWLRQWKDWRI³0DVWHU0DVRQ´ZKLFKGHYHORSHGDWVRPHSRLQWLQWKHILUVW two decades of the eighteenth century. This degree centers on the mythic founder of the Fraternity²WKHDUFKLWHFWRI6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH+LUDP$ELIIwho was purportedly murdered by lower-OHYHOZRUNHUVGXULQJWKH7HPSOH¶VFRQVWUXFWLRQ7KHHDUOLHVWNQRZQGHVFULSWLRQRIWKH WKLUGGHJUHHDSSHDUVLQ6DPXHO3ULFKDUG¶VMasonry Dissected of 1730. According to this account, Hiram Abiff possessed a supremely LPSRUWDQW³0DVWHU¶V:RUG´2QHGD\DWQRRQ while other workmen were eating, three Fellow Crafts cornered Hiram in the Temple and demanded to know the Word. Hiram refused, saying that they would learn the word in due time; !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 39 Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 31-2. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation as in original. &%! ! in response, the three masons attacked him, eventually killing him with a blow to the head. The killers initially carried his body out of the Temple and hid it under some rubbish, then at PLGQLJKWEURXJKWLW³WRWKHEURZRIDKLOOZKHUHWKH\PDGHDGHFHQWJUDYHDQGEXULHGLW´7KH following day, fifteen masons were dispatched to search for the missing Master; after fifteen days of searching, one of them, sitting down on a hill, found a shrub to be loose. The masons GXJDQGIRXQGWKHJUDYHVLWHZKLFKWKH\PDUNHGZLWKDVSULJRI³FDVVLD´RUDFDFLD2Q 6RORPRQ¶VLQVWUXFWLRQVWKH\H[KXPHGWKHERG\DQGPRYHGLWWRDWRPELQWKH7HPSOH7KH ³)LYH3RLQWVRI)HOORZVKLS´UHSRUWHGO\RULJLQDWHGIURPWKHHPEUDFHE\ZKLFKWKHPDVRQVOLIWHG the delicate and decaying body from the grave. In the third-degree initiation ceremony, the candidate plays the role of Hiram in a ritual drama; he is attacked and laid on the floor, where he is then told the full story of the dead master that he is impersonating.40 The third degree rapidly spread and became practically de rigueur among Masons by the middle of the eighteenth century. Grand Lodges soon required that any Mason must hold the degree in order to be eligible to serve as Worshipful Master of his respective lodge, and mandated the degree be conferreGRQO\LQDVSHFLDOVHSDUDWH³0DVWHU¶V/RGJH´FRPSRVHGRQO\RI those who already held the degree.41 Hence, it is not surprising that the first Masonic document to appear in Rhode Island was an edition of Masonry Dissected, containing the myths and catechisms for all three degrees. The colonial edition of Masonry Dissected found in the library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts FRQWDLQVLPSRUWDQWFOXHVDVWRWKHG\QDPLFVRI)UHHPDVRQU\¶VVSUHDGLQ1RUWK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40 Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 20-1; Samuel Prichard, Masonry Dissected: Being an Universal Description of All Its Branches, etc. (London: Charles Corbett, 1730): 8-16; Jachin and Boaz, 41-3. 41 Albert C. Mackey, ed., Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, vol. 2 (New York: Masonic History Company, 1919):474-6. &&! ! America. It includes a title page that gives no indLFDWLRQRIWKHSULQWHU¶VLGHQWLW\RUWKHSODFHRI publication, but only a date²1749. A nineteenth-century collector added to the book a pencil QRWHODEHOLQJLWDVWKHZRUNRI³-DPHV)UDQNOLQEURWKHURI%HQM)UDQNOLQ1HZSRUW5,´7KLVLV incorrect, seeing as how James Franklin, Sr., the elder brother and mentor of Benjamin Franklin, who was a printer in Newport, died in 1735. After his death, his widow, Ann Smith Franklin, took over the printing business. What is more, the signature page of the 1749 edition of Masonry Dissected LQFOXGHVWZRURZVRIGLVWLQFWLYHSULQWHU¶VRUQDPHQWV0RVWRIWKHVHRUQDPHQWV probably made in Britain, were identical to those used by several printers in New England in the 1720s and early 1730s, but by 1740, they had apparently gone out of style, and only Ann Franklin was still known to use them as late as 1749; moreover, the pineapple-like figure seen in the four corners of the arrangement was only ever used in the Franklin workshop. Thus, the edition of Masonry Dissected found in the Massachusetts Grand Lodge library can be confidently identified as a product of the workshop of Ann Franklin. Her edition of Masonry Dissected was the earliest known publication of the book in the New World and the only one printed before the Revolution.42 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 42 ³)UDQNOLQ-DPHV´National Cylcopaedia of American Biography, vol. 8 (New York: James T. White and Co., 1898), p. 17-18; Dorothy Mays, Women in Early America (Santa Barbara, Ca.: ABC- CLIO, 2004), p. 148-9; Elizabeth Carroll Reilly, ed., A dictionary of colonial American printers' ornaments and illustrations (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1975). &'! ! J(%*-:+#:,>,$%&$!"#$%&'()*##+,-+.0$',@#%(-0$67KLMNO8$$4G"),$C/$#,(G:++:%*$%&$-2,$P("*3$I%3),$%&$ !"++">2=+,--+8$ &(! ! Q:)*"-=(,$#"),$%&$!"#$%&'()*##+,-+.0$',@#%(-0$67KLMNO8$$4G"),$C/$#,(G:++:%*$%&$-2,$P("*3$I%3),$%&$ !"++">2=+,--+8$ Why would Ann Franklin print, of all things, a book purporting to expose the secrets of Masonry in Newport in 1749? The obvious answer may seem to be that she hoped to capitalize on hostility toward Masonry, much as Samuel Prichard did in London in 1730. However, this explanation does not accord with the editorial content of the Newport edition, which includes three footnotes elucidating the meanings of Masonic symbols and phrases by reference to a VHUPRQE\RQH³5HY0U%URFNZHOO´7KLVUHIHUVWR&KDUOHV%URFNZHOO, one of the royal chaplains of King George II, who visited Boston and delivered a Masonic sermon at Christ &)! ! &KXUFKRQ'HF 7LWOHG³%URWKHUO\/RYH5HFRPPHQGHG´WKHRUDWLRQZDVSULQWHG shortly after its delivery, probably in the winter of 1749/50.43 The Newport edition of Masonry Dissected XVHVTXRWDWLRQVIURP%URFNZHOO¶VVHUPRQWRHODERUDWHRQ0DVRQLFLGHDOVLQWKHPRVW platitudinous terms; for instance, following an allusion to the Masonic tools, the level, square, and compass, the editors inserWWKHIRRWQRWH³0U%URFNZHOOLQKLVVHUPRQ SDJ VD\VWKXV 1RDUWIXO'LVVLPXODWLRQRI$IIHFWLRQFDQHYHUEHDOORZ¶GDPRQJWKRVHZKRDUHXSRQD/HYHO QRU can Persons who live within compass act otherwise than upon the Square.´)DUIURPUHIOHFWLQJ hostility to Masonry, the pamphlet re-DIILUPVWKH0DVRQV¶SUHWHQVLRQVWRPRUDOH[FHOOHQFH The footnotes suggest that the Newport edition of Masonry Dissected was commissioned by Freemasons themselves to use as an aide-mémoire. Many books and pamphlets presented as exposures of Masonic secrets ironically came to serve as handbooks for Masons, especially as rituals grew more numerous and complex in the eighteenth century.44 Moreover, the fact that only a single known copy of the Newport edition survives suggests that very few were printed, LQWHQGHGIRUXVHE\DVPDOOFLUFOHRI%UHWKUHQ7KHUHIHUHQFHVWR%URFNZHOO¶VVHUPRQFRQQHFWWKH Fraternity to royalty and to the Anglican Church, both of which would continue to be important DQFKRUVRI0DVRQU\¶VVRFLDOprestige in colonial America. Masons like the Rev. Mr. Brockwell often delivered public orations in the English-speaking world, where the Craft was legal and often even aligned with the state; not so in Catholic societies, where the state usually made at OHDVWDSHUIXQFWRU\VKRZRIHQIRUFLQJWKH&KXUFK¶VEDQRQ0DVRQU\45 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 43 Charles Brockwell, Brotherly Love Recommended (Boston: John Draper, 1750). 44 -HIIUH\&URWHDX³$UH(DUO\0DVRQLF5LWXDO([SRVXUHV$QWL-0DVRQLF"´6FRWWLVK5LWH0DVRQLF Museum and Library, < http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2010/05/are- early-masonic-ritual-exposures-antimasonic.html>, accessed 4 August 2014. 45 5LFKDUGVRQ:ULJKW³7KH$PHULFDQ0DVRQLF6HUPRQ´Transactions of the American Lodge of Research, 3:2, 1939, p. 209-215. &*! ! The appearance of Masonry Dissected in Newport demonstrates several important facts about Masonry in the mid-eighteenth century generally and in Rhode Island more particularly. First, riWXDOZDVOLWHUDOO\WKHDOSKDDQGRPHJDRI0DVRQLFOLIH RQH¶VFDUHHUDVD0DVRQEHJDQ with an initiation ceremony and most often ended with Masonic funeral rites. In between, even casual encounters were occasions for esoteric ritual. The Masons in Rhode Island often circulated or published songbooks, ritual handbooks, and orations, but never books of natural philosophy, political theory, or any of the favored genres of the Enlightenment. Secondly, specific Masonic rituals could serve the needs of particular communities. It is not surprising that Newport Masons should have found Masonry Dissected, which is mainly a book of catechisms used to verify Masonic membership, useful. The promise of material assistance in case of need was a strong attraction for sailors, merchants, and artisans whose livelihoods depended on the ILFNOHIRUWXQHVRIPDULWLPHWUDGH7KLVFRXOGKHOSWRHQVXUHDORGJH¶VVXSSO\RISRWHQWLDO initiates, but it could also create a heavy burden in a town such as Newport, where the down-and- out of sundry lands might wash ashore and promptly ask for Masonic charity. As a result, colonial Masons often had to subject purported Masons who appeared in town to careful vetting. In sum, the Newport edition of Masonry Dissected stems from a moment of Masonic growth and relative unity built around shared myths and rituals in the mid-eighteenth century. This state of stability at mid-century would soon after be disturbed by institutional schism. In 1751, five predominately Irish Protestant lodges in London, distrustful of the existing Grand Lodge of England, formed their own rival Grand Lodge. Using slightly different forms of WKHWKUHH&UDIWLQLWLDWLRQULWXDOVWKHQHZOHDGHUVKLSERG\FDOOHGLWVHOIWKH³$QFLHQW´*UDQG/RGJH while derisively labeling LWVULYDODV³0RGHUQ´7KH$QFLHQW-Modern schism soon swept through the English-speaking world, with the Ancients allying with the Grand Lodge of Ireland, founding &+! ! new lodges in Britain and abroad, and winning to their side many North American lodges disaffected with the Modern leadership. Historians such as Steven Bullock have tended to see the Ancient-Modern rivalry as an expression of class antagonisms²and indeed the Ancients were far more socially inclusive with regard to the middling and modest sort. However, as Ric Berman points out, the Ancients, like the Moderns, gained social prestige from aristocratic patronage²specifically from Irish and Scottish Jacobite noblemen.46 In addition, as the case of Rhode Island will demonstrate, the democratization and greater social inclusion usually associated with the Ancient Rite could also take place within lodges that were nominally Modern. Thus, the schism was not simply an index of class conflict, but equally, a manifestation of the divide between the Whig-Hanoverian, London-centered wing of Masonry and the Tory- Jacobite wing of the Fraternity that dominated northern England and the Celtic fringe. The GLYLGHZDVEHWZHHQYLVLRQVRIWKHZRUOGDQGRI0DVRQU\¶VSODFHLQLWDQGLWFRXOGFXWDFURVV class lines. Finally, we must recall that the Ancients chose to engage in battle with the Moderns on WKHWHUUDLQRIULWXDOFRUUHFWQHVV WKHVFKLVPZDV\HWDQRWKHUH[SUHVVLRQRIWKH0DVRQV¶REVHVVLRQ with ritual. Another such expression was the creation of new degrees beyond the original three GHJUHHVZKLFKFDPHWREHFDOOHGWKH³&UDIW´GHJUHHV7KHPLG-eighteenth century gave rise to a dizzying variety of degrees, each with its own rituals. Around 1740, Masons in Ireland or France developed the first known higher GHJUHHWKDWRIWKH³5R\DO$UFK´ZKLFKWUDYHOHGDURXQGWKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 46 Ric Berman, Schism: The Battle That Forged Freemasonry (Sussex Academic Press, 2014): 1- 7; Steven Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, 85-108. &,! ! Masonic world, usually conferred on its own.47 Thereafter, various lodges, in a process of bricolage, drew on Masonic and Biblical lore to create further degrees and collect them into an expanding system. Masons in France eventually developed the 25-GHJUHH³5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQ´ which spread through the French and English colonies, mainly attached to Ancient-Rite lodges. Despite all of these changes and expansions in ritual process, the institutional structure of a lodge remained fairly constant. Lodges tended to meet at night every two weeks, presided over E\D³:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU´$ORQJZLWKWKLVVXSUHPHRIILFHUHYHU\ORGJHFKRVHDWOHDVWWKUHH other officers²D³7\OHU´RUJXDUGDQGWZR:DUGHQV, usually distinguished as Senior and Junior. The Wardens presided over the lodge in the absence of the Worshipful Master, and the Senior :DUGHQPDQDJHGWKHORGJH¶V³ODERU´RUULWXDOVZKLOHWKH-XQLRU:DUGHQPDQDJHG³UHIUHVKPHQW´ or dining and socialization. Almost all lodges in the eighteenth century also featured a Secretary to take minutes and manage correspondence and a Treasurer to handle finances. Finally, some larger lodges also employed two deacons to help carry messages and conduct rituals of initiation and two stewards to handle money, food, and lodge furnishings. The lodges that we will examine in Rhode Island generally featured the six most common fundamental offices² Worshipful Master, Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Secretary, Treasurer, and Tyler. All of these lodge officers would be elected and installed annually on December 27th, Saint John the (YDQJHOLVW¶V'D\KRQRULQJRQHRIWKHVXSSRVHGSDWURQVRIWKH&UDIW,IDPHPEHURIWKHORGJH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 47 Samuel Baynard, History of the Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, vol. 1, (Boston: Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, 1938): 6-11; Bernard E. Jones, )UHHPDVRQ¶V%RRNRIWKH Royal Arch, 2nd Ed. (London: George. G Harrap and Co., 1969), 19-30, 36-51. '-! ! aspired to attain the office of Worshipful Master, he would usually advance sequentially through the various offices with a minimum of politicking.48 The relations among lodges could be more ambiguous and even contentious; it was often unclear exactly who could exercise what powers over whom, and whether Masonic authority issued from below (from the Brethren of individual lodges) or from above (from Grand Lodges). 7KH/RQGRQ*UDQG/RGJHDQGRWKHU³0RGHUQ´ERGLHVXVXDOO\UHVHUYHGWKHULJKWWRDSSRLQWWKH Worshipful Masters of lodges under their jurisdiction, whereas Ancient-Rite lodges always elected all of their own leaders. These governance practices, though, were negotiable, as the case of Rhode Island shows. Furthermore, lodges set their own boundaries on membership. Each lodge determined its own initiation fees, and voted on each candidate, usually requiring a large supermajority for approval. This system usually worked well, except when there was a scarcity of potential candidates or when the lodge was severely politically polarized, since a contrarian minority could block all candidates that that they perceived to be aligned with their opponents. Such as stalemate could lead to the financial collapse of a lodge, seeing as how eighteenth-century lodges generally did not collect dues, but rather depended on initiation fees for most of their revenue.49 Still, the institutional form of the lodge provided a simple, easily replicable matrix for the beliefs, symbols, and practices that constitute Freemasonry. Rich, multilayered, and self- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 48 Albert G. Mackey, The Principles of Masonic Law: A Treatise on the Constitutional Laws, Usages And Landmarks of Freemasonry, New York: Leonard & Co., Masonic Publishers, 1856. 49 )RULQVWDQFHWKHVHUXOHVDUHIRXQGLQWKH³%\/DZVIRU6W$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R´DGRSWHG6HS UHFRUGHGLQWKH6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-KHOGE\6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R BriVWRO5KRGH,VODQG7KHIRXQGLQJ0DVWHURI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1DWKDQLHO:DOGURQKDGSUHYLRXVO\ become a Mason at Newport in 1793. '$! ! referential, the Masonic movement spread along routes of trade and war around the Atlantic. Most often, Masons traveled or relocated to new sites, where they would organize themselves spontaneously into lodges before seeking out a charter from another existing lodge or preferably, from a Grand Lodge. Rhode Island was a relative latecomer to the Masonic world, seeing as how by 1749, lodges had already appeared in nine British North American as well as several Caribbean colonies. Lodges clearly existed in Philadelphia by 1730, and Masons were plentiful enough in Massachusetts to form a Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston in 1733; between the latter date and 1740, lodges took root in port towns in New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, both of the Carolinas, Georgia, Jamaica, Antigua, and Barbados. After making its debut in Rhode Island in 1749, Masonry would organize in the straggler colonies of Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland over the course of the 1750s.50 In Rhode Island, Freemasonry slowly found its footing on sometimes unfriendly terrain; still, the lodges in that colony were destined to effect deep changes both in the Masonic movement as a whole and in their host society. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 50 J. Hugo Tatsch, Freemasonry in the Thirteen Colonies, 2nd ed., New York: Macoy Publishing, 1933; Frederick W. Seal-Coon, An Historical Account of Jamaica Freemasonry, Kingston: Golding Print Service, 1976; Sean Carrington and Henry Fraser, A-Z of Barbados Heritage (Macmillian Education, 1990), p. 82. '%! ! Chapter 2: The Unfinished Temple²Interpreting Masonic Ritual i. The Nature of Masonic Science Myth and ritual were the backbone of Freemasonry in the eighteenth and early nineteenth FHQWXULHV7KH)UDWHUQLW\FRXOGQRWKDYHH[LVWHGZLWKRXWLWV³P\VWHULHV´ZKLFKRIIHUHGPHQ emotional camaraderie and the promise of overcoming sin and mortality. This fact is particularly crucial for understanding Masonry in Rhode Island, the site of the organization and standardization of many Masonic rites, but it has been obscured by the fixation of modern-day scholars on Newtonian science and the purpoUWHGO\VHFXODU³(QOLJKWHQPHQW´2Q6DLQW-RKQWKH %DSWLVW¶V'D\WKH\RXQJVFKRODU%HQMDPLQ*OHDVRQDGGUHVVHGDJDWKHULQJRI0DVRQVLQ their Hall atop the Market House in Providence; in celebrating the many accomplished and honorable men who had joined the Fraternity through the ages, Gleason proudly pointed out that, even among ourselves, in the bosom of our own fraternity, in this present society, in this very place, is an individual«whose unremitting exercises have entitled him to our highest resSHFW«What Lycurgus was among the Spartans, as it respected general improvement, so has our worthy Brother been among masons, as it respects our scientifical advancement.51 *OHDVRQ¶VODVWSKUDVHPD\VHHPWRFRUURERUDWHWKH0DVRQV¶LPDJHZLGHO\UHSURGXFHd in historical scholarship, as a secular, rationalist, and scientific institution; according to Margaret -DFREWKH)UDWHUQLW\LQFXOFDWHGEHOLHILQ³the God of Newtonian science, the Grand Architect, as He was called.´52 However, one would search in vain through the rolls of the Providence !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 51 Benjamin Gleason, An Address in Commemoration of the Anniversary of Saint John the Baptist (Providence: B. Wheeler, 1802), p. 12. 52 Margaret Jacob, Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions, p. 24. '&! ! Masons in 1802 for a physicist, a chemist, or any proponent of the Newtonian philosophy. Brother Gleason was referring not to any experimental scientist, but rather, to his mentor and the newly-elected Junior Grand Warden, Thomas Smith Webb. A musician and paper-maker from Boston, Webb had collected, ordered, and elaborated on the rituals of Masonry, including both the Craft degrees and the various higher degrees that he would assemble into the York Rite; his recently-published Free-0DVRQ¶V0RQLWRUwas fast becoming the standard handbook for Masonic ceremonies in America.53 Benjamin Gleason, like most of his Brethren in the eighteenth and early nineteenth FHQWXULHVXVHGWKHZRUG³VFLHQFH´WRGHQRWHHVRWHULFULWXDO/DWer in the same address, in GHVFULELQJWKHDQFLHQW'UXLGV¶DVWURORJLFDOULWHVKHGHFODUHV³WKHQVFLHQFHEHJDQLWVEULJKWHQLQJ FDUHHU´ 54 LQWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI3HQQV\OYDQLDUHIHUUHGWR0DVRQLFULWXDOVDV³WKHVFLHQWLILF ODERXUVRIWKHORGJH´55 The Philadelphia Masons who penned this address practiced the Rite of 3HUIHFWLRQZKLFKSDUWLFXODUO\HPSKDVL]HVWKHHVRWHULFPHDQLQJVRI³VFLHQFH´ LQWKHOLWXUJ\RI the 5th GHJUHHWKHFDQGLGDWHSOHGJHVWRSXUVXHQHZOLIHWKURXJK³the sublime sciences, which I KRSHRQHGD\WREHDFTXDLQWHGZLWKE\DUULYLQJWRWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHV´56 Such science consisted of secret words, symbols, and actions, whose meanings could be understood only by initiates; %DWHPDQ0XQURDPHUFKDQWZKRKDGMRLQHG6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHLQ%ULstol in 1802, testified WKDWKH³PDGH>KLP@VHOINQRZQLQIRUHLJQFRXQWULHVE\WKHDUWVDQGVFLHQFHVJLYHQ>KLP@´WKXV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 53Herbert Leyland, Thomas Smith Webb: Freemason, Musician, Entrepreneur (Otterbein Press, 1965). 54 Benjamin Gleason, An Address in Commemoration of the Anniversary of Saint John the Baptist (Providence: B. Wheeler, 1802), p. 13. 55 Providence Gazette, November 4, 1786, p. 4. 56 Francken Manuscript 1783 (Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2011): 45. ''! ! facilitating his career in smuggling.57 Even non-0DVRQVVRPHWLPHVXVHGWKHZRUG³VFLHQFH´WR denote ritualized Masonic secrets; in 1798, President Adams observed that the Masons had GLVFRYHUHG³DVFLHQFH«SHFXOLDUWRWKHPVHOYHV´FRQVLVWLQJLQ³WKHVNLOOWRNQRZHDFKRWKHUE\ PDUNVDQGVLJQVWKDWQRRWKHUSHUVRQFDQGLYLQH´DQGWRFRPSHODOOWKHLUPHPEHUVWRNHHSD secret; while innocuous iQLWVHOI³VXFKVFLHQFH«PD\EHSHUYHUWHGWRDOOWKHLOOSXUSRVHVZKLFK KDYHEHHQVXVSHFWHG´58 7KLVXVDJHRIWKHZRUG³VFLHQFH´²to denote the secret and the ritualistic²may seem to be the antithesis of our modern-day definition, which refers to rational experimental inquiry into natural laws, but in fact both meanings derive from the earlier sense of a carefully cultivated skill or practice. In the eighteenth century, Masons and non-0DVRQVDOLNHRIWHQXVHGWKHZRUGV³DUW´ DQG³VFLHQFH´LQWHUFKDQJHDEO\ ZKHn Crèvecoeur declared in his Letters from an American Farmer LQWKDWWKHFLWL]HQVRIWKHQHZUHSXEOLFFDUULHGZLWKWKHP³that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry´59 that originated in the Old World, he deployed four words that were practically synonymous. James Mitchell Varnum remarked in his 1788 address at Marietta WKDWWKHQHZQDWLRQPXVWSURPRWH³WKHPHFKDQLFDUWVDQGOLEHUDOVFLHQFHV´ 60 by inverting the placement of the two adjectives that readers today would normally expect, his phrasing demonstrates the interchangeability of the two nouns for an eighteenth-century audience. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 57 Report of the Committee Appointed by the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, to Investigate the Charges Against Freemasonry and Masons in Said State (Providence: William Marshall, 1832): Appendix, p. 92-3. 58 Providence Gazette, February 2, 1799, p. 1-2. 59 J. Hector Saint John Crèvecoeur, Letters from An American Farmer (New York: Fox, Duffield, and co., 1904), p. 55. 60 James Mitchell Varnum, An Oration Delivered at Marietta (Worcester: Peter Edes, 1788): 4-5. '(! ! ³6FLHQFH´LQLWVIXOOHVWVHQVHZDVDQ\TXHVWIRUNQRZOHGJHWKURXJKFDUHIXOO\FRQWUROOHG and repeated actions. The knowledge attained might be spiritual, natural, or mathematical² indeed, distinctions were rarely drawn among the three. For the Masons of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as for the alchemists and astrologers of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the search for ancient religious truth followed seamlessly from the investigation of the hidden laws of nature. Thomas Smith Webb elaborated and commented on Masonic rituals through reference to the Bible and the esoteric arts, which he explicated in his charges; in his 1802 address:HEE¶VSURWpJp%HQMDPLQ*OHDVRQPXVHGRQWKH³GHOLJKWV´RI³0DVRQLF µVFLHQWLILFUHVHDUFK¶´LQZKLFKWKHPLQGH[SORUHV³WKHURPDQWLFZLQGLQJVRIDQWLTXLW\«WKHQFH selecting the most valuable treasures which remain in the mouldering arms of tradition;-- exploring the many volumes of oriental hieroglyphics; and investigating the principles of simple QDWXUHDQGWKHGHVLJQVRIZLVGRP´61 Like the Renaissance belief in prisca sapientia, the original wisdom that has been obscured by the corruption of time, Gleason associates moral and natural truths with remote antiquity and particularly with the East; the quest of spiritual discovery is also a journey into the remote past. (YHQPRUHLPSRUWDQWWKDQWKHNQRZOHGJHWKDWVFLHQFHSURFXUHGLQWKH0DVRQV¶YLHZ was the wonder of the experience of discovery itself; successful science worked its effects on the ERG\WKHHPRWLRQVDQGWKHVSLULW7KH*UDQG/RGJHRI3HQQV\OYDQLD¶VDGGUHVVGHFODUHG WKDW³amid the scientific labours of the lodge, elevated schemes of mutual intercourse, of fraternal love, will engage and enrapture our minds; while holy and ancient mysteries warm the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 61 Gleason, An Address in Commemoration of the Anniversary of Saint John the Baptist (Providence: B. Wheeler, 1802), p. 5. ')! ! imagination´62 The anonymous 1762 memorandum discussed in Chapter 6 recalls that the rite RILQLWLDWLRQ³LQDVROHPQDQGLPSUHVVLYHPDQQer strik[es] upon the senses²it appeals to ye imagination²it enthralls the passions²it infects by sympathy´63 William Hunter, in his 1802 oration before the Grand Lodge convention in Newport, imagined that the putative founder of Masonry had devoted his lLIH³to science, and he had experienced, the pure delight, that results from« GLVFRYHUHGWUXWK´ The Masonic rites served to demarcate a sacred space not only of fraternal bonding but also of spiritual and esoteric²RULQWKH0DVRQV¶RZQZRUG³VSHFXODWLYH´²experimentation. The natural-philosophical investigations that some Rhode Island Masons undertook²such as -RVHSK%URZQ¶VH[SHULPHQWVLQHOHFWULFLW\DQGKLVREVHUYDWLRQVRIWKHWUDQVLWRI9HQXV²related to their Masonic identities on the emotional and religious plane. They were not necessarily part of a Newtonian project to describe the world through mathematical formulae; indeed, not once does any Masonic document from eighteenth-century Rhode Island even mention Newton. 5DWKHUWKH\ZHUH³VFLHQWLILF´Ln the sense that they sought the emotional gratification of discovering the ancient, the hidden, and the mysterious. It is with this understanding of science in mind that we must again revisit the short verse in Masonry Dissected first published in London in 1730 and reprinted in Newport in 1749/50: By sciences are brought to light Bodies of various kinds, Which do appear to perfect sight; But none but males shall know my mind. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 62 Providence Gazette, November 4, 1786, p. 4. 63 0HPRUDQGXP-XQH9DXOW$%R[ )ROGHU³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´1+6 '*! ! 7KH³EULQJLQJWROLJKW´GHVFULEHGLQWKLVFDWHFKLVPLVDWRQFHDQDWXUDODQGD mystical process, DLPHGDWWKHDWWDLQPHQWRI³SHUIHFWVLJKW´²the ability to perceive substances that are ordinarily invisible. It is more or less synonymous with the powers of divination that seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writers²both Masons and their critics²often attached to the secrets of Masonry. More specifically, Freemasonry bears the stamp of its origins in the Scottish Lowlands, where folk traditions from the Celtic fringe of Europe were appropriated and re- applied by members of an international network of learned adepts. In 1638, the Scottish poet +HQU\$GDPVRQFRPSRVHGDORQJSRHP³7KH0XVHV¶7KUHQRGLH´LQPHPRU\RIKLVODWHIULHQG the builder John Gall; though the poem is generally obscure, one passage containes the earliest known refHUHQFHLQSULQWWRWKHVHFUHW³0DVRQZRUG´,QGLVFXVVLQJZKHWKHUDVWRQHEULGJHWKDW had recently collapsed in a flood would be rebuilt, the narrator recounts, Thus Gall assured me it would be so, And my good genius truly doth it know: For what we presage is not in grosse, For we be brethren of the Rosie Cross; We have the mason-word and second sight; Things for to come we can foretell aright.64 Here, one already sees the same set of associations that would cluster around the Masonic mysteries for the next two hundred years: Rosicrucianism, a seventeenth-century alchemical restorationist movement; divination, the power to see what is hidden or to tell the future; and PRUHVSHFLILFDOO\³VHFRQGVLJKW´7KHODVWSKUDVHUHIHUUHGRULJLQDOO\WRWKHSRZHUWRIRretell RWKHUV¶IDWHV²IRULQVWDQFHWRVHHDQRRVHDURXQGDPDQ¶VQHFNDQGVRWRDSSUHKHQGWKDWKHZLOO die by hanging. Belief in second sight evidently originated in the Scottish Highlands, where it was associated with witchcraft. In the seventeenth century, Scottish Lowlanders, including the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 64 Henry Adamson, The Muses Threnodie, or Mirthful Mournings on the Death of Mr. Gall (Edinburgh: George Anderson, 1638, reprinted by James Cant, Perth, 1774), p. 83-4. '+! ! 0DVRQV³QDWXUDOL]HG´WKHDELOLW\E\OLQNLQJLWWRWKHDOFKHPLVWV¶TXHVWWRSHUFHLYHWKHKLGGHQ properties of objects; the German mystic Jacob Boehme, popular among English alchemists and a favorite of the Mason-antiTXDULDQ(OLDV$VKPROHJDYHLWD&KULVWLDQUHDGLQJDVDVWHSLQPDQ¶V UHWXUQWR$GDP¶VSHUIHFWVLQOHVVFRPPXQLRQZLWKQDWXUH65 The Masonic rites partook of an Edenic quest to that of the alchemists who cultivated second sight. In suppressing the originaOVLQWKDWKDGFDXVHG$GDP¶VH[SXOVLRQIURPWKH*DUGHQ the candidate would also overcome the mortality that cursed his descendants. Hence the 0DVRQV¶UHIHUHQFHVWR(YHDQGWKHH[SXOVLRQIURPWKH*DUGHQLQWKHLUMXVWLILFDWLRQVIRUH[FOXGing women, as seen in Chapter 19. The candidate for the 5th degree of the Rite of Perfection, who VHHNVWRDWWDLQWKH³VXEOLPHVFLHQFHV´RIWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHVIXUWKHUGHFODUHVKLPVHOIWREH³GHDG WRVLQ´DQGWRVHHN³QHZOLIHE\WKHSUDFWLFHRIYLUWXH´66 The candidate for the Knight of the Sun GHJUHHZKLFK+D\VFRQIHUUHGLQ1HZSRUWDVHDUO\DVVWDWHVKLVLQWHQWLRQ³WRGLYHVWP\VHOI RIRULJLQDOVLQ´ WKHOLWXUJ\RIWKHGHJUHHFRQVLVWVPDLQO\RIDORQJGLVTXLVLWLRQRQDOFKHP\DQG astrology, teaching that the seven plDQHWV³DUHWKHOLJKWVRIWKHFHOHVWLDOJOREHDQG>E\@WKHLU LQIOXHQFH«H[LVWVHYHU\PDWWHUIRUPHGE\WKHFRQFRUGRIWKHHOHPHQWV´67 In sum, Freemasonry forms a thread of continuity between the esoteric experimentation of medieval and Renaissance Europe and the Romantic spiritualism of the nineteenth century. 7KHVZHUHQHYHUDVVHFXODURU³UDWLRQDOLVW´DVSUHVHQW-day observers tend to suppose² indeed, belief in alchemy, sorcery, and astrology remained widespread in North America as in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 65 Stevenson, 2ULJLQVRI)UHHPDVRQU\ 6FRWODQG¶V&HQWXU\, 126, 131-3; Young, Religion and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century England, 124- 0LFKDHO&\ULO:LOOLDP+XQWHU³,QWURGXFWLRQ´LQ The Occult Laboratory: Magic, Science, and Second Sight in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland (Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2006), p. 1-30. 66 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 45. 67 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 241, 251. ',! ! much of Europe68²and Freemasonry fed on the continuing interest in the occult arts. Indeed, one can hardly blame Nathaniel Very of central Massachusetts for lamenting in 1830 that not WKUHHPHPEHUVRIKLVORGJH³NQHZJHRPHWU\IURPGHPRQRORJ\´69 9HU\¶VH[DVSHUDWLRQVWHPmed from the fact that he drew a distinction between the two sciences²one presumably rational, the other spurious and irrational²that most Masons before his generation did not. For Masons, as for the devotees of the occult arts, rationalism and mysticism were two sides of the same coin. The precise nature of the knowledge that science obtained was secondary; the self-transformative quest for enlightenment was its own object and reward. 0DQ\RWKHUVFKRODUV¶GLVFXVVLRQVRI0DVRQU\KDYHIDOOHQSUH\WRDPLVreading of the 0DVRQV¶RZQUHIHUHQFHVWR³VFLHQFH´DVH[FOXVLYHO\1HZWRQLDQDQGUDWLRQDO-empiricist. While 1HZWRQ¶VLGHDVGLGJDLQJURXQGLQWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\HYHQLQ%ULWDLQWKH\H[LVWHGDOZD\VLQ FRPSHWLWLRQZLWKRWKHU³VFLHQWLILF´WHDFKLQJVWKDWemphasized the actions of God and spiritual beings in the material world, such as those of William Warburton, John Hutchinson, and William Law.70 Most importantly for Masonry, the eighteenth century saw the continuing influence of neo-Platonic and Hermetic ideas of the sort that underpinned the occult arts; according to this world-view, bodies acted on one another not by direct contact or quantifiable forces but by their qualitative meanings, which placed them in relationships of correspondence; the heavens, or ³PDFURFRVP´DIIHFWHGHDUWKO\ERGLHVRUWKH³PLFURFRVP´E\PHDQVRIKLGGHQV\PSDWKLHVDQG symbolic links. Seventeenth-century physicians claimed to have created ointments that could !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 68 Herbert Leventhal, In the Shadow of the Enlightenment: Occultism and Renaissance Science in Eighteenth-Century America (New York: NYU Press, 1976). 69 Nathaniel Very, Renunciation of Masonry (Worcester, 1830), quoted in Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, 158. 70 B. W. Young, Religion and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century England: Theological Debate from Locke to Burke (Clarendon Press, 1998). (-! ! heal wounds when applied to the weapon that had caused the injury; WKH³ZHDSRQVDOYH´ continued to be used into the nineteenth century. The majority of almanacs printed in North America through the 1700s included diagrams of the human body indicating which constellations controlled the health of each part of the anatomy, and even the well-educated often cited astral influences to account for natural events.71 Of course, as the eighteenth century progressed, many Masons did become involved in rational-HPSLULFLVWH[SHULPHQWDOSKLORVRSK\ KRZHYHUZKHQ0DVRQV¶OR\DOW\WR1Hwtonian science came into conflict with their attachment to Masonry, loyalty to the Craft won out. For example, in 1785, the elector of Bavaria decreed that no Mason could hold public office in his domain; according to reports circulated in the late 1700s, when the director of the Academy of Science sought to implement the order, the active Mason and geologist Ignaz von Born resigned his membership in the Academy rather than give up his Masonry. The geologist promised to continue his promotion of natural philosophy in Bavaria, but when put to the test, Masonic science trumped natural science.72 Newton in no way defined the meanings of Masonry in the eighteenth century. The acceptance of Newtonian metaphysics was slow and haphazard, with the new philosophy gaining dominance in the popular mind only after 1800²1HZWRQ¶VPrincipia was not among the books to survive the Providence Library fire of 1758²and the Masons on the whole were no swifter than other literate men in making the transition to a Newtonian outlook. Rather, between the fall of the Aristotelian world-view in the Renaissance and the widespread adoption of Newtonianism, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 71 Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (New York: Scribner, 1971): 225-36, 266- 72; Leventhal, In the Shadow, 13-35. 72 Newport Mercury6HSWHPEHU S %HQQHWW%URXJK³$Q$XVWULDQ3UHFXUVRUWRWKH 4XDWXRU&RURQDWL/RGJH´Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 13, 1900, p. 74. ($! ! (XURSHDQGLWV$PHULFDQFRORQLHVH[SHULHQFHGZKDW(XDQ&DPHURQKDVFDOOHGD³PHWDSK\VLFDO free-for-DOO´LQZKLFKVSHFXODWLRQDERunded and esoteric philosophies flourished.73 The rise of speculative Masonry belongs to this anarchic period. More specifically, the concordances between Freemasonry and magic²more particularly, divination²are numerous, and they point to shared roots in an underlying stratum of Eurasian shamanism. Steven Bullock is correct, in the first chapter of Revolutonary Brotherhood, titled ³1HZWRQDQG1HFURPDQF\´ to find LQWKHOHJHQGRI+LUDP$ELII¶VPXUGHU burial, and exhumation a whiff of the art of necromancy²divination based on the appearance of dead bodies.74 Beyond necromancy, one can also see in the Masonic myths and rituals echoes of geomancy (divination from stones and the earth) as well as the more familiar alchemy and astrology. The observance of saiQWV¶GD\VFRUUHVSRQGLQJWRWKHVXPPHUDQGZLQWHUVROVWLFHVWKH use of solar and lunar jewels made of precious metals, and the invocation of secret words are VXUHO\DPRQJWKRVHSUDFWLFHVWKDWOHGRXWVLGHUVWRVXVSHFWWKDWWKH0DVRQV³SUDFWLFHGWKHEODFN arW´RU³UDLVH>G@WKHGHYLOLQDFLUFOH´75 and even caused such sympathetic observers as Thomas Paine to see in Masonry the remnants of the ancient Druidic religion of the Sun.76 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 73 (XDQ&DPHURQ³$QJHOV'HPRQVDQG(YHU\WKLQJLQ%Htween: Spiritual Beings in Early 0RGHUQ(XURSH´LQ&RSHODQGDQG0DFKLHOVHQHGVAngels of Light? (Leiden: Brill, 2013), p. 20. 74 Bullock, 11. 75 7HPSOH5+ROOFURIW³6DOHP7RZQ 3DUWLDO$XWRELRJUDSK\DQG0DVRQLF%LRJUDSK\´American Lodge of Research Transactions, V (1949- TXRWHGLQ%XOORFN ³%URWKHU(XFOLG¶V/HWWHUWRWKH $XWKRU$JDLQVW8QMXVW&DYLOV´LQ-DPHV$QGHUVRQHGThe new book of constitutions of the antient and honourable fraternity of free and accepted masons. Containing their history, charges, etc. (London: James Anderson, 1738), p. 237. 76 7KRPDV3DLQH³2ULJLQRI)UHH-0DVRQU\´LQ'DQLHO0RQFXUH&RQZD\HGThe Writings of Thomas Paine, YRO /RQGRQ *33XWQDP¶VVRQV S -303. (%! ! Of course, Steven Bullock is correct in pointing out that despite all of their elaborate symbols, the Masons never explicitly claimed magical powers for their secrets.77 However, this distinction is only meaningful in a post-Saussurian world, in which the relationship between a sign and its object is held to be an arbitrary convention. Before the nineteenth century, words and other symbols were often considered to hold metaphysical as well as social powers, leaving the boundary between esoteric communication and magic blurry. Current scholars of ritual may tend to divide the purposes of ritual into sacred drama, self-transformation, and theurgy, with the last category including magic and sorcery;78 KRZHYHUWKHQRWLRQRI³WKHXUJ\´URXJKO\PHDQLQJ ³ZRUNLQJZLWK*RG´KDVLWVURRWVLQODWHDQWLTXHQHR-Platonism, and can include the special wisdom or knowledge attained through self-discipline and union with the divine.79 Thus, the attainment of knowledge by ascent through the Masonic degrees can also be seen as a form of WKHXUJ\ WRGHQ\WKDW0DVRQU\LV³PDJLFDO´LVDILQHPHWDSK\VLFDOGLstinction with little historical value. At the very least, involvement in Masonry did not preclude belief in the occult sciences. For example, the practice of consulting astrologers in order to time the launching of voyages was particularly common in eighteenth-FHQWXU\5KRGH,VODQGDQG&KULVWRSKHU&KDPSOLQWKHVWDWH¶V first Masonic Grand Master, refused to allow any of his vessels to set sail until its horoscope had been cast in order to determine the most auspicious moment of departure, day or night.80 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 77 Bullock, 19-20. 78 See for example, Elliot K. Ginsburg, The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989): 194-201. 79 Anne Sheppard, "Proclus attitude to theurgy," Classical Quarterly, vol. 32, 1982, p. 212-224; Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, 320-1. 80 Leventhal, In the Shadow of the Enlightenment, 57-9; George Champlin Mason, quoted in Henry Rugg, History of Freemasonry in Rhode Island (Providence: E. L. Freeman and Son, 1895): 270. (&! ! ii. The Esoteric Background of Masonry Rather than any British reformer or Enlightened philosophe, the Masons looked to the sages of Biblical and pre-classical antiquity as their forebears. The historical figure cited most frequently as a progenitor oI0DVRQU\DSDUWIURP.LQJ6RORPRQZDV3\WKDJRUDV$QGHUVRQ¶V Constitutions of 1723 and all of its subsequent editions cite Pythagoras as a transmitter of the DQFLHQWDUWRIJHRPHWU\ZKLFKKHOHDUQHGIURPWKH(J\SWLDQSULHVWVWKH&KDOGHDQPDJLDQG³WKe OHDUQHG%DE\ORQLVK-HZVIURPZKRPKHERUURZ¶GJUHDWNQRZOHGJH´81 Masonic orators rarely failed to credit Pythagoras as a progenitor of the Craft; the British antiquary William Hutchinson GHVFULEHG0DVRQU\LQDV³GHULYHGIURPWKH'UXLGV«>DQG@IURP 3K\WKDJRUDV´82 Amos Maine Atwell of Providence sounded a familiar Masonic theme in 1800 when he invoked as a model of the virtue of secrecy ³RXUFHOHEUDWHGEURWKHU3\WKDJRUDV´ZKR³ERXQGKLVGLVFLSOHVE\ solemn oath, to preserve his wise and scientific mysteries from those who were unworthy to UHFHLYHWKHP´83 %HQMDPLQ*OHDVRQLQKLVRUDWLRQDVVHUWHGWKDW³RXU%UHWKUHQ´DIWHUWKH GHVWUXFWLRQRI6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH³ZHUHXQGHUWKHJRYHUQPHQWRI3\WKDJRUDV´ WKHZLVHPDQ having attained the MasoniFP\VWHULHVWUDYHOHGWRWKH(DVW³IRUWKHDFTXLVLWLRQRINQRZOHGJH´ ZKLFKKHWKHQ³PDVRQLFDOO\LPSDUWHGWRWKHGHVHUYLQJ´84 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 81 John Anderson, Constitutions of the Freemasons (London: William Hunter, 1723, reprinted in New York: Robert Macoy, 1859), p. 29. 82 William Hutchinson, The Spirit of Masonry in Moral and Elucidatory Lectures (London, 1775), p. 153, quoted in Jacob, Living the Enlightenment, p. 63. 83 Amos Maine Atwell, An Address Delivered Before Mount Vernon Lodge (Providence: John Carter, 1800), p. 13. 84 Gleason, 13. ('! ! 7KH0DVRQV¶FODLPWR3\WKDJRUDVDVDSURJHQLWRURIWKH5R\DO$UWHQFDSVXODWHVWKHLU sense of belonging to an ancient esoteric tradition. The myth contains an element of truth: no documented historical link connects Pythagoras to the Masonic lodges, which are not known to have existed until the Middle Ages, but the ancient mathematician stands in a genealogy of esoteric thought, running from the pre-Socratic philosophers through late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, and straddling the supposed line between mysticism and rational inquiry. The historical Pythagoras²a Greek mystical philosopher and governor of the sixth century BCE²is most often remembered for his mathematical analyses of geometry and musical harmonies, but he also organized around himself a secretive religious sect that observed a laundry list of taboos and whose members used hidden signs and gestures to recognize one DQRWKHU3UDFWLFLQJDVFHWLFGLVFLSOLQHVDQGP\VWLFDOULWHV3\WKDJRUDV¶IROORZHUVVDZWKH reduction of the external world to relations of number as a religious quest.85 -XVWDVLPSRUWDQWDV3\WKDJRUDV¶WHDFKLQJVDQGDFWLYLWLHVLVWKHIDFW that so little is known of him for certain. Historians may properly view him as a quasi-legendary figure, falling into the same tradition as the mythic hero, Orpheus, whom Pythagoras reportedly venerated. The earliest known accounts of the mathematician¶VOLIHDWWULEXWHWRKLPWKHVDPHVRUWRIH[WUDRUGLQDU\ powers that belonged to Orpheus, including the ability to compose music and poetry, to heal the sick, to understand the language of animals, to be in more than one place at once, and to tell the future. These special abilities match those of the shaman, the religious teacher and seer that is found in many societies throughout Eurasia. Most importantly, the typical shaman is able, like Orpheus, to travel to the world of the dead²whether in body or in spirit²and return; he or she !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 85 Bretrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (London: Allen and Unwin, 1946): 49-56; William Smith, ed., A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (New York: AMS Press, 1967): vol. 3, 617-26. ((! ! knows the secrets that bridge the two worlds. Particularly in Greek mythology, a human being who has made the journey to the underworld, such as Achilles, typically bears a distinguishing mark on one foot or leg to show his liminal position²with one foot, as it were, in the grave; Pythagoras, according to early accounts, had one golden thigh.86 The invocation of Pythagoras connects the Masons to a deep stream of Eurasian shamanistic beliefs and practices underlying much of classical religion. As we will see, concrete ritual practices and symbols connect shamanistic religion with Masonry. Many ancient mystery cults revered heroes or deities that had purportedly traveled to the underworld and returned; Victorian scholars such as James George Frazer grouped these legends together as reflections of a primordial myth of a resurrecting god (and by implication, as forerunners of Christianity), and subsequent Jungian analysts have accounted for them as products of inborn psychological ³DUFKHW\SHV´87 However, on careful examination, one finds that nearly all of the deities or heroes listed in this category do not resurrect, but either travel to the world of the dead and return without dying, or simply remain dead.88 Instead, the commonaOLW\DPRQJWKHYDULRXVFXOWVOLHVLQWKHZRUVKLSHUV¶RZQMRXUQH\VWRWKHZRUOGRIWKH dead in imitation of the deity. The parallels among these myths are striking, but Frazer and his ilk failed to consider that the legends, rather than springing from the mists of the primitive or unconscious mind, more likely developed retroactively to account for the practice of shamanistic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 86 William Smith, ed., Dictionary, p. 616-17; Russell, History, 48-9; George Luck, Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), p. 10-12; Carlo Ginzburg, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches Sabbath, trans. Raymond Rosenthal (New York: Pantheon Books, 1991), p. 227-79. 87 James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, abridged ed. (New York, MacMillan, 1922), ch. 28- 41; Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949). 88 -RQDWKDQ=6PLWK³'\LQJDQG5HVXUUHFWLQJ*RGV´LQ(OLDGHDQG$GDPVHGVEncyclopedia of Religion (MacMillan, 1987). ()! ! rites.89 The secretive religious groups that flourished in the Hellenistic and late antique worlds² such as those revering Cybele, Isis, and Mithras²probably sprang from shamanic gatherings, much as Orphism and Pythagoreanism did. The eighteenth-century Masons were well aware of the parallels between Pythagoras and the various mystery cults of the ancient world, whom they likewise saw as their forebears; hence their frequent references, as we have already seen, to the Druids, the Chaldean magi, and other occult religious groups in the same breath with Pythagoras. The 1762 memorandum discussed in Chapter 6 OLNHQHG0DVRQU\WR³WKHDQFLHQW (OHXVLQLDQV´DKLJKO\P\VWHULRXV*UHHNFXOWWKDW practiced elaborate rites of initiation and worshiped Demeter and Persephone, the latter being the goddess who traveled each year between the earth and the underworld; in the same sentence, the author of tKHPHPRUDQGXPGHFODUHVWKDWWKH&UDIW¶V³P\VWHULRXVV\PEROV´WHDFK³WKHWUXWKRI\H UHVXUUHFWLRQ´90 After the Roman era, the figure of the shaman largely disappeared from Europe. The philosopher-poet Empedocles, who lived in the fifth century BCE and who originated the notion of the universe as composed of four elements, seems to have been the last sage that, like Pythagoras, fulfilled all of the basic roles of the shaman. After Empedocles, shamanistic tasks divided themselves among an array of narrower specialists²healers, poets, philosophers, magicians, and fortune-tellers, etc.²but sometimes recombined, as in the figure of the learned VRUFHUHURU³PDJXV´91 Streams of folk and learned magic interacted across class and religious !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 89 Victor Turner, in his study of the Ndembu of southern Africa, finds that their traditional rituals DUHEXLOWIURPHOHPHQWDU\DFWLRQVWKDWWKH\FDOOHG³ODQGPDUNV´RU³EHDFRQV´WKDWGLGQRWQHFHVVDULO\ correspond to any mythic narrative or cosmic structure; ritual action is prior to myth, rather than vice versa. Victor Turner, The Ritual Process (Chicago: Aldine Publishing, 1969): 14-15. 90 0HPRUDQGXP-XO\³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´9DXOW$%R[ )ROGHU1+6 91 George Luck, Arcana Mundi, 12-14. (*! ! boundaries, with astrology, necromancy, and other forms of divination circulating widely. It is not possible to account here for this vast exchange stretching from late antiquity to the Renaissance, except to note a few salient patterns that tended to link the various traditions of learned magic such as neo-Platonic theurgy, Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and alchemy: their SUDFWLWLRQHUVVRXJKWWRKDUQHVVWKHKLGGHQ³V\PSDWKLHV´RU³FRUUHVSRQGHQFHV´EHWZHHQYLVLEOH things and their invisible counterparts; they focused obsessively on the supposed gateways EHWZHHQWKHHDUWKO\DQGKHDYHQO\UHDOPVVXFKDVWKH7UHHRI/LIHDQG-DFRE¶V/DGGHU WKH\ viewed music as a form of magic; they traced the origins of theurgical and esoteric knowledge to the East, particularly Egypt or Persia, or to be more religiously acceptable, to Solomon or Elijah; they often saw their quests as fulfilling apocalyptic prophesies, such as in the Book of Daniel; and they hoped to fulfill their quests by learning and mastering the true, secret name of God.92 The medievaO0DVRQV¶ULWXDOVDUHORVWWRKLVWRU\EXWFHUWDLQO\E\WKHODWHV outsiders regarded Masonry as linked to Hermetic and Kabbalistic magic. For example, in 1676, DKXPRURXV³GLYHUWLVHPHQW´LQD/RQGRQQHZVSDSHUQRWLILHGUHDGHUVWKDW³WKH$QFLHQW%URther- hood of the Rosy-&URVV WKH+HUPHWLFN$GHSWLDQGWKH&RPSDQ\RIDFFHSWHG0DVRQV´LQWHQGHG to convene at the Flying-%XOOWDYHUQZKHUHWKH\ZRXOGGLQHRQ³SRDFK¶G3KRHQL[(JJV +DXQFKHVRIXQLFRUQHWF´ JXHVWVZHUHDGYLVHG³WRSURYLGHWKHPVHOYHVZLWh spectacles of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 92Luck, Arcana Mundi, 3-6, 20-5, 45-6, 170-3; Lloyd Gerson, "Plotinus", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), (+! ! PDOOHDEOHJODVV IRURWKHUZLVHµWLVWKRXJKWWKHVDLGVRFLHWLHVZLOO DVKLWKHUWR PDNHWKHLU DSSHDUDQFHLQYLVLEOH´93 Other comments from after 1700 give more precise clues as to the content of the lore that Masons passed among themselves. In 1725, a printer using the pseudonym Verus Commodus PRFNHGWKH0DVRQV¶KLJKSUHWHQVLRQVDQGVHFUHF\GHFODULQJWKDW³WKH\VHHPWREHDOOULGGOHDQG P\VWHU\WRHYHU\ERG\EXWWKHPVHOYHV´7KHOHWWHUUHODWHVWKDWWKH0DVRQVFODLPWREHXQGHUWKH patronDJHRI+LUDP.LQJRI7\UHDQGWKDW³WKH\WHOOVWUDQJHIRSSLVKVWRULHVRIDWUHHZKLFK JUHZRXWRI+LUDPV¶VWRPEZLWKZRQGHUIXOOHDYHVDQGIUXLWRIDPRQVWURXVTXDOLW\´7KLVVWRU\ VXJJHVWVDQHDUO\FRQQHFWLRQEHWZHHQ6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHDQGWKHV\PEROVof regeneration and immortality previously attached to Adam and the Garden of Eden. In addition, the author uses PDJLFDOWHUPLQRORJ\LQUHSRUWLQJWKDW³VRPHRI>WKH6RFLHW\¶V@SULQFLSDOthaumatergoi´94 FRPPXQLFDWHLQD³MDUJRQZKLFKWKH\FDOO$UDELFN´DQGWKDW³WKH\DVVXPHWRWKHPVHOYHVWKH DXJXVWWLWOHRI.DEDOLVWV´2QHKLJK-OHYHO0DVRQFODLPHGWRKDYHGLVFRYHUHG³DP\VWHULRXV hocus-SRFXVZRUG´ZKLFKZKHQGLUHFWHGDWDQ\SHUVRQFDQFDXVHKLPRUKHUWR³LQVWDQWO\GURS GRZQGHDG´$VIRUWKH0DVRQV¶Ueligious views, the letter astutely concludes that the Brethren ³PD\EHUDQN¶GDPRQJWKH*1267,&.6´ZKREHOLHYH³WKDWWKH\VKRXOGEHVDY¶GE\WKHLU FDSDFLRXVNQRZOHGJH´95 $VRXWODQGLVKDV9HUXV&RPPRGXV¶UHSRUWVPD\VRXQGWKHSUHWHQVLRQVWKDWWKH\DWWULEute to the Masons are consistent with the broader Renaissance interests in Kabbalah and natural !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 93 3RRU5RELQ¶V,QWHOOLJHQFH, October 10, 1676, reprinted in Douglas Knoop and G. P. Jones, eds., The Early Masonic Pamphlets (Manchester: Manchester U. Press, 1945): 31. 94 This word, referring to natural magicians or wonderworkers, is printed in the original text in Greek letters. 95 Letters of Verus Commodus, appended to 7KH*UDQG0\VWHU\RIWKH)UHH0DVRQV'LVFRYHU¶G, 1725, reprinted in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Pamphlets, 71-2. (,! ! magic, as well as with other contemporary statements about Masonry. In 1722, an anonymous English Mason, probably Robert Samber, dedicated his translation of a French book on longevity titled Long Livers to the Freemasons of Britain and Ireland, adding a long prefatory letter which FRQFOXGHVZLWKDVFHQH³that none but the Sons of Science, and those who are illuminated with the sublimest mysteries and profoundest Secrets of MASONRY may understand.´:KDWIROORZV is an elaborate description of an alchemical conjunctioWDNLQJSODFHLQDEDWK³ILOOHGZLWKWKH PRVWOLPSLGZDWHU´LQWKHIRUPRI a Quadrate sublimely placed on six others, blazing all with celestial Jewels, each DQJXODUO\VXSSRUWHGZLWKIRXU/LRQV+HUHUHSRVHRXUPLJKW\.LQJDQG4XHHQ« the King shining in his glorious apparel of Transparent Gold, beset with living Sapphires«His Royal consort vested in Tissue of immortal Silver, watered with Emeralds, Pearl and coral. O mystical Union! O admirable Commerce!96 The translator not only assumes that the Masons alone will understand his alchemical language, EXWIXUWKHUDVVRFLDWHVWKH0DVRQV¶VHFUHWVFLHQFHZLWKLPPRUWDOLW\VHHLQJDVKRZLong Livers treaWVRI³VXFKSHUVRQV«ZKRKDYHOLY¶GVHYHUDODJHVDQGJURZQ\RXQJDJDLQ´,QDGGLWLRQLQ 1726, the pamphlet The Grand Mystery Laid Open claimed to record an interview with a Mason ZLOOLQJWRGLVFXVVWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VVHFUHWVZKRLQGLFDWHGWKDWWKH0DVRQV¶VHFUHWJHVWXUHVKDYH ³&DEDOLVWLFDO´QDPHV DVNHGWRGLVFORVHWKH%UHWKUHQ¶VVHFUHWZRUGWKHDQRQ\PRXV%URWKHU explains WKDW³LWLVD&DEDOLVWLFDOZRUGFRPSRVHGRIDOHWWHURXWRIHDFKRIWKHQDPHVRI/D\ODK ,OODOODK´97 the latter phrase apparently referring to the Arabic declaration of belief in one god. While these documents demonstrate that a thick haze of alchemical, Hermetic, and Kabbalistic lore hung around Masonry as it emerged onto the British social scene in the early !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 96 Eugenius Philalethes, Jr., Long Livers, reproduced in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Pamphlets, p. 68. 97 The Grand Mystery Laid Open, reproduced in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, p. 97-8, quoted in Henrik Bogdan, Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation (Albany: SUNY Press, 2007): 84. Kabbalah does in fact make frequent use of acronyms with encoded meanings. )-! ! 1700s, they reveal littlHRIWKHORGJHV¶LQWHUQDOULWXDOSUDFWLFHVE\ZKLFK0DVRQU\VRFLDOL]HGLWV members and propagated its beliefs and values. Nonetheless, as Masonry spread among the professional and mercantile classes around the turn of the eighteenth century, descriptions of the &UDIW¶VULWXDOVZHUHPRUHRIWHQFRPPLWWHGWRSDSHU7KLVERG\RIHYLGHQFHSURYLGHVWKHHDUOLHVW glimpse of the inner workings of Masonry. iii. Masonic Degree Rituals Masonic lodges observed a great variety of rituals, which served to induct men into the Fraternity and to pass on its esoteric knowledge. The rites also offered them spiritual purification, drawing on long traditions of esoteric thought and symbolism. A number of PDQXVFULSWVGHVFULELQJ0DVRQLFLQLWLDWLRQULWXDOVDQG³FDWHFKLVPV´SUREDEO\XVHGDVPHPRU\ aides, survive from the turn of the eighteenth century. The earliest known such document is the Edinburgh Register House Manuscript, which was found in a government archive on a folded VKHHWRIOHJDOSDSHUODEHOHG³VRPHTXHVWLRQV DQHQWWKHPDVRQZRUG ´7KHPDQXVFULSWLV believed to reflect the practices of the Edinburgh lodge, which at the time was composed predominately of operative stonemasons, and it shows an already fairly complex system of rituals and esoteric symbols, built upon two degrees of initiation: Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft.98 The Edinburgh Register House Manuscript forms a natural starting point for a FRQVLGHUDWLRQRIWKHWKUHHEDVLF³&UDIW´GHJUHHVRI0DVRQU\DQGWKHV\VWHPRIEHOLHIVWKDWWKH\ propagated. It would be impossible to examine exhaustively the mythic and ritual structures !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 98 Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 19-20, 31. )$! ! reflected in the manuscript, but we must consider a few central patterns that the document reveals. The first is a chain of correspondences connecting the individual body to the cosmos. 7KHPDQXVFULSWEHJLQVZLWKDFDWHFKLVPRITXHVWLRQV³WKDW0DVRQVXVHWRSXWWRWKRVHZKRKDYH \HZRUGEHIRUHWKH\ZLOODFNQRZOHGJHWKHP´ WKHVHTXHVWLRQVGLVFXVVWKH³ORGJH´DVDQLPDJLQHG sacred space housing symbolic images, much like the Hermetic memory temple. For instance, WKHTXHVWLRQHUDVNVWKHYLVLWRU³$UHWKHUHDQ\OLJKWVLQ\RXUORGJH´WRZKLFKKHUHVSRQGV³ WKHLQGLYLGXDOERG\:KHQWKHTXHVWLRQHUDVNV³ZKHUHVKDOO,ILQGWKHNH\RI\RXUORGJH"´WKH YLVLWRUUHVSRQGV³WKUHHIRRWDQGDKDOIIURPWKHORGJHGRRUXQGHUDSHUSHQGHVOHr and a green GLYRW%XWXQGHUWKHODSRIP\OLYHUZKHUHDOOWKHVHFUHWVRIP\KHDUWOLH´7KXVWKHLPDJLQHG ORGJHEXLOGLQJUHSUHVHQWVDWRQFHDVRFLDODQGSK\VLFDOJDWKHULQJVSDFHDQGDQLQGLYLGXDOPDQ¶V body, in which he carries the Masonic secrets. The final questions put to a man claiming to be an Entered Apprentice drive this association home: Q: Which is the key of your lodge. A: a weel hung tongue. Q: where lies the key. A: in the bone box. $FFRUGLQJWRODWHUFDWHFKLVPVWKH³ERQHER[´LVHLther the mouth or the skull. At the same time, while the preceding questions associate the lodge downward, in a series of correspondences with the individual body, other questions associate it upward, as an image of 6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 99 The entire manuscript is reproduced in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 31-4. I KDYHLQWHUSUHWHG³VZ´DV³VRXWKZHVW´RQWKHEDVLVRIWKHVDPHSDVVDJHLQWKHQHDU-identical Chetwode Crawley Manuscript, reproduced in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 35-8. The phrase ³VHWWHUFURIW´DSSHDUVWREHXQLTXHDQGLQWKH&KHWZRGH&UDZOH\0DQXVFULSWDSSHDUVDV³IIHOORZFUDIW´ )%! ! Q: How stands your lodge A: east and west as the temple of jerusalem. Q: Where was the first lodge A: in the porch of Solomons Temple ,QDGGLWLRQWKHSDVVZRUGVRIWKHWZRGHJUHHVRILQLWLDWLRQJXDUGLQJWKHORGJH¶VVDFUHGVSDFHDUH ³-DFKLQ´DQG³%RD]´WKHQDPHVRIWKHSLOODUVIODQNLQJWKHHQWUDQFHZD\WR6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH 7KH0DVRQV¶2OG&KDUJHVRUP\WKLFKLVWRULHVFODLPHGWKDWWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VFXVWRPVRULJLQDWHG from the construction of the Temple, and their myths particularly linked the Fraternity with Solomon and Hiram of Tyre.100 7KHHVRWHULFLQWHOOLJHQWVLDRIWKHVYHQHUDWHG6RORPRQ¶V Temple as the symbol of a divine order on Earth²or more properly, a microcosm of the universe, modeling the relations between the human and divine worlds.101 The catechism in Masonry Dissected, first printed at London in 1730 and reprinted at Newport in 1749/50, further develops the theme of the lodge as a sacred space corresponding both to the Temple and to the cosmos: when asked how high his lodge stands, the Entered Apprentice is to answer, A. Inches, Feet and Yards innumerable, as high as the Heavens. Q. How deep? A. To the Centre of the Earth. Furthermore, the lodge recreates the sanctity of holy buildings by mimicking their east-west orientation: Q. How is [the lodge] situated? A. East and West. Q. Why so? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 100+/+H\ZRRG³7KH0DWWKHZ&RRNH0DQXVFULSWZLWK7UDQVODWLRQ´The Builder, 1923, reproduced by Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, )&! ! A. Because all Churches and Chappels are or ought to be so. The correct orientation of the lodge²whether literal or merely figurative²traces both the path of the sun and the corresponding path of the pilgrimage toward knowledge. The lodge master VWDQGV³LQWKH(DVW´EHFDXVH³DVWKHVXQULVHVLQWKH(DVWDQGRSHQVWKHGD\VRWKHPDVWHUVWDQGV LQWKHHDVWWRRSHQKLVORGJH´DQGWKHYLVLWRUSURIHVVHVWREHWUDYHOOLQJIURPZHVWWRHDVW³WRVHHN that which is lost and LVQRZIRXQG´ 102 Masons took this orientation seriously²in 1802, 7KRPDV6PLWK:HEEVXSSRUWHGDSURSRVDOWRUHDUUDQJHWKHIXUQLWXUHRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI 3URYLGHQFHLQRUGHUWRPRYHWKH:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU¶VFKDLUDZD\IURPWKHGRRUZD\ VRPH Brethren objHFWHGLQVLVWLQJWKDWWKH0DVWHUPXVWVLWLQWKHHDVW:HEEUHVSRQGHGWKDWWKH³HDVW´ ZDVPHUHO\V\PEROLFDQGWKDWWKHURRP¶VOLWHUDOSK\VLFDODUUDQJHPHQWZDVLPPDWHULDO103 The incident is interesting in part as an illustration of the tension between literal and figurative interpretations of ritual, which seems to be universal to all religions. In sum, the symbolic world of Masonry revolved around a vertical axis: a chain of sympathies and correspondences connecting the human body to the lodge, the Temple, and the cosmos. One gained access to this symbolic world through rituals of initiation, which prepared the mind and body to enter a new realm. The Edinburgh Register House manuscript gives a rough outline of the rituals of initiation for the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft degrees, which later manuscripts and printed exposures tend to fill in with more detail.104 The Apprentice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 102 Prichard, Masonry Dissected (London: J. Wilford, 1730). 103 Leyland, Thomas Smith Webb, 116-17. 104 Knoop and Jones find, contrary to the opinions of earlier scholars, that the printed exposures of Masonic ritual dating between 1725 and 1750 tend to be fairly consistent with one another and with the manuscript catechisms, and for the most part can be taken as authentic. What is more, the Grand Lodge in London took Masonry Dissected of 1730 entirely seriously as an exposure of Masonic secrets; in response to the pamphlet the Grand Officers mandated that no man could be admitted to a lodge unless a Brother the present recognized him. Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 9-18. )'! ! LQLWLDWLRQEHJLQVZLWKWKHFDQGLGDWHEHLQJSODFHGRQKLVNQHHVDIWHU³DJUHDWPDQ\FHUHPRQLHVWR IULJKWHQKLP´DQGSXWWLQJ KLVULJKWKDQGRQD%LEOH7KH%UHWKUHQ³FRQMXUHKLPWRVHFUHF\´E\ DGPLQLVWHULQJDQRDWKDQGWKUHDWHQLQJ³WKDWLI>KH@VKDOOEUHDNKLVRDWKWKHVXQLQWKHILUPDPHQW ZLOOEHDZLWQHVVDJVWKLP«ZKLFKZLOOEHDQRFFDVLRQRIKLVGDPQDWLRQDQGWKDWOLNHZLVH the PDVRQVZLOOEHVXUHWRPXUGHUKLP´7KHFDVWLQJRIWKHVXQDVDMXGJLQJZLWQHVVSUHILJXUHVWKH DSSHDUDQFHRIWKH³$OO-6HHLQJ(\H´RUDQH\HVXUURXQGHGE\DVXQEXUVWDVVHHQRQ0DVRQLF certificates, carpets, and aprons of the eighteenth century. Having accepted the oath, the candidate is ready to be exposed to Masonic secrets. The \RXQJHVWRIWKH%UHWKUHQWKHQOHDGVWKHFDQGLGDWHRXWRIWKHORGJH³ZKHUHDIWHUKHLVVXIILFLHQWO\ IULJKWHGZLWKULGLFXORXVSRVWXUHVDQGJULPDFHV´KHLVWDXJKW³WKe signe and the postures DQGZRUGVRIKLVHQWULH´+DYLQJPDVWHUHGWKHVHWKHFDQGLGDWHUHWXUQVWRWKHORGJHPDNHVD ³ULGLFXORXVERZ´VZHDUVWR³NHHSWKHNH\HV´ PHDQLQJVHFUHWV RIWKHORGJH³XQGHUQROHVVSDLQ than having my tongue cut out under my cKLQ´7KHUHDIWHU³DOOWKHPDVRQVSUHVHQWZKLVSHU among themselves the word beginning at the youngest till it come to the master mason who gives WKHZRUGWRWKHHQWHUHGDSSUHQWLFH´ The Edinburgh Register House Manuscript demonstrates several important facts about Masonic ritual. Firstly, it is not only a record of verbal knowledge but a manual for enacting a drama that no document can fully capture. The Entered Apprentice ritual and the catechism reveal that the Masonic secrets are bodily just as much as they are verbal or conceptual. Every stage of the ritual is punctuated with dramatic physical actions and movements. For example, ZKHQGHVFULELQJWKHSHQDOW\IRUGLYXOJLQJ0DVRQLFVHFUHWVWKHLQLWLDWH³PDNHVWKHVLJQDJDLQ with drawing his hand under KLVFKLQDORQJVWKLVWKURDW´(YHQLQWKHFDWHFKLVPWKHPDQXVFULSW includes rudimentary stage directions, noting that the visitor must identify the penalty for )(! ! UHYHDOLQJVHFUHWV³ZKLFKLVWKHQFXWWLQJRI\RXUWKURDW)RU\RXPXVWPDNHWKDWVLJQZKHQ\ou VD\WKDW´2QDSUDFWLFDOOHYHODOORIWKHVHERGLO\PRYHPHQWVVXUHO\KHOSWRLQJUDLQWKHVHFUHW NQRZOHGJHLQWKHFDQGLGDWH¶VPHPRU\ZKLOHV\PEROLFDOO\WKH\XQGHUVFRUHWKHSDUDOOHOVEHWZHHQ the corporeal body and the social body of the lodge; one couOGQRWWUXO\OHDUQWKH0DVRQV¶ secrets by reading a printed exposure, but only by experiencing the ritual in action. The physical nature of the Masonic secrets only becomes more important in the second, or Fellow Craft degree as described in the Edinburgh PDQXVFULSWZKLFKLQFOXGHVWKH³)LYH 3RLQWVRI)HOORZVKLS´7KH)HOORZ&UDIWLQLWLDWLRQIROORZVWKHH[DFWVDPHVWUXFWXUHDVWKHILUVW degree, only with a new set of secret words and signs. At the conclusion, the candidate places KLPVHOI³LQWKHSRVWXUHKHLVWRUHFHLYHWKHZRUG´DQGJUHHWVWKHFRPSDQ\SUHVHQWWKUHHWLPHV )LQDOO\WKHORGJH0DVWHUDSSURDFKHVWKHFDQGLGDWHDQG³JLYHVKLPWKHZRUGDQGJULSHVKLVKDQG DIWHUWKHPDVRQVZD\ZKLFKLVDOOWKDWLVWREHGRQHWRPDNHKLPDSHUIHFWPDVRQ´7KHVecret grip, only alluded to in the ritual directions, is described in more detail in the catechism: the new )HOORZ&UDIWPXVWHPEUDFHKLV%URWKHU³IRRWWRIRRW.QHHWR.Q+HDUWWR+HDUW+DQGWR+DQG DQGHDUWRHDU´DWZKLFKSRLQWWKHWZRPHQZKLVSHUWRRne another the passwords, Jachin and %RD] 7KH³)LYH3RLQWVRI)HOORZVKLS´YDU\VOLJKWO\LQODWHUPDQXVFULSWV105) The Five Points of Fellowship are a complex exercise that can probably only be learned by muscle memory, reflecting the essential connection between verbal and bodily knowledge in Masonry. Another dimension of Masonic ritual that the Edinburgh manuscript makes explicit is the manipulation of emotion. The author only alludes to the preparatory stages preceding the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 105 )RUH[DPSOHLQWKH6ORDQH0DQXVFULSWFDWKH%UHWKUHQVWDQG³FORVHZLWKWKHLU%UHDVWV to each other the inside of Each others right ancle joints the masters grip by their right hands and the top of their left hand fingers thrust close on ye small of each others backbone and in that posture they stand till they whisper in each others eares the one Maha- WKHRWKHUUHSOH\V%\Q´.QRRSDQG-RQHVEarly Masonic Catechisms, 42. ))! ! administering of the candidaWH¶VRDWKFDOOLQJWKHP³DJUHDWPDQ\FHUHPRQLHVWRIULJKWHQ´WKH LQLWLDWH VLPLODUO\ZKHQKHZLWKGUDZVKHLV³IULJKWHGZLWKULGLFXORXVSRVWXUHVDQG JULPDFHV´106 Far from undermining the seriousness of the ceremony, for most candidates, these ³ULGLFXORXV´SUDFWLFHVRQO\KHLJKWHQHGLW7KH³VROHPQLW\´RI0DVRQLFULWXDODVVRPDQ\ Masonic authors called it, was closely connected to fear. The reasons that Masons chose to frighten their candidates extend beyond the need to deter new members from divulging Masonic secrets, and can only be fully appreciated in light of the purposes that initiatory rituals tend to serve. The initiations described in the Edinburgh PDQXVFULSWDQGODWHUH[SRVXUHVFRQIRUPWRWKHEDVLFSDWWHUQVRI³ULWHVRISDVVDJH´DVSUDFticed in many societies throughout the world. As the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep finds in his famous 1909 study, Les Rites de PassagePDQ\VRFLHWLHVSUDFWLFHVLPLODU³FHUHPRQLDOSDWWHUQV which accompany a passage from one situation to another or from one cosmic or social world to DQRWKHU´107 These ritual processes tend to be patterned on the rites of territorial transition performed at borders, gates, or thresholds, which usually involve prayers or offerings.108 Seeing as how social worlds are divided into sacred realms in much the same manner as buildings, cities, and lands, social rites of passage mimic threshold ceremonies. When a person joins a social group or takes on a new office, he or she undergoes rituals involving three stages: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 106 The Masonic scholars Douglas Knoop and G. P. Jones suppose that these episodes of ³KRUVHSOD\´FKDUDFWHULVWLFRIRSHUDWLYHLQLWLDWLRQVPXVWKDYHEHHQGURSSHGIURPWKHPRUH³GLJQLILHG SURFHHGLQJV´RIVSHFXODWLYHORGJHV7KH\IDLOWRFRQVLGHUWKDWWKHPLOGKD]LQJUHIHUUHGWRLQWKH Edinburgh manuscript was intended not to amuse but to frighten, and that even the most formal and serious ceremony may include elements intended to confuse and disorient. Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, p. 19, 27-28. 107 Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage, trans. Vizedom and Caffee (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960), p. 10. 108 Ibid, 18-23. )*! ! ³VHSDUDWLRQ´ LQZKLFKRQHVHYHUVRQH¶VH[LVWLQJWLHV ³WUDQVLWLRQ´LQZKLFKRQHH[LVWVLQD suspended, in-EHWZHHQVWDWHRIWHQOLNHQHGWRGHDWK DQG³LQFRUSRUDWLRQ´LQZKLFKRQHERQGVWR the new social group and begins a new life. The ceremonies as a whole serve foster attachment and conformity to the new group and to smooth the traumatic abruptness of the change.109 In Masonry, the symbolic parallel between the threshold and the entry into a social group is made explicit. The imaginary doorway of the lodge is marked by Jachin and Boaz, the pillars WKDWIODQNWKHHQWUDQFHZD\WR6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHGHPDUFDWLQJWKHWKUHVKROGRIDVDFUHGVSDFH 7KH)HOORZ&UDIW¶VFDWHFKLVPUHFRUGHGLQMasonry Dissected involves a careful delineation of spaces in the Temple through which WKH%URWKHUKDVSDVVHGIURPWKH³SRUFK´ RU(QWHUHG Apprentice degree) to the ³PLGGOHFKDPEHU´ RU)HOORZ&UDIWGHJUHH WKHTXHVWLRQHUDVNV Q. When you came through the Porch, what did you see? A. Two great Pillars. Q. What are they called? A. J. B. i. e. Jachim and Boaz. Furthermore, the Masonic rites of initiation practiced in the eighteenth century follow the basic tripartite structure of rites of passage, as an examination of surviving documents will show. Later books published in the eighteenth century give greater details as to the Masonic rites than the Edinburgh Register House Manuscript does. The Masonic exposure Jachin and Boaz: or an Authentic Key to the Door of Free-Masonry, first published in London in 1762, provides a detailed aFFRXQWRI0DVRQLFULWXDOVSXUSRUWHGO\LQWKHLU³$QFLHQW´IRUPDQGSUREDEO\SURYLGHV the closest possible facsimile of the Craft degrees as practiced in Rhode Island in the later eighteenth century.110 The initiation ritual described in Jachin and Boaz follows the same basic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 109 Ibid, 26-40. 110 Like Masonry Dissected, Jachin and Boaz became popular among Masons as a handbook and aide-mémoire. It was available for sale in Newport within a few months of its first publication in 1762, )+! ! format as that recorded in the Edinburgh manuscript, but includes more details about the EHJLQQLQJRIWKHFHUHPRQ\ZKLFKUHSUHVHQWVWKH³VHSDUDWLRQ´SKDVHRIWKHULWH,WEHJLQVZLWKWKH Brother who initially proposed the candidate announcing that the latter is ready to undergo the ritual. The sponsor then leads the candidate into a separate, darkened room, where the he UHPRYHVDOOPHWDOIURPWKHLQLWLDWH¶VSHUVRQ²³EXWWRQVEXFNOHVULQJV«DQGHYHQWKHPRQH\LQ KLVSRFNHW´,QVRPHFDVHV, the candidate is even obliged to remove clothing containing lace (presumably because lace may contain gold or silver threads). The sponsor then has the candidate uncover his right knee, ordinarily by rolling up his breeches or pants, and places an unwieldy slipper over his left foot or shoe; he is then blindfolded and left in the dark and silence for about half an hour.111 The long wait in silence allows time for the Brethren to prepare the lodge room with the necessary objects and images²but it also compOHWHVWKHVWDJHRI³VHSDUDWLRQ´ZKLFKLQYROYHV WKHV\PEROLFFXWWLQJRIWLHVZLWKRQH¶VROGVHOIDOLWHUDORUILJXUDWLYHVWULSSLQJGRZQH[HPSOLILHG in this instance by the divestment of possessions and clothing. The period of darkness and silence further forces the candidate to leave thoughts of the outside world behind, and probably puts him into a trance-like mental state with the senses heightened. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and according to Masons who later testified before the Rhode Island Assembly, it was used by Masons in WKHVWDWHDVDJXLGHERRNXQWLOUHSODFHGE\:HEE¶V0RQLWRULQ²although the oaths, obligations, and rituals were generally committed to memory, with printed documents serving only as a supplement. $UWXURGH+R\RV³,QWURGXFWLRQ´,Q$UWXURGH+R\RVHGLight on Masonry (Supreme Council, 2008): 18-19; Newport Mercury, September 7, 1762, p. 4; -HIIUH\&URWHDX³$UH(DUO\0DVRQLF5LWXDO Exposures Ant-0DVRQLF"´6FRWWLVK5LWH0DVRQLF0XVHXPDQG/LEUDU\ 111 Jachin and Boaz, 1762, p. 7-8. ),! ! 1H[WWKH³WUDQVLWLRQDO´VWDJHRIWKHULWHWDNHVSODFHLQWKHORGJHURRP7KH%UHWKUHQ prepare the room with three lit candles around a central altar supporting a copy of the Bible open to the Gospel of John, and on the floor a carpet or chalk drawing showing the layout of the lodge. In due time, the sponsor knocks on the door of the lodge room, and the candidate is prompted to DQQRXQFHKLPVHOI³DVRQHZKREHJVWRUHFHLYHSDUWRIWKHEHQHILWRIWKLVULJKWZRUVKLSIXOORGJH´ 7KHORGJH¶VWZRZDUGHQVRSHQWKHGRRUVDQGOHDGWKHFDQGLGDWHVWLOOEOLQGIROGHGLQWRWKHURRP and around the drawing or carpet three times. Although Jachin and Boaz does not mention it at this point, all other early descriptions of the first degree attest that the candidate is led with a URSHDURXQGKLVQHFN,QDGGLWLRQDFFRUGLQJWRRQH5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQ¶VWHVWLPRQ\%UHWKUHQ wouOGDFFHQWXDWHWKHDWPRVSKHUHRIPHQDFH³E\PDNLQJQRLVHVVKXIIOLQJRQWKHIORRU>DQG@ WKURZLQJVWLFNVGRZQ´)LQDOO\WKH0DVWHUDVNVWKHFDQGLGDWHLIKHZLVKHVWREHLQLWLDWHGRIKLV own free will. After he answers in the affirmative, the Worshipful 0DVWHULQVWUXFWV³OHWKLPVHH WKHOLJKWV´DQGKLVEOLQGIROGLVUHPRYHG7KH%UHWKUHQIRUPDFLUFOHDURXQGKLPGUDZWKHLU VZRUGVDQGSRLQWWKHPDWWKHFDQGLGDWH¶VEUHDVW112 At this point, Jachin and Boaz observes, the ornaments borne by the officers, the glittering of the swords, and the fantastic appearance of the Brethren in white aprons, all together, creates great surprise, especially to a person, who for above an hour [sic] has been fatigued with the bandage over his eyes; and his uncertainty concerning what is further to be done for his reception, must, no doubt, throw his mind into great perplexity.113 7KHFDQGLGDWHLVWKHQOHGIRUZDUGWRWKHDOWDULQIURQWRIWKH0DVWHU¶VFKDLUZLWKRQHRIWKH DVVLVWDQWVVKRZLQJKLPKRZ³WRVWHSLQWKHSURSHUPDQQHU´+HNQHHOVRQKLVEDUHULJKWNQHHDQG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 112 Jachin and Boaz, 8; Dumfries no. 4 manuscript, in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, p. 56; testimony of Benjamin W. Case, Report of the Committee Appointed, Appendix p. 76. 113 Jachin and Boaz, 9. *-! ! with the point of a compass pressed to his breast, he agrees to a solemn oath to keep the )UDWHUQLW\¶VVHFUHWVRQSDLQRIGHDWK114 7KURXJKDOORIWKLVSURFHVVWKHFDQGLGDWH¶VKXPEOHGSRVLWLRQ²disoriented, partly blinded, and led with a rope around his neck²resembles the symbolic death characteristic of the WUDQVLWLRQVWDJHRIPDQ\ULWHVRISDVVDJH7KHLQLWLDWH¶VVWDWHRIIHDUDQG³SHUSHOH[LW\´VXUHO\ helps to impress upon him the profundity of the change he is undergoing. In addition, as Victor Turner has observed, many rites of passage, especially in the transitional phase, involve ritual humiliation; he theorizes that the loss of social dignity in these ceremonies points to the baseline of social equality oU³FRPPXQLWDV´XSRQZKLFKVXSHUVWUXFWXUHVRIKLHUDUFK\DQGVRFLDOGHIHUHQFH are built, and helps to create a bond of solidarity among the initiates who have experienced the same ordeal. Having plunged back to a state of subjection, the initiates are ready to be invested ZLWKWKHSRZHUVDQGGLJQLWLHVRIDQHZVWDWH LQ7XUQHU¶VZRUGV³LWLVDVWKRXJKWKH\DUHEHLQJ UHGXFHGRUJURXQGGRZQWRDXQLIRUPFRQGLWLRQWREHIDVKLRQHGDQHZ´115 Finally, the initiate and his new Brethren perform a series of acts typical of the incorporation stage of the rite of passage. Having completed his oath, the initiate kisses the %LEOH+HLVWKHQWDXJKWWKH³VLJQJULSDQGSDVVZRUG´RIWKH(QWHUHG$SSUHQWLFHDQGKHOHDUQV the symbolic moral meanings attached to the various tools and other images depicted in the carpet or floor drawing. His possessions are restored to him and he takes a seat at the right hand of the Worshipful Master. The Brethren give him an apron and a list of lodges. After congratulating the new Brother, the members of the lodge retire to table for a meal.116 According !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 114 Jachin and Boaz, 9-12. 115 Victor Turner, The Ritual Process, p. 95. 116 Jachin and Boaz, 12-13. *$! ! to van Gennep, rites of incorporation usually involve gestures of intimacy, such as kisses, gift exchanges, and shared meals. In some respects, the Apprentice initiation and other Masonic degree rituals resemble the rites of passage surrounding young people reaching adulthood in many societies. As van Gennep points out, it is common for the cults of adult men and women in tribal societies to perform LQLWLDWLRQVLQZKLFK³P\VWHULHV´RUWKe meanings of sacred objects, are revealed, much as the symbolic meanings of the tools and of the layout of the lodge are explained in a Masonic initiation. Additionally, the new initiates often receive masks or other ritual clothing, as the new Mason receives his apron.117 However, the social function of Masonry was different; like the P\VWHU\FXOWVRIDQWLTXLW\WKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VVHFUHWVZHUHUHVHUYHGIRURQO\DVPDOOPLQRULW\ZKLOH RWKHUVUHPDLQHG³SURIDQH´7KH0DVRQLFPDQLSXODWLRQRIVSDFHDQGOLJKWtoo, find their closest parallels in the classical mysteries; the Eleusinian cult reportedly led its candidates through a long series of darkened underground chambers, representing the underworld, before leading them upward into a brightly lit sanctum, much as the Masonic candidate sits in a dark room before emerging into the candlelit lodge.118 7KHVHSUDFWLFHVXQGHUVFRUHWKHULWXDOV¶IXQFWLRQDVD kind of spiritual rebirth, which the Masons sometimes stated explicitly: in 1786, the Providence Gazette reprinWHGWKHFKDUJHWKDWD*HUPDQFRXQWGHOLYHUHGDWKLVVRQ¶V0DVRQLFLQLWLDWLRQLQ ZKLFKKHDVVHUWHGWKDW³WKLVPRPHQWP\VRQ\RXRZHWRPHDVHFRQGELUWK´119 :KLOHWKHEDVLFRXWOLQHRIWKH$SSUHQWLFHLQLWLDWLRQIROORZVYDQ*HQQHS¶VPRGHORIWKH rite of passage, its more peculiar details defy easy accounting; we have reached the limits of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 117 van Gennep, Rites of Passage, 78-83. 118 van Gennep, Rites of Passage, 89-92. 119 Providence Gazette, April 1, 1786, p. 2. *%! ! synchronic explanation. The unique aspects of Masonic rituals that distinguish them from other rites of passage suggest a deeper diachronic link to Eurasian shamanism. Most importantly, all RIWKHVXUYLYLQJHDUO\GHVFULSWLRQVRI0DVRQLFLQLWLDWLRQVVWUHVVWKHLPSRUWDQFHRIWKHFDQGLGDWH¶V single shoe, bare knee, and awkward gait. According to Jachin and Boaz, during the festive meal after the initiation, the initiate must learn to recite descriptions of the form of his initiation, WKHORQJHVWRIZKLFKLVWKHUHVSRQVHWRWKHTXHVWLRQ³+RZZDV\RXSUHSDUHG%URWKHU"´² I was neither naked nor cloathed; barefoot nor shod, deprived of all metal; hood- winked, with a cable tow about my neck, where I was led to the door of the lodge in a halting moving posture.120 The catechism in Masonry Dissected includes the same description, almost verbatim; the catechism of the Dumfries No. 4 Manuscript, recorded in the Old Lodge of Dumfries, Scotland, around 1710, includes the following questions: Q. Hou were you brought in A. shamefully wt a rope about my neck Q. what pouster were you in when you Receved A. neither sitting nor standing nor running nor going but on my left knee121 Likewise, $0DVRQ¶V&RQIHVVLRQ RIDWWHVWVWKDWWKHNHHSHURIWKHGRRU³ORRVHVWKHJDUWHURI >WKHFDQGLGDWH¶V@ULJKW-leg stocking, rolls down the stocking, folds up the knee of the breeches, DQGUHTXLUHVKLPWRGHOLYHUXSDQ\PHWDOWKLQJKHKDVXSRQKLP´:Ken taking the oath, the FDQGLGDWH³LVPDGHWRNQHHOXSRQWKHOHIWNQHHEDUH´122 The consistency of these odd aspects marking the candidate²the bare knee, the missing or covered shoe, and the shuffling or sideways gait²suggests that they carry a symbolic importance. The historian Carlo Ginzburg, in examining the records of the Inquisition and other !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 120 Jachin and Boaz, 14. 121 Dumfries No. 4 Manuscript, in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 56. 122 $0DVRQ¶V&RQIHVVLRQ, in Knoop and Jones, eds., Early Masonic Catechisms, 94. *&! ! evidences of popular mythology and folklore, finds a widespread persistence through much of (XURSHRID³*RRG6RFLHW\´DJURXSRIPHQDQGZRPHQZLWKWKHDELOLWy to leave their bodies on certain nights of the year, to combat evil spirits, and to commune with the dead. Though any formal rites had died out, some such men and women continued to engage in ecstatic journeys as late as the seventeenth century. The folk beliefs surrounding the Good Society apparently have their roots in an enduring stratum of Eurasian shamanism, according to which certain special individuals can travel to the world of the dead and return. As mentioned earlier, many Eurasian folk myths assert that such travelers are marked by an asymmetry, particularly in their leg or foot, which causes them to limp or shuffle; they are half of this world, half of the other. Many legendary figures such as the Fisher King, Achilles, and the Biblical Jacob combine half- lameness with half-death. The ancient mystery cults and folk rituals apparently employed this symbol of liminality; depictions of novices in the Dionysian and Eleusinian cults show them wearing one sandal. The single bare foot both induces the desired limp and emphasizes the VKDPDQ¶VGLUHFWFRQWDFWZLWKWKHXQGHUZRUOG OLNH$0DVRQ¶V&RQIHVVLRQ, Jachin and Boaz VSHFLILHVWKDWWKHFDQGLGDWH³SXWKLVULJKWNQHHRQWKHVWRROZKLFKLVEDUH´DQGDIWHUWDNLQJWKH RDWKKHVHHVDQLPDJHRI³WKH tomb of Hiram, the first grand master, who has been dead almost WKUHHWKRXVDQG\HDUV´123 7KDWIRONVKDPDQLFEHOLHIVVXFKDV³VHFRQGVLJKW´IRUPHGSDUWRIWKHFXOWXUDO background of early modern Scotland seems certain, although their exact influence on Masonry may be impossible to trace. The possibility that shamanic ecstasies survived into the eighteenth century in Britain or North America is more tenuous. Ginzburg argues that the ecstasies of the *RRG6RFLHW\ZHUH³GHIRUPHG´E\HFFOHVLDVWLFDOSUHMXGLFHLQWRWKHGLDEROLFDOZLWFKHV¶6DEEDWK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 123 Ginzburg, Ecstasies, 96-104, 155-70, 226-47; Jachin and Boaz, 10, 12. *'! ! if this is the case (and some historians doubt it, although they accept the persistence of shamanism in the early modern period), then some distorted memory of the shamanic rites survived into the 1700s in the form oIIRONEHOLHIVLQWKHZLWFKHV¶QLJKWWLPHIOLJKWVDQGVSHFWUDO appearances.124 7KH0DVRQVOLNHWKH*RRG6RFLHW\JDWKHUHG³LQYLVLEO\´RQDSSRLQWHGQLJKWVRI the year to perform secret rituals, surrounded by symbols of death and immortality; the parallels may help to explain why Masons were often accused, as mentioned earlier, of practicing demonism or black magic. Furthermore, a lingering cultural memory of the shamanic ecstasies apparently guided 0DVRQV¶XQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKHLURZQDFWLYLWLHV0DQ\0DVRQLF bodies, including the Deputy Grand Royal Arch Chapter and Mount Vernon Lodge in Providence, as well as the lodges in Warren, Bristol, and Chepachet, timed their meetings with the full moon, which both allowed Brethren to travel more easily through unlit streets and echoed the long association of the shamanic Good Society with the moon.125 In addition, beliefs in fairies, elves, and other folkloric groups of invisible night travelers are holdovers of Eurasian shamanism; in 1796, the Newport Mercury reprinted D³JOHH´VXQJLQD0DVRQLFORGJHLQ/RQGRQWKDWOLNHQHGWKH0DVRQV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 124 Richard Kieckhefer, review of Carlo Ginzburg, Ecstasies, in American Historical Review, June 1992, p. 837-8; Leventhal, In the Shadow of the Enlightenment, 66-125. 125+RZDUG.'H:ROI³7KH+LVWRU\RI:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJH1R)DQG$0 -1955,´ :DUUHQ5, S 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R)DQG$0%ULVWRO5KRGH,VODQG Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800-1950, Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, p. 5- -DPHV9*UHHQKDOJKµ+LVWRULFDO$GGUHVV´ One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800-1950, Friendship Lodge No. 7, Free and Accepted Masons, Chepachet, Rhode Island, Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island; Proceedings of the M. E. Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Rhode Island, from its organization, 1798-1858 (Central Falls: E. L. Freemason and Co., Book and Job Printers, Union Block, 1880), p. 5- 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-18506DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHQR Bristol, RI; William Evans Handy, The Story of Mount Vernon Lodge no. 4 (Providence: Mount Vernon Lodge, 1924): 17. *(! ! WRWKHIDLULHVDQGHOYHVJXDUGLQJYLOODJHJUHHQVFRQFOXGLQJZLWKWKHUHIUDLQ³7KXVOLNHHOYHVLQ P\VWLFULQJ0HUU\0DVRQVGULQNDQGVLQJ´126 The foregoing examination of the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft initiations, with their religious and shamanic elements grafted onto the basic structure of a rite of passage, provides a template for a brief consideration of the third degree, which had developed by about 1720. As discussed in Chapter 1, the third-degree ritual follows the same basic form as the previous two degrees, but involves the candidate playing the role of Hiram Abiff, the architect of 6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHZKRZDVPXUGHUHGE\ORZHU-level workers, buried, and exhumed. Samuel 3ULFKDUG¶VMasonry Dissected of 1730 describes Hiram as being killed by a blow to the head and EXULHGRQ³WKHEURZRIDKLOO´LQDJUDYHPDUNHGZLWKDVSULJRI³FDVVLD´RUDFDFLD7KH³)LYH 3RLQWVRI)HOORZVKLS´UHSRUWHGO\RULJLQDWHGIURPWKHHPEUDFHEy which the masons lifted the delicate and decaying body from the grave.127 Early Masonic documents give hints as to the roots of the Hiram Abiff legend, which further point to themes of death, resurrection, and immortality. By the early 1700s, the Masons were circulating a story concerning a Temple-builder named Hiram who in some way undergoes a process of death and rebirth. The catechism of the Dumfries no. 4 Manuscript, ca. 1710, associates the Master Hiram with metalworking as well as death and revival; the questioner asks, ³ZKHUHOD\HVWKHPDVWHU´WRZKLFKWKHYLVLWRUUHSOLHV³LQDVWRQHWURXJKXQGHU\HZHVWZLQGRZ ORRNLQJWR\HHDVWZDLWLQJIRUWKHVRQULVLQJWRVHWWKLVPHQWRZRUN´128 The present tense is important, signifying that the Worshipful Master of the lodge, like the sun and like Hiram, in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 126 Newport Mercury, October 11, 1796, p. 4; Ginzburg, Ecstasies, 96-109. 127 Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 20-1; Prichard, Masonry Dissected, 1730. 128 Dumfries no. 4 Manuscript, Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Catechisms, 60. *)! ! some way re-enacts a cycle of death and rebirth, lying in the grave and rising again. By the time of Jachin and Boaz +LUDPKDGEHHQLGHQWLILHGZLWKWKH³ZLGRZ¶VVRQRIWKHWULEHRI1DSKWDOL´D skilled bronze-worker whom Solomon requested to cast metal for the Temple, according to 1 .LQJV7KLVLGHQWLILFDWLRQDOVRHYRNHVWKHZLGRZ¶VVRQWKDWWKHSURSKHW(OLMDKUHYLYHVIURPWKH dead in 1 Kings 17, in the same Biblical book as the reference to Hiram; what is more, Elijah revives the boy by stretching his body out over him, in the same manner that the masons lay WKHPVHOYHVRYHU+LUDP¶VERG\ZKHQOLIWLQJKLPIURPWKHJUDYH The third-degree ritual raises the stakes of fear and wonder over the previous two degrees, and it makes more explicit the stage of ritual death at the heart of the rite of passage. While the initiate is being led through the lodge blindfolded, three Brethren accost him, strike him on the head and chest, and knock him down, after which they narrate the Hiram legend. According to Jachin and Boaz, this ritual often inspires such fear or revulsion that the candidate immediately runs out of the lodge; as an alternative, some lodges place a Brother on the floor with his face covered in blood, and then have the candidate take his place. The Brethren teach the candidate the secret word while lifting him from the floor and embracing him²hence the SKUDVLQJWKDWRQHLV³UDLVHG´D0DVWHU129 Attached to the Hiram legend are various symbols and images emphasizing the P\VWHULHV¶SRZHUWRRYHUFRPHPRUWDOLW\7KHVSULJRIDFDFLDSODFHGRQ+LUDP$ELII¶VWHPSRUDU\ grave suggests not only regeneration but immortality; acacia is an exceptionally long-lived plant, and its placement echoes the trees that grRZIURP$GDP¶VJUDYHLQWKHGolden Legend and the PDJLFDOWUHHRQ+LUDP¶VWRPEDOOXGHGWRLQWKHOHWWHURI9HUXV&RPPRGXVDVLGHIURPQXPHURXV Eurasian myths of miraculous plants blossoming over the gravesites of sacrifices and borrowing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 129 Jachin and Boaz, 41-3. **! ! their regenerative power.130 Master Masons customarily used the sprig of acacia as a symbol of life after death; at the first meeting of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island in 1791, the Masons WRDVWHG³May the fragrance of a good report, like a sprig of cassia, bloom over the head of every departed brother´DQGLQ 0RULDK/RGJHLQ&RQQHFWLFXWJDYHDHXORJ\IRU*HQHUDO'DQLHO /DUQHGFODLPLQJWKDW/DUQHG³left our lodge to join WKDWRIWKH6XSUHPH$UFKLWHFW«there to flourish, like the ever-verdant Cassia, in immortal bloom´131 7KH0DVWHU¶VH[KXPDWLRQ likewise, recalls the common shamanic miracle of revivification that follows from the burial and exhumation of sacrificial bones.132 Of course, Hiram does not literally resurrect or revive according to the Masonic legend, but this is immaterial to the purpose of the ritual, which is the LQLWLDWH¶VFRPPXQLRQZLWKWKHZRUOGRIWKHGHDG6LQFHWKHOHJHQGH[SODLQVWKH)LYH3RLQWVRI Fellowship as an imitation of the raising of Hiram from the grave, the final rite of incorporation becomes an embrace of the dead and the living. )LQDOO\WKH0DVWHU0DVRQGHJUHH¶VMRXUQH\LQWRWKHZRUOGRIWKHGHDGLVDOVRDMRXUQH\ toward the divine²which from the shamanic perspective is one and the same. It completes a tri- partite hierarchy, imitatiQJWKHVWUXFWXUHRIWKH7HPSOH$VWKHILUVWWZRGHJUHHVDUHWKH³SRUFK´ DQGWKH³KDOO´RIWKH7HPSOHVRWKH0DVWHU¶V/RGJHWKHJDWKHULQJRI0DVWHU0DVRQVLVFDOOHG WKH³VDQFWXPVDQFWRUXP´UHIHUULQJ to the chamber of the Temple containing the Holy Ark.133 The inner sanctum can only be glimpsed, however; the journey is always incomplete. The third- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 130 9-3URSS³/¶$OEHUR0DJLFR6XOOD7RPED´LQ3URSSEdipo Alla Luce del Folclore, (Torino: Einaudi, 1975) p. 3-39, cited in Ginzburg, Ecstasies, 246. 131 Providence Gazette, July 2, 1791, p. 3, Jan. 20, 1798, p. 3. 132 Ginzburg, 241-9. 133 William Morgan, Light on Masonry, ed. Arturo de Hoyos (Washington, DC: Scottish Rite Research Society, 2008): 81. *+! ! degree catechism in Masonry Dissected establishes that the quest of Master Masonry is the UHFRYHU\RIWKH0DVWHU¶V:RUGWKDWZDVORVWZLWK+LUDP¶VGHDWK Q. Where are you a going? A. To the West. Q. What are you a going to do there? A. To look for that which was lost and is now found. Q. What was that which was lost and is now found? A. The Master-Mason's Word. A. How was it lost? Q. By Three Great Knocks, or the Death of our Master Hiram. Later versions of the legend, such as in the catechism of Jachin and Boaz, add that Hiram Abiff could not have divulged the word even if he wanted to, since it could only be pronounced by three men together²himself, King Hiram of Tyre, and King Solomon. Clearly, the word, surrounded by taboo and comprising three elements, had magical or divine significance, like the tetragrammaton or other Kabbalistic words. Solomon, in this more detailed version of the legend, tells WKHPDVRQVVHDUFKLQJIRU+LUDPWKDWLIKHLVGHDGWKHQWKH0DVWHU¶V:RUGLVORVW DIWHUILQGLQJWKH0DVWHU¶VERG\WKHZRUNHUVLQYHQWDQHZZRUGWRUHSODFHLW7KHSUHFLVHZRUG varies among the different catechisms²in Masonry Dissected LWLVJLYHQDV³PDFKEHQDK´DQGLQ Jachin and Boaz DV³PDKKDERQH´²but it is this word that Master Masons exchange with one another when embracing in the Five Points of Fellowship.134 Masons considered degree rituals to be worth their cost in time, work, and money. The Master Mason degree grew ever more popular over the course of the eighteenth century, and 5KRGH,VODQG¶VPHPEHUVKLSUROOVVKRZWKDWE\WKH VKDUGO\DQ\%URWKHUVGLGQRWWDNHDOO WKUHHGHJUHHVZLWKLQWKHLUILUVW\HDURUWZRLQWKH)UDWHUQLW\,Q6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge of Providence between 1791 and 1803, when records are most complete, Masons waited an average of 181 days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 134 Jachin and Boaz, 41-8. *,! ! between taking their Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft degrees, and 148 days between their Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees. 11% of candidates saved time by taking the second and third degrees together in the same night. Jean Baptiste Tierce, probably a French mariner only sojourning in Providence, took all three degrees on the night of February 28, 1800; at the slow end of the spectrum, Elihu Fish, a farmer from the rural town of Foster, was initiated in Janurary, 1802, passed a Fellow Craft in December of that year, and raised a Master in November, 1803.135 The quick integration of the third degree into eighteenth-century Masonry reflects the avid interest in myth and ritual among the Brethren. This same fascination would drive the creation and spread of the higher degrees²the Royal Arch, the Rite of Perfection, and the various degrees that Webb gathered into the York Rite. The mentality of the Masonic impresarios is clear: within every inner sanctum was a further inner sanctum. Rhode Island was an important center of the spread of the higher degrees, with both Moses Michael Hays and Thomas Smith Webb finding fertile ground for their higher-degree projects. We cannot fully explore the form and content of the higher degrees here; rather, I will merely point out that the various higher degrees that developed in the eighteenth century were an elaboration on lines of thought and practice already present in Craft Masonry, not a radical departure. Like the Craft degrees, the higher degrees explore variations on the basic themes of rites of passage. All of them involve the revelation of esoteric knowledge; the Rite of Perfection, as practiced in the eighteenth century, culminates in the Knight of the Sun degree, which involves a long disquisition on alchemy and astrology. The degrees also involve passwords, often in spurious Hebrew, with glosses of their meaning; special signs and symbols, such as moons, stars, birds, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 135 Special Return IRU6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFH Providence Gazette, January 21, 1815, p. 4. +-! ! and crowns; and the conferral of ritual clothing that binds the body²sashes, aprons, and rings² as is typical of rites of incorporation. Most importantly, the Royal Arch degree, the nucleus of all higher-degree systems, continues WKHTXHVWIRUWKHWUXH0DVWHU¶V:RUG7KHULWXDOLGHDOO\WDNHVSODFHLQDQXQGHUJURXQG chamber or vault, where the candidate sees a golden triangle with the tetragrammaton and hears WKHORVWZRUGZKLFKLVWKHFRUUHFWSURQXQFLDWLRQRI*RG¶VWUXHQDPH136 The legendary descent LQWR(QRFK¶VYDXOWZKHUHWKHZRUGLVGLVFRYHUHGSDUDOOHOVWKHPRYHPHQWDORQJWKHD[LVMRLQLQJ the cosmic realms²-DFRE¶VODGGHUWKH:RUOG7UHHRUWKH7UHHRI/LIH WKHDXWKRUVPD\KDYH taken inspiration from the apocryphal Book of Enoch, which promises that all believers will eat from the Tree of Life. The Royal Arch ritual combines the achievement of the quest of Kabbalah with references to geomancy, Rosicrucianism, and even to Pythagoras; in 1802, Benjamin Gleason asserted that P\WKDJRUDVLQIRUPXODWLQJKLVIDPRXVWKHRUHP³KDGWKHWULDQJOHRIOLIHLQ YLHZ´137 For all of its eclectic symbolism, the basic theme of the Royal Arch is the same as that of shamanism: the overcoming of death by communion with the spirit world, which is both the world of the divine and that of the dead. The talent of the creators of the degree was not invention, but encapsulation. More broadly, the degrees of the Rite of Perfection pursue the Masonic fascination with the cosmic axis uniting the earthly and spiritual realms. The 19th degree, that of Grand Pontiff, DVVHUWVWKDWPDVRQU\ZDVWUDQVPLWWHGIURPKHDYHQ³WRUHSODFHWKHDQWLHQWGHVFWUXFWHGWHPSOH´ DQGWKDWWKH³FHOHVWLDO-HUXVDOHP´PHQWLRQHGLQWKH%RRNRI5HYHODWLRQZDVLQIDFWWKHILUVW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 136 Francken Manuscript 1783, 121-34. 137 Gleason, 1802, p. 13. +$! ! Lodge of Perfection; the tree therein was the Tree of Life.138 The 21st GHJUHHWKDWRI³3UXVVLDQ .QLJKW´VHUYHVWRUHKDELOLWDWHWKHP\WKRIWKH7RZHURI%DEHOZKLFKWKRXJK³IRXQGHGRQ SUHVXPSWLRQYDQLW\DQGDUURJDQFH´VWLOOUHSUHVHQWVDQDGPLUDEOHHIIRUW Whe tomb of the master EXLOGHURIWKH7RZHU3KDOHJDWWHVWVWKDW³JRGKDGIRUJLYHQKLPDVKHKDGUHSHQWHGDQGEHFRPH KXPEOH´139 The 24th degree, that of Knights of Kadosh, which mainly teaches the candidate of the destruction of the Knights Templar, showVWKHLQLWLDWHD³P\VWHULRXVODGGHU´RIVHYHQUXQJV each of which represents a virtue that the Knight must practice, the ultimate being secrecy.140 2QFHDJDLQWKHV\PEROHYRNHV-DFRE¶V/DGGHUWKHFRVPLFD[LVRQZKLFKPHQWUDYHOWRZDUGVWKH invisible realm, the source of divine knowledge. Our metaphors may become confused or strained²the tower, the tree, the ladder, and the temple, which link the heavens, the underworld, the divine world, the world of the dead, the macrocosm²but the pretension remains the same: the Masons are the conservators of the points of contact between the human world and its sacred counterpart; they are the guardians of the gates. iv. Other Rituals Although they were the most important and elaborate, degree rituals were not the only ceremonial rites that Masons observed. Masonic life was punctuated by rituals of various sorts WKDWPDQDJHGWKH%UHWKUHQ¶VFRQWURORYHUVDFUHGVSDFHDQGNQRZOHGJHLQFOXGLQJ 1. Opening of lodge meetings 2. Degree initiations !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 138 Francken Manuscript, 220-1. 139 Francken manuscript, 230-2. 140 Francken Manuscript, 264, 270-1. +%! ! 3. Questioning of purported members 4. Festive processions 5. Consecration of lodges and officers 6. Cornerstone-layings 7. Funerals These various rituals serve to create and demarcate the sacred, eternal space of the lodge. Having already discussed the second and third rituals in this list in detail, we must now briefly consider some of the other five. Most fundamentally, the ritual of the opening and closing of a lodge lays a symbolic groundwork for all the others. According to Jachin and Boaz and later descriptions, any non-Masons must first be removed from the room and the Brethren stand, wearing aprons. In brief, the officers of the lodge take their designated places around the room, ZHDULQJWKHLUMHZHOV7KH0DVWHULQVXUHVWKDWWKHORGJH¶V7\OHURUJXDUGLVLQSODFHDQG³LIQR- ERG\LVQLJK´WKHQWKH7\OHUNQRFNVRQWKHGRRUWKUHHWLPHV+DYLQJLQVXUHGWKHLUVHFOXVLRQ from the external world, the Master then ritually questions each of the lodge officers regarding his duties and proper position. The Junior Warden, in charge of the food and drink, explains that KHLVSRVLWLRQHGLQWKH6RXWK³WKHEHWWHUWRREVHUYHWKHVXQDWKLJKPHULGLDQWRFDOOWKHPHQRII IURPZRUNWRUHIUHVKPHQW´7KH6HQLRU:DUGHQGHFODUHVWKDW³DVWKHVXQVHWVLQWKHZHVWDW close of day, so the Senior Warden stands in the West to close the lodge, to pay the men their ZDJHVDQGGLVPLVVWKHPIURPWKHLUODERU´DQGLQZRUGVUHFDOOLQJWKH'XPIULHVQR 0DQXVFULSWDGGVWKDW³DVWKHVXQULVHVLQWKHHDVWWRRSHQWKHGD\VRWKH0DVWHUVWDQGs in the HDVWWRRSHQKLVORGJHDQGVHWKLVPHQWRZRUN´7KH0DVWHUWKHQGHFODUHVWKHORGJHRSHQDQG IRUELGVZKLVSHULQJ³RUDQ\SURIDQHGLVFRXUVHZKDWHYHU´)LQDOO\WKH:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU GHFODUHV³KRZJRRGLWLVIRU%UHWKUHQWRGZHOOWRJHWKHULQXQLW\´DQGUDSVKLVJDYHOWKUHHWLPHV +&! ! Business opens, and the Brethren discuss the collection and disposition of funds, balloting of candidates, reports from other lodges, etc.141 7KHRSHQLQJULWXDOHVWDEOLVKHVWKHORGJH¶VVHSDUDWLRQIURPWKHSURIDQHZRUOGpunctuated by the repeating sound of three loud knocks, recalling the three blows that kill Hiram Abiff. It is a very simple rite of passage placing the lodge into a sacred, parallel world. The ritual questions and answers frame the lodge meeting, which takes place at night by candle-light, as an imaginary ³GD\´RI0DVRQLFODERUSHUIRUPHGRQDP\WKLFDO7HPSOHWKDWFDQQHYHUEHFRPSOHWHGEXWLV eternally under construction; its sequence is transferred from the axis of time to that of space, with its stagHVDUUDQJHGWKURXJKWKHURRPIURPHDVWWRZHVW7KURXJKSDUWLFLSDWLRQLQWKH³GD\´ of labor, Masons escape from ordinary time and partake in an eternal, mythic present, a continuous journey toward communion with the divine. The next most common ritual observance after lodge openings and degree rituals was SUREDEO\IHVWLYHSURFHVVLRQVVHHLQJDVKRZWKH\IUDPHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\RUDWLRQVIXQHUDOV consecrations of lodges, Grand Lodge conventions, and any other quasi-public Masonic event. This ritual served symbolically to move from one place to another the sacred, timeless space that the lodge-opening ceremony had established. At the first convention of the Grand Lodge in Newport in 1791, the Brethren met in the Council Chamber of the State House and opened a lodge meeting. They then processed to Trinity Church for an oration; the Grand Secretary, as per custom, led the procession with a Bible on a cushion. In the rear were two Brethren with white wands and finally, the Tyler of the Providence lodge with a drawn sword, marking the boundary of the sacred space of the lodge in the same manner that he did in a regular meeting. With the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 141 Jachin and Boaz, 1762, p. 4-7; Avery Allyn, A Ritual and Illustrations of Freemasonry (Allyn, 1848): 2-4. +'! ! oration concluded, the Masons returned to the Council Chamber in the same order, without dissolving the sacred body.142 In 1801, when the Grand Lodge met in Warren, the procession followed the same pattern with a further embellishment: the Grand Tyler followed at the rear, bearing a flaming sword.143 The ritual evokes the cherub holding a flaming sword that God places at the gate of the Garden of Eden to block the path to the Tree of Life; the Masons, thus, had regained access to the Tree, overcoming the curse of mortality placed on Adam. The ceremony for the installation of officers was very simple, involving only the conferral of ritual implements, an oath, and a prayer. It related to the larger symbolic world of Masonry mainly in that it took place on Saint John the Evangelist¶V'D\RQHRIWKHWZRVDLQWV¶ days customarily observed by the Craft. Grand Lodge conventions took place on the other such day²Saint John the Baptist¶V'D\ZKLFKFRPLQJRQO\DIHZGD\VDIWHUWKHVXPPHUVROVWLFHZDV WUDGLWLRQDOO\DVVRFLDWHGLQ%ULWDLQZLWKWKHFHOHEUDWLRQRIWKHVXQ RQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V(YH%ULWRQV traditionally lit, in addition to bonfires, tar-covered wheels representing the Sun. The association between the solar cycle and the cycle of election and installation of officers is underscored by the IDFWWKDWWKHLQVWDOODWLRQULWXDOWDNHVSODFHDWWKHVRXWKZDOORIWKHORGJHURRPZKHUH³WKHsun GDUWVLWVUD\VDWKLJKPHULGLDQ´144 As Masonry expanded, ceremonies of consecration also became necessary, but in the eighteenth century, spaces dedicated specifically to Masonic use were rare, and very few records of consecration rituals survive. Masonic cornerstone-layings, though a very common public ritual in the nineteenth century, were rare in the eighteenth. The only such ceremony known to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 142 Providence Gazette, July 2, 1791, p. 3. 143 Providence Gazette, July 4, 1801, p. 3. 144 Jachin and Boaz, 48-50; Ronald Hutton, Stations of the Sun (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996): 311-315. +(! ! KDYHRFFXUUHGLQ5KRGH,VODQGEHIRUHZDVWKHRQHIRUWKH0DVRQV¶RZQWHPSOHLQ1HZSRUW in August 1759,QWKLVFHUHPRQ\WKHILYHORGJHRIILFHUVODLGVWRQHVDWWKHEXLOGLQJ¶VFRUQHUV cycling from the east, to the south, to the west, mimicking the movement of the sun and the solar axis along which the lodge rituals would eventually take place.145 In addition, Rhode Islanders could read reports of Masonic cornerstone-layings in the new Federal City. In 1791, the Masonic lodge in Alexandria laid a cornerstone marking the boundary of the District of Columbia, with the Worshipful Master pouring over it the customary corn, wine, and oil, UHSUHVHQWLQJ*RG¶VIDYRULQDUHIHUHQFHWRWKHSURSKHW-RHO DPLQLVWHUJDYHDVHUPRQOLNHQLQJ America to ancient Judea. In 1793, George Washington presided over what is probably the most famous Masonic cornerstone-laying in history, for the new Capitol building.146 The cornerstone symbolizes the imposition of human order on the disordered landscape, and from the Masonic standpoint, the conferral of divine favor on human undertakings. Finally, as mentioned before, Masonry was intensely preoccupied with matters of mortality and immortality, serving a population of men who faced frequent early death. Rhode Island newspapers often printed requests for Masons to attend the funerals of deceased Brethren as well as reports that the deceased had been ³LQWHUUHGLQ0DVRQLFIRUP´147 According to Arnold van Gennep, most funerals follow the patterns of rites of passage, but with fairly few rites of separation (perhaps because separation has already been achieved by the brute physical fact of death); instead, they tend to involve elaborate rites of transition and incorporation in order to LQVXUHWKHGHSDUWHG¶VUHFHSWLRQLQWRWKHVRFLHW\RIWKHGHDG7KH0DVRQLFIXQHUDOIROORZVWKLV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 145 Newport Mercury, Sep. 16, 1876, p. 6. A Masonic account of this ceremony was reportedly copied from the then-H[WDQWUHFRUGVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH 146 Providence Gazette, may 17, 1791, p. 2; Newport Mercury, June 11, 1793, p. 4. 147 Providence Gazette, july 13, 1799, p. 3. +)! ! pattern, preparing the departed Brother to enter the Masonic lodge of the afterlife. According to WKH³0DVRQLF%XULDO2IILFH´SULQWHGE\WKH*UDQG/RGJHRI5KRGH,VODQGLQWKH VWKH PRXUQLQJ%UHWKUHQPXVWIRUPDQ³REORQJVTXDUH´DURXQGWKHJUDYHrepresenting the lodge and the Temple. The Worshipful Master or Chaplain officiates, declaring that the Masons must ³LQWURGXFH´WKHGHFHDVHG%URWKHU³WRWKHORGJHSUHSDUHGIRUDOOWKHOLYLQJ´+HSODFHVWKH GHSDUWHG%URWKHU¶VDSURQLQWKHJUDYHDQGHDFK%URWKHUSDVVLQJIURPHDVWWRZHVWGURSVDVSULJ of evergreen into the grave, evoking the sprig of acacia in the Hiram legend; it is said to UHSUHVHQWWKH³EHOLHIWKDWKHZLOOOLYHEH\RQGWKHJUDYH´)LQDOO\WKHRIILFLDWLQJ%URWKHr admonishes the Masons to act VXFKWKDWWKH\PD\EH³GXO\SUHSDUHGIRUDWUDQVODWLon from a WHUUHVWULDOWRDFHOHVWLDOORGJHWRMRLQWKHIUDWHUQLW\RIWKHVSLULWVRIMXVWPHQPDGHSHUIHFW´148 The Masonic funeral rite as practiced in Rhode Island demonstrates the familiarity of death and mortality to the quasi-shamanic world of Masonry. The remarkable smoothness and FRQWLQXLW\ZLWKZKLFKD%URWKHU³WUDQVODWHV´IURPOLIHWRGHDWKEULQJLQJZLWKKLPKLV0DVRQLF apron and joining the lodge of the afterlife, much as he might join a lodge in a new town, reflects the fact that the Masons are already near to the world of the dead. Indeed, the Entered Apprentice initiation is far more elaborate, emotionally taxing, and taboo-bound than the funeral rite, which is simple and placid by comparison; the gulf between ordinary life and Masonry is wider than that between Masonry and death. In addition, the funeral demonstrates the importance of the apron to the entire ritual world of Masonry. Masons of various degrees and offices sport a plethora of ritual badges and emblems, which are too multifarious to discuss here, but the apron is the great universal of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 148 William Smith, The Masonic Burial Office, as Observed by the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island (Bennington, Vermont: Anthony Haswell, 1799). +*! ! Masonic ritual. All Masons must wear one to every lodge meeting and every Masonic ceremony. Under the by-ODZVLQIRUFHLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWDWWKHHQGRIWKH eighteenth century, no Mason was to appear in the lodge without his apron, under a penalty of sixpence; in 1799, the lodge instructed the Treasurer to purchase six aprons for the use of visitors, but still to fine those who came without their own aprons.149 Like a tribal mask or mLOLWDU\XQLIRUPWKHDSURQUHSUHVHQWVWKHZHDUHU¶VDGRSWLRQRIDVSHFLDOULWXDOL]HGSHUVRQD distinct from that of ordinary life. An Entered Apprentice receives a plain white apron as a gift XSRQKLVLQLWLDWLRQZLWKWKH0DVWHUFKDUDFWHUL]LQJLWDVD³EDGJHRILQQRFHQFH´150 It covers over the genital area, like the fig leaves pasted over Adam and Eve in Renaissance art, underscoring the virtue of self-control inculcated in Masonic charges.151 $SURQV¶GHVLJQVFRXOGEHFRPHPRUH complex over time, with their GHWDLODQGEHDXW\UHIOHFWLQJWKHLUZHDUHUV¶HQWKXVLDVPIRUWKH&UDIW and their designs, usually arranged around a symmetrical architectural form and surmounted by FHOHVWLDOERGLHVRUWKH³$OO-6HHLQJ(\H´SUHVHQW0DVRQLFZRUOGVLQPLFURFRVPIXUWKHUOLQNLng the body, the lodge, the Temple, and the cosmos. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 149 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN% -6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, 150 Jachin and Boaz, 20. 151 Alyce GraKDP³6HFUHF\DQG'HPRFUDF\ 0DVRQLF$SURQV-´3DSHUSUHVHQWHGDW Symposium on American Freemasonry and Fraternalism, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, Lexongton, Mass., April 28, 2012. ++! ! ! $SURQEHORQJLQJWR*HRUJH3+D]DUGLQLWLDWHGLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR1HZSRUW 7ZLQSLOODUV stand atop three steps, representing the three Craft degrees of initiation. A square and compass lie on top of a Bible open to the Gospel of John, as one would see in a lodge ritual. Above are the sun, moon, and Pleiades, and on the flap, the All-6HHLQJ(\HUHSUHVHQWLQJ*RG,PDJHE\SHUPLVVLRQRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge no. 1, Portsmouth, RI. +,! ! ! Apron, ca. 1785-1795, belonging at one point to William Burr, initiated in Mount Vernon Lodge, Providence, RI, 1800. Twin pillars stand atop a mosaic pavement, framing a complex scene featuring celestial bodies, working tools, the coat of arms of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, and three steps leading to the coffin of Hiram Abiff with a sprig of acacia. Image courtesy of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library. ,-! ! ! Apron, painted by Davis W. Hoppin, 1783, probably for use in the Royal Arch degree, found in the SDSHUVRI'DQLHO6WLOOZHOO7KLVH[FHSWLRQDOO\FRPSOH[DSURQVKRZVWKH³WKUHH0DVWHUV´6RORPRQ Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abiff, standing atop architectural forms, enclosing various symbols of industry DQGSLHW\,QWKHFHQWHULV+LUDP$ELII¶VFoffin atop a vault, probably representing the vault of Enoch, the setting of the Royal Arch legend. Davis W. Hoppin (1771-1822), apparently a non-Mason, was a portrait and sign painter. Image courtesy of Rhode Island Historical Society. $ ,$! ! Finally, all Masonic rituals other than the funeral were followed by socialization, drinking, and singing, which broke the tension and formality of lodge rituals; drinking was routine enough a part of Masonic life for the author of Jachin and Boaz to note that at the opHQLQJRIDORGJHRQWKH-XQLRU:DUGHQ¶VWDEOHDUHSODFHG³GLIIHUHQWVRUWVRIZLQHSXQFK F WRUHJDOHWKH%UHWKUHQ´152 According to song no. 14 in Ahiman Rezon, the Masonic handbook SXEOLVKHGE\WKH$QFLHQWV¶*UDQG/RGJHLQ³WKHZRUOG´PD\VSHFXODWHDVWRWKH0DVRQV¶ QHIDULRXVDFWLYLWLHV³%XWOLWWOHWKLQN$VRQJDQGGULQN6XFFHHGVWKH0DVRQV¶OHFWXUH´ 6LPLODUO\VRQJQRGLVPLVVHVWKHFHQVXUHVRI³PDOLFLRXVSHRSOH´GHFODULQJ³:H¶OOEHIUHH DQGPHUU\'ULQNSRUWDQGVKHUU\´153 All puEOLF0DVRQLFREVHUYDQFHVVXFKDV6DLQW-RKQ¶V Day orations, were followed by meals and a long series of toasts, to which every Brother was expected to drink, or at least pretend to.154 7KHVXUYLYLQJUHFRUGVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI 1HZSRUWLQFOXGHDQ³H[RUELWDQW´H[SHQGLWXUHRQERWWOHVRIZLQHDQGERZOVRISXQFKIRUD 6DLQW-RKQWKH(YDQJHOLVW¶V'D\IHDVWLQ/DWHULQWKHFHQWXU\WKH1HZSRUW%UHWKUHQ¶V FRQVXPSWLRQPD\KDYHPRGHUDWHGVRPHZKDWEXWZDVVWLOOVXEVWDQWLDO IRUD6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\ dinner in 1798, the lodge paid for nine and a half gallons of wine, totaling nineteen dollars, in addition to an unknown quantity of punch. The following August, the lodge instructed the Treasurer to purchase a cask of wine, apparently for consumption at ordinary lodge meetings.155 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 152 Jachin and Boaz, p. 4-5. 153 Laurence Dermott, Ahiman Rezon (London: Robert Black, 1764):116, 126. 154 Jachin and Boaz, 53-4. 155 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RJ%RRN% -'HF $XJ 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH1R 3RUWVPRXWK5, 7UDQVFULSWLRQRI([WUDFWVIURP&RORQLDO5HFRUGV-DQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge no. 1, Portsmouth, RI. ,%! ! 7KH0DVRQV¶frequent drinking, like their secrecy, was a double-edged sword. Although the availability of alcohol surely attracted many candidates to the lodges, it could lead to disorder RUEHVPLUFKWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VUHSXWDWLRQ$s early as 1724, an anonymous London author satirized the Masons by proposing that they umpire a drinking contest to be hosted by a new fraternity FDOOHG³WKH*X]]OHWRQLDQV´7ZR\HDUVODWHUWKHKLVWRULDQDQG)UHHPDVRQ)UDQFLV'UDNHJDYH an address in which he lamented that Masons of various regional backgrounds sometimes sat GRZQDWWDEOHDVIULHQGVDQG³DIWHUWZRERWWOHV´IHOOWRILJKWLQJRYHUZKRDPRQJWKHPZDVPRVW truly English.156 James Anderson, in the Constitutions, SURKLELWHGDQ\0DVRQIURP³IRrcing any %URWKHUWRHDWRUGULQNEH\RQGKLVLQFOLQDWLRQ´157 The frequent references in newspaper reports WRWKH³GHFRUXP´DQG³GLJQLW\´RI0DVRQLFSURFHVVLRQVVXUHO\DLPHGWRFRXQWHUDFWWKH )UDWHUQLW\¶VERR]\LPDJH,QWKHRULJLQDOE\-laws of Friendship Lodge in Chepachet PDQGDWHGWKDW³Qo brother shall be admitted within the lodge the least disguised with liquor and should it be discovered afterwards the master and wardens shall order him to retire´7KHE\- ODZVRI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHQRLQ%ristol contained a similar provision, although it allowed the Brother to return later and apologize.158 For all of the problems that Masonic drinking caused, it was an integral part of the world of Masonic ritual in the eighteenth century. Most Masonic observances, such as the Entered Apprentice lecture, involved the drinking of toasts,159 and the largest and most beautiful Masonic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 156 Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Pamphlets, 135-6, 200-1. 157 $QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions, 1723, p. 54. 158 Article 14, By-ODZVRI)ULHQGVKLS/RGJHQRTXRWHGLQ*UHHQKDOJK³+LVWRULFDO$GGUHVV´ One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800-1950, Friendship Lodge No. 7, Free and Accepted Masons, Chepachet, Rhode Island/LEUDU\RIWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI5KRGH,VODQG 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN 1800-6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHQR%ULVWRO5, 159 Jachin and Boaz, 17, 22. ,&! ! ritual objects dating to this period in Rhode Island are Chinese-made porcelain punch bowls. Even the recreational drinking that followed lodge meetings complemented the solemnity of formal rituals more than it undermined it. Wine has many religious meanings, and for Masons, symbolized divine favor, as exemplified by its use in the cornerstone-laying ceremony; as an 1762 Masonic sRQJDWWHVWV³7KHGLYLQHWHOOV\RXZLQHFKHDUVWKHERG\DQGWKHVRXO´160 Many mystery cults, such as the Eleusinians, have made use of psychotropic drugs to manipulate their GHYRWHHV¶PHQWDODQGHPRWLRQDOVWDWHV IRUWKH0DVRQVDOFRKROIDFLOLWDWHGDVHnse of religious reverence and social bonding as well as merriment. Song no. 32 in Ahiman Rezon proposes, ³OHW¶VGULQNDQGVLQJ« WRSUDLVHWKDWDUWGLYLQH´PXFKDVWKH³*OHH´PHQWLRQHGDERYHUHSULQWHG LQ FHOHEUDWHVKRZ³OLNHHOYHVLQP\VWLFULQJ PHUU\0DVRQVGULQNDQGVLQJ´161 All of the foregoing verses should make clear that in Masonic ritual, alcohol was closely wedded to music, another crucial but overlooked aspect of Masonry in the eighteenth century. Masons understood music as a kindred VFLHQFHRI0DVRQU\DVUHIOHFWHGLQWKH2OG&KDUJHV¶ claim that the inventors of music and geometry, Jubal and Jabal, were brothers. Like his forerunner Orpheus, Pythagoras was also a musician, and he understood that music, like geometry, involved the manipulation of mathematical proportions. Professional musicians were a significant presence in the eighteenth-century lodges, exemplified by Thomas Smith Webb, who went on in the nineteenth century to co-found the Handel and Haydn Society.162 According to Jachin and Boaz, each Masonic initiation was customarily followed by a song corresponding !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $)-!./01203!!"#ŚŽŝĐĞŽůůĞĐƚŝŽŶŽĨDĂƐŽŶ͛Ɛ^ŽŶŐƐ3!$+4! 161 Dermott, Ahiman Rezon, 139; Newport Mercury, October 11, 1796, p. 4. 162 Leyland, Thomas Smith Webb. ,'! ! to the degree conferred; whenever possible, choral concerts followed conventions of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island.163 Other than some exposures such as Masonry Dissected, every Masonic pamphlet and ERRNSULQWHGLQWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\EHJLQQLQJZLWK$QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions, included a section of songs. The first Masonic book that John Carter published, alongside James Mitchell 9DUQXP¶VVKRUWRUDWLRQZDVA Choice &ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV in 1779; 35 of the 47 pages RI&DUWHU¶V WRDWDYHUQRQ:H\ERVVHW6WUHHWZKHUHWKH\UHFLWHGDSRHPKRQRULQJWKH0DVRQV¶WKUHH Masters²Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abiff: To him who all things understood, to him who furnished stone and wood, to him who nobly spilt his blood in doing of his duty; !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 163 See for example, Providence Gazette, June 20, 1792, p. 2. ,(! ! we bless the age, and bless the morn, on which these three great men were born, who did the temple thus adorn with wisdom, strength, and beauty.164 An endlessly repeating myth of sacrifice, arranged into cycles of three. These types of rituals, embodied in words, images, and actions, punctuated Masonic life, and by extension, provided a sense of order and meaning to the lives of Masons. SE C T I O N II: T H E C O L O NI A L B A B E L ± T H E RISE A ND F A L L O F FR E E M ASO NR Y IN C O L O NI A L R H O D E ISL A ND, 1749-1779 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 164 Providence Gazette, Jan. 12, 1799, quoted in Leyland, Thomas Smith Webb, 89. ,)! ! &KDSWHU ³%HKROGD0DVWHU0DVRQ5DUH´²The Social Makeup of Colonial Rhode Island Masonry, 1749-1765 Wherever they appeared, the Masons were a small minority. Therefore it is not surprising that scholarly observers tend to take the Fraternity to represent a pre-existing elite of one sort or another²to identify it with a social class, whether upper-FODVV³JHQWOHPHQ´165 or the bourgeoisie,166 or with a political or intellectual vanguard, whether the Whig establishment, the radical Enlightenment, or both. These widely varying images of the Craft tend to spring from examinations of a few prominent Freemasons, such as scientists, philosophers, and politicians, who are taken to represent the Fraternity as a whole.167 Hence, scholars examining the Masonic movement in different times and places, by reference to different sets of prominent members, act out the fable of the blind men trying to identify an elephant²RQHWRXFKHVWKHDQLPDO¶VOHJDQG GHFODUHV³LW¶VDWUHH´DQRWKHUWRXFKHVLWVWUXQNDQGGHFODUHV³LW¶VDVQDNH´HWF Any clearer understanding of the Fraternity and its role in eighteenth-century society PXVWORRNEH\RQGWKHVPDOOJURXSVRISURPLQHQWPHQWKDWILUVWEURXJKWLWWRVFKRODUV¶DWWHQWLRQ Before making generalizations about the movement, it must examine inclusively who became a Mason and what relationships the Royal Art built among them, including the most obscure laborers, soldiers, or petty officials as well as the more prominent luminaries. Such an exhaustive study is only feasible within a limited sphere, among a small number of lodges. It !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 165 See for example, Steven Bullock, Revolutionary BrotherhoodFK³7KH$SSHDUDQFHRI6R Many Gentlemen: Masonry and Colonial Elites, 1730-´ 166 6HHIRUH[DPSOH0LNKDLO%DNXQLQ³2SHQ/HWWHUWR6ZLVV&RPUDGHVRIWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO´LQ The Basic Bakunin, Robert Cutler, ed. (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1992): 169-171. 167 See for example, Ric Berman, The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry: The Grand Architects²Political Change and the Scientific Enlightenment, 1717-1740; Margaret Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans. ,*! ! must unavoidably be selective and narrow in terms of time and space, and hence may appear to be merely a local micro-history; nonetheless, it can serve to rule out the facile generalizations often applied to the Craft and to begin a broader re-LQWHUSUHWDWLRQRI0DVRQU\¶VVRFLDOUROH This chapter will examine the growth and makeup of Freemasonry in colonial Rhode Island²a place and time in which, according to the best surviving records, exactly two hundred men became Freemasons over the course of twenty years. This study will serve to re-orient our understanding of Masonry in the eighteenth century, and also to lay the foundation for an examination of how the institution responded to the upheaval of the American Revolution. More specifically, it can serve to test the common notion that the Ancient-Modern schism democratized and popularized what was otherwise a socially exclusive institution.168 Rhode Island was an eminently maritime society; while it may be too much to say that the colony was a microcosm of the Atlantic world, Newport and Providence resemble, in a small form, many of the port towns and cities in which Freemasonry flourished in the eighteenth century. The colony was religiously diverse and politically fragmented, making it impossible to generalize about any cohesive Rhode Island elite. The colony had no single capital, the Assembly instead rotating its sessions among five major towns. Newport and Providence, the largest of them, were rivals, with their respective politicians often engaged in heated contests. Despite this fragmented and often contentious environment, Freemasonry succeeded in Rhode Island, at least for a period, with two lRGJHVRUJDQL]LQJDQGWDNLQJURRWLQWKHFRORQ\¶VWZR principal towns. The life cycle of colonial Rhode Island Masonry can be divided into four fairly clear stages: an initial, unstable period of slow development, between 1749 and 1756; a brief !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 168See for example, Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, FK³:KHUH,V+RQRXU"7KH5LVHRI Ancient Masonry, 1752- ´ ,+! ! period of success, rapid growth, and public visibility between 1757 and 1759; a return to slower growth and diminishing activity between 1760 and 1764; and collapse after 1765. By examining who became a Mason in colonial Rhode Island, one can discern certain clear social patterns, some of which endured and some of which changed over time. These social SDWWHUQVGHI\HDV\FDWHJRUL]DWLRQLQWHUPVRIFODVVRUSROLWLFVVKRZLQJLQVWHDGWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶V ability to adapt and find new constituencies as conditions changed. 7KHORGJHV¶VRFLDOFLUFOH expanded over time; the importance of the schism between Modern and Ancient Masonry, Rhode Island suggests, has been exaggerated. Rhode Island Freemasonry, in its early stages, was deeply enmeshed with the Anglican Church, with maritime trade, and with the military. The largest number of colonial Masons were Anglicans and a high proportion were merchants of one sort or another, from major magnates to small shopkeepers. The lodges were suspended in a seaborne network of trade and patronage connecting Rhode Island to Britain and the West Indies. This situation gradually changed as the lodges, after 1757, came to include more artisans and professionals who depended on local markets within the colony, and after 1760, on itinerant and socially marginal men. The heavily Anglican lodges gradually came to include more Masons of other faiths, particularly Baptists and Jews. By the time that the sugar and molasses crisis arose in 1763, the Masons were a complicated assortment of men of various faiths and professions. Hence, it is not surprising that Masons took up opposing positions in the ensuing imperial crisis, OHDGLQJWRWKHORGJHV¶FROODSVH,QDGGLWLRQZDUIDUHE\JDWKHULQJ\RXQJPHQWRJHWKHULQVHUYLFH to a common cause, provided a perfect breeding-ground for Masonry; at least in its early years, WKHJUHDWHVWVLQJOHVSXUWRWKHJURZWKRI0DVRQU\LQWKHFRORQ\ZDVWKH6HYHQ ,,! ! homefront, Masonry grew; when the war moved to more distant theaters, drawing men and money away and causing economic decline, Masonry suffered. All in all, Masonry in the colony was neither elite nor popular; it assembled men of various social conditions, from the modest middling sort to wealthy merchants. On the lower end, it excluded poor sailors and laborers who could not pay their fees, and on the upper end, it failed to attract the great merchant-magnate oligarchs who ruled the colony. What the colonial Masons tended to have in common was the ambition and uncertainty of deracinated young men in a maritime port town. They were bound together not by loyalty to any political or class agenda, but by personal bonds, including those forged through women; as we will see, a high SURSRUWLRQRI0DVRQVZHUHDOVRRQHDQRWKHU¶VEURWKHUV-in-law or sons-in-law, linked by Masonry and marriage at once. The two institutions coexisted and reinforced one another, building a world of voluntary and affective kinship. IQRUGHUWRGLVFHUQ0DVRQU\¶VGLVWLQFWLYHVRFLDOFKDUDFWHUZHPXVWFRQVLGHUWKHURXJK outline of the society in which it took hold. Newport at the middle of the eighteenth century was a quintessential Atlantic port town. Originally founded in the seventeenth century by former followers of Anne Hutchinson, Newport served as a refuge for Baptists, Quakers, and a small -HZLVKJURXS LQDFFRUGDQFHZLWK5RJHU:LOOLDPV¶YLVLRQWKHWRZQKDGQRHVWDEOLVKHGFKXUFK DQGQRKRXVHRIZRUVKLSVWRRGRQWKHWRZQ¶VPDLQ square, or Parade. Whereas a Congregational elite dominated civic life in Massachusetts as the Anglican gentry GLGLQ9LUJLQLD1HZSRUW¶V upper classes were a motley assortment of Friends, Baptists, Anglicans, and Jews. Around 1700, Quakers were probably the most numerous denomination, but a small Anglican group organized in 1698 and built Trinity Church, a grand Georgian edifice, in 1726. As early as the 1730s, the %LVKRS*HRUJH%HUNHOH\QRWHGWKDWDV1HZSRUW¶VZHDOWKLQFUHDVHGPDQ\³VO\4XDNHUV´VRXJht $--! ! WRFLUFXPYHQWWKH6RFLHW\RI)ULHQGV¶VWULFWVWDQGDUGVRISODLQQHVVDQGPRGHVW\ PDQ\RIWKHP were attracted to the Anglican Church and its greater acceptance of wealth and pomp.169 By 1760, many families of Friends had converted to the Church of England or divided into Quaker and Anglican camps. In addition, the small Jewish and Congregationalist groups that had long existed in the town grew dramatically after 1755, mainly due to immigration from other colonies. During the prosperous early 1770s, Newporters whose religions can be identified were roughly 29% Anglican, 27% Congregationalist, 21% Baptist, 17% Quaker, and 5% Jewish.170 0HDQZKLOHKXQGUHGVRI³QRWKLQJDULDQV´IORDWHGamong the denominations or attended no church at all.171 1HZSRUW¶VJURZWKDQGcommercial prosperity led to social stratification that only roughly FRUUHVSRQGHGWRWKHWRZQ¶VUHOLJLRXVJURXSV7KHWRZQJUHZ only slowly in the seventeenth century, lacking extensive hinterlands or cash crops; merchants built trade contacts with other colonies in order to acquire goods for re-export. After 1700, many Newporters undertook voyages to the West Indies, and a small number sailed to Africa to obtain slaves. By the middle RIWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\1HZSRUW¶VZDWHUIURQWZDVFURZGHGZLWKZKDUYes, warehouses, and distilleries. 7KHWRZQ¶VSRSXODWLRQMXPSHGIURPDERXWLQWRLQZKLOHWKH number of ships sailing from all Rhode Island ports almost quintupled from 215 in 1721 to 1,052 in 1764. 1HZSRUW¶V prosperity attracted artisans as well as destitute mariners and laborers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 169 The Works of George Berkely, ed. Alexander Fraser, Oxford 1901, vol. 4, 157n, cited in Elaine Crane, A Dependant People: Newport, Rhode Island in the Revolutionary Era (New York: Fordham University Press, 1985): 59; J. R. Bartlett, History of the Wanton Family in Rhode Island, NHS, 1878; George Champlin Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity Church Newport, R. I., Mason: Newport, R.I., 1890. 170 Lynn Withey, Urban Growth in Colonial Rhode Island (Albany: SUNY Press, 1984): 128. 171 Benjamin Carp, Rebels Rising (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007): 115. $-$! ! ORRNLQJIRUZRUNPDQ\RIZKRPWKHWRZQPHHWLQJ³ZDUQHGRXW´UDWKHUWKDQILQGWKHPVHOYHV responsible for the indigent. The overlapping elites of merchants, sea captains, landowners, ministers, and office-holders mostly hoped merely to keep the wealth flowing. As profits increased and many of the most prosperous found themselves attracted to the Church of England, 7ULQLW\EHFDPHWKHFHQWHURIWKHWRZQ¶VPHUFDQWLOHHOLWH Ey 1772, KDOIRI1HZSRUW¶VPHUFKDQWV and mariners and almost half of its richest taxpayers were Anglicans, while nearly half of all artisans were Congregationalists and the majority of the farmers remaining in Newport were Quakers. The poorest Newporters, who comprised unskilled laborers and sailors, among them a number of free Africans, were mostly Congregationalist and Baptist.172 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 172 Withey, Urban Growth in Colonial Rhode Island, 10-27, 115, 120, 128-9; Elaine Crane, A Dependent People, 51-65; Carp, Rebels Rising, 103-10. $-%! ! Map of Newport, 1777. North is toward the left of the image; Thames Street runs north-south alongside the waterfront, and the nearly parallel street to the east is Spring Street. The black building on Spring Street near the center of town is T rinity Church, the Anglican house of worship. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. 1HZSRUW¶VILUVWNQRZQ0DVRQLFORGJH DSSHDUHGLQ LQWKHPLGVWRIWKHWRZQ¶V meteoric commercial growth. In that year, a group of Masons already living in the town $-&! ! petitioned the Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston for a charter. The Grand Lodge Proceedings note, under the date of December 27, 1749: At the petition of sundry Brethren residing at Newport on Rhode Island Our Rt. Worsh. Bro. [Right Worshipful Brother] Thos Oxnard Esq Grand Master granted a Constitution for a Lodge to be held there and appointed our Rt. Worsh. Bro. Mr. Caleb Phillips to be their First Master.173 The Brothers who organized the lodge had presumably become Masons in Britain or in other colonies before introducing the mysteries to Newport. The formation of the lodge was a case of Masons independently organizing in a new location and then reaching inwards to a Grand Lodge for legitimation in the form of a charter. 7KH3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJHLQ%RVWRQQHYHUUHFRUGHGWKHQDPHVRIWKHVH³VXQGU\ EUHWKUHQ´ZKRSURFXUHGWKH1HZSRUWFKDUWHUEXWQLQHWHHQWK-century Rhode Island records LGHQWLI\DWOHDVWILYHPHQDV³RULJLQDOPHPEHUV´RIWKH1HZSRUWORGJH174 Ranging in age from about 19 to 35, they included both seafarers and professionals, several of them from Scottish backgrounds. Those whose occupations can be identified comprise the Rhode-Island-born tanner, Edward Cole, who had served as an officer at the siege of Louisbourg; the privateer Abel Michener; the captain and spermaceti processor Isaac Stelle; and most notably, the physician William Hunter, born and educated in Scotland, who in his youth reportedly served as a VXUJHRQ¶VPDWHIRUWKHLOO-fated Jacobite forces at Culloden, later emigrated to Newport, and in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 173 3URFHHGLQJVLQ0DVRQU\« (Boston: Grand Lodge of Massachuetts, 1895): 25. 174 The principal source for the identities of these and most other Newport Masons is the Special 5HWXUQWRWKH0RVW:RUVKLSIXO*UDQG/RGJHRIWKH0HPEHUVKLSRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH1R1HZSRUW RI (Providence: T. S. Hammond, 1877), held at the Masonic Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, East Providence. $-'! ! the 1750s delivered the first known course of medical lectures in America.175 All four of these early Masons were Anglicans. Based only on this small cluster of men, one can already begin to detect the social G\QDPLFVRI)UHHPDVRQU\¶VUDSLGVSUHDGLQWKHHLJKWHHQWK-century Atlantic world. Like the gourd vine springing up in disturbed ground, the Craft colonized the hubs of trade and travel. The movement thrived on migration and instability, providing networks of social contacts and surrogate kin for soldiers, sailors, and traders. More particularly, Scots²exemplified in Newport by the physician William Hunter, who reputedly served as the advance guard of the Enlightenment in British America176²were important vectors in transmitting Freemasonry from its ancient homeland in Scotland to the colonies. It may be tempting to say that these founding 0DVRQLF%UHWKUHQEHORQJHGWRWKH1HZSRUW³HOLWH´EXWLQIDFWWKH\ZHUHQRWDPRQJWKHFRORQ\¶V merchant-magnates, and regardless, Newport was too complex a society for such a straightforward classification. Still, these early Masons clustered around the Church of England, which for colonists represented the gentility and refinement of British metropolitan life in the mid-eighteenth-century, while Quakers, Congregationalists, and other North American 'LVVHQWHUVFRQWLQXHGWRYLHZZLWKGHHSVXVSLFLRQWKH&KXUFKRI(QJODQG¶VFHUHPRQLDOLVPDQG clerical hierarchy.177 As the Church of England facilitated social connections between the colonies and Britain, it is not surprising that its members would include the first Masons to advocate the formation of a lodge in Newport. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 175 E. %.UXPEKDDU³'RFWRU:LOOLDP+XQWHURI1HZSRUW´Annals of Surgery, 1935 January; 101(1): 506±528. 176 See for example, Ned Landsman, From Colonials to Provincials, 20-4, 29, 35-7, 43, 66. 177 Landsman, 13, 19, 24-6, 161. $-(! ! It is not clear how actively the five known original members participated in the life of the lodge after it obtained a charter; one of them, Edward Cole, is known to have served at one time DVWKHORGJH¶V-XQLRU:DUGHQDQGWKHRWKHUZLVHREVFXUH:LOOLDP3HOVXHDFWHGRQDWOHDVWRQH RFFDVLRQDVWKHORGJH¶V7\Oer, or guard.178 Rather than from this founding group, however, the ORGJH¶VHDUO\OHDGHUVKLSFDGUHVSUDQJIURPWKHVPDOOFODVVRIFDQGLGDWHVWKDWMRLQHGWKHORGJH during its first winter. Just over two weeks after obtaining the charter from Boston, on January WKHQHZORGJHFKULVWHQHG³6DLQW-RKQ¶V´RSHQHGLWVUROOVZLWKWKHQDPHVRILWVILUVW six candidates: Caleb Phillips, Abraham Borden, Edward Wanton, John Mawdsley, Robert Jenkins, Jr., and Thomas Rodman.179 The first set of Brothers initiaWHGE\6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWFDQEHVHHQWRIROORZ demographic patterns that would largely endure through WKHUHVWRIWKHORGJH¶VFRORQLDOKLVWRU\ Of these six men, the four whose occupations can be identified were all either merchants or sea captains. At least three of the six were Anglicans; Robert Jenkins was an active parishioner at 7ULQLW\DQG-RKQ0DZGVOH\ZKRKDGODWHO\VHUYHGDVDSULYDWHHULQWKH:DURI-HQNLQV¶(DUKDG a son baptized at Trinity in 1750. Both men would later serve as wardens of Trinity Church, and Mawdsley as a member of the vestry. Of the other three early Masons, Rodman and Borden were Quakers, and Wanton may have been born a Quaker but married an Anglican bride at Trinity in 1768.180 Taken as a whole, the group fell into the segment of Newport society that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 178 Cole was Junior Warden in 1756, anGVHUYHGRQWKHFRPPLWWHHWRSXEOLVK3ROOHQ¶VVHUPRQ ³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´LQ 5REHUW0RRG\ZDV-XQLRU:DUGHQLQ :LOOLDP3HOVXHVHUYHGDVWKH tyler, or meeting guard, in 1753. ³7UDQVFULSWLRQRI([WUDFWV´6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR Dec. 20, 1753, May 14, 1753, Nov. 11, 1756. 179 Special Return, Newport; Robert E. Brinton and John M. -RKQVWRQ³$/RGJH+LVWRU\´ Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. 180 WP Sheffield, Privateersmen of Newport (Newport: Sanborn, 1883): p. 47; Mason, ed.,Annals of Trinity Church, 114-15, 514. $-)! ! vacillated between the Society of Friends and the Anglican Church. Many prominent families, most importantly the Wantons, were divided between the two camps, which were, despite their opposite styles of worship and understandings of Protestant doctrine, socially intertwined. 181 Furthermore, when the initiations took place, the six Brothers were at similar points in their life cycles. They were a young group: Borden was 30 years old, Mawdsley was about 28, Rodman DQG-HQNLQV:DQWRQ¶VDJHLVXQNQRZQEXWKHZDVPRVWOLNHO\LQKLVWKLUWLHV$W least two of the men were already married, and the following year, a third Brother married as well.182 Three of the six Brothers were freemen of the town of Newport, meaning that they held full voting rights. To become a freeman in Rhode Island, one needed only to meet a very low SURSHUW\UHTXLUHPHQWRUWRLQKHULWWKHVWDWXVIURPRQH¶VIDWKHU LQWKHPLG-eighteenth century, most of the adult men of the colony could qualify.183 Of the three founding members who were not freemen, John Mawdsley later became one in 1760. At its founding the lodge offered these Brothers possible patrons and contacts in Boston, in other parts of North America and the Caribbean, and in Britain, and potentially, supportive friends and partners of their own class in Newport. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 181Bartlett, Wanton Genealogy, NHS. Conventional wisdom holds that Quakers cannot become Freemasons, since they are forbidden to swear oaths. Like most conventional wisdom about who can become a Mason, this is false. Many Quakers have become Masons through the years, and Scottish Quakers were known to join lodges as early as the 1680s (see David Stevenson, The First Freemasons). Masonic lodges most likely re-ZRUNHGWKHLULQLWLDWLRQULWXDOVLQRUGHUWRDFFRPPRGDWH4XDNHUV¶RURWKHUV¶ consciences; the Masonic exposures of the 1820s and 1830s show that Rhode Island Masons could VXEVWLWXWHWKHZRUG³DIILUP´IRU³VZHDU´LQDQLQLWLDWRU\RDWK VHHReport of the Committee Appointed, etc., Appendix, p. 1). 182 Biographical data on colonial Masons are taken from a combination of the New England +LVWRULF*HQHDORJLF6RFLHW\¶VRQOLQHGDWDEDVH ³1(+*6GDWDEDVH´ WKHNewport Mercury, Annals of Trinity Church*HRUJH&KDPSOLQ0DVRQ¶VVital Records of Rhode IslandDQGWKH*UDQG/RGJH¶VSpecial Return. 183Bruce MacGunnigle, RI Freemen, 1747-1755: A Census of Registered Voters, NHS, 1977. $-*! ! The freemanship can be taken as an indication of a basic level of economic security and of a permanent position in Newport, but it was not a marker of elite status. In fact, the last common feature uniting the six Brethren is their obscurity. None of them was a great commercial magnate or a renowned divine, and not one of them ever held the governorship or any of the great offices of the colony. Neither, however, were these Brothers ordinary laborers. 1HZSRUW¶VW\SLFDOIRXQGLQJ0DVRQZDVD\RXQJ$QJOLFDQRU4XDNHUPHUFKDQWRIUHVSHFWDEOHLI not illustrious background, trying to work his way into the increasingly prosperous upper class. Each of them was noteworthy enough to appear occasionally in the Newport Mercury or in the records of Trinity Church, before dying at sea or at home and fading into the background of 1HZSRUW¶V*ROGHQ$JH 7KHH[FHSWLRQWRWKLVSDWWHUQVWUDQJHO\HQRXJKLVWKHORGJH¶V Worshipful Master, Caleb Phillips. Phillips does not appear in the rolls of Trinity Church nor of the freemen of Newport, nor was he mentioned even once in the Mercury. In fact, there is no record of his birth, marriage, freemanship, or death, anywhere in Rhode Island at any time in the eighteenth century. This is because, quite simply, he was not a Rhode Islander. He was, rather, a Bostonian: he had EHHQLQLWLDWHGLQWR6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI%RVWRQRQ6HSWHPEHU DQGPDUULHGWKH following month in Christ Church, tKHSUHVWLJLRXVQHZ$QJOLFDQFKXUFKLQ%RVWRQ¶V1RUWK End.184 Although his occupation is not recorded, he was most likely a merchant who was based in Boston and traveled to Newport only occasionally on commercial or family business. Thomas Oxnard, the Provincial Grand Master in the mid-1700s, must have known Phillips personally, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 184 Proceedings in Masonry, p. 399; Christ Church Records, Massachusetts Historical Society, %R[)ROGHU³7UDQVFULSWLRQRI0DUULDJH5HFRUGV´S $-+! ! KDYLQJMRLQHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI%RVWRQOHVVWKDQIRXU\HDUVEHIRUH3KLOOLSVGLG185 It is not surprising, then, that Oxnard appointed Phillips as Master of the newly-formed Newport lodge in 1749. In this action, the Grand Lodge followed the Modern 0DVRQV¶FXVWRPRIDSSRLQWLQJWKH Masters and other important officers to govern subordinate lodges. 2[QDUG¶VDSSRLQWPHQWRI&DOHE3KLOOLSVDV0DVWHUFHPHQWHGWKH1HZSRUWORGJH¶V position as a satellite of Boston. The Newport Masons apparently tolerated this state of affairs, DWOHDVWGXULQJWKHORGJH¶VLQIDQF\7KH\LQLWLDWHGWKHLUQH[WQHZPHPEHUWKUHHPRQWKVODWHURQ April 15, 1750, followed by six more initiations over the course of that year, leaving them with a modest total of thirteen initiations after a year of operation. This was hardly astonishing growth, and only one new member is recorded as joining in the winter, spring, or summer of 1751. What is more, three of the names recorded in 1750 appear nowhere else in surviving Rhode Island records, and probably belonged to French, German, or other foreign merchants who only sojourned in the colony.186 2Q-XO\'U7KRPDV0RIILWWZURWHDOHWWHURQEHKDOIRI6DLQW-RKQ¶VWR the Grand Lodge in Boston, explaining their precarious condition.187 Moffitt was a significant personage in 1HZSRUWDQGHYLGHQWO\DQLPSRUWDQWOLQNLQWKHORGJH¶VVRFLDOQHWZRUNLike Hunter, he was a physician from Scotland; he apparently claimed to have received his medical education and begun his career at Edinburgh, but neither the University of Edinburgh nor the Royal College of Physicians has any record of him. He migrated to Boston around 1730 in order to run a store !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 185 Proceedings in Masonry, 398. 186 Specifically, these names found in the Special Return are George Mager, William Joyeaux, and Peter Pirgon. 187 7KH OLVWGRHVQRWLQFOXGH0RIILWW¶VLQLWLDWLRQEXWKHLVNQRZQWRKDYHEHHQDQDFWLYH Mason in Boston before migrating to Newport around 1746. George Champlin Mason, ed., Annals of Redwood Library (Newport: redwood Library, 1891), p. 28. $-,! ! with his uncle, the painter John Smibert. Once there, he hobnobbed with some of the brightest OLJKWVLQWKHFRORQLHVDVDPHPEHURIWKH6FRWV¶&KDULWDEOH6RFLHW\ 188 He affiliated with a Masonic lodge in Boston in 1735, only two years later served as Senior Grand Warden, and in that capacity marched in the first Masonic procession in America.189 Around 1745, he moved to Rhode Island, where he undertook to build a mill for processing tobacco into snuff in a remote area west of Narragansett Bay; he also soon became a leading member of the Redwood Library, 1RUWK$PHULFD¶VILUVWOHQGLQJOLEUDU\RUJDQL]HGDW1HZSRUWLQ190 In Rhode Island, he was known as an exceptionally pompous individual, as reflected in his dress and manners, and was at least once accused of fathering a child with a married woman.191 In 1751, Moffitt wrote to apologize that he could not attend the annual Masonic convocation in Boston, but rather had appointed another Newporter to represent them. In the OHWWHUKHUHIHUVWR³P\ZDUGHQV´VXJJHVWLQJWKDWKHLQWHQGHGWRSUHVHQWKLPVHOIDVWKHORGJH¶V :RUVKLSIXO0DVWHUDOWKRXJKWKHUHLVQRRWKHUVXUYLYLQJUHFRUGRI0RIILWW¶VVHUYLQJDVD0DVRQLF RIILFHULQ1HZSRUW+HZHQWRQWRGHVFULEHWKH1HZSRUWORGJH¶VXQHQYLDEOHFRQGLWLRQ I am very sorry that the first time I give you this trouble, I must acquaint you; that WKLV/RGJHKDVDOZD\VIURPWKHILUVWRI,QVWLWXWLRQ EHHQREOLJ¶GWRVWUXJJOHKDUG among a People, Few of whom are our Friends; Tho our Publick avowed enemies KDYHGLVDSSHDU¶GRI/DWH 7KLVFLUFXPVWDQFHKDVNept us fewer in number, than otherwise might have been reasonably expected.192 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 188 Richard H. Saunders, John Smibert (New Haven: Yale U. Press, 1995): 108-9. 189 Proceedings in Masonry, p. 398. 190 Mason, ed., Annals of Redwood Library and Athenaeum, 27-30. 191 Town Council 9 pg 253, Nov. 2, 1747, Newport Historical Society. 192 ³'U0RIIDWW¶V/HWWHU$ERXW $$-! ! It LVLPSRVVLEOHWRLGHQWLI\WKH³SXEOLFNDYRZHGHQHPLHV´WRZKRP0RIILWWUHIHUV WKHFRORQ\KDG no regular newspaper before 1758, and no letters or tracts attacking the Masons survive from the colonial era. It is UHDVRQDEOHWRVXSSRVHWKDWWKH0DVRQV¶FULWLFV included Congregationalists or other orthodox Calvinists, who tended to be most hostile to Freemasonry. Moffitt goes on to lament, Our Stock not increasing that way; + having according to our Principle, Liberally supplied our foreign Brethren who applied for Relief, with charges among ourselves, + furnishing the Lodge²; We continue in debt; which you will please to make our apology, for not sending any charity for publick uses, at this Time.193 Charitable relief was one of the primary functions of Freemasonry, as was the case with all fraternal orders; this duty must have been particularly onerous in Newport, where the down and out of sundry lands might wash ashore and promptly ask for Masonic charity. Hence the importance of the Masonic catechism that Anne Franklin printed in 1749, which could serve to discern true Masons from impostors)LQDOO\LQDGGLWLRQWR0RIILWW¶VFRPSODLQWVUHJDUGLQJWKHLU lack of members and money, it is noteworthy that the letter makes no mention of Caleb Phillips DVWKHORGJH¶VOHDGHURUUHSUHVHQWDWLYHVXJJHVWLQJ3KLOOLSV¶JHQHUDODEVHQFHIURP1HZSRUW¶V Masonic affairs, which in turn allowed Moffitt to usurp his role. Over the following year and a half, the lodge may have found its footing. In 1750, Abraham Borden appeared to represent the Newport Brethren at a quarterly communication in Boston, and the following year, Robert Jenkins began making small donations on their behalf to the ProvinciaO*UDQG/RGJH¶VFKDULW\IXQG194 Four more initiations are recorded for the fall of 1751, and five for the following year, concluding with a double initiation (of Benjamin Mason !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 193 ³'RFWRU0RIIDWWV/HWWHU$ERXW 194 Proceeding in Masonry, 10-12, 15, 24. $$$! ! and Edward Davis) on December 23, 1752. Another Brother joined in January 1753, followed by a pause of several months. The new Brothers included merchants and minor professionals, as well as several more foreigners of Continental European extraction. One of them, Francis Ferrari, a merchant from Genoa, was naturalized as a Rhode Islander in October 1751, only a month after he had joined the Masonic lodge.195 While historians tend to assert that the Ancient Rite, allowing for local election of officers, spurred the democratization of the Craft, events in Newport show that greater self- governance and social inclusiveness could develop gradually within the Modern Rite as well. Within four years of its formation, the Newport lodge had begun to bridle at its subordinate position in relation to Boston. A group of Newport Brothers organized a protest against the absentee Mastership of Caleb Phillips; on May 14, 1753, the Grand Lodge acknowledged that a petition signed by George Gardner and divers other Free and Accepted Masons in Newport, aforesaid, hath been presented to us, showing that their late Master, the Right Worshipful Caleb Phillips, has used the said Lodge unbecoming a Mason, by withholding from the Lodge our Deputation, to him granted, as Master thereof, as also the Records of said Lodge, which being the foundation on which their Lodge is established, the withholding thereof has left them in the utmost confusion and uncertainty.196 7KH1HZSRUWHUV¶FRPSODLQWWKDW3KLOOLSVKDGUHIXVHGWRVKRZWKHPWKH/RGJH¶VRZQUHFRUGV probably stemmed from his frequent absence. The concern over his deputation, however, suggests that the Brothers had called into question his position as Worshipful Master, before WXUQLQJWRWKH*UDQG/RGJHIRUUHFRXUVH7KHLUUHTXHVWZDVQRWKLQJOHVVWKDQ3KLOOLSV¶RXVWHU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 195 Bartlett, ed., Rhode Island Colony Records (Providence: RIHS, 1920-2), Volume 5, p. 340. Apart from Francis Ferrari, other apparent Continental foreigners include Herbert Castandt (probably the VDPH)UHQFKPDQZKRDSSHDUVDV³+XEHUW&DVWDQGHO´LQ&RORQ\UHFRUGVYS DQG)UDQFLV3DUUHW 196 Massachusetts Grand Lodge Proceedings, cited in Rugg 432. $$%! ! «WKHSUD\HURIVDLGSHWLWLRQLVWKDWZH would be pleased to nominate and appoint another Master for said Lodge, that Masonry may again revive and flourish in those parts.197 It is not surprising that the spearhead of this protest was George Gardner. Having been initiated in July 1750, Gardner was only the second Brother to have joined the Lodge after the six founders. He was born in 1720, married in 1742, and became a freeman at Newport in 1749.198 8QOLNHWKH/RGJH¶VIRXQGLQJFRPSDQ\KRZHYHUKHZDVQRWDPHUFKDQWRUDFDSWDLQ but a distiller199²certainly a lucrative line of work, but not one that offered the same prestige as successful maritime trade. Furthermore, Gardner was neither a Quaker nor an Anglican, appearing nowhere in the records of the Friends Meeting or Trinity. Most likely he was a Baptist, seeing as how most of the Gardner family in Newport was Baptist, and his kinsman, *DUGLQHU7KXUVWRQVHUYHGIRUPDQ\\HDUVDVWKHPLQLVWHURI1HZSRUW¶V6HFRQG%DSWLVW Church.200 The Baptists, in contrast to the Anglicans, tended to represent the more modest laboring and artisanal classes of Newport; indeed, later Baptist Masons initiated over the course of the 1750s included among them a shoemaker, a tanner, and a tailor. Thus, Gardner represented the first of a group of Masons that joined the lodge between 1750 and 1759, and that did not belong to the Quaker-Anglican mercantile class that comprised most of the founding Brothers. Many of these newer Masons were Baptist or unchurched, practiced trades that relied more on local consumption, and had little stake in the patronage of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 197 Ibid. 198 Caroline Robinson, Gardiners of Naragansett (Providence: Goodwin, 1919); MacGunnigle, RI Freemen, p. 24. 199 *+56FUDSERRNV9DXOW$%RRN S1+6 0D\OHP³$6KRUW1DUUDWLYHRIWKH8QMXVW 3URFHHGLQJV«´(YDQV 200 Book 1656, vault A, NHS, reproduced in Arnold, ed., Vital Records, of RI, vol. 7. $$&! ! Boston. Like Gardner, who had extensive kin in South Kingstown and Narragansett, they were more closely connected to the other towns of Rhode Island than to Boston or Britain. Though they were always a minority, they were an increasing presence in the lodge after 1750. These PHQSUREDEO\SURYLGHGVRPHRIWKHFRQVWLWXHQF\IRU*DUGQHU¶VUHYROWDJDLQVW&DOHE3KLOOLSV 5HPDUNDEO\WKH*UDQG/RGJHDFFHGHGWR1HZSRUW¶VGHPDQGIRUDFKDQJHLQOHDGHUVKLS Both Gardner and Thomas Moffitt may have hoped that the Grand Lodge would select him to replace Phillips; if so, they were both disappointed, for the Grand Officers instead chose another PHPEHURIWKH/RGJH¶VILUVWFODVVRILQLWLDWHV Now therefore, know ye, that we have nominated, ordained and appointed, and by these presents do nominate, ordain and appoint our Right Worshipful and well beloved Bro. Robert Jenkins to be Master of said Lodge in Newport, and do hereby empower him to congregate the brethren together and form them into a regular Lodge. Robert Jenkins, Jr., as mentioned earlier, was a young Anglican merchant. He was probably already a significant creditor in Newport, considering that his name appears as a signer of a 1750 petition to the King against inflationary emissions of paper money.201 He had been born in %RVWRQDQGEDSWL]HGLQ&KULVW&KXUFKOHVVWKDQD\HDUDIWHUWKDWFKXUFK¶VIRXQGLQJLQ202 His father, Robert Jenkins, Sr., was a prominent Mason in Massachusetts, having served in 1744 as Worshipful MaVWHURI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI%RVWRQDQGZRXOGODWHUJRRQWREHFRPHD Deputy Grand Master.203 The appointment of Jenkins as Worshipful Mater served, therefore, to PDLQWDLQ1HZSRUW¶VFORVHWLHWRWKH%RVWRQ0DVRQLFHVWDEOLVKPHQW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 201 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 5, p. 312-3. 202 &KULVW&KXUFK5HFRUGV%R[)ROGHU³7UDQVFULSWLRQRI%DSWLVP5HFRUGV´0+6 203 3DUNHU¶V,QGH[/LEUDU\RIWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI0DVVDFKXVHWWV $$'! ! Portrait of Robert Jenkins, by John G reenwood, 1748. Depicted the year before he became a founding member of the Newport lodge, the young merchant displays his elegant embroidered vest while the unfinished background alludes to his maritime profession. Image courtesy of Rhode Island Historical Society. Nevertheless, the younger Jenkins was a full-time resident of Newport, which is more than one could say of Caleb Phillips. After beginning his career in Boston, Jenkins traveled back and forth between that town and Newport no fewer than twelve times between 1747 and 1750, before finally settling in Newport in April of the latter year. He did frequent business with fellow Masons, particularly Thomas Rodman, usually dealing in cloth, garments, and sugar, and investing in voyages to London, Lisbon, Barbados, Surinam, and other ports. He contracted with $$(! ! George Gardner in 1750 to distill sugar into rum, which Jenkins would subsequently sell. There is no doubt that Jenkins considered himself a Rhode Islander by June 1751, for in that month he IXULRXVO\UHFRUGHGWKDWKHKDGSDLG1HZSRUW¶VFROOHFWRUVD³GDPQXQMXVW´WD[UDWHZKLFKWKH\ KDGDVVHVVHGDJDLQVWKLP³DVDVWUDQJHU´ZKLFKZDVLQFRUUHFW³DVSHUWKHLUDFNQRZOHGJPHQW´204 -HQNLQV¶RXWUDJHUHIOHFWVKLVLQWHJUDWLRQLQWR1HZSRUWVociety, where, as mentioned before, he would become an active parishioner at Trinity. His appointment as the new lodge Master must KDYHVHUYHGDVDVDWLVIDFWRU\FRPSURPLVHPROOLI\LQJ1HZSRUW¶VORFDOLVWVZKLOHPDLQWDLQLQJ FORVHWLHVWR%RVWRQ¶V$QJOLFDQ-Masonic circles. Jenkins went on to serve a total of nine years as 0DVWHUSUHVLGLQJRYHUWKHORGJH¶VULVHWRDEULHISHULRGRIJORU\205 %H\RQGWKHUHPRYDORI3KLOOLSVIURPRIILFHWKH*UDQG/RGJH¶VUHSO\WRWKH1HZSRUW protest contained a further, more raGLFDOSURYLVLRQ DIWHUQRPLQDWLQJ-HQNLQVWRWKH0DVWHU¶VVHDW the Grand Officers stipulated that he would choose new wardens for the coming year, and that, ³[a]t the end thereof the Lodge shall have power to choose and appoint their Master and other offiFHUVDQGVRRQDQQXDOO\´8QGHUWKH0RGHUQ-Rite system emanating from the London Grand Lodge, Provincial Grand Lodges enjoyed the right to appoint the Masters of subordinate lodges in their jurisdiction. The Boston Masons must have relinquished this power to their Brethren in Newport in order to avoid further conflict, or even out of fear of a possible schism. Whatever %RVWRQ¶VPRWLYDWLRQV-HQNLQVSURPSWO\took office and began a new logbook for the lodge. The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 204 MSS 919, Jenkins and Bannister Account Books, vol. 3, Robert Jenkins daybook, Rhode Island Historical Society. 205 Rugg, 785. $$)! ! Brothers soon after met and elected new officers, including George Gardner as Senior Warden.206 The events of 1753 constituted a small revolution in New England Freemasonry. The Newport lodge ended that year with a Master who was a full-time resident of their town; beside him as Senior Warden, a %DSWLVWGLVWLOOHUZKRKDGOHGWKHFKDUJHDJDLQVWWKH*UDQG/RGJH¶V hand-picked representative; and most importantly, the right to elect all of their own officers thenceforward. A lodge that had spent its infancy as a weak dependency of Boston was now exceptionally independent, and its membership included a more diverse subset of Newport society. In eighteenth-century Freemasonry, whether Modern or Ancient, the boundaries demarcating who could be a Mason and how Masons could exercise authority over one another were ambiguous and changeable; the events of 1753 suggest that lodges could move towards broader inclusiveness, firmer rootedness in their local environments, and greater equality with one another as they matured. Still, this small revolution certainly did not remove the Quaker-Anglican merchants from WKHORGJH5DWKHUWKLVFODVVZRXOGFRQWLQXHWRGRPLQDWHWKHORGJH¶VDIIDLUVDVLWJUHZDQGVWURYH for stability and permanence. The third person to be initiated after the re-chartering in 1753 (and probably the first one to be recorded in the new log book207) was a Newport gentleman by the name of Jahleel Brenton.208 Born in 1696, he may have been the oldest person ever to become a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 206 %ULQWRQDQG-RKQVWRQ³$/RGJH+LVWRU\´LQ-2 Preservation Box, library of the Grand Lodge RI5KRGH,VODQG ³E[WUDFWV´ 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR. 1, May 14, 1753. 207 6HHOLVWRI0DVRQVDWEDFNRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RJ%RRN 1780-1790 KHOGE\6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH no. 1 of Portsmouth, RI, probably transcribed from the original in the colonial log book kept by Robert Jenkins, Jr. 208 It is in fact uncertain which Jahleel Brenton this was ± the death date listed in the 1877 Special 5HWXUQPDWFKHVWKDWRIWKH³WKLUG-DKOHHO´ -1767, but the Special Return is sometimes incorrect, and $$*! ! Mason in colonial Rhode Island. Jahleel Brenton was the third Rhode Islander of that name, all of them descended from the seventeenth-century governor William Brenton, and he was the patriarch of a large clan. He managed a family estate known as Hammersmith on the ocean VRXWKRI1HZSRUWDQGZDVUHSRUWHGO\³IRQGRIVRFLHW\´Paintaining an open house in town. He was an active parishioner at Trinity and a founding member of Newport Artillery Company, and had served on the committee to build the grand Georgian state house at Newport in 1729.209 Between his two marriages, Jahleel fathered an astounding twenty-two children, and through business and marriage connections, Brenton influence came to be felt in all corners of eighteenth-century Newport society²but perhaps nowhere more so than in the Masonic lodge. In the 1750s and 1760sWKHH[WHQGHG%UHQWRQFODQDQGWKHOHDGHUVKLSFDGUHRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V /RGJHZHUHVRFORVHO\LQWHUWZLQHGWKDWWKH\QHDUO\IXVHGLQWRRQH,QWKHORGJH¶VWKHQ- VHFUHWDU\%HQMDPLQ0DVRQPDUULHG%UHQWRQ¶VJUDQGGDXJKWHU0DU\$\UDXOW KHZHQWRQWR serve DVWKHORGJH¶V6HQLRU:DUGHQ7UHDVXUHUDQGILQDOO\0DVWHULQ$OVRLQ %UHQWRQ¶VVRQ-in-law and business associate, the merchant Nathaniel Mumford, joined the lodge, and became its secretary by 1757; the Brenton and Mumford families had intermarried and done frequent business with one another since the 1600s.210 7KHORGJH¶V0DVWHU5REHUW-HQNLQVJr., PDUULHG-DKOHHO%UHQWRQ¶VGDXJKWHU0DUWKDLQWKHVDPH\HDUWKDW-DKOHHO¶VVRQ6DPXHO Brenton joined the lodge²Samuel went on to become Junior Warden in 1759 and Master from WR,QWKHKXVEDQGRI-DKOHHO¶VQHLFHWKHODZ\HUDQGMXGJH0DUWLQ+RZDUGJr., EHFDPHD0DVRQIROORZHGE\-DKOHHO¶VVRQ%HQMDPLQ%UHQWRQLQDQGWZRPRUHVRQV-in- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WKH³IRXUWK-DKOHHO´-1802, being 28 years old in 1753, was of the typical age to become a Mason. Either way, the importance of the Brenton family to Freemasonry in Newport is undeniable. 209 Chester F. Brenton, Descendants of William Brenton, Governor of Rhode Island, NHS, 1-23. 210 ³Pollen, Universal Love; Sherrie Styx,³7KH0XPIRUG)DPLOLHVLQ$PHULFD´ 1992, NHS. $$+! ! law in 1764 and 1765. The old patriarch of the Brenton family died in 1767, leaving +DPPHUVPLWKWRKLVVRQWKH³IRXUWK-DKOHHO´ E\WKDWWLPHDWOHDVWQLQHPHPEHUVRIWKH0DVRQLF lodge ± including most of its officers and all three of its most recent Worshipful Masters ± were members of the Brenton clan, whether by birth or by marriage.211 Apart from the Anglican Church, kinship was surely the most common social link connecting Masons to one another. It is important to note that in the case of the Brenton clan, these links were forged mainly by marriage rather than by blood, with at least six lodge Brothers at some point also becoming brothers-in-law. Indeed, Freemasonry seems to have served in part as a means of re-affirming peer relationships that had been formed through women. For instance, in 1764, the aforementioned Benjamin Brenton married Rachel Cooke, sister of his Newport lodge Brother, Peter Cooke. When, in the same year, Martin Howard, Jr. wrote to IHOORZ)UHHPDVRQ%HQMDPLQ)UDQNOLQODPHQWLQJWKHUHFHQWORVVRID³YDOXDEOHDQd affectionate ZLIH´± née Anne Brenton ± ZKRKDGJRQH³WRWKDWµXQGLVFRYHUHGFRXQWU\IURPZKRVHERXUQQR WUDYHOHUUHWXUQV¶´KLVZRUGVUHIOHFWHGWKHFUXFLDOUROHWKDWZRPHQSOD\HGLQEXLOGLQJPHQ¶V emotional lives and their relationships with other men.212 One must further note the similarities between Freemasonry and marriage. Both relationships were forms of artificial kinship, created by individual free choice, which could VRPHWLPHVDOVRVHUYHDVDQRSSRUWXQLW\WRDGYDQFHRQH¶VVRFLDOVWDQGLQJDQGFRQQections. Both were usually undertaken just after a man was judged to have reached adulthood and economic self-sufficiency. Both of them were understood to be lifelong, dissolved only under rare !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 211 IDPLO\UHODWLRQVFXOOHGIURPYDULRXVGRFXPHQWVPDLQO\-DKOHHO%UHQWRQ¶VZLOO2FW Box 5, Folder 7, NHS; Chester F. Brenton, Descendants of William Brenton, Governor of Rhode Island, 1994, NHS. 212 Martin Howard to Benjamin Franklin, 16 Nov. 1764, Franklin Papers, vol. 1,2, no. 108. $$,! ! circumstances. Over the entire colonial era in Newport, the average age at initiation for all those Masons whose dates of birth can be determined from surviving records is 29.8 years; however, the majority of these were between 23 and 28, with some in their early thirties and small numbers of older outliers ranging from 38 to 57. This is basically similar to the pattern for first marriages, and the two life events often coincided. Out of the 60 Masons in colonial Newport for whom wedding dates are recorded, 12 married either in the same year as their initiations or the year immediately following; the majority of them married within four years before or five years after their Masonic initiation. Finally, both relationships were solemnized by elaborate ULWXDOVWKDWPDUNHGRQH¶VWUDQVLWLRQWRDQHZOLIHVWDJHDQGLQcorporation into a kinship body. Marriage and Masonic brotherhood coexisted within the same social-emotional world; however, the Masonic rituals were private and secretive, as opposed to weddings. The Victorians made a great deal of the supposedly feminine, domestic virtues of marriage and family life, in contrast to the masculine nature of public life; nonetheless, since the eighteenth century, Freemasonry has provided a venue for secrecy and privacy among men, in contrast to the publicly visible customs of marriage. More broadly, kinship was undeniably crucial to the development of Freemasonry in Rhode Island. While many Masons did business with one another, such as in the aforementioned partnerships between Nathaniel Mumford and Jahleel Brenton and between Robert Jenkins, Jr. and George Gardner, business dealings among Masons do not stand out from the larger background of the Atlantic economy as strongly as familial relations. After the Brenton clan, the next most important family in the Newport lodge was surely the Wantons, one of the largest and PRVWSRZHUIXOIDPLOLHVLQWKHFRORQ\7KHORGJH¶VIRXQGLQJPHPEHUVLQFOXGHGWKHPHUFKDQWV Edward Wanton and Abraham Borden, the latter being a member of the Wanton family through $%-! ! his mother. They were joined in 1757 by Benjamin Wanton; in 1758 by the lawyer and customs collector Joseph Wanton, Jr., who would later serve as Deputy Governor; and in 1760 by the slave trader Peter Wanton. The lodge did not attract either of the great merchant-magnates (Gideon and Joseph, sr.) who led the Wanton clan, but rather their sons and nephews who hoped to advance themselves in business and politics. The strong presence of the Wanton family in Rhode Island Masonry contrasts with the total absence of their arch-rivals²the most powerful family in Newport, the Wards. The Wards and Wantons had torn Newport politics in twain in the 1730s, when they quarreled over whether WRFDOORQWKH%ULWLVKFURZQWRVWRSWKH5KRGH,VODQGDVVHPEO\¶VKDELWRISULQWLQJSDSHUFXUUHQF\ to compeQVDWHIRUWKHFRORQ\¶VODFNRIVSHFLHThe Wards favored royal intervention, whereas the Wantons GHIHQGHGWKHFRORQ\¶VDXWRQRP\6LQFHWKDWWLPHWKHIDPLOLHVKDGEXLOWRSSRVLQJ patronage networks within the town and turned to the northern parts of the colony for allies.213 It is a testament to the importance of family loyalties that while the lodge could bring together Anglicans, Baptists, and Quakers, it evidently could not bring together Wards and Wantons²not a single person with the surname Ward ever became a Mason anywhere in Rhode Island during the colonial era. The period from 1749 through 1756 was generally one of slow and uneventful growth for Newport Freemasonry. During those years, the lodge initiated an average of about six new candidates a year, reaching a peak of eight in 1756. This was evidently just enough for the lodge to continue to function and remain solvent, considering that not all men who became Masons remained active in the Fraternity. What is more, after 1753, fewer initiates were foreign !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 213 David Lovejoy, Rhode Island Politics and the Revolution (Providence: Brown U. Press, 1958): 7-10. $%$! ! merchants. Overall, the members of the lodge in this period were heterogeneous, but leaned heavily towards the Anglican mercantile class. Of the 51 known Masons made in Newport between 1749 and the end of 1756, 36 left some record of their occupations around the time of their initiations or shortly thereafter. They can be roughly grouped as follows: 10 merchants 7 captains 4 lawyers and jurists 4 physicians and surgeons 3 distillers 2 military officers without other known professions 2 privateers 2 shopkeepers 1 shoemaker 1 tanner 15 indeterminate ,WPXVWEHQRWHGWKDWWKHFDWHJRU\RI³PHUFKDQW´ZDVYHU\EURDGDQGFRXOGLQFOXGHship owners who were among the wealthiest New Englanders as well as more modest merchants mainly involved in the retail sale of consumer goods. If this group is combined with the related categories of captains and privateers, we find that the majority of those whose occupations can be identified were involved in the trafficking of commodities; in contrast, only five are known to have produced consumer goods. Clearly, the social class on which Newport Freemasonry principally rested was in turn balanced atop a precarious web of long-distance trade. Specialized professionals ± lawyers and physicians ± had an inordinate presence in the lodge as well. Counting among their number William Hunter, Thomas Moffitt, and Edward Ellis, the Masons virtually monopolized the practice of medicine in Newport. Finally, the rest of the Brothers ± 15 out of the 51 ± were of indeterminate occupation. A few of these may have been moneyed gentlemen, but most were probably petty artisans or transient merchants, soldiers, and sailors, which were numerous in Newport, as in all Atlantic port towns. $%%! ! Of course, in this period, the vast majority of Masons whose religious affiliations can be determined were Anglicans. This is not surprising, both because Trinity, untouched by the British occupiers during the Revolution, maintained far more complete records than the other churches in Newport, and because of the similar social constituencies to which Freemasonry and the Church of England appealed. Of the 51 Masons who joined the lodge, their religious loyalties can be grouped roughly as follows: 24 Anglicans 3 Baptists 2 Quakers 1 Congregationalist 4 of multiple or shifting affiliations 17 of unknown religion or unchurched &RQJUHJDWLRQDOLVWVVXFKDVWKHUHQRZQHGPLQLVWHU(]UD6WLOHVRI1HZSRUW¶V6HFRQG Congregational Church, were often unfriendly toward Freemasonry, helping to account for the especiDOO\ORZQXPEHURI0DVRQVRIWKDWIDLWK,QDGGLWLRQWKHVXUYLYLQJUHFRUGVRI1HZSRUW¶V Baptist and Congregationalist churches are woefully scant, limited to some marriage records and a few notes made by ministers. Therefore, the small number of identifiable Baptists and Congregationalists is not surprising, and some Dissenters probably rank among the 17 Masons of unknown religion. The only undoubted Congregationalist to join the lodge in this early period was one Alexander Grant, who was initiated in 1756.214 Mr. Grant was a young merchant who acted as an agent for his patron and close relative, Sir Alexander Grant, Baronet of Dalvey. Sir Alexander, in turn, was the scion of a Scottish noble family that had lost its fortune with the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 214 The Special Return DFWXDOO\OLVWVWZR$OH[DQGHU*UDQW¶VMRLQLQJWKDW\HDURn February 5 and November 4,, 1756. This doubling may be an error, or one of the two may be a more obscure Alexander Grant who later became a major of the Loyalist New York Volunteers during the Revolutionary War. $%&! ! Jacobite cause and later rebuilt it through Jamaican sugar plantations.215 The Grant family UHSHDWHGO\PDGHFOHDUWKDWWKH\RXQJHU$OH[DQGHUZDVDFORVH³UHODWLRQ´RIWKH%DURQHWEXW without ever referring to his exact parentage; a likely explanation is that he was Sir AlexanGHU¶V illegitimate son, fathered during one of his sojourns in the Caribbean. The younger Alexander Grant first appears in Newport records as a member of the Artillery Company in 1752. Although he spent long periods of time in London and Nova Scotia as an agent of the British government, he married Abigail Chesebrough, the daughter of a wealthy Newport merchant of Scottish extraction, in 1760. His cousin in Newport, Margaret Grant, married Christopher Champlin, a fellow Mason, whom Grant later appointed as a victualing agent for the British navy. In his Scottish background and his mercantile pursuits, Grant resembled other prominent members of the Newport lodge; however, he was a committed Congregationalist, and Rev. Ezra Stiles considered him and his wife to be pillars of the Second Congregational Church. Surely, if Mr. *UDQW¶VUHOLJLRQUDLVHGDQ\H\HEURZVLQWKHORGJHWKLVZDVDPSO\FRPSHQVDWHGIRUE\KLV connections to wealth and nobility.216 What is more surprising in this list is the lack of Quakers between the first class of initiates and the end of 1756, considering that the records of the Society of Friends are entirely LQWDFW7KHVPDUNHGWKHEHJLQQLQJRIZKDWKDVEHHQFDOOHGWKH³5HIRUPDWLRQ´RI 4XDNHULVPLQ$PHULFDZLWK)ULHQGV¶0HHWLQJV enforcing stricter standards of behavior and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 215 6LU$OH[DQGHU¶VVDJDLVDGPLULQJO\UHWROGLQ'DYLG+DQFRFN¶VCitizens of the World (New York: Cambridge U. Press, 1995). 216 ³'HVFHQGDQWVRI'DYLG&KHVHEURXJKRI1HZSRUW´New England Historical and Genealogical Register, October 2002, p. 374-81; Jay Coughtry and Martin Schipper, Papers of the American Slave Trade, Series A: Selections from the Rhode Island Historical Society, Series 2 (University Publications of America, 1998): 2-3. $%'! ! disciplining members for impious pursuits or for fraternizing too closely with non-Friends.217 At least two Newport Masons in this period²John Dockray and Edward Wanton²were Quakers who later married non-Quakers or joined other religious groups (I have categorized them under ³PXOWLSOHRUVKLIWLQJDIILOLDWLRQV´ ,WLVlikely that as the Society of Friends turned inward, it became less welcoming to those interested in trade, particularly the slave trade, and in the multi- religious social networks that facilitated it. The officers of the lodge in the 1750s sprang mostly from the higher-status stratum of the Brotherhood. As discussed earlier, most of them were in some way linked to the Brenton clan, but those who were not reflected a similar mercantile or professional Anglican background. Augustus Johnston, who joined the lodge in 1750 and served as its Treasurer in 1753, was a young lawyer who later became a popular attorney general of the colony. George Croswell, a mariner who later became a captain, joined in 1752 and served as Junior Warden in the following year. Starting in 1756, the merchant John Mawdsley, who had been one of the first initiates of the lodge, served as Senior Warden, while John Jenkins, the brother of Robert Jenkins, Jr., was Junior Warden.218 Being small and secretive, the Masonic lodge recruited new members only slowly for most of the 1750s, with membership spreading gradually along lines of kinship, business relations, and church membership. It might have remained a barely visible presence in Rhode Island or even died out, if not for a disruptive event that would have profound but ambiguous effects on the fortunes of Masonry in Rhode Island. When war broke out between the French !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 217 Jack D. Marietta, The Reformation of American Quakerism, 1748-1783 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984). 218 ³Extracts´6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK $%(! ! and British empires in North America, the New England colonies quickly amassed troops to take the field against their traditional enemies. In the summer of 1755, Rhode Island dispatched its regiment to join the other New England units in an expedition to capture the French fortress at Crown Point on Lake Champlain, a critical node in the defenses of New France. Rhode Island was reportedly in a state of frenzied enthusiasm for the mission; as one Providence politician wrote to Captain Samuel Angell (a future Mason), the colony was sure to furnish as much men DQGVXSSOLHVDVWKHLUODUJHU1HZ(QJODQGQHLJKERUVDV³WKHTXHVWLRQRIWKLVWLPHVHHPVWREH ZKHWKHU1>HZ@(>QJODQG@RUWKH&DQDGDVVKDOOEHPDVWHUVRIWKLVFRXQWU\´219 Edward Cole, who had previously served as DFDSWDLQDWWKHVLHJHRI/RXLVERXUJZDVDSSRLQWHGDV5KRGH,VODQG¶V Lieutenant Colonel and George Gardner as a captain in his regiment, while Dr. William Hunter served the expedition as a surgeon.220 The Rhode Island regiment ended up playing a crucial role in salvaging the disaster that the Crown Point expedition became. As the British and New England regiments advanced northward into the Adirondacks, the French commander at Crown Point, the Baron de Dieskau, sent a detachment of French troops and indigenous allies to circle around the British and New Englanders and take them by surprise. On September 8, 1755, they entrapped and devastated the Massachusetts regiment, forcing them to retreat in panic toward the other New England units encamped along Lake George. Since the Colonel of the Rhode Island regiment had gone home LQEDGKHDOWKLWIHOOWR(GZDUG&ROHWRFRYHUWKH0DVVDFKXVHWWVWURRSV¶UHWUHDWDQGGHIHQGWKH British camp against a French onslaught. The New Englanders were able to set up makeshift !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 219 062EDGLDK%URZQ3DSHUV%R[[)ROGHU &DSWDLQ2%URZQ¶VOHWWHUWR&DSW6DPXHO Angell, Providence, Sept. 8, 1755, Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts, RIHS. 220 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 6, p. 25-6. $%)! ! defenses and cut through the French troops with cannon. They repelled the attack and took a number of French officers prisoner; the Baron de Dieskau himself was severely wounded, and ODWHUGLHGLQ'U:LOOLDP+XQWHU¶VWHQW. After the battle, Edward Cole fell to quarreling with the officers from Connecticut over credit for the successful defense.221 5HJDUGOHVVWKHYLFWRU\DW/DNH*HRUJHKHOSHGWRVXVWDLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VHQWKXVLDVPIRU the war as it raged in the New York and New England backcountry. Patriotism combined with a VHQVHRIGLUHXUJHQF\ DV6DPXHO$QJHOOZURWHWRKLVVXSHULRUVLQ³ZKHQ,VHHP\QDWLYH country in such eminent danger as it now is it gives me the most affecting concern that I ever NQHZ«,VHHQRWKLQJWKDWZLOOKLQGHUWKHHnemy coming this way except they are called home E\DDWWDFNRQ4XHEHFNZKLFKWKHUHVHHPVYHU\OLWWOHSUREDELOLW\RIWKLV\HDU´222 The conflict mobilized thousands of young Rhode Island men, particularly in their twenties, including officers and soldiers from both Newport and Providence, most of whom had had no previous interaction with one another, and put them into close quarters; if nothing else, it brought them into contact with Edward Cole, William Hunter, and possibly other Masons. As the war dragged on through the later 1750s, with French and indigenous forces sometimes approaching ominously close to the core populated regions of New York and New England, Freemasonry burgeoned. As long as the combat remained somewhat close to the Atlantic seaboard, young men circulated in and out of Rhode Island, and evidently, relationships conceived in military service translated into Masonic brotherhood on the homefront. In the three !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 221 Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts, MSS 9001A, Box 9, letter from Samuel Angell, IURP)RUW*HRUJH6HSW ³$Q(LJKWHHQWK-FHQWXU\5KRGH,VODQG$GYHQWXUHU´LQ5KRGH,VODQG History, vol. 53, no. 4, November 1995, p. 103- (%.UXPEKDDU³'RFWRU:LOOLDP+XQWHURI 1HZSRUW´Annals of Surgery, 1935 January; 101(1): p. 513; Annals of Trinity Church, p. 120; ³$)HZ RIWKH7HZVRI1HZSRUW5,´E\(-HDQ6FRWW S-5. 222 6DPXHO$QJHOOWR&RQ¶OO+RSNLQVth August 1757, MSS 9001 A, Box 9, RIHS. $%*! ! years from 1757 to 1759, at least twelve men who served as officers or soldiers in the New England forces or as privateers joined the rolls of Masonic lodges in Rhode Island. These included three lieutenants from Newport and Major John Whiting, who was wounded in another battle at Lake George in 1758 and subsequently promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.223 In addition, Providence and Newport served as nodes of transport and supply during the war, and many Rhode Islanders, including Masons, benefited from the patronage and opportunities that the conflict offered. At least four Rhode Island Masons outfitted privateers between 1757 and 1760. Christian Mayer, a native of Luxembourg who had been naturalized in Newport in May, 1755 and became a Mason the following month, received payment from the FRORQ\¶VDVVHPEO\IRUKLVVHUYLFHVLQKRXVLQJ)UHnch prisoners of war. Masons were heavily involved in preparing Newport for possible attack: Augustus Johnston, Edward Scott, and Martin Howard, Jr. were appointed as a committee to hold a lottery and to use the funds to repair the fortress guarding NewpoUW¶VKDUERU7KHRQO\0DVRQLQ1HZSRUWZKRZDVFOHDUO\DGYHUVHO\ affected by the war was Hubert Castandel, a French subject who had joined the lodge in 1751. He was given two weeks to leave the colony after war was declared in 1755.224 Freemasonry, it seems certain, spread not only among land forces but also at sea. The exact means by which VDLORUVEHFDPH0DVRQVGXULQJWKH6HYHQ 1758. In command of the vessel was Captain Benjamin Wanton, who had joined the Masonic lodge in the preceding year. The merchant who commissioned the privateer, Christopher Champlin, joined three months later, in December, and Daniel Duncan, the captaiQ¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 223 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 5 p. 165, vol. 6 p. 218 224 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 5, p. 445, 472, 505; vol. 6, p. 120. $%+! ! quartermaster, became a Mason in 1759. Among the ordinary sailors in the crew was Thomas Remington, who became a Mason in 1760.225 It is impossible to know for sure how and why these merchants and mariners became Freemasons, but the influence of Captain Wanton seems likely. Privateer ships such as the George, carrying over sixty men, were surely more effective conduits for the spread of the Craft than were ordinary merchant vessels, which required crews of no more than ten.226 Ultimately, the mobilization for war spurred Rhode Island Freemasonry to spread beyond its base in Newport. The relationship between Newport and Providence at this time was fraught with barely-suppressed rivalry,227 and the added forces of war were necessary for Masonry to cross Narragansett Bay. Masonic lodges usually multiply during wartime, as soldiers and sailors seek to maintain bonds originally forged in military service,228 and Rhode Island followed this pattern. On the night of November 20, 1755, the Newport lodge initiated Edward Scott229 and John Burgess, two merchants who resided in Providence. Less than a year later, on November 4, WKHORGJHUHFHLYHGDOHWWHUIURPDJURXSRIPHQLQ3URYLGHQFHH[SUHVVLQJ³their ardent desire of being admitted into the number of Free aQG$FFHSWHG0DVRQV´7KHIROORZLQJZHHND delegation of twelve Newport Brothers traveled to Providence to hold a special lodge meeting; !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 225 Crew list for Privateer brigantine George, Sep. 20, 1758, Christopher Champlin Papers, Series 2, box 5, folder 10, RIHS. 226 Jay Coughtry, The Notorious Triangle (Temple U. Press, 1981): 55-7. 227 For details, see Lynn Withey, Urban Growth in Colonial Rhode Island. 228 Personal conversation with Susan Snell of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry at the United Grand Lodge of England. As a further example, Masonic lodges multiplied in the French West ,QGLHVGXULQJWKH6HYHQ $%,! ! the group was composed of the five governing officers and seven other Brethren, who joined together with the aforementioned Edward Scott and John Burgess. Once in Providence, John Jenkins proposed as candidates a group of eight residents of that town, whom the Newport delegation then initiated into the Masonic mysteries. The Newport brethren used the resulting initiation fees to defray the expense of their journey.230 The exposure of Providence men to Masonry quickly led to institutional organization. Two months later, in January 1757, the original group of eight men and four others procured a charter from the Provincial Grand Lodge in BostonDXWKRUL]LQJWKHPWRIRXQG6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge of Providence. The founding group of twelve included Captain Samuel Angell, a veteran of Lake George, and Major Moses Deshon, who had recently served with Angell at Fort Edward in the Hudson Valley.231 When the lodge opened, they selected John Burgess as their Worshipful Master, Edward Scott as Senior Warden, and Samuel Angell as Junior Warden.232 The founding Brothers and the new Masons who joined them over the course of the ensuing year included merchants, physicians, auctioneers, military officers, and privateers. In the crucible of war, Freemasonry in Rhode Island experienced an efflorescence. Over the next three years, between 1757 and 1759, Rhode Island Freemasonry flourished ± ever so briefly ± to a degree that the Brothers could not have anticipated even just a few years earlier. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 230 /RJERRNRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR1HZSRUW1RYDQG1RY1RY and Dec. DVUHSURGXFHGLQ³7UDQVFULSWLRQRI([WUDFWVIURPWKH5HFRUGVRI6WMRKQ¶V/RGJHQR´FD LQSRVVHVVLRQRI6W-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR 231 Mass. Historical Society, Minutes of Council of Field Officers at Fort Edward, Parkman Collection, 1756 July 22, XLI.244; Proceedings in Masonry, 61-2. 232 Rugg, 36-7, 436; letter from Ebenezer Thompson to the Provincial Grand Lodge, Box E, listed documents, library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. $&-! ! The number of new Masons initiated in Newport alone skyrocketed from an average of about six per year during its prior history to eighteen in the year 1757, in addition to twenty-two in Providence. This unprecedented growth went hand in hand with a new confidence and ZLOOLQJQHVVWRDSSHDUEHIRUHWKHSXEOLFH\H7KH0DVRQV¶WUXHHPHUJHQFHRQWRWKH5KRGH,VODQG social scene came on June 24, 1757, when Thomas Pollen, the rector of Trinity Church, GHOLYHUHG³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´WKHILUVWSXEOLF0DVRQLFRUDWLRQLQWKHFRORQ\3ROOHQZDVDQ Oxford-trained minister who had served parishes in England and Scotland before offering his services to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which dispatched him to Newport in 1754. His public appearance on behalf of the Masons was an unprecedented source of prestige for the lodge. ,IWKH0DVRQV¶SXEOLFGHEXWLQ1HZSRUWZDVLQWHQGHGWRDWWUDFWQHZPHPEHUVLWZDVD smashing success. A total of fifteen new Masons were initiated over the following six months, beginning with an unprecedented quintuple initiation on August 17, 1757. Among the five new inductees that night was the sexton of Trinity Church, George Owen.233 2ZHQ¶VLQLWLDWLRQFDQEH WDNHQDVHPEOHPDWLFRIWKHORGJH¶VFRQWLQXLQJDOOLDQFHZLWKWKHAnglican Church even as it began to reach more frequently into the less wealthy artisanal and professional classes. In the boom years of 1757 to 1759, the maritime mercantile class remained a strong presence, but supplied a smaller proportion of new members to the lodge than it had earlier in the decade. The 49 men who first appear in records as members of the Newport lodge in this period include: 9 captains 4 military officers without other known occupations 3 shopkeepers 2 privateers 2 merchants !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 233 Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity, 111. $&$! ! 2 other mariners 2 lawyers 1 minister 1 sexton 1 rancher 1 druggist 1 customs collector 4 artisans, viz: 1 printer 1 shoemaker 1 tanner 1 tailor 16 indeterminate The most striking contrast between the early membership of the Newport lodge and the new initiates of 1757-9 is the dramatic drop in the number of men identified in the Mercury or other UHFRUGVDV³PHUFKDQWV´²from 10 out of 51, or nearly 20%, between 1749 and 1756, to only 2 out of 49, or a little over 4%, between 1757 and 1759. The only prominent trader among the new Masons was Christopher Champlin, an Anglican merchant born in Westerly who served as a commissary for British naval forces and outfitted privateers in the 1750s.234 Clearly, the great DFFHOHUDWLRQLQWKHORGJH¶VJURZWKGLGQRWGHSHQGXSRQ0DVRQU\¶VIXUWKHUVSUHDGWKURXJKWKH same mercantile networks that had initially brought it to Newport, but rather upon its extension to new classes of men, most of whom provided services and consumer goods to the Rhode Island market. The number of identifiably distinct professions practiced by new Masons increased from 10 to 16, while the number of initiates of unknown occupations increased from 15 to 17. As the Masonic Fraternity became more visible and popular, a greater variety of candidates made their ZD\WKURXJKWKHORGJH¶VGRRUV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 234 Genealogy of George Champlin Mason, Vault A, box 127, NHS. $&%! ! 7KHGLYHUVLILFDWLRQRI1HZSRUW0DVRQU\GXULQJWKH6HYHQ VXEWO\LQWKHORGJH¶VFKDQJLQJUHOLJLRXVFRPSOH[Lon. The denominational affiliations of the 49 candidates initiated between 1757 and 1759 can be grouped as follows: 18 Anglicans 6 Baptists 1 Congregationalist 4 of shifting or multiple affiliations 20 of unknown religion or unchurched While Anglicans remained the clearly predominant group, the shift from the early period is clear. The number of Anglicans diminished by one quarter and Quakers disappeared entirely, while the numbers of Baptists and those of unknown faiths correspondingly increased. Many of the modest professionals and artisans who joined the lodge in this period evidently eschewed the hierarchical ceremonialism of Trinity. This trend is exemplified by the tanner and leather- dresser William Tilley, who served for decades as deacon of NewpRUW¶V6HYHQWK-Day Baptist Church.235 It is also worth noting that several of the new initiates whose religions are unknown bore distinctly Scottish names, e.g., Roderick McLeod, Daniel Duncan, and James Malcolm. Scotland was of course the principal homeland of Masonry, and evidently Scottish sailors or WUDQVLHQWWUDGHUVDSSHDUHGZLWKVRPHIUHTXHQF\LQ1HZSRUW¶V0DVRQLFJDWKHULQJV 0HDQZKLOHLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VVHFRQG-largest but oldest town, Masonry came out of the gate at a strong pace. The twelve Providence men who received the charter from the Grand Lodge in February, 1757, comprised four captains (one of whom served as a privateer), two auctioneers, a colonel, a physician, a shopkeeper, and three men of unknown occupations. The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 235 Newport Mercury, April 16, 1825, p. 3; Newport History, vol. 66, part 1, summer 1994, no. ³6HYHQWK-'D\%DSWLVWVLQ1HZSRUW´ $&&! ! founders of the Providence lodge cut a similar social figure to that of their contemporaries in Newport. Born mostly in the 1710s and 1720s, they came from the same generation as the founding Brothers in Newport. A large portion of them depended on mercantile trade, and the pluUDOLW\RIWKHPZHUH$QJOLFDQ VL[RIWKHWZHOYHZHUHPHPEHUVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V&KXUFK 3URYLGHQFH¶V$QJOLFDQSDULVKLQFOXGLQJ(GZDUG6FRWWZKRKDGEHHQEDSWL]HGLQWKH&KXUFKRI England as an adult. Of the remainder, two were Congregationalist, one Quaker, and three of unknown faiths or unchurched. The pair of Congregationalist Masons included the merchant James Greene, a scion of the large and powerful Greene family that dominated most of the western side of Narragansett Bay, particularly Warwick. The Greenes were overwhelmingly Baptist and Quaker, and politically, they were allied to the Ward family of Newport. Like the Wards, the Greenes evidently shunned Freemasonry in the colonial period, with James appearing as the sole exception. This is not surprising, seeing as how James was something of a black sheep in the family: unlike his father, the blacksmith Elisha Greene, who was ordained as a Baptist minister, James left the Baptist fold DQGVHUYHGDVDGHDFRQLQ3URYLGHQFH¶V)LUVW&RQJUHJDWLRQDO&KXUFh.236 The Providence Masons held their first formal lodge meeting, attended by ten men, on February 18, 1757 in the tavern at the sign of the White Horse. They proceeded to hold sixty- five meetings over the course of that year, many of them to perform a flurry of initiations and degree ceremonies, at the White Horse and at least two other taverns.237 One can see the idiosyncratic James Greene as a harbinger of the comparatively diverse and unpredictable growth !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 236 G. S. Greene and F. V. Greene, The Greenes of Rhode Island (publication details unknown): 118, 186-7. 237 Freemasons New Monthly MagazineYROS /DQH¶V0DVRQLF5HFRUGV (database), ³3URYLGHQFH5KRGH,VODQG´ $&'! ! of the Providence lodge. Of the forty-one men who joined the lodge between its founding in 1757 and the end of 1759, their occupations can be grouped roughly as follows: 11 captains 7 merchants 3 military officers without other known professions 2 auctioneers 2 innkeepers 2 jurists 2 physicians 2 shopkeepers 1 architect 1 distiller 1 druggist 1 tailor 6 indeterminate In addition to the familiar professions of seafaring, law, medicine, and distilling, which we have previously seen among the Newport Masons, a few important professions appear for the first time in this list. Most notable are the two innkeepers, Noah Mason and William Earle, who joined the lodge together on February 20, 1758. (In addition, Christian Mayer, who housed French prisoners of war in Newport, was probably an innkeeper). The interest that unites the innkeeping trade with other common Masonic professions such as law and medicine is the need for a high degree of trust and credibility from a wide array of clients. In an age with little official licensing of professionals, social affiliations such as Masonic membership could help to establish RQH¶VOHJLWLPDF\DQGWUXVWZRUWKLQHVVLQWKHH\HVRIVRPHSRWHQWLDOFOLHQWV7KLVDQFLOODU\EHQHILW of Masonry is probably what the tailor and shopkeeper James Rogers sought to exploit when he lDEHOHGKLV1HZSRUWVWRUH³7KH)UHH-0DVRQ¶V$UPV´LQWKHV238 In Providence, where church records are patchy at best, the religious lives of these 41 early Freemasons are murky. Still, the list of their known affiliations suggests that the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 238 Newport Mercury, Dec. 11, 1769, p. 4. $&(! ! prominence RI$QJOLFDQVVRJODULQJO\DSSDUHQWLQWKH1HZSRUWORGJHDQGLQ3URYLGHQFH¶V founding group, diminished among WKHORGJH¶VVXEVHTXHQWLQLWLDWHVWKURXJKWKHHQGRI 9 Anglicans 5 Baptists 4 Congregationalists 2 Quakers 1 of multiple or shifting affiliations 20 of unknown religions or unchurched The enormous proportion of men of indeterminate religion²QHDUO\KDOIRIWKHORGJH¶VLQLWLDWHV² reflects both the less dependable recordkeeping of small-town churches and the high proportion of unchurched residents of Rhode Island in general. In November, 1758, the young Providence lodge wrote a report on their progress to the Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston, as they had been instructed to do in their founding charter. 7KHORGJH¶VWKHQ-secretary, the shopkeeper and bookseller Ebenezer Thompson, informed the Grand Secretary in Boston that the lodge convened on the first and third Wednesdays of every month at the sign of the Two Crowns. In addition to eleven remaining founding members, the lodge had by that early date initiated fifteen others, and accepted as members two additional 0DVRQVZKRKDGEHHQ³PDGH´HOVHZKHUH0HDQZKLOHDWOHDVWIRXU%URWKHUVKDGHPLJUDWHGIURP Providence, most of them probably to Boston.239 The Master of the lodge in this early period was John Burgess, who had been appointed in the founding charter and remained in office for over five years. Burgess is an obscure individual, much like Caleb Phillips, whom the Boston Masons had appointed as the first Master for Newport. Little can be saiGRI%XUJHVV¶SUHYLRXVOLIHRWKHUWKDQWKDWKHPD\KDYHEHHQWKH John Burgess who was born at Little Compton, Rhode Island, in 1711, which would make him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 239 ³)URPWKH/RGJHDW3URYLGHQFHZLWKWKH6WDWH7KHUHRI1RYHP ´%R[(/LVWHG Documents, Library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. $&)! ! DWWKHWLPHRIKLVILUVWDSSRLQWPHQWDQGKHQFHROGHUWKDQPRVWRIWKHORGJH¶VIRXQGHUVZKR averaged 37 years of age. In addition, he was surely a captain or seafarer who traded with the :HVW,QGLHV RQO\DPRQWKDIWHUWKHORGJH¶VILUVWPHHWLQJLQJanuary 1757, the secretary recorded WKDWWKHLU0DVWHUZDV³ERXQGRQDYR\DJHWR-DPDLFD´DQGKHQFHWKHBrethren had chosen Edward Scott, James Greene, and the physician Benjamin Bowen as a committee to manage their affairs in his absence. Nonetheless, the following year, Burgess was again elected as Master, and held that office continually until the end of 1762.240 )DUPRUHQRWRULRXVDPRQJWKHQDPHVRI3URYLGHQFH¶VHDUO\0DVRQVDUHWKRVHRIWKUHH brothers²Joseph, John, and Moses Brown² who joined the lodge over the course of its first two years. Born in the 1730s, they had been raised primarily by their uncle, Obadiah; and although the Brown family was an otherwise ordinary Providence Baptist clan, these three brothers, along with a fourth elder brother, Nicholas, rose rapidly to pre-HPLQHQFHLQWKHWRZQ¶V trade and politics. When three of them joined the lodge in the later 1750s, they were just beginning their ascent to power; by the close of the eighteenth century, they would tower over WKHLUFLW\¶VFLYLFDQGFRPPHUFLDODIIDLUV241 The first of the Brown brothers to join the lodge was the 24-year old Joseph Brown, in April 1757. He was a committed Baptist, and reportedly the most shy and private of the brothers. Joseph was also a gentleman architect who experimented fervently in electricity and astronomy. His interests in architecture and natural philosophy may have helped attract him to the lodge; he, in turn, probably encouraged his two younger brothers, John and Moses, to join in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 240 Rugg, 787; Arnold, ed., Vital Records of Rhode Island, Little Compton; The American )UHHPDVRQ¶V1HZ0RQWKO\0DJD]LQH, vol. 6, p. 294-6 241 For a thorough treatment of the Brown brothers, see Mack Thompson, Moses Brown: Reluctant Reformer, Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1962. $&*! ! the following year. Much like many other newly-initiated Masons, the younger brothers at this time were minor traders on their way to becoming self-supporting merchants. In keeping with their exceptional intelligence and ambition, the three Brown brothers soon took over leadership of the Masonic lodge. In December 1759, within a few months of his initiation, Moses Brown replaFHG(EHQH]HU7KRPSVRQDVWKHORGJH¶V6HFUHWDU\ DQGLQ-RVHSK%URZQEHFDPH Worshipful Master in the place of John Burgess. The two brothers remained in these positions IRUWKHUHVWRIWKHORGJH¶VH[LVWHQFHLQWKHFRORQLDOHUD242 Close on the heels of the Brown brothers, several men joined the Providence lodge who would OLQN5KRGH,VODQG)UHHPDVRQU\¶VFRORQLDO1HZSRUWURRWVWRLWV5HYROXWLRQDU\IXWXUH2Q December 15, 1758, the Brothers initiated the young merchant and shopkeeper, Jabez Bowen, who was a close friend of Moses Brown and would become an especially active Mason. Just eight days later, the lodge admitted three merchants who had become Masons in Newport ± Nathaniel Mumford, Peleg Clarke, and John Jenkins. Mumford was serving at the time as Secretary of the Newport lodge, but evidently relocated to Providence soon after, while Clarke UHPDLQHGLQ1HZSRUWIRUWKHUHVWRIKLVFDUHHU-RKQ-HQNLQVWKHEURWKHURIWKH1HZSRUWORGJH¶V Master, Robert Jenkins, Jr., clearly had strong connections to Providence, and had proposed the first eight candidates initiated in Providence in 1756; he continued to reside mainly in Newport until he apparently moved permanently to Providence in 1767.243 These three men, active and well-connected in Freemasonry, heOSHGWRFDUU\1HZSRUW¶V0DVRQLFH[SHULHQFHDQGVRFLDO contacts to Providence. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 242 7KH$PHULFDQ)UHHPDVRQ¶V1HZ0RQWKO\0DJD]LQH, vol. 6, p. 295; Rugg 787. 243 John Jenkins daybook, 1763-5, no. 456, Vault A, NHS. $&+! ! )XUWKHUPRUHWKH%URZQIDPLO\¶VH[WHQVLYHVRFLDOQHWZRUNGHPRQVWUDWHVWKDWWKHVDPH social bonds of family and marriage that underpinned the Newport lodge were also critical in 3URYLGHQFH%URZQ¶VFORVHIULHQGDQGIHOORZ0DVRQ:LOOLDP3DOIUH\RI%RVWRQZURWHWRKLP RIWHQLQWKHHDUO\VRIKLVLQIDWXDWLRQZLWK0RVHV¶FRXVLQ3ROO\2OQH\ZKRPKHKRSHGWR court.244 Though his pursuit of Miss Olney failed, Palfrey followed the common pattern of Masons turning their romantic attentions to the female relations of other Masons, with whom they already shared a familial bond. Similarly, Jabez Bowen married Sarah Brown, another cousin of Moses Brown, in 1762. We have already observed the pattern of Newport Masons marrying women of the strongly Masonic Brenton clan, and the practice of Masons marrying LQWRRQHDQRWKHU¶VIDPLOLHVFRQWLQXHGLQERWKORGJHVWKURXJKRXWWKHFRORQLDOHUD)RULQVWDQFH William James and Abraham Whipple joined the Providence lodge in 1760 and 1761, respectively; in 1762, William James married Anphilus Whipple, a sister of Abraham.245 ,QWKHVHSHDN\HDUVRIWKH6HYHQ Newport. The rising sun of Newport Masonry became more visible, both to contemporaries and to latter-day observers, in large part thanks to the printer, James Franklin, Jr. Born around 1724, James had learned the printing trade from his uncle, Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia, and from his mother, Anne, in Newport. By 1758, he judged that Newport had grown large enough !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 244 )RU3DOIUH\¶VOHWWHUVWR%URZQUegarding Polly Olney, see I. B. Richman and G. P. Winship, eds., The Course of True Love in Colonial Times, Boston: Merrymount Press, 1905. 245 NEHGS database. 246 See Lynn Withey, Urban Growth in Colonial Rhode Island, 20-40. $&,! ! to support its own newspaper, and in that year he inaugurated the Newport Mercury²an elegantly printed collection of reports from abroad and of local announcements and advertisements. Franklin printed the first issue on June 19, 1758, after which the paper became a regular weekly product,247 and he joined the Masonic lodge on December 23, of the same year. The Mercury became more or less a Masonic mouthpiece, announcing all sorts of Masonic public activities, including the lottery to raise money to build a Masons Hall in the summer of 1759.248 7KH1HZSRUWORGJH¶VJURZLQJFRQILGHQFHLQ ZDVPDQLIHVWHGQRWRQO\LQLWVSXEOLF activities, but also in its private, esoteric practices. The Newport Masons were clearly aware of WKHWKLUGRU0DVWHU¶VGHJUHHDVHYLGHQFHGE\WKHSULQWLQJRIMasonry Dissected. However, according to the strict understanding of the Modern-Rite system, a Mason could only be advanced to the tKLUGGHJUHHLQDVSHFLDOO\FRQYHQHG³0DVWHU¶VORGJH´FRPSRVHGRI0DVRQV ZKRDOUHDG\KHOGWKDWGHJUHH7KLV0DVWHU¶VORGJHZDVWHFKQLFDOO\DGLVWLQFWERG\UHTXLULQJLWV own separate warrant and constitution to operate. Nonetheless, in March 1759, the Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston recorded that they had learned that a number of Masons in Newport were LQWKHKDELWRIDVVHPEOLQJIURPWLPHWRWLPHLQD0DVWHU¶VORGJHDQGUDLVLQJ0DVRQVIURPWKH )HOORZ&UDIWWRWKH0DVWHU¶VGHJUHH³QRWWKLQNLQJEXWWKH\KDGDXWKRULW\WRGRVR´5DWKHUWKDQ interdict this unauthorized activity, the Grand Officers retroactively confirmed any and all degrees that the Newport Brothers had conferred and appointed John Mawdsley as the Master of the now-UHFRJQL]HG0DVWHU¶VORGJH. Mawdsley in turn was expected to appoint wardens and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 247 Newport Mercury, June 19, 1758; October 17, 1758; November 2, 1872, p. 2; March 27, 1875, p. 2. 248 Newport Mercury, June 26, 1759, p. 3. $'-! ! other officers, to make regular reports to the Provincial Grand Lodge, and to pay a fee for their 0DVWHU¶VORGJHWREHUHFRUGHGLQWKHUROOVRIWKH*UDQG/RGJHLQ/RQGRQ249 The new lodge in Newport waVWKHILUVW0DVWHU¶V/RGJHFRQVWLWXWHGLQ1HZ(QJODQG outside of Boston.250 7KHDELOLW\RIWKH1HZSRUW%UHWKUHQWRUDLVHRQHDQRWKHUWRWKH0DVWHU¶V degree was politically significant, in that the third degree was a prerequisite to hold the office of Worshipful Master. Hence, if able to confer the third degree, Newporters would not have to depend on Masons in other towns as gatekeepers to eligibility for Masonic leadership. Like the UHYROXWLRQRIWKHH[WHQVLRQRIIRUPDOOHJLWLPDF\WRWKH0DVWHU¶VORGge in Newport reflects the speed with which the Newport Masons gained clout and standing within the Fraternity. By the spring of 1759, the Newport Brethren acted with sureness and independence, with the Provincial Grand Lodge serving more or less as a rubber stamp. 7KH1HZSRUW0DVRQV¶SODQWREXLOGD+DOOKRZHYHUGLGQRWFRPHWRIUXLWLRQ7KH money raised for the project was insufficient, and after the lodge officers laid foundations for the building in August 1759, they left them untouched. By the beginning of 1760, WKHFRORQ\¶V trajectory had already subtly shifted, and the fortunes of Masonry changed with it. The war with France, which initially flushed Rhode Island with money and patronage, was beginning to wear on the colony. The cessation of most trade with the French West Indies contributed to an economic slowdown throughout British North America, which hit Rhode Island particularly KDUG%HIRUHWKHFRORQ\¶VJRYHUQRU6WHSKHQ+RSNLQVKDGWXUQHGDEOLQGH\HWRLOOHJDO commerce with the French colonies and issued a number of licenses to local merchants, including several Freemasons, to trade with the French under flags of truce. In August of that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 249 Proceedings in Masonry, 62-3. 250 Proceedings in Masonry, 110-12. $'$! ! year, however, the British Prime Minister William Pitt wrote to Hopkins, demanding that he crDFNGRZQRQ5KRGH,VODQGHUV¶³LOOHJDODQGPRVWSHUQLFLRXVWUDGH´ZLWKWKH)UHQFK:HVW,QGLHV DQG/RXLVLDQDDQGWKDWKH³bring all such heinous offenders to the most exemplary and condeign punishment´251 The war had always been a mixed blessing for the colony, and after 1760 the toll of the warfare itself became more manifest. While some Rhode Island merchants and mariners had found success as privateers, many others lost their vessels to the enemy; between 1756 and 1764, sixty-five ships were lost from Providence alone. British arms were meeting with spectacular YLFWRULHVZLWKWKH.LQJ¶VIRUFHVFDSWXULQJ4XpEHFLQ DQG0RQWUpDOLQ\HWWKHVH triumphs did not benefit Rhode Island in the short term: they allowed the main theater of warfare to move far to the north to Newfoundland and finally southward to Cuba. British authorities redirected men and money away from the colony, as Rhode Island contributed more than 200 men to the expedition to capture Havana. The effects of the prolonged war were then H[DFHUEDWHGE\VHYHUHGURXJKWVLQDQGZKLFKGHVWUR\HGPXFKRI5KRGH,VODQG¶V grain crop. The commercial growth of the 1750s, which had buoyed the Masons to unexpected heights, practically halted by 1763, as many wharves stagnated and the FRORQ\¶VDVVHPEO\IRXQG itself deeply in debt.252 7KHFRPPHUFLDOUHFHVVLRQRIWKHHDUO\VGLGQRWUHGXFHWKH0DVRQV¶HQWKXVLDVPIRU their Fraternity, but it severely tested the institutional foundations that they had laid. Coming on the heels of the fDLOXUHRIWKHORWWHU\WKHUHFHVVLRQKHOSHGWRVSHHGWKHGHSDUWXUHRIWKH0DVRQV¶ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 251 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, v. 6, p. 117, 219-20, 252-3; William Pitt to Stephen Hopkins, Aug. 23, 1760, Stephen Hopkins Collection, Folder 1, RIHS. 252 Lovejoy, 20-2; Withey, 14; FH Villiers to John Hay, August 22, 1898, Colonial Militia Collection, RIHS. $'%! ! most prominent spokesman: in August 1760, the Anglican minister, Thomas Pollen, told his parishioners that he intended to leave Newport. As early as 1758, Pollen had complained to his sponsors in the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel that the colonists had not paid him his promised salary, and he warned them that he might soon leave the post. In June 1760, he informed the SPG that he had accepted an offer to take up a pulpit in Kingston, Jamaica, which ZRXOGSD\KLPPRUHKDQGVRPHO\SURYLGLQJDPHDQVRI³SXWWLQJKLPVHOILQPRUHHDV\ FLUFXPVWDQFHV´DQGRI³VDYLQJVRPHWKLQJIRUKLVIDPLO\´)XUWKHUPRUHKHZDUQHGWKH6RFLHW\ not to assign a new minister to Newport until the congregants paid him the wages due to him. The Newport Anglicans apparently coughed up the funds, and Pollen departed for Jamaica towards the end of 1760, whereupon the missionary Marmaduke Brown took his place. In 1761, after having taken up his ministry in Jamaica, Pollen wrote back to friends in Rhode Island, ³>W@he difference between the Kingston and the Newport churchmen is this: the former take care to pay the parson, but do not care to hear him preach; the latter take care to hear the parson preach, but do not care to pay him.´253 ! 7KHWUDGHUHFHVVLRQDQG3ROOHQ¶VGHSDUWXUHFDQDFFRXQWIRUPXFKRIWKHVKLIWLQWKHFRXUVH of the development of Freemasonry in Newport in the early 1760s. After a frenzy of initiations between 1757 and 1759, averaging about 16 new members per year, the rate slowed to an average of 10 per year between 1760 and 1765. Though the crop was at times respectable, the lodge also saw long droughts without a single new member, such as the thirteen months between September 1761 and October 1762. These gaps may have been due to declining interest or to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 253 Thomas Pollen to [?] Vernon, March 12, 1761, Vernon Papers, Box 79, Folder 9, NHS; Records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel [microform], Isobel Pridmore, ed., published by Micro Methods in conjunction with British Association for American Studies, 38 (2), April 20, 1759, 122 (1-2), Sept. 19, 1760. $'&! ! disorganization or hesitancy within the lodge. Furthermore, whereas Robert Jenkins and other lodge officers had occasionally represented the lodge at quarterly communications in Boston in the 1750s, these visits ceased after 1760.254 -XVWDVLPSRUWDQWO\WKHORGJH¶VQHZPHPEHUVLQWKHVEHJDQWRUHIOHFWDJUHDWHU range of the social and religious diversity of Newport. The religious affiliations of the 50 new initiates between 1760 and 1765 can be grouped as follows: 7 Anglicans 6 Jews 5 Baptists 3 Quakers 6 of multiple or shifting affiliations 24 of unknown religions or unchurched Several major changes are immediately apparent in this new wave of initiates. The first is the drop in the proportion of Anglicans, who had so clearly been the most numerous denomination in WKHORGJHVLQFHLWVIRXQGLQJ,WPD\EHWKDWWKHWRZQ¶V$QJOLFDQSRSXODWLRQKDGDOUHDG\EHHQ picked over²all those members of Trinity who were potentially interested in joining the lodge had done so by 1760, and hence the Brethren were obliged to look elsewhere for recruits. Conversely, the non-Anglican Brothers already in the lodge may have actively sought to bring their co-religionists into the Masonic fold. Either way, the Anglican predominance among the Masons, so defining a feature of the lodge in the preceding decade, surely did not disappear in the 1760s, but it ceased to control the gates of entry. The decrease in the number of Anglicans entering the Newport lodge was offset by an increase in those of unknown faiths and by the appearance of several Masons from the Jewish community, who after a long absence, suddenly surpassed the Baptists and nearly equaled the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 254 Proceedings in Masonry, 45, 71-3, 80-6, 92-7, 110-12. $''! ! Anglicans as a source of initiates. It was common in the eighteenth century for Jewish men in Britain, North America, and the West Indies to become Freemasons, and the lack of Jews in the Newport lodge for its first eleven years on one level is puzzling. This absence can be accounted for partly by the fact that the Jewish community in Newport was miniscule²still fewer than 100 persons, and perhaps a few dozen adult men²and the chance of any one of them finding his way into the lodge was always small. However, the timing of the arrival of Jews in the lodge beginning in 1760 and the concurrent rise in the number of unchurched men suggest the influence of Thomas Pollen. Pollen had presented the public face of the Fraternity in the form of an Anglican minister; in his 1757 Masonic address he had calOHG&KULVWLDQLW\³WKDWPRVWSHUIHFW VRFLHW\RIDOO´DQGGLVSDUDJHGWKH-HZVIRUSUDFWLFLQJWKHSULQFLSOHRIORYHWRZDUGVIHOORZPHQ but failing to apply it to all mankind.255 Whatever his ecumenical feelings, Pollen evidently discouraged non-Anglicans, non-churchgoers, and non-Christians from joining the lodge, and his departure in 1760 must have signaled a turning point for Newport Masonry even in the eyes of contemporaries. 2QHPXVWDOVRYLHZWKHUHOLJLRXVFKDQJHVDIWHULQWKHFRQWH[WRIWKHORGJH¶V subtly changing position in the Newport economy. The Masons came to include a wider array of mobile artisans and professionals dependent on multiple markets for consumers and clients, as opposed to those more firmly rooted in Newport. The occupations of the 50 new initiates can be roughly grouped as follows: 7 merchants 7 captains 5 shopkeepers 1 minister 1 surveyor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 255 Pollen, 7-8, 12. $'(! ! 1 rigger 1 customs collector 1 barber 1 actor 5 artisans, viz: 2 cabinet-makers 1 goldsmith 1 silversmith 1 tailor 19 indeterminate This group includes many men who must have been regarded as obscure in their own time as well as today. While the mercantile and seafaring class remained a sizable presence, its only members of prominent stature to join the lodge after 1760 were George Gibbs, the founder of a major mercantile house, and the slave trader Peleg Clarke, who had apparently already become a Mason elsewhere before affiliating with the Newport lodge. Meanwhile, the number of men of unknown occupations increased; this group surely included many petty artisans, traders, and mariners, an unprecedented number of whom were foreigners from Europe or the West Indies.256 The non-merchants that can be identified included many itinerant artisans and practitioners of minor trades, as opposed to more prominent lawyers and physicians. The two cabinet-makers included John Goddard,257 one of the most celebrated craftsmen of the eighteenth century, who built magnificent mahogany furniture for the Brown brothers and other Rhode Island magnates; !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 256Non-English names from among the list of initiates in this period include Antoine Marroquier, Peter Charodovoine, Vincette Avendano, Raymond Ponsent, and John F. Garneaux. 257 John Goddard is listed in the Special Return as affiliating with the Newport lodge on May 19, 1763; it is unclear whether this Goddard is in fact the cabinet-maker or a captain of the same name, although the death date listed in the Special Return²1785 ± matches that of the famous craftsman. $')! ! still, even Goddard was only moderately commercially successful, eventually dying in debt, and his work rose to fame among collectors and historians only in the twentieth century.258 The increasing trend of mobile tradesmen and minor professionals entering the lodge is best exemplified by two initiates, John Mecom and Owen Morris. Mecom was a goldsmith, born in Boston and baptized at the Brattle Street Church in 1741. He apparently did not live in Newport permanently, but traveled and practiced his trade wherever he could find commissions. In July 1763, at the age of 22, he sojourned in Newport; on the 18th of that month, he placed an advertisement in the Mercury, offering jewelry, buckles, watch chains and other gold items for VDOHDW1DWKDQLHO&RJJHVKDOO¶VVKRS+HIXUWKHUZDUQHGWKDWKHSODQQHG³to stay in town but a few days; those therefore who will favour him with their custom DUHGHVLUHGWRDSSO\VSHHGLO\´ Although his stay in Newport was brief, he evidently found the time to become a Mason: he was iniWLDWHGLQWR6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDORQJZLWKWZRRWKHUPHQRQWKHHYHQLQJRI-XO\ three days after his advertisement ran.259 Even more dramatically than Mecom, Owen Morris exemplifies the itinerant and marginal colonist. He was an actor in a traveling troupe which had been forced by controversy and legal bans to flee several colonies before arriving in Newport in the spring of 1761. Morris was initiated in the lodge in September of that year, a few days after his troupe had staged their final performance in Newport.260 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 258 For primers on John Goddard and his work, see Michael Moses, Master Craftsmen of Newport, MMI American Press, 1984, and Morrison Heckscher, John Townsend of Newport, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013. 259 Rhode Island Vital Records, 1636±1850. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002); Newport Mercury, July 18, 1763, p. 3; Special Return, Newport. 260 George O. Seilhamer, History of the American Theater: Before the Revolution (vol. 1). Philadelphia: Globe Printing House, 1888, p. 122-6. $'*! ! 7KH0DVRQV¶HPEUDFHRI2ZHQ0RUULVDQGWKHLUEURDGHUSDWWHUQRIDFFHSWLQJVRFLDOO\ marginal individuals after 1760 is not easy to account for. Perhaps the lodge was desperate for new members, or perhaps its exclusionary prejudices had merely relaxed. The latter explanation could shed light on the first appearance of Jewish Brethren in the lodge. For more than a decade previously, the stories of Judaism and Freemasonry in Newport ran in remarkable parallel. At the midpoint of the eighteenth century, the Jewish group in Newport was very small²only around fifteen households comprising fewer than one hundred individuals. Although this FRPPXQLW\SUREDEO\LQFOXGHGVRPHVPDOOFRUHJURXSRIGHVFHQGDQWVRI1HZSRUW¶VRULJLQDO seventeenth-century Jewish colonists, most Rhode Island Jews had been born elsewhere and VHWWOHGLQWKHFRORQ\PRUHUHFHQWO\1HZSRUW¶VJURZLQJWUDGHDQGSURVSHULW\LQWKHVDQG 1750s attracted a small stream of Jewish migrants from other colonies, mainly New York, as well as some refugees from Portugal, fleeing from a reinvigorated Inquisition and from the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Most of the adult Jewish men who settled in Newport were minor merchants, shopkeepers, and tradesmen; several also invested in small manufacturing ventures, such as iron forges and candle factories.261 (YHUVLQFHWKHODWHUV-HZLVKFRORQLVWV¶ULJKWVWRRZQSURSHUW\DQGWRFRQGXFWWUDGH in Rhode Island had been officially protected, and the migrants in the mid-1700s found religious freedom and opportunity in the colony. Still, they were legally considered members of a foreign ³QDWLRQ´DQGFRXOGQRWWDNHSDUWLQSROLWLFV,QGLYLGXDO-HZLVKPHQFRXOGEHQDWXUDOL]HGDQG admitted as freemen only if they petitioned the Assembly for a special exception. Two Jewish men did become freemen in 1753 and 1761, but two other Jewish petitioners failed to gain !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 261 Morris Gutstein, Story of the Jews of Newport (Block Publishing Company, 1936): 53-6, 81-2, 113-14. $'+! ! naturalization in 1762. Their rejection caused shock and consternation among some Newporters at the time; although the AssembO\FRXFKHGWKHLUUHIXVDOLQWKHFRORQ\¶VVXSSRVHG&KULVWLDQ foundations and purpose, it seems just as likely that the deputies feared that Jewish freemen would support their opponents in the Ward-Wanton dispute.262 On July 19, 1760, the stories of the Jewish congregation and of the Masonic lodge began WRLQWHUVHFW2QWKDWGD\1HZSRUW¶VWRZQFOHUNRIILFLDOO\UHFRUGHGWKH-HZLVKFRQJUHJDWLRQ¶V deed of ownership for the plot of land on which they had begun construction of a synagogue; that very evening, SainW-RKQ¶V/RGJHLQLWLDWHGLWVILUVW-HZLVKPHPEHU²the shopkeeper and silversmith, Moses Isaacs, who lived next door to the Mason John Collins. Despite the still uncertain status of the Jewish group in Newport, Moses Isaacs was followed into the lodge by a slow stream of Jewish initiates. In September 1762, the Masons initiated Myer Polock, a New York-born merchant who apparently shuttled back and forth between his native town and Newport. The Polock family stemmed from Poland, and had many members in both colonies. The clan also had a rabbinical background, and members of the family led some of the Jewish religious services in Newport before the arrival a trained chazzan or cantor from Amsterdam. The congregation may not have employed a Polock as their religious leader after 1759 partly EHFDXVHWKH3RORFN¶VVSUDQJIURP$VKNHQD]LVWRFNZKHUHDVPRVWRIWKH1HZSRUW-HZVZHUH Sephardic and preferred the Spanish and Portuguese customs of worship.263 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 262 William Pencak, Jews and Gentiles in Early America (Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan Press, 2005): 92-103; Gutstein, 38-46, 158-61; Stanley Chyet, Lopez of Newport (Wayne State U. Press, 1970): 34-41. 263 Gutstein, 76, 81-2.; American Jewish Historical Quarterly, v. 27, p. 198-200. A contemporary UHSRUWHGWKDW-HZLVKUHOLJLRXVVHUYLFHVLQWKHVZHUHOHGE\³0U,VDDNV´DQG³0U3RORFN´*XWVWHLQ speculates that these names refer to Jacob Isaacs and Zachary Polock, the latter of whom had served earlier in the eighteenth century as a schochet7KHHSLWDSKRI0\HU3RORFN¶VEURWKHURUFRXVLQ,VDDF Polock, identifiHVKLPDVD³VRQRI5DEEL0H\HU3RORFN´ $',! ! The third Jewish colonist to join the lodge was the young merchant David Lopez, initiated in October 1762; his initiation brought important familial connections to the lodge. He KDGEHHQERUQLQ/LVERQWRDSURPLQHQWIDPLO\RI3RUWXJXHVH³1HZ&KULVWLDQV´RUGHVFHQGDQWV of converted Jews. Many of them had maintained secret loyalty to Judaism for generations, and in the early eighteenth century, the increasingly aggressive Portuguese Inquisition turned its gaze upon the Lopez clan. The respected physician Duarte Lopez was executed in 1723; soon after, Jose Lopez, wKRZDVDURXQGVHYHQWHHQ\HDUVROGDWWKHWLPHRI'XDUWH¶VGHDWKUHSRUWHGO\DOVR fell under Iniquisitorial suspicion. Jose fled from Portugal, following a number of his relatives who had abandoned their home country and returned to the Jewish faith in Europe or the Caribbean. After sojourns in Britain and New York, Jose settled in Newport some time in the 1740s. Once in America, he openly embraced Judaism, married a Jewish wife, and changed his name to Moses, evoking the prophet who had led the Israelites to freedom across the sea.264 Moses Lopez was fairly well established in Newport by 1749, at which time he became a member of the Redwood Library Company. In 1750, the Assembly gave him an exemption from personal taxes as a reward for his services in translating Spanish documents, and three years ODWHUKHSURFXUHGDQH[FOXVLYHOLFHQVHWRPDQXIDFWXUHSRWDVKLQWKHFRORQ\WKH³DUWDQGP\VWHU\´ of which he had learned in another country. Moses Lopez soon branched out into other forms of trade and small manufacturing; by 1759, he owned a spermaceti candle factory, and helped to organize the United Company of Spermaceti Chandlers in 1761.265 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 264 Gutstein, 65-6, 68-9; PAJHS: vol. 2, 1894, p. 103-4. 265 Mason, ed., Annals of Redwood, 38; Bartlett, ed., Colony records, vol. 5, p. 307-8, 375; Gutstein, 56; Newport Mercury, June 5, 1759, p. 4, Jan. 20, 1855, p. 1. $(-! ! Moses Lopez became an important catalyst for the growth and success of the Jewish group. In 1752, two younger half-brothers whom Moses had left behind, Duarte and Gabriel, escaped from Portugal and joined him in Newport. Once there, the elder of the pair changed his QDPHWR$DURQDIWHUWKH3URSKHW0RVHV¶EURWKHUDQGDGYLVRUZKLOHWKH\RXQJHVWEURWKHUEHFDPH David. Like other New Christians who reverted to Judaism in Europe or the colonies, the brothers remarried their wives according to Jewish custom and underwent the rite of circumcision. David Lopez became a minor merchant, trafficking in colonial and European goods²including, like many other Jewish Rhode Islanders, Portuguese wine. Aaron, the shrewdest and most ambitious of the three, used his kin connections around the Atlantic rim to become one of the richest and most powerful merchants in North America by the mid-1760s. Indeed, Aaron Lopez and his father-in-law Jacob Rodriguez Rivera were the only Jews among the great merchant-magnates of colonial Newport.266 The Masonic initiation of David Lopez insured a firm link between the Masonic lodge DQGWKHWRZQ¶V-HZLVh congregation. The shopkeeper Jacob Isaacs, who had helped to lead the effort to build a synagogue, was initiated in January 1763, and on July 21st of the same year, Moses Lopez, possibly encouraged by his younger half-brother David, became a Mason. At around 57 years of age, he was one of the oldest men to undergo initiation in colonial Rhode Island. After that milestone, the Masonic lodge appears to have fallen into relative dormancy in 1764, performing only three initiations; still, one more Jewish colonist became a Mason on May !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 266 Gutstein, 68-9; Newport Mercury, October 6, 1763, p. 4, May 15, 1784, p. 3. For an account RI$DURQ/RSH]¶VH[FHSWLRQDOOLIHDQGFDUHHUVHH&K\HWLopez of Newport. $($! ! 27, 1765²the shopkeeper Isaac Elizer, whose petition for naturalization had been turned down three years earlier.267 The commercial recession of the early 1760s affected the two lodges in Rhode Island very differently. All in all, despite the passing of their 1750s heyday and the failure of the Hall lottery, the Masons of Newport weathered the early 1760s reasonably well, continuing to bring in QHZPHPEHUVLQILWVDQGVWDUWVDQGLQSDUWLFXODU1HZSRUW0DVRQU\¶VQHZO\-forged bond with WKH-HZLVKFRPPXQLW\ODLGLPSRUWDQWIRXQGDWLRQVIRUORGJH¶VGHYHORSPHQWLQIXWXUHGHFDGHV 7KHVDPHFDQQRWDSSDUHQWO\EHVDLGIRU6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFH7KHORGJHLQWKH FRORQ\¶VROGHUWRZQSXUVXHGIXOOLQFOXVLRQLQWKHWUDQVDWODQWLFMasonic network, sending two UHTXHVWVWR/RQGRQWREHLQFOXGHGLQWKH*UDQG/RGJH¶VPDVWHUOLVWEXWE\WKLVWLPHWKH Providence lodge was practically moribund. The Brethren initiated only three men between the end of 1759 and the summer of 1761. By the HQGRIWKHODWWHU\HDUWKHORGJH¶VIRXQGLQJ0DVWHU John Burgess, seems to have permanently left Providence, eventually settling in Jamaica; he is SUREDEO\WKHVDPH³-RKQ%XUJHVVPDULQHU´WKDWPDUULHG-DQH5RELQVRQLQ.LQJVWRQRQ-XQH 1764, and the ³&DSWDLQ-RKQ%XUJHVV´WKDWDSSHDUVLQ-DPDLFDQWD[UROOVDVOLYLQJDQGUXQQLQJD shop in Kingston in 1765.268 Joseph Brown replaced Burgess as Master, and he and his brother 0RVHVVHHPWRKDYHPDQDJHGWKHORGJH¶VDIIDLUVUHDVRQDEO\ZHOOIRUWKHQH[WVHYHUDl years. The %URZQ¶VXWWHUO\IDLOHGKRZHYHULQUHFUXLWLQJQHZPHPEHUV7KHODVW0DVRQLQLWLDWHGXQGHU %XUJHVV¶VOHDGHUVKLSLQJune 1761, was the Baptist sea-captain Abraham Whipple, who frequently undertook voyages for John and Moses Brown; Whipple was followed by a pause of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 267 Gutstein, 98-102, 108; Chyet, 34-41. 268 Moses Brown to Robert Jenkins, Jan. 1, %R[(³/LVWHG'RFXPHQWV´/LEUDU\RIWKH Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; Rugg, 787; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes and Parish Poll Tax, 1763- 7, p. 31, 34, Jamaica Archives and Records Department, Spanish Town; Kingston Parish Marriages, 1753-1814, p. 15, JARD. $(%! ! more than three years without a single initiation, until the arrival of Edward Dexter, another Baptist sea captain, in July 1764. No immediate reason for this long drought stands out as obvious, but one must note that Providence was one of the smallest towns in the Americas known to have hosted a Masonic lodge in the eighteenth century. With a population of between three and four thousand during the 1760s, Providence was barely half the size of Newport,269 and the Masons must have had a difficult time in finding enough candidates who were both eligible and willing to join the Fraternity. Even in communities where Masonry was relatively popular, only a small minority of men, who were themselves a minority of the overall population, would ever enter a lodge. According to later accounts based on the lodge minutes, the Masonic meetings in colonial Providence rarely saw more than eight attendees, and never more than eighteen.270 In addition, the commercial recession of the early 1760s may have made the Providence Masons more wary of initiating men who would not be able to pull their weight financially. After the initial bonanza of Masonic activity in Providence in 1757-6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDSSDUHQWO\IRXQGWKHLUVRXUFHV of recruits picked clean. Furthermore, as the later 1760s would soon show, Freemasonry in Rhode Island was not strong enough to withstand an existential challenge. As an institution, Freemasonry was defined not merely by who joined it, but equally by the practices in which it led those persons to engage. The group of well-to-do and middling merchants, artisans, and professionals that we have considered did not hold enough in common (the male gender, the English language, similar ages) to bind them together as a community. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 269 Withey, Urban Growth in Colonial Rhode Island, 15. 270 $(&! ! Rather, the Masons of colonial Rhode Island cultivated social bonds and a common ground mainly in routine closed-door meetings. Finally, the nature of these gatherings will give us some clues as to how this group of men cohered and failed to cohere. These regular meetings took place at night twice a month, usually at a tavern. As of 1758, the Providence lodge met on the first and third Wednesdays of every month, at the sign of the Two Crowns, and later moved to several other taverns on South Main Street, eventually settling on one owned by Brother Noah Mason;271 the Newport lodge mostly likely met at a tavern belonging to Christian Mayer. The business of the meetings was surely occupied largely with the management of money and the dispensing of charity; the proposal and acceptance of new candidates was also undoubtedly a frequent topic. Every stage of the meetings, however, was highly ritualized, with lodge officers invoking secret words and gestures to demarcate sacred time and space and to distinguish the lodge from the outside world. ,QDGGLWLRQWKHVHURXWLQHVZHUHSXQFWXDWHGE\IUHTXHQWGHJUHHULWXDOVDQGE\6DLQW-RKQ¶V Day celebrations. The first known Masonic feast day observance in Rhode Island was a supper KHOGRQ6DLQW-RKQWKH(YDQJHOLVW¶V Day, Dec. 27, 1753; the plan for this meal stipulated that, ³none but Masons be present´272 Within a few years, the celebrations had ballooned into extravagant feasts. These boozy festivities were surely instrumental in forging Masonic bonds, although thH\PLJKWVWUDLQWKHORGJHV¶UHVRXUFHV,Q'HFHPEHU'RFWRU(GZDUG(OOLV KRVWHGD6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\GLQQHUIRUILIW\SHUVRQVDQGZKHQKHSUHVHQWHGWKHELOOWRWKHORGJH WZRZHHNVODWHU³great exceptions were made against its exorbitancy and after some debate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 271 ³)URPWKH/RGJHDW3URYLGHQFHZLWKWKHVWDWHWKHUHRI1RYHP´%R[(/LVWHG GRFXPHQWV/LEUDU\RIWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI0DVVDFKXVHWWV /DQH¶V0DVRQLF5HFRUGV³3URYLGHQFH86´ 272 ³([WUDFWV´'HF6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, $('! ! µtwas ordered to be paid and copied in the book as a warning to future lodges to beware of the like´1RWRQO\KDG(OOLVFKDUJHGWZLFHWKHSUHYLRXVO\DJUHHG-upon sum for food, but he had lavished the Brethren with no fewer than 81 bottles of wine and 33 bowls of punch.273 Though (OOLVH[FHHGHGWKH1HZSRUWORGJH¶VUHDVRQDEOHH[SHFWDWLRQVIRUDIHVWLYHGLQQHUWKH%UHWKUHQ continued their custom of drunken festivities. Punch was the most common beverage for mass intoxication in the eighteenth century, and at some time in the 1760s, Thomas Vernon paid the PHUFKDQW-DFRE3RORFNIRURQHKXQGUHGOLPHVDQGQLQHOHPRQV³IRUWKHORGJH´ ZHPD\SUHVXPH that the Masons did not wish to use these fruits merely for their nutritional value.274 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 273 ³([WUDFWV´-DQ 274 Account Memorandum, LQ³0DVRQLF/RGJH´SLHFHV-1802, Box 52, Folder 8, NHS. $((! ! ! 4*B:-"-:%*$-%$92%GĂƐsĞƌŶŽŶƚŽĂƚƚĞŶĚĂ^ĂŝŶƚ:ŽŚŶƚŚĞĂƉƚŝƐƚ͛ƐĂLJĐĞůĞďƌĂƚŝŽŶĂƚƚŚĞDĂƐƚĞƌ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞ͕ ',@#%(-0$2,53$"-$-2,$2%G,$%($-"B,(*$%&$H2(:+-:"*$!"/,(0$R=*,$67SO8$$Q:)*,3$C/$-2,$Q,>(,-"(/0$'"-2"*:,5$ DƵŵĨŽƌĚ͘dŚĞƐĞĂůŽĨƚŚĞ͞DŽĚĞƌŶƐ͟'ƌĂŶĚ>ŽĚŐĞŽĨ ŶŐůĂŶĚŝƐƐĞĞŶ:*$-2,$=##,($5,&-8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$ ',@#%(-$T:+-%(:>"5$Q%>:,-/8 The socialization of the Masonic lodges, though regular and ritualized, was not entirely unlike that offered by other social clubs in the mid-eighteenth century. Indeed, many colonists surely chose to amuse themselves at the local tavern without elaborate ritualism and oaths of secrecy. Those who did join the Fraternity tended to be men who had something to gain and not too much to lose. The rolls of Freemasonry in Rhode Island teem with upwardly-mobile merchants, tradesmen, and professionals²ambitious strivers with an eye on the horizon. Totally absent are the great merchant-princes that held much of Rhode Island (not to mention North $()! ! America and the West Indies) in thrall²Godfrey Malbone, David Chesebrough, John Banister, Abraham Redwood, Aaron Lopez, Samuel and William Vernon. Nor does one see the political heavyweights that battled for the governorship²Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Ward, William Greene, or Joseph Wanton, Sr. Rather, one ofWHQILQGVLQWKHORGJHWKHVHPHQ¶VVRQVRU\RXQJHU EURWKHUVZKRPD\KDYHVRXJKWZD\VWRPRYHRXWRIWKHLUIDPLOLDOSDWURQ¶VVKDGRZV²not Godfrey Malbone, but his son, Francis Malbone; not Aaron Lopez, but David Lopez; not Joseph Wanton, Sr., Joseph Wanton, Jr.; not David Chesebrough, but his son-in-law, Alexander Grant. Of the wealthiest and most powerful men who did become Masons in Rhode Island² John Mawdsley, Christopher Champlin, George Gibbs, Peleg Clarke, and John and Moses Brown²most of them were born outside of Newport, whether in Britain, in Providence, or in the FRORQ\¶VZHVWHUQWRZQVWRIDPLOLHVWKDWKDGQRWSUHYLRXVO\EHHQSURPLQHQW$OORIWKHODWWHU group, at the time that they joined, belonged at best to the second tier of colonial merchants. -RKQ*UHHQZRRG¶VIDPRXVSDLQWLQJSea-Captains Carousing in Surinam, depicts a South American tavern full of Rhode Island merchants and mariners in various states of punch-induced disorder. Several figures in the painting have been identified as leading Rhode Island magnates, including Stephen Hopkins and Joseph Wanton, Sr., who are seen drowsing around a table. The only man depicted in the painting who was a Mason is Ambrose Page of Providence, seen NQHHOLQJDQGYRPLWLQJRQWR:DQWRQ¶VFRDWZKLOHa stray candle lights his rear on fire.275 In short, as far as one can ascertain from the surviving records, the Masons of colonial Rhode Island were men who had something to prove. The possibility of social advancement and the process of self-transformatiRQUHSUHVHQWHGE\0DVRQU\DSSHDOHGWRWKHP LQ7KRPDV3ROOHQ¶V ZRUGVWKH&UDIWZRXOGVHUYHWR³HQODUJHWKHQDUURZQHVVRIPHQ¶VXQGHUVWDQGLQJVWRVPRRWKWKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 275 Crane, Dependent People, xiv. $(*! ! URXJKQHVVRIWKHLUZLOOVDQGWROHYHOWKHXQHYHQQHVVRIWKHLUSDVVLRQV´276 7KHPLQLVWHU¶V elevated sentiments would be put to the test both in how the Masons presented themselves in the often-hostile public sphere, and in how they weathered the political storm that eventually destroyed colonial Rhode Island. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 276 Pollen, 16. $(+! ! Chapter ³)DLUIRU$OOWR5HDGDQG6HH´²Masonry in the Colonial Public Sphere $Q\GLVFXVVLRQRI)UHHPDVRQU\LQWKH³SXEOLFVSKHUH´PXVWEHJLQE\WDNLQJQRWHRIDQWL- Masonry. Wherever the Fraternity emerged onto the public scene, a cloud of suspicion and hostility hovered around it. As the ORGJHV¶ULWXDOSUDFWLFHVGHYHORSHGLQ6FRWODQGLQWKH seventeenth century, outsiders often associated them with witchcraft or demonism; a Scottish PLQLVWHUUHSRUWHGLQ WKDWUHVLGHQWVRIKLVSDULVKEHOLHYHGWKDWZKHQDORFDO0DVRQ³WRRNWKH Meason-worGKHGHYRXWHGKLVILUVWFKLOGWRWKHGHYLO´277 The English were susceptible to similar fears: the earliest known anti-0DVRQLFSDPSKOHWSULQWHGLQ/RQGRQLQ ZDUQHG³DOO JRGO\SHRSOH´WKDWWKH0DVRQVDUH³the Anti-Christ which was to come leading them from Fear of God.´278 These diabolical associations apparently persisted at least into the early eighteenth century, with one Brother writing to the London Grand Lodge in 1738 to lament the common SUHMXGLFHWKDWWKH0DVRQV³UDLVHWKHGHYLOLQDFLUFOH´279 Nor was there any lack of wits² whether vulgar or sublime²WRODPSRRQWKH0DVRQV¶VHFUHF\DQGKLJKSUHWHQVLRQV,Q/RQGRQLQ 1725, an anonymous author pointed out the absurdity of a passel RI³divines, some pettifoggers, some clyster-pipe men, threadmakers, tailors and weavers, and an huge bed-roll beside, of Men, FDOOLQJWKHPVHOYHV0DVRQV´ KHRUVKHVKUHZGO\FRQFOXGHGWKDWE\WKHWLWOH³0DVRQ´WKHVHPHQ ³PHDQDEXLOGHUDQGWKH\WDNHWKHZRUGEXLOGLQDILJXUDWLYHDQG0HWDSKRULFNVHQVH«,f this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 277 Alexander Telfair, A True Relation of an Apparition, Expressions, and Actings of a Spirit, which Infested the House of Andrew Mackie (Edinburgh: George Mosman, 1696), quoted in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Pamphlets, 34. 278 Flyleaf, 1696, reproduced in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Pamphlets, p. 34. 279 ³%URWKHU(XFOLG¶V/HWWHUWRWKH$XWKRU$JDLQVW8QMXVW&DYLOV´LQ-DPHV$QGHUVRQHGThe new book of constitutions of the antient and honourable fraternity of free and accepted masons. Containing their history, charges, etc. (London: James Anderson, 1738), p. 237. $(,! ! be theLUPHDQLQJ«these Gentlemen are Masoning and building up something, that it were KHDUWLO\WREHZLVK¶GWKH\ZRXOGOHWDORQH´280 Anti-Masonic sentiments followed the Fraternity to America. The association of Masonic ritual with diabolism persisted, although it was reproduced more in a spirit of malicious mockery than of religious terror. In 1739, two men in Philadelphia enacted a mock Masonic LQLWLDWLRQLQYROYLQJDPDQLPSHUVRQDWLQJWKH'HYLOLQDFRZ¶VKLGHDQGKRUQV281 Indeed, cruel satire was an almost universal pastime in the mid-eighteenth century,282 and the Masons made for easy targets, particularly due to their suspicious practice of excluding women. In the early 1750s, a series of cartoons and satirical poems in the Boston Evening-Post alleged that the Masons used their secret gatherings as a cover for homosexual sodomy.283 It is not surprising, then, that Dr. Thomas Moffitt, in his 1751 report, complained that the young Newport lodge had ³DOZD\VIURPWKHILUVWRI,QVWLWXWLRQ EHHQREOLJ¶GWRVWUXJJOH hard, among a People, Few of ZKRPDUHRXU)ULHQGV 7KRRXU3XEOLFNDYRZHGHQHPLHVKDYHGLVDSSHDU¶GRI/DWH´284 The dearth of surviving references to Masonry in Rhode Island at this early date makes it impossible WRLGHQWLI\WKHVH³DYRZHGHQHPLHV´RI0DVRQry, nor their exact accusations; perhaps they were not fit to commit to paper. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 280 Letters of Verus Commodus, 1725, reproduced in Knoop and Jones, Early Masonic Pamphlets, 137-9. 281 Nicole Eustace, Passion Is the Gale, 80. 282 Simon Dickie, Cruelty and Laughter: Forgotten Comic Literature and the Unsentimental Eighteenth Century, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. 283 7KRPDV$)RVWHU³$QWLPDVRQF6DWLUH6RGRP\ and Eighteenth-Century Masculinity in the Boston Evening-3RVW´:LOOLDPDQG0DU\4XDUWHUO\ -DQXDU\S-84. 284 ³'U0RIILWW¶V/HWWHU$ERXW $)-! ! Considering the context of continuing anti-Masonic suspicion, one must see all public Masonic acts and utterances in the eighteenth century as, on one level, efforts to defend the )UDWHUQLW\¶VLPDJH0DVRQLFSURFHVVLRQVRUDWLRQVDQGKDQGERRNVZLWKWKHLUHQGOHVV HQFRPLXPVWR³YLUWXH´³FKDULW\´DQG³EHQHYROHQFH´IRUPHGSDUWRIDFDPSDLJQWRPDQDJH 0DVRQU\¶VIUDJLOHUHSXWDWLRQ7KLVLVQRWWRVD\WKDWSXEOLF0DVRQLFDFWVVHrved only to combat anti-Masonic sentiment²EXWWKHQHHGWRGHIHQGWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VSRVLWLRQLQHLJKWHHQWK-century society, particularly in such a fractious environment as Rhode Island, formed a baseline imperative whenever the Brothers stepped out of the lRGJHURRP¶VGRRUV:KHQLQSXEOLFYLHZ the Masons strove to build a public image to match their internal self-image²as a beneficent source of order and stability in an unstable world. 7KH5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQV¶HIIRUWWRFRQVWUXFWDSXEOLFLPDJHLQDFFRUG with their own self-conceit began in June 1757, with the first known public appearance of Masons qua Masons LQ5KRGH,VODQG D6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\RUDWLRQE\WKHReverend Thomas Pollen. The prestige that Pollen must have lent to the Fraternity in Newport by acting as their spokesman is incalculable. Born in Lincoln, England and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Pollen had previously served as a curate at Anglican churches in London and Glasgow and was reputed to be worldly and well-traveled.285 He had more than likely become a Mason in Britain some time early in his career. In 1754, when he volunteered to serve in the colonies, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts dispatched him to Newport. The parishioners at Trinity had been without a minister for four years, and though they hoped to snag Samuel Johnson, a leading FRORQLDOLQWHOOHFWXDODQGRQHRIWKH³ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 285 Joseph Foster, ed., Alumni Oxonienses, 1715-1886 (Oxford U., 1891), vol. 3, p. 1172; Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity Church, 102-3. $)$! ! his ministry more than satisfactory. In addition to his worldly gentility, Pollen was a committed British patriot; in 1755, he sent off some of the Rhode Island troops with a valedictory sermon, DQGWKUHH\HDUVODWHUSXEOLVKHGDQRUDWLRQRQ³7KH0DUNVRI7UXH3DWULRWLVP´286 ! A=5#:-$%&$9(:*:-/$H2=(>20$',@#%(-0$&(%G$@2:>2$92%G"+$A%55,*$3,5:B,(,3$-2,$&:(+-$#=C5:>$!"+%*:>$"33(,++$:*$12%3,$ 4+5"*30$R=*,$UK0$67N78$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 3ROOHQ¶V0DVRQLFRUDWLRQWLWOHG³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´ZDVGHOLYHUHGDVSHU0DVRQLFFXVWRP RQ6DLQW-RKQWKH%DSWLVW¶V'D\-XQH6Xrely the Masons marched in procession to Trinity Church, displaying the jewels and regalia that the lodge had gone into debt to acquire. 2QFHWKH0DVRQVDQGWKHUHVWRIWKHDXGLHQFHZHUHVHDWHGLQ7ULQLW\¶VHOHJDQWVDQFWXDU\WKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 286 G. C. Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity Church, p. 102-120. $)%! ! minister took the pulpit and delivered an almost equally elegant sermon on Masonic themes, WDNLQJDVKLVHSLJUDSKWKH%LEOLFDOYHUVHIURP-RKQ³%HORYHGOHWXVORYHRQHDQRWKHU´ Printed the following year in Boston at the behest of the Provincial Grand Lodge, ³8QLYHUVDO/RYH,´ in addition to being the first public Masonic address in Rhode Island, was the last Masonic oration to be published in any American colony before the outbreak of revolution.287 3ROOHQ¶VVHUPRQH[SUHVVHVthe vaunting aspirations of the Masons in the later 1750s, which combined a simple Christian humanism with grandiose cosmopolitan rhetoric. The PLQLVWHUDUJXHVWKDWPDQ¶VSULQFLSDOGXW\WR*RGLVWRORYHKLVIHOORZPHQWKDW³universal love was first implanted in human nature, on purpose to draw by its magnetic virtue all men to one FHQWUHWKHFRPPRQJRRG´DQGWKDW³WKLVSULQFLSOHDORQH«FDQNHHSDQ\VRFLHW\IURPEHLQJ GLVVROYHG´288 From its Christian humanist beginning, the address launches into a classically Masonic architectural metaphor: Even Christianity itself, that most perfect society of all, that building of God so fitly framed together, is upheld by the cement of universal love. For otherwise, so FUDFN¶GDQGGLYLGHGDVLWLVLQWRVRPDQ\SDUWVZKLFKEHDUVROLWWOHFRQQHFWLRQ with one another, it would soon fall asunder.289 ,Q3ROOHQ¶VPHWDSKRULIVRFLHW\LVDFDWKHGUDOWKH0DVRQVDUe its stewards. By this point, many LQ3ROOHQ¶VDXGLHQFHPXVWKDYHDQWLFLSDWHGWKDWWKH minister would make reference to the peculiar conditions of Rhode Island, wKLFKZDVDQRWRULRXVO\IUDFWLRXVFRORQ\,QWKHPLQLVWHU¶VZRUGV universal love is especially necessary, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 287 5LFKDUGVRQ:ULJKW³7KH$PHULFDQ0DVRQLF6HUPRQ´American Lodge of Research Transactions, vol. 3, no. 2, 1939-40, p. 228; Proceedings in Masonry, 54. 288 3ROOHQ³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´ %RVWRQ *UHHQDQG5XVVHOO -12. 289 Pollen, 12. $)&! ! where a monstrous diversity of religious tenets, a mad contention about little honors, a furious clashing in worldly interests, and an unchristian enmity between rival families, are rending the very bowels of a society in pieces.290 Rhode Island, according to the minister, is in need of that emotional mortar that holds societies intact. The solution that Pollen proposes is equally predictable: And now, I presume, I need not expressly declare, that the occasion of my UHFRPPHQGLQJXQLYHUVDOORYHDWSUHVHQW«LVWKHDVVHPEOLQJWRJHWKHURIDVRFLHW\ the badge of whose profession is to promote it in the world. The Freemasons, according to Pollen, are especially suited to unite society because, unlike other XQQDPHGRUJDQL]DWLRQVWKH0DVRQLF)UDWHUQLW\³RSHQVZLGHLWVDUPVWRHYHUy nation under KHDYHQ´,W has no partisan political agenda, but ³UHOLJLRXVO\REVHUYHVWREHRIQRSDUW\DWDOO´ While the Craft does not advance the interests of any particular sect or faction, it does serve to UHILQHLWVPHPEHUVWR³VPRRWKWKHURXJKQHVVRIWKHLUZLOOV´DQGWRLQIXVHLQVRFLHW\DWODUJH³D VSLULWRISHDFHDQGXQLW\´ 291 3ROOHQ¶VYLVLRQRI)UHHPDVRQU\LQ³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´ZDVRQHWKDW could fit comfortably into the self-LPDJHRIWKH1RUWK$PHULFDQFRORQLHV¶JHQWHHOFODVVHVLQWKH middle of the eighteenth century. As colonists sought to build their own institutions, to integrate themselves into the British Empire, and to imitate the new European standards of sociability, Masonry could serve both as a milieu and as a metaphor for the reconstruction of society. 7KH0DVRQ¶VDELOLW\WRVKDSHWKHLUSXEOLFLPDJHLQFUHDVHGGUDPDWLFDOO\DIWHU3ROOHQ¶V oration; not only did far more men join the Fraternity over the course of the ensuing three years, but the initiates included a professional with skills crucial to the propagation of ideas in the eighteenth century: a printer. James Franklin, Jr., the nephew of Benjamin Franklin and son of the printer Anne Franklin, joined the Masonic lodge on December 23, 1758, just a few months !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 290 Pollen, 13. 291 Pollen, 15-16. $)'! ! DIWHUKLVODXQFKLQJRIWKHFRORQ\¶VILUVWORQJ-running newspaper, the Newport Mercury. James had surely long been aware of Masonry, having worked in the 1730s as an apprentice to Benjamin Franklin, who served as the Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of 3HQQV\OYDQLDDQGSXEOLVKHGDQHGLWLRQRI$QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions of the Free-Masons in 1734. Later chroniclers have asserted that Benjamin Franklin attended Masonic lodge meetings at Newport in January 1755, and while it is true that the doctor did pass through Rhode Island during one of his postal inspection tours in that year, no surviving documents can prove whether he attended the Newport lodge.292 Be that as it may, James Franklin, Jr. must have known that WKH0DVRQVFRXOGVHUYHDVDVRXUFHRISDWURQDJHLQ1HZSRUWDWOHDVWVLQFHKLVPRWKHU¶VZRUNVKRS had printed Masonry Dissected in 1749/50. Finally, curiosity may have spurred on his own decision to join the Masons after he published an announcement in the Mercury on December 19, 1758, summoning the Brothers to their annual celebration: Wednesday, the 27th instant, being the Anniversary of Saint John the Evangelist, the Feast of the Antient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, will be kept at Brother Christian Myers; of which this notice is given, to desire all the brethren of that )UDWHUQLW\WRDWWHQGDWKLVKRXVHDWQLQHR¶FORFN$0%\RUGHURIWKH/RGJH1DWKDQLHO MumfoUGVHFU¶\293 Franklin was then initiated on the 23rdLQWLPHWRWDNHSDUWLQWKH6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\FHOHEUDWLRQRQ the 27th. He carried a report of those festivities in the ensuing issue, of Jan. 2, 1759: Wednesday last, being the anniversary feast of St. John the Evangelist, the Brethren of the Antient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, DVVHPEOHGDWWKHFRXUWKRXVHDQGIURPWKHQFHZDON¶GLQSURFHVVLRQFORDWKHGLQ their jewels and badges, to Trinity-Church, where an excellent and well-adapted discourse was delivered, by the Reverend Mr. Pollen: after which, the remainder !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 292 Newport Mercury, Jan. 8, 1859, p. 2; Elizabeth Greene CRYHOO³7KH9LVLWVRI%HQMDPLQ Franklin to Newport, Rhode Island, A Paper Read Before the William Ellery Chapter, Daughters of the $PHULFDQ5HYROXWLRQ)HEUXDU\ ´Newport Historical Society Bulletin, No. 103 (1945), 1-16. 293 Newport Mercury, Dec. 19, 1758, p. 3. $)(! ! of the day was celebrated with a becoming and decent festivity. The next evening, a ball was given by the Fraternity; at which were present, the greatest number of gentlemen and ladies ever known at any assembly in this place.294 )UDQNOLQ¶VDQQRXQFHPHQWVDUHQRWHZRUWK\IRUERWKWKHLUFRQWHQWDQGWKHLUVW\OHClearly, the Masons had the confidence and wherewithal to repeat their performance of the previous year, with a grand SURFHVVLRQDQGDQRUDWLRQDW7ULQLW\ DOWKRXJK7KRPDV3ROOHQ¶VUHPDUNVRQWKLV occasion were not published and have not survived). The hosting of a ball on the occasion LQGLFDWHVDEROGZLOOLQJQHVVWRWHVWWKHSXEOLF¶VDPLFDELOLW\WR0DVRQU\0RUHRYHUthe Mercury¶VIODWWHULQJUHSRUWVFOHDUO\UHIOHFWWKH0DVRQV¶RZQZLVKWRSUHVHQWWKHPVHOYHVDVD UHVSHFWDEOHDQG³GHFHQW´LQVWLWXWLRQLQFRQWUDVWWRWKHGHPRQLFDQGVRGRPLWLFDODVVRFLDWLRQVWKDW VXUHO\OLQJHUHGLQVRPHFRORQLVWV¶PLQGV7KHMercury¶VUHIHUHQFHWR³WKHJUHDWHVWQXPEHURI JHQWOHPHQDQGODGLHV´HYHUDVVHPEOHGLQ1HZSRUWLVVXUHO\DQH[DJJHUDWLRQEXWZHPD\VXUPLVH WKDWWKHHYHQWZDVVXFFHVVIXOHQRXJKWREROVWHUWKH0DVRQV¶FRQILGHQFHWKURXJKWKHUHVWRIWKH year. 7KHORGJH¶VLQFUHDVLQJSXElic confidence surely helped to spur the development of a bold and unusual idea, which came to light in the summer of 1759: that of building their own Hall. On June 11 of that year, when the General Assembly convened at Newport, the Masons delivered to the deputies a petition requesting permission to hold a lottery, the proceeds of which ZRXOGEHXVHGWRHUHFW³DSXEOLFHGLILFHLQWKHWRZQRI1HZSRUWWREHFDOOHGDQGNQRZQE\WKH QDPHRI0DVRQV¶+DOO´295 7KH1HZSRUW0DVRQV¶VFKHPHZDVUHPDUNDEOHLQLWVDPbition, in its purported justification, and in the means proposed to accomplish it. Buildings constructed specifically for Masonic use were very rare in the eighteenth century both in Britain and in the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 294 Newport Mercury, Jan. 2, 1759, p. 3. 295 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 6, p. 209-10; $))! ! colonies. The majority of English-speaking lodges met in taverns²as we have seen in the case RI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFH²or in private homes. The first known Masonic Hall in the 1HZ:RUOGKDGEHHQEXLOWLQ$QWLJXDLQ WKLVZDVIROORZHGE\3KLODGHOSKLD¶V0DVRQLF Hall, a dignified but modest Georgian brick house completed in 1755.296 Erecting a lodge hall required a great deal of money, long-term coordination, and public acceptance; at that time, not even the Masons of Boston had sought to undertake such a project. Equally striking is the justification that the Masons presented for their plan: that the Hall ZRXOGVHUYHDVDYHQXHIRUSXEOLFIXQFWLRQV1HZSRUWWKHSHWLWLRQHUVSRLQWHGRXWKDG³QR SXEOLFEXLOGLQJLQLWVXIILFLHQWO\ODUJHDQGFRPPRGLRXVIRUSXEOLFHQWHUWDLQPHQWV´ZKHUH colonial or royal officials could meet and dine; hence the Masonic Hall would fulfill this purpose.297 The Brothers had a point: Newport had no large secular public buildings other than the Colony House and the Redwood Library, which might not be comfortable for festive occasions. Furthermore, they may have been aware that the Masonic Hall in Philadelphia had VHUYHGDVWKHYHQXHIRUWKDWWRZQ¶VILUVWSXEOLFFRQFHUWMXVWWZR\HDUVHDUOLHULQ298 Still, WKHSHWLWLRQHUV¶PHUJLQJRI0DVRQLFLQWHUHVWVZLWKVKDUHGFLYic interests was audacious. Finally, the very fact of the petition itself was a colonial milestone. It was not unusual for religious societies or publicly-appointed committees to hold lotteries in Rhode Island to raise funds for building projects; the custom dated at least to the construction of a new bridge in Providence in 1744, and had become commonplace in the 1750s. Still, Freemasonry was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 296 Quatuor Coronatorum Antigrapha, Masonic reprints of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, no. /RQGRQ9ROXPH;,,³7KH0LQXWHVRIWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI)UHemasons of England, 1740-´S 28; Barratt and Sachse, Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, 1727-1907 ..., Volume 1, p. 15. 297 Proceedings in Masonry, 466. 298 Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, January 20, 1757. $)*! ! IXQGDPHQWDOO\DSULYDWHDQGVHFUHWLYHRUJDQL]DWLRQGHVSLWHWKH%URWKHUV¶RFFDVLRQDOSXEOLF processions. By their petition, the Masons of Newport formally announced themselves and asked for recognition as a collective presence in Rhode Island society. This was unusual by any standard: in a small colony such as Rhode Island, legally established bodies were very rare. The main advantage of a legal existence was the ability to manage real estate, and for most of the FRORQ\¶VKLVWRU\QRRUJDQL]DWLRQRWKHUWKDQUHOLJLRXVFRQJUHJDWLRQVKDGVRXJKWWRDFWDVDOHJDO entity. Non-ecclesiastical associations flew under the legal radar. 299 The door to recognition of non-church organizations in the colony was opened in 1741 by the chartering of the Newport Artillery Company (which was, in the words of archivist Bert /LSSHQFRWW³DVRFLDOFOXEPDVTXHUDGLQJDVDQHOLWHPLOLWDU\ XQLW´ 0LOLWDU\UHDGLQHVVFOHDUO\IHOO XQGHUWKH$VVHPEO\¶VSXUYLHZDQGLQUHWXUQIRUSURPLVHVWRFRQWULEXWHWRWKHWRZQ¶VGHIHQVHWKH Artillery Company procured the right to elect its officers and to enforce its own rules in perpetuity. Once the Artillery Company blazed the trail, the Assembly granted recognition to RWKHURUJDQL]DWLRQVZLWKPRUHDPELJXRXVSXEOLFUROHVEHJLQQLQJZLWK1HZSRUW¶V/LWHUDU\DQG Philosophical Society. Both the Artillery Company and the Literary Society were followed soon DIWHUE\LPLWDWRUVLQ3URYLGHQFH3HUKDSV5KRGH,VODQG¶VPRVWLPSRUWDQWSUHFHGHQWIRUWKH Masons, though, was the Fellowship Club, a mutual aid society for Newport mariners chartered in 1754. The club collected funds to provide assistance to indigent members or to their widows and orphans; they probably procured legal recognition in order to safeguard their control over the money they amassed. Similarly, the Masons anticipated raising a large fund for their building !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 299 Sydney James, Colonial Metamorphoses in Rhode Island (Hanover: U. Press of New England, 2000): 210-1, 301. $)+! ! project, as well as the need to own and manage the prospective Hall in their own name. With these concerns in view, the lottery served as a back door to legal recognition without a charter.300 7KH0DVRQV¶SHWLWLRQDQGWKH$VVHPEO\¶VUHVSRQVHWUDFHWKHFDUHIXOFRQVWUXFWLRQRID public-private alliance. In their petition, the Masons set forth their intentions, referring to WKHPVHOYHVDV³the Master, Wardens, and Society of Free & Accepted Masons of Newport´ rather than as individuals. They propose to hold a lottery for the impressive sum of 2,400 GROODUVEXWDGGUHVVWKH$VVHPEO\¶VSRVVLEOHXQHDVHE\DVVXULQJWKHGHSXWLHVWKDWWKH\FDQ ³Dispose of the Chief of the Tickets among their Fraternity in Other Governments´7KHSHWLWLRQ is followed by three lists of names. The first list comprises forty-two Newport Masons: it begins with the five lodge officers,301 followed immediately by Thomas Pollen, Martin Howard, Jr., Augustus Johnston, Thomas Moffitt, William Hunter, Edward Cole, Thomas Vernon, Edward Ellis, and Joseph Wanton, Jr. (in that order). Clearly, the lodge by this time could put forward a fairly impressive handful of notable Newport men, in addition to the more obscure but presumably respectable names that round out the list. 302 )ROORZLQJWKHOLVWRI1HZSRUW0DVRQVLVRQHRI³0DVRQVLQ3URYLGHQFH´7KHVHWZHQW\ names include John Burgess and the other lodge officers, the three Brown brothers, Jabez Bowen, James Greene, and Samuel Angell. Finally, the petitioners append a list of sixty-two RWKHU5KRGH,VODQGUHVLGHQWV³ZKRdo hereby Humbly Recommend the Subject Matter of this Petition, as Worthy your Honors Notice & fitt to be Granted´7KHOLVWRIVXSSRUWHUVEHJLQVZLWK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 300 James, Colonial Metamorphoses, 211-9. 301 namely: Robert Jenkins, jun., Master; John Mawdesley, Senior Warden; Samuel Brenton, Junior Warden; Benjamin Mason, Treasurer; and Nathaniel Mumford, Secretary. Also featured in the list are Christian Mayer, James Franklin, and George Gardner. 302 Proceedings in Masonry, 466-7. $),! ! two of the great merchant-magnates of colonial Newport, Godfrey Malbone and Joseph Wanton. The later names include merchants and professionals from practically every prominent Rhode Island family other than the Wards. Perhaps most notable among them is the gentleman architect Peter Harrison, who had designed the neo-FODVVLFDO5HGZRRG/LEUDU\LQ1HZSRUWDQG.LQJ¶V Chapel in Boston.303 Such an endorsement by non-0DVRQVLOOXVWUDWHVWKH)UDWHUQW\¶V effectiveness in convincing at least some part of the Rhode Island elite their private goals coincided with the public interest. Clearly, the Masons had pulled out all the stops in their overture to the Assembly; ultimately, the deputies approved the petition, albeit with some careful stipulations. Their official response of June 13th laid out the scheme of prizes and appointed a committee of six men²three Masons and three non-Masons²to administer the lottery. Once the winnings had EHHQGLVWULEXWHGWKHFRPPLWWHHZRXOGWKHQSD\WKHLQSURILWVWRWKH0DVRQV¶WUHDVXUHU To prevent embezzlement or misuse of the funds, the treasurer would give the colony a security and an account of how the money was spent. The Masons and their successors would have the power to purchase and own a plot of land and the Hall that they constructed thereon. The GHSXWLHVIXUWKHUVWLSXODWHGWKDWWKH+DOORQFHEXLOWZRXOGEHDYDLODEOH³for the Celebration of all Publick Feasts & Entertainments as they may Occasionally happen´SDUWLFXODUO\DWWKHUHTXHVWRI WKH*RYHUQRUDQG$VVHPEO\³EXWIRUQRRWKHUSXUSRVHZKDWVRHYHU´ZLWKRXWWKH0DVRQV¶ permission. Finally, realizing the legal significance of this authorization and anticipating future disputes, the Assembly declared that, ³the Society aforesaid be & they are hereby Incorporated !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 303 ibid, 467-8. $*-! ! by the Name of the Master Wardens and Society of Free & Accepted Masons in the Town of 1HZSRUW´304 An official incorporation of a Masonic lodge was very unusual at this time²possibly unprecedented. Eight days after the declaration, Nathaniel Mumford wrote with obvious pride to the Provincial Grand Master in Boston, describing their plan and the approval it had gained from WKHFRORQLDOJRYHUQPHQW6WLOOKHH[SODLQHG³>D@ Chief motive with the General Assembly for granting so great a fav'r to the Masons, was the Assurance we gave them, that the chief of the Tickets would be disposed of by and among our Fraternity in the neighbouring Colonies.´:LWK WKLVFDYHDWLQPLQGKHDVNVWKH%RVWRQ%UHWKUHQWRDVVLVWLQVHOOLQJWKHWLFNHWVDQGVRWR³lend a hand to a work calculated to promote the Honor of Masonry´305 On June 26th, the Mercury reported the coming lottery, boasting that the majority of the tickets were already engaged, and that the newspaper would report the winning tickets as soon as they were drawn.306 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 304 ibid, 468-9. 305 ibid, 469-70. 306 Newport Mercury, June 26, 1759, p. 3. $*$! ! ! 9:>?,-$&%($5%--,(/$-%$(":+,$&=*3+$-%$C=:53$!"+%*+V$T"550$',@#%(-0$67NL8$$92:+$-:>?,-$@"+$+:)*,3$C/$:-+$%@*,(0$ H2(:+-%#2,($H2"G#5:*0$"$G,(>2"*-$"*3$B:>-="5:*)$"),*-$@2%$2"3$F%:*,3$-2,$5%3),$:*$67NW8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$ ',@#%(-$T:+-%(:>"5$Q%>:,-/8 The Newport Masons, in their enthusiasm, did not wait for a response from Boston before advancing with their ambitious plan. On July 3rd, the Mercury ran an announcement on EHKDOIRIWKHORGJHFDOOLQJIRU³>D@QXPEHURIFDUSHQWHUVDQGEULFN-OD\HUV´QHHGHG³WREXLOG )UHHPDVRQV+DOO´ 6RPHUHDGHUVPD\KDYHQRWHGWKHLURQ\RIDJURXSRIVR-FDOOHG³0DVRQV´ appealing for professional help in constructing a building.) Qualified workers were requested to contact one of several leading members of the lodge by no later than the 10th³as the managers are determined to proceed immediately on the work´307 The Masons must have received an encouraging response to their appeal, since the project proceeded at a rapid pace. Although they did not yet possess the capital to build the projected Hall, they must have had at least some preliminary funds or credit, for on July 18th they purchased a piece of land in Newport measuring about seventy feet by eighty-five feet, for the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 307 Newport Mercury, July 3, 1759, p. 3. The members named as representatives to contact were Robert Jenkins, jun., John Mawdsley, Samuel Brenton, Thomas Vernon, Edward Cole, William Richards, and Joseph Wanton, jun. $*%! ! sum of three hundred Spanish silver dollars.308 Soon after, they laid a foundation, and on August 20th, the Brethren met at this site to symbolically begin the construction of the Hall itself. At QRRQRQWKDWGD\-HQNLQVWKHORGJH0DVWHUODLGWKHILUVW³DQJXODUVWRQH´LQWKHQRUWKHDVWFRUQHU Mawdsley, the Senior Warden, laid the second stone in the southeast; Samuel Brenton, the Junior Warden, laid the next in the southwest; Benjamin Mason, the treasurer, in the northwest; and 1DWKDQLHO0XPIRUGWKH6HFUHWDU\ODLGDILQDOFRUQHUVWRQH³DWWKHVXUIDFHRIWKHHDUWK´LQWKH northwest, thus completing a solar cycle around the plot of land.309 The Masons must have had at least a preliminary design for the Hall when they laid these cornerstones. The exact details of the design, if they were ever devised, are not known, but around this time the Newport Masons apparently sent a basic floor plan to the Provincial Grand /RGJHLQ%RVWRQ7KLVGUDZLQJODEHOHG³3ODQRI0DVRQ+DOOSXUSRVHGLQ1HZSRUW´VXUYLYHVLQ the library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts among other eighteenth-century correspondence from Rhode Island. It is unsigned, but one can reasonably conjecture that Peter Harrison was its likely draftsman. Carl Bridenbaugh, in his 1949 study of the eminent architect, makes note of the lottery and cornerstone-OD\LQJIRU0DVRQV¶+DOODQGFRQFOXGHVWKDW+DUULVRQPXVWKDYH drawn up the plans for the structure. Harrison was by far the most accomplished architect in New England, and would have been the obvious choice for a new building of public significance. :KDWLVPRUHDOWKRXJKKHZDV³QRMRLQHU´DOORI+DUULVRQ¶VFORVHIULHQGVLQ1HZSRUWZHUH Freemasons, such as John Mawdsley, Thomas Moffitt, William Hunter, and the lawyers Augustus Johnston and Martin Howard, Jr. According to Bridenbaugh, Harrison probably !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 308 Deed of sale, John Cahoone to Jenkins, Mawdsley, and Brenton, July 18, 1759, recopied May 29, 1797, Land Evidences 6:431-3, NHS. 309 Newport Mercury, Sep. 16, 1876, p. 6. A Masonic account of this ceremony was reportedly copied from the then-H[WDQWUHFRUGVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH $*&! ! signed the lottery petition in the expectation that he would receive the commission to design the edifice.310 ! $͞WůĂŶŽĨDĂƐŽŶ,Ăůů͕ƉƵƌƉŽƐĞĚŝŶEĞǁƉŽƌƚ͕͟ĐĂ͘ϭϳϱϵ͕ƉŽƐƐŝďůLJďLJWĞƚĞƌ,ĂƌƌŝƐŽŶ͘/ŵĂŐĞďLJƉĞƌŵŝƐƐŝŽŶŽĨƚŚĞ P("*3$I%3),$%&$!"++">2=+,--+8$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 310 ³$3ODQRI0DVRQ+DOOSXUSRVHGLQ1HZSRUW´%R[(³/LVWHG'RFXPHQWV´OLEUDU\RIWKH Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Boston; Carl Bridenbaugh, Peter Harrison, First American Architect (U. of North Carolina Press, 1949), 104-5, 124. What is more, at some point in the twentieth century, Gladyce Carr Bolhouse, archivist of the Newport Historical Society, copied a note from the then- VXUYLYLQJ1HZSRUW0DVRQLFORJERRNGDWHG0DUFK ³9RWHGWKDWWLFNHWVLQ0+/RWWHU\EH given to Capt. Peter Harrison for his trouble in drawing up the plan of Mason¶V+DOO´7KLVQRWHLVIRXQG RQDFDUGLQWKHPDQXVFULSWVFDUGFDWDORJXQGHU³0DVRQV´1HZSRUW+LVWRULFDO6RFLHW\ $*'! ! ! ŽŶũĞĐƚƵƌĂůƌĞĐŽŶƐƚƌƵĐƚŝŽŶŽĨƚŚĞ,Ăůů͛ƐƐŽƵƚŚĞůĞǀĂƚŝŽŶ͕ďĂƐĞĚŽŶƚŚĞĂďŽǀĞ$#5"*$"*3$%*$G:3X,:)2-,,*-2X >,*-=(/$+-/5,+0$C/$"(>2:-,>-=("5$2:+-%(:"*$R%2*$!:55"(0$UO6U8$ $ ! Whoever its creator, the drawing shows the rudimentary plan for a large and stately building. The central hall would have been commodious at about 930 square feet, and the eastern and western wings reflect the elegant, symmetrical patterns of the Palladian style. The substantial walls, at 18 to 34 inches thick, were clearly those of a brick building, which is FRQVLVWHQWZLWKWKH0DVRQV¶DGYHUWLVHPHQWFDOOLQJIRUEUicklayers. It was customary for Peter Harrison to offer multiple possible designs of varying expense for a given site, and this one may represent the most ambitious option.311 It is impossible to know whether the Masons intended to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 311 $XWKRU¶VSHUVRQDOFRUUHVSRQGHQFHZLWK-RKQ0LOODU $*(! ! follow this impressive design when they laid the groundwork for the Hall in July 1759, but the GUDZLQJ¶VVXUYLYDOLQWKH*UDQG/RGJH¶VDUFKLYHVXJJHVWVWKDWWKH\VHULRXVO\HQWHUWDLQHGWKHLGHD 7KHSUHFLVHEXLOGLQJHQYLVLRQHGLQWKH³3ODQRI0DVRQ+DOO´QHYHUFDPHWREH7KH Freemasons apparently left the foundations of the Hall in place after the August ceremony, pending the collection of funds from the lottery. The drawing of prizes, scheduled for September 28thZDVSRVWSRQHGVLQFHWKHORWWHU\FRPPLWWHHKDGQRWUHFHLYHG³any certain advice from the neighboring colonies, of their success in the sale of the tickets sent thHP´7KH%UHWKUHQLQ Boston may have had little appetite for lottery tickets supporting a Masonic hall in Newport²a town that many Bostonians viewed as an untrustworthy rival. In the Mercury of October 9th, the Masons apologized for the delay and assured ticket-holders that a drawing would surely take place soon, especially since only a few tickets remained unsold in Rhode Island. We do not know whether the drawing was ever held or the money ever disbursed, since the Mercury never mentioned the lottery again.312 In August 1760, one year after the Masonic cornerstone-laying, an Anglican vicar from Leicestershire, Andrew Burnaby, visited Newport as part of his tour of the American colonies. 7KH\RXQJYLFDUZDVLQWHUHVWHGLQDUFKLWHFWXUHEXWIRXQG1HZSRUWXQLPSUHVVLYHZLWK³IHZ EXLOGLQJVLQLWZRUWKQRWLFH´+HDGPLWWHGWKDWWKH&RORQ\+RXVHZDV³LQGHHGKDQGVRPH´DQG WKH5HGZRRG/LEUDU\³QRWLQHOHJDQW´WKRXgh spoiled by the two wings that flanked the neo- FODVVLFDOIDoDGH$VIRUWKHFKXUFKHV³QRWRQHRIWKHP>ZDV@ZRUWKORRNLQJDW´+HVDZ promise, though, in the elegant plans for the market building and for the interior of the Jewish synagogue (both designed by Harrison and yet to be completed), and noted WKDW³the foundation of a very pretty building is laid for the use of the Free Masons, to serve also occasionally for an !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 312 Newport Mercury, 9 October 1759, p. 4 $*)! ! assembly-URRP´313 7KH0DVRQV¶+DOODSSDUHQWO\UHPDLQHGLQWKHVWDWHLQZKLFKWKHEnglish vicar found it, suspended in the imagination, set atop a carefully placed foundation that remained untouched and unimproved, for more than forty years.! 7KHIDLOXUHRIWKH0DVRQV¶+DOOSURMHFWLQ -60 should serve as a warning to present- day audiences against assuming a friendly or easy relationship between Freemasonry and the wider public. Although the collapse of the lottery reportedly stemmed from the refusal by Masons in other colonies to buy tickets, this recourse was only necessary in the first place because the Assembly was not confident that all of the tickets would be bought within Newport. 2QWKHRQHKDQGLWLVLPSRVVLEOHWRFRQFHLYHPXFKOHVVJDXJHWKHVWDWHRI³SXEOLFRSLQLRQ´ regarding Masonry before the development of what JürgeQ+DEHUPDVIDPRXVO\FDOOVWKH³SXEOLF VSKHUH´²the set of practices and institutions, such as newspapers, through which subjects could respond to the state and public events; this public sphere was still in its nascent stage in Newport in the 1750s. Hence, it is fruitless to try to measure public opinion toward Masonry in 1759. On the other hand, it is surely not the case that, as some audiences might be tempted to suppose, Masonry was itself a part of the colonial public sphere. Secretive and personally intimate, the Masonic lodge was nearly the opposite of what Habermas calls Öffentlichkeit²openness. Indeed, the relationship between the Masonic lodge and the pillars of the Enlightenment and the public sphere in Newport were tenuous. Before the publicatLRQRI-DPHV)UDQNOLQ¶V Mercury, the Newport institution that most clearly typified the supposedly enlightened intellectual spirit of the age was the recently-formed Literary and Philosophical Society, along with its creature, the Redwood Library. A handful of Masons played leadership roles in the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 313 Andrew Burnaby, %XUQDE\¶V7UDYHOV7KURXJK1RUth America (New York, A. Wessels Company, 1904): 120-1. $**! ! Society and its library, but these links can easily be exaggerated. In general, Masonic lodges tended to spring up in American towns around the same time that genteel, intellectual social institutions appeared, such as a philosophical society, a library, and a liberal arts college. Newport certainly seems to follow this pattern, with the Philosophical Society organizing around 1730 under the influence of George Berkeley, and in turn opening the first lending library in 1RUWK$PHULFDLQMXVWWZR\HDUVEHIRUHWKHIRUPDWLRQRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHThis concordance does not necessarily imply that institutions shared a common commitment to enlightened sociability or open intellectual exchange. In Newport, the overlap between these institutions was very small. None of the eight recorded founders of the Philosophical Society in the 1730s went on to become a Mason, and only one of the eight founding directors of the Library Company in 1747 did so, although Thomas Moffitt was also an early participant and donor. Of the first 16 new members who joined the library in its early years, only one was a Mason.314 Over the course of the 1750s, only a small minority of the directors and leading members of the Library Company were Masons, although a few of them did fulfill important institutional duties. For instance, Thomas Moffitt served as the Librarian in 1750, and Martin Howard, Jr. filled that office from 1752 to 1755. Most importantly, the lawyer and postmaster Thomas Vernon was the secretary of the library from 1752 to 1765 and became a Mason in 1756.315 The 6RFLHW\¶VUXOHVFDOOHGIRUDOLPLWHGQXPEHURIPHPEHUVFROOHFWLRQRIGXHVEDOORWLQJIRUWKH election of new members, and most significantly, absolute secrecy surrounding their !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 314 Masons, ed., Annals of Redwood Library and Athenaeum, p. 12-21, 33-4. 315 Ibid, p. 45. $*+! ! philosophical discussions.316 The Masons who took part in the Literary and Philosophical Society must have found a great deal of similarity to the Masonic lodge in its organizational forms and its secrecy. The overlap between the two institXWLRQV¶OHDGHUVKLSVXUHO\VWHPPHGIURP the similar organizational skills and customs that they required, more than from shared commitment to open intellectual debate. The close coincidence in the appearance of Masonic lodges and literary and philosophical societies probably stems merely from urban growth and the attainment of a critical mass of population needed to support such voluntary organizations, rather than from shared ideas or agendas. After the failure of the Hall lottery and the onset of commercial recession in 1760, the ORGJHDSSDUHQWO\KDGWRWXUQWRQHZVRXUFHVRILQLWLDWHV7KHORGJH¶VSDWWHUQVRIUHFUXLWPHQWLQ the early 1760s are ambiguous, suggesting that while the Masons strove to cultivate a benevolent, humanitarian image of themselves, they nonetheless remained marginal and suspect in the eyes of Reformed Protestant moralists. The initiation that most clearly reflects the 0DVRQV¶DPELJXRXVSRVLWLRQLVWKDWRI2ZHQ0RUULVWKHLWLQHUDQWDFWRU 317 Nothing at all is NQRZQRI0RUULV¶HDUO\ life, but playbills and newspaper reports show that he was a founding PHPEHURI'DYLG'RXJODVV¶DFWLQJWURXSHZKLFKGHEXWHGRQWKH1HZ LQ1HZ $*,! ! subjects moral, instructive, or entertaining´,Q WKH\SHUIRUPHGLQ3KLODGHOSKLDZKHUHD backlash from the Baptist and Presbyterian churches led to an outright ban the following year. During this time, Morris mainly had to content himself with small roles, although in Philadelphia he had the distinction of playing Horatio in the first performance of Hamlet ever staged in America. With time, he gained popularity as a comic actor, particularly portraying older men such as Polonius and Friar Lawrence.318 After tours through Maryland and Virginia, the players journeyed to Newport early in 1761. They arrived carrying a letter of recommendation from the governor of Virginia, vouching for their good character and ability to entertaiQ³DVHQVLEOHDQGSROLWHDXGLHQFH´7KHGHWDLOVRI their ensuing series of performances in Newport and Providence are unclear, but they represent the first known public theatrical stagings in New England. The troupe reportedly used a refitted warehouse LQWKH(DVWRQ¶V3RLQWQHLJKERUKRRGDVWKHLUVWDJH0RUULVKLPVHOISUHVHUYHGDSOD\ELOO IURPRQHRIWKHLUSHUIRUPDQFHVRQ-XQHZKLFKZDVODEHOHGDVDVHULHVRI³PRUDO GLDORJXHV´WDNHQIURP6KDNHSVHDUH¶VOthello. After a successful summer season, on September 7th, the troupe staged a comic performance for charity; all proceeds went into the care of the merchant George Gibbs for the purpose of providing the poor of the town with grain, which was expected to be scarce due to drought. The charity performance served to bolster the theatrical WURXSH¶VPRUDOUHVSHFWDELOLW\ DUHSRUWLQWKH1HZ IHOORZFUHDWXUHV´LVDQH[SUHVVLRQRI³the only true and undefiled religion´2Q6HSWHPEHUth, just nine days after the charity performance, Owen Morris was initiated as a Mason. George !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 318 George O. Seilhamer, History of the American Theater: Before the Revolution (vol. 1). Philadelphia: Globe Printing House, 1888, p. 87-121. $+-! ! Gibbs, the merchant who administered the charitable proceeds, had been a Mason since the previous spring, and it may very well have been he that first proposed Morris to the lodge as a candidate.319 7KHSOD\HUV¶VRMRXUQLQ5KRGH,VODQGFRXOGQRWVXVWDLQLWVVXFFHVVIRUORQJ,Q 1RYHPEHU'RXJODVV¶WURXSHFORVHGWKHLUVHDVRQLQ1HZSRUWZLWK another charity performance. The following summer, they staged a so-FDOOHG³FRQFHUWRIPXVLF´LQDQHZEULFNVFKRROKRXVHLQ Providence. Pietistic agitation soon prompted the Rhode Island Assembly to prohibit all theatrical stagings on August 30, 1762. Reportedly, the sheriff of Providence County, Paul Tew, who was also a Mason, attended the theater that night and sat through the entire performance before rising to the stage and proclaiming the ban. Afterward, the troupe may have made a last attempt to mount a performance in their old warehouse in Newport, but the building was destroyed in a storm. Thereafter, the players finally fled New England. Owen Morris and his wife went on to successful careers on the stage, but their Rhode Island sojourn in 1761-2 remained the only theatrical performances seen in New England before the Revolution.320 2ZHQ0RUULV¶LQLWLDWLRQLVDQLQGLFDWLRQRIWKH0DVRQV¶ZLOOLQJQHVVWRVWake their reputation on possibly FRQWURYHUVLDOPHQ0RUULV¶WUDGHZDVUHJDUGHGZLWKVXVSLFLon or outright hostility by many in the colony and throughout British North America. The Masons saw WKHPVHOYHVDVSURPRWHUVRI³YLUWXH´DQGWKH1HZ ODWLWXGLQDULDQPRUDOVHQVLELOLW\PXFKOLNH3ROOHQ¶V³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´EXWWKHPHDQLQJVRIVXFK vague platitudes did not command consensus. The Masons did not understand moral terms in the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 319 Seilhamer,122-6; Special Return for Newport. 320 Seilhamer, 125-7. $+$! ! VDPHPDQQHUDVWKH&RQJUHJDWLRQDOFOHUJ\ ZKHUH5KRGH,VODQG¶VWUDGLWLRQDOPRUDOLVWVVDZ³vice, luxury and debauchery´WKH0DVons chose to see the virtue of humanitarianism. 7KH0DVRQV¶FKDQJLQJVWDQGLQJLQWKHFRORQLDOVRFLHW\RIWKHVLVHPERGLHGRQD larger and more consequential scale by their tie to the Jewish community. As discussed in the preceding chapter, six Jewish colonists became Masons in Newport after 1760; what is more, the -HZLVKJURXS¶VGHWHUPLQDWLRQWREXLOGDV\QDJRJXHDOPRVWVXUHO\SURYLGHGDPRGHODQG LQVSLUDWLRQIRUWKH0DVRQV¶DWWHPSWWREXLOGD+DOO7KHFRQVWUXFWLRQRIHGLILFHVZKLFKERWK display the permanent presence of a social group and conceal their private actions within, can symbolize the ambiguous relationship between those groups and the outside world. Even after years of modest success and prosperity, Jews were still quasi-outsiders with an unclear position in the colony; it is therefore all the more remarkable that this small group decided to pursue the ambitious idea of constructing a house of worship. Hitherto, the small congregation had gathered to worship in private homes. Towards the beginning of 1759, an assembly of Newport Jews selected a committee of three trustees to procure a plot of land on which they could build a synagogue. Over the course of that spring, they sent letters to fellow Jewish communities in New York, Jamaica, and other Caribbean colonies, asking for financial assistance in their undertaking. They must have received some generous support from their coreligionists, for soon after, the committee bought a plot of land slightly up the hill from the Parade, overlooking the center of town. A group of six dignitaries laid cornerstones for the prospective synagogue and Hebrew school on August 1, 1759, just nineteen days before the five 0DVRQLFORGJHRIILFHUVODLGWKHFRUQHUVWRQHVIRUWKHLU0DVRQV¶+DOO3HWHU+DUULVRQ, the likely $+%! ! designer of the Masonic edifice, also drew up plans for the Jewish house of worship. Indeed, even if the parallels were accidental, contemporaries could hardly have failed to notice them.321 With the beginning of the synagogue construction project, any Rhode Islander must have perceived that the Jewish congregation was a permanent and visible feature of the Newport landscape. Still, the Jewish community was not immune to prejudice or controversy; as one song composed by a native of Newport in WKHVDWWHVWVVRPHFRORQLVWVUHYLOHGWKH³V\QDJRJXHRI 6DWDQ´LQWKHLUPLGVW322 The Lopez brothers played a significant role in the continuing saga of the Newport synagogue. Aaron laid one of the cornerstones in August 1759, and thereafter, the building project proceeded in fits and starts, with the congregation acquiring the bricks needed to build the main body of the edifice a year later. The Jewish group soon ran out of funds, however, and construction ceased in 1761. Moses Lopez then took up the office of Parnas or lay president of the congregation in 1762, and re-started the project; by July 1763 he was able to report to donors and supporters that the main structure, including the interior pillars, were completed, and the synagogue lacked only the permanent furniture. The largest share of the funds for the project came from New York, but Moses and Aaron Lopez also contributed towards the completion and embellishment of the building.323 Four months later, the completed synagogue was finally ready to be consecrated. The ceremony took place on December 2nd, the first day of Chanukah, evoking the re-dedication of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 321 Gutstein, 81-95; Bridenbaugh, Peter Harrison: First American Architect (Chapel Hill: U. of North Carolina Press, 1949): 98-104. 322Gutstein, 85- ³1RWHVLQ1HZSRUWLQ´Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, 12 (1919), 51, quoted in Elaine Crane, A Dependent People, ii; Newport Mercury, January 1, 1760, p. 3. 323 Gutstein, 95-7; Chyet, Lopez of Newport, 52-61. $+&! ! the Temple at Jerusalem under the Maccabees. It was led by Isaac Touro, the young cantor from Amsterdam, and witnessed by a gathering of Newport dignitaries and clergy, as well as Jewish UHSUHVHQWDWLYHVIURP1HZ GHFRUXP´RIWKHRFFDVLRQE\WKH³KDUPRQ\DQGVROHPQLW\RIWKHPXVLF´DQGE\WKHVLPSOH grandeur of Peter Harrison¶VGHVLJQ$WHDFKVWDJHRIWKHV\QDJRJXH¶VSURJUHVVPRUH-HZVKDG entered into the Masonic fold. Most notably, the first Jewish initiate, Moses Isaacs, joined the evening after the Jewish community registered its ownership of the plot of land in 1760. Moses Lopez joined in July 1763, while he was serving as Parnas and overseeing the completion of the building. Evidently, the fates of the two institutions were intertwined²although the Newport Jews had, with the help of their coreligionists abroad, succeeded in doing what the Masons had failed to achieve. For reasons that we will see in chapter 7, Freemasonry fell into dormancy in the later 1760s; ironically, it is from this very period that evidence of the public perception of Masonry abounds. Despite James Franklin, Jr.¶VGHDWKLQUHIHUHQFHVWR0DVRQU\PXOWLSOLHGLQWKH Mercury and in the Providence Gazette, inaugurated in the same year. By this time, Rhode Islanders were clearly aware of Freemasonry in their midst, although it remained an enigma. Ships with Masonic names were curiously common, though they could not have revealed much about the nature of the Craft apart from its popularity among mariners. Captain James Rogers sailed to the West Indies in 1763 in a schooner named the Free-Mason, which he then sold to a Captain Bradfield, who used it for several years to shuttle back and forth from Newport to Virginia and North Carolina. After selling the vessel, Rogers ran a shop which he marked with $+'! ! WKH³)UHH-0DVRQ¶V$UPV´324 Perhaps prophetically, in January 1765, Newporters received reports of a schooner, the Freemason, that had taken on water on its way from Boston to Grenada, and whose crew was only narrowly rescued before the vessel foundered.325 In addition, the Mercury and the Providence Gazette occasionally reprinted reports of Masonic events in Europe and America, such as a large donation that the Masons of Stockholm made to an orphanage in that city in 1760326 and the eulogy given by a Mason at Hartford, Connecticut in 1766 for the recently deceased Duke of Cumberland.327 Most significantly, booksellers in Newport mentioned Masonic handbooks in their inventories. In 1762, the keeper of a store on the Long Wharf advertised, among other books of history, divinity, poetry, and mathematics, a volume titled Jachin and Boaz: or, an authentic key to Free-Masonry; this short book would later serve as a ritual guide for Rhode Island Masons. In 1764, a Captain Hanners DGYHUWLVHGDORQJZLWKPDULQHU¶VPDSVDQGFDOHQGDUVD³)UHHPDVRQ¶V3RFNHWFRPSDnion´328 We cannot know how many copies of these two booklets ever reached a non-Masonic audience, but regardless of their availability, public understanding of the Craft remained vague. ,QWKHSXEOLF¶VH\HVWKH)UDWHUQLW\ZDVHYLGHQWO\V\QRQ\PRXVZLWKVecrecy. In 1767, the Mercury printed a report of roving bandits in the backcountry of Virginia and North Carolina !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 324 Newport Mercury, Dec. 11, 1769, p. 4; March 14, 1763, p. 3; Aug 22, 1763, p. 3 ; Sep. 12, 1763, p.3; June 11, 1764, p. 3; Aug. 6, 1764, p. 3; April 15, 1765, p.3; Nov. 4, 1765, p. 3, Sep. 8, 1766, p. 3; Jan. 19, 1767, p. 3; Feb. 16, 1767, p. 3; Nov. 10, 1766; May 16, 1768, p. 3; Jan. 9, 1769, p. 3. James 5RJHUVEHFDPHD0DVRQDW1HZSRUWLQ WKHUHLVQRLQGLFDWLRQRI%UDGILHOG¶V0DVRQLFPHPEHUVKLS 325 Newport Mercury, Jan. 14 , 1765, p. 3. We can only speculate as to whether Newport Masons WRRNWKHLQFLGHQWDVDQRPHQRIWKHLURZQORGJH¶VIDWH 326 Newport Mercury, Sep. 23, 1760, p. 2; May 2, 1763, p. 1; Providence Gazette, Aug. 8, 1767, p. 2; Dec. 3, 1768, p. 2; -Jan. 7, 1769, p. 3; -Aug. 12, 1769, p. 3. 327 Newport Mercury, March 3, 1766, p. 1. 328 Newport Mercury, Sep. 7, 1762, p. 4; Dec. 31, 1764, p. 1. $+(! ! ZKRPHWLQVHFUHWKLGHRXWV³ZKHUH«!they form plans of operation and defense, and (alluding to their secrecy and fidelity to each other) call those places Free-Masons lodges.´329 In the same year, the Providence Gazette reprinted a poem from a Virginia newspaper, in which an unnamed \RXQJ0DVRQUHVSRQGHGWRVHYHUDOZRPHQZKRKDGEHHQVXVSLFLRXVRI0DVRQU\¶V ³P\VWHULRXVQHVV´ WKHYHUVHERDVWVWKDt the Masons had maintained their silence for generations, DQG³XQUHYHDO¶GRXUP\VWHULHVUHPDLQ´330 The Masons themselves, on their part, seem to have taken the building metaphor seriously, adopting institutional organization as their own proper public role. Members of the lodge often spearheaded the creation of new institutions and voluntary associations, mimicking WKHLUP\WKLFDOIRXQGHUVZKRFRQVWUXFWHG6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH)RULQVWDQFHWKHIRXQGLQJ members of the Marine Society, a mutual aid organization for mariners chartered in 1753, included several Masons, John Mawdsley among them.331 William Ellery and the Brown brothers were instrumental in founding the College of Rhode Island in 1764, with Ellery co- authoring the charter.332 During the chaos of the Stamp Act crisis, Whig Masons were among the first Rhode Islanders to form Patriot political organizations. In April 1766, the Sons of Liberty, represented by four men, including the Masons William Ellery and John Collins, purchased a buttonwood tree on Broadway to use as a Liberty Tree;333 furthermore, the January 1766 Masonic announcement in the Mercury suggests a strong link between the two !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 329 Newport Mercury, Sep. 7, 1767, p. 1. 330 Providence Gazette, Jan. 24, 1767, p. 4. 331 Newport Historical magazine, no. 1, vol. 2, July 1881³QRWHVDQGTXHULHV´S. 332 Martha Mitchell, Encyclopedia Brunoniana³&KDUWHU´ 333 Book of land evidences no. 15, p. 513-14, cited in Newport Mercury, Jan 8, 1820, p. 1. $+)! ! RUJDQL]DWLRQVUHIOHFWHGLQWKHDXWKRUV¶XVHRIWKHSKUDVH³WKHWUXH-ERUQ6RQVRI/LEHUW\´LQ reference to themselves. Later, in 1770, the Masons John Collins and Francis Malbone would EHFRPHHDUO\PHPEHUVRIWKHWRZQ¶V&RPPLWWHHRI&RUUHVSRQGHQFH334 Indeed, the Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence, with their secret cells connected by networks of mutuDOUHFRJQLWLRQFDQEHVHHQDVPLPLFNLQJWKH0DVRQVDSSURSULDWLQJWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶V institutional forms for political ends. )LQDOO\ZHPXVWQRWHZKDWLVPLVVLQJERWKIURPWKH0DVRQV¶SURQRXQFHPHQWVDERXW themselves and from comments about them by outsiders. While Masons appeared frequently as institutional organizers outside the lodge, they did not announce themselves as such. The relationship between Masonry and the proliferation of civic institutions in the 1760s can only be inferred. More importantly, no commentator in Rhode Island ever linked Freemasonry with experimental philosophy or with Newtonian science. Any link between the Craft and natural philosophy was too weak for any friend or enemy to note in the surviving records. This is not to say that no Mason took an interest in natural philosophy²as mentioned earlier, Joseph Brown, the Worshipful Master of the Providence lodge in the 1760s, was an avid experimenter²nor even to say that Freemasonry did not encourage such an interest. It is merely to say that the relationship between the two realms of knowledge, like that between Masonry and Redwood Library, was indirect and hidden by hand a veil of secrecy and coded language. Be that as it may, on June 3, 1769, Joseph Brown spearheaded the most noteworthy event in Providence that year. Eight years earlier, astronomers had observed the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun and used their measurements to calculate the distance between the Sun and the Earth. As another transit was expected in 1769, Joseph Brown ordered the necessary !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 334 Newport Mercury, June 2, 1860, p. 1. $+*! ! instruments to observe the barely visible phenomenon and to test the previous calculations. On the morning of June 3rd, he and his friend Benjamin West staked out a site just east of Benefit Street, at the foot oIZKDWLVQRZFDOOHG7UDQVLW6WUHHW7KHUHWKH\VHWXS³a three feet reflecting telescope, with horizontal and vertical wires for taking differences of altitudes and azimuths, adjusted with spirit-levels at right angles, and a divided arch for taking altitudes; a curious helioscope, together with a micrometer of a new and elegant construction.´$LGHGE\VHYHUDO intellectual friends and relations, including Moses Brown and Jabez Bowen, the two amateur astronomers operated this gargantuan apparatus, as a small crowd of curious Rhode Islanders gathered around them. Finally, the tiny silhouette of Venus made its brief appearance. Brown and West recorded their observations to send to Europe and took down their instruments as the crowd dispersed.335 Only a few GD\VDIWHU%URZQ¶VREVHUYDWLRQRIWKHWUDQVLWRI9HQXVWKHORGJHRYHUZKLFK he had presided for seven years closed down. Whether the two events had any relation to one DQRWKHULVDTXHVWLRQWKDWZHPXVWOHDYHXQWLODODWHUFKDSWHU7KH0DVRQV¶VHFUHF\as all observers at the time knew, allowed for a continual game of masking and unmasking; activities whose exoteric meanings reinforced a generic image of gentility, beneficence, and good order could take on much more complex emotional, religious, and cosmic significance in the context of WKH0DVRQ¶VHVRWHULFWKRXJKW,WZLOOEHRXUWDVNLQ&KDSWHU 6 to take up this game of unmasking, more than two centuries later, and so to uncover the deeper meanings of Masonry in the so-called age of Enlightenment. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 335 %HQMDPLQ:HVW³$Q$FFRXQWRIWKH2EVHUYDWLRQRI9HQXVXSRQWKH6XQWKHWKLUGGD\RI-XQH 1769, at Providence, in New England. With some account of the use of those observations. By Benjamin :HVW´3URYLGHQFH -RKQ&DUWHUDW6KDNHVSHDU¶V+HDG $QQDOVRIWKH7RZQRI3URYLGHQFH $++! ! $+,! ! Chapter 5: The T rials of Early F reemasonry in Jamaica, 1739-1780 The Rhode Island Masons lived in a world of islands. People, goods, and information circulated constantly along a network of sea lanes, whose nodes were mostly islands²Britain, Ireland, Nantucket, Manhattan, Hispaniola, and the Lesser Antilles, aside from Aquidneck itself; in the mid-eighteenth-century Atlantic, islands were anything but insular. Still, probably no other island was as socially and economically critical to Newport and Providence as was -DPDLFD7KHODUJHVWDQGPRVWYDOXDEOHRI%ULWDLQ¶V$PHULFDQSRVVHVVLRQV-DPDLFD¶VHFRQRP\ complemented that of the smaller settlements around Narragansett Bay. Rhode Island merchants could supply the southern island with lumber, hides, fish, and other provisions in return for tropical goods²particularly molasses, which Rhode Islanders distilled into rum. The close and lucrative relationship between Rhode Island and Jamaica affected all institutions in the smaller colony, including Masonry. As we saw in Chapter 3, the first Worshipful Master of the Providence lodge, John Burgess, voyaged frequently to Jamaica, where KHHYHQWXDOO\UHVHWWOHGDQGWKH5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQV¶ILUVWSXEOLFVSRNHVPDQWKH5HY7KRPDV Pollen, also sought out a more prosperous life in Kingston. Alexander Grant, the well-connected RIILFLDOZKRVH6FRWWLVKSDWURQKDGUHEXLOWWKHLUIDPLO\¶VIRUWXQHLQVXJDUFOHDUO\PDLQWDLQHGWLHV to Jamaica after resettling in Newport; his fine portrait, by the Jacobite painter Cosmo AlH[DQGHUVKRZVKLPKROGLQJDOHWWHUDGGUHVVHG³7R$OH[DQGHU*UDQW/DWHRI-DPDLFD´336 Moreover, as we will see further in later chapters, distinctive Masonic beliefs and practices !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 336 $UW,QVWLWXWHRI&KLFDJR³Alexander Grant´ $,-! ! traveled from the Old Word to the New through Jamaica, eventually following social and commercial links to find a new breeding-ground in Rhode Island. Any attempt to understand Freemasonry in colonial Rhode Island, or in colonial British America more generally, must take account of the Freemasons of Jamaica. The latter island was the principal hub of Freemasonry in the New World by 1770, and the Masonic experience there constitutes an essential background and point of comparison for other colonies. The history of early Freemasonry in Jamaica, in so far as it can be reconstructed from surviving records, is one of a fierce struggle for permanence and for the emotional benefits of the Craft amidst social instability, institutional chaos, and frequent death. Jamaica was originally colonized by the Spanish, whose diseases nearly wiped out the indigenous Taino inhabitants. For its first 150 years under European rule, the island was populated by small numbers of European traders and cattle-ranchers and their slaves; the Spanish crown granted stewardship of the island to a Portuguese family, who encouraged a large number of their countrymen to migrate there. In 1655, the English government under Cromwell dispatched an expedition to conquer Hispaniola which, failing in its original mission, captured Jamaica instead. Over the next half-century, the English aggressively populated the island, creating a dense, mostly sugar-producing plantation society on the model of Barbados. By the mid-VWKHRYHUZKHOPLQJPDMRULW\RIWKHLVODQG¶VLQKDELWDQWVZHUHVODYHVPDQDJHGE\VPDOO cadres of (XURSHDQSODQWHUVDGPLQLVWUDWRUVPHUFKDQWVDQGDUWLVDQV7KHLVODQG¶VPDLQFRORQLDO towns were Santiago de la Vega, a Spanish village which the English adopted as their capital and FDPHWRFDOO³6SDQLVK7RZQ´ 3RUW5R\DODQDFWLYHKXERIWUDGHDQGSLracy which was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1692; and Kingston, a newer commercial center that sprang up after the destruction of Port Royal. $,$! ! The first known Masonic lodge in Jamaica, organized at Kingston, procured a charter in 1739, just a few years after the chartering of the first lodges at Boston and Philadelphia. Most of -DPDLFD¶VHDUO\0DVRQLFUHFRUGVZHUHGHVWUR\HGE\ILUHVRWKHIRXQGHUVRIWKLV³0RWKHU/RGJH´ at Kingston are unknown, but they probably included British soldiers, sailors, and merchants. Following the formation of the Mother Lodge, The London Grand Lodge granted charters to groups of Brethren at Port Royal in 1742, at Spanish Town in 1746, and at Port Maria, on the LVODQG¶VQRUWKHUQVKRUHLQ5HFRJQL]LQJWKHLPSRrtance of this new Masonic province, the Grand Lodge appointed a rapid and confused succession of Provincial Grand Masters for Jamaica, naming the planter Ballard Beckford, the merchant George Hynde, and the planter Alexander Crawford to the post, all before 1742²nor would these be the last. In addition, in WKH*UDQG/RGJHRI6FRWODQGFKDUWHUHGD-DPDLFDQORGJHNQRZQDV³6DLQW$QGUHZ¶V 6FRWV´DW0RUDQW%D\7KHJURZWKRIWKH&UDIWLQ-DPDLFDZDVIXUWKHUFRPSOLFDWHGWKUHH\HDUV ODWHUZKHQWKH³$QFLHQW´*UDQG/RGJHLQ/RQGRQJUDQWHGDZDUUDQWWRDQXQQDPHGORGJHDW2OG +DUERXU7KLV-DPDLFDQWRZQGLGQRWKRXVHDQH[LVWLQJ³0RGHUQ´ORGJHWKXVDYRLGLQJDGLUHFW territorial conflict; still, its appearance signaled an early stirring of the Ancient-Modern rivalry that would roil Freemasonry in much of the New World.337 )UHHPDVRQU\FOHDUO\KDGEHFRPHDSDUWRI-DPDLFD¶VJHQWHHOFRORQLDOVRFLHW\E\-XQHRI ZKHQ6RFLDEOH/RGJHLQ6SDQLVK7RZQKHOGDSXEOLF6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\FHOHEUDWLRQ Spanish Town was in this period a lively, cultured colonial capital with a playhouse, several taverns, and frequent balls. As the Jamaica Courant UHSRUWHGWKH³Society of Free and Accepted !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 337 Seal-Coon, 10- 5LFKDUGVRQ:ULJKW³)UHHPDVRQU\RQWKH,VODQGRI-DPDLFD´ Transactions of the American Lodge for Free and Accepted Masons, Charles Johnson and Richardson Wright, eds., vol. 3, no. 1, (New York, 1939): 128-31; estate of Alexander Crawford, esq, of Westmoreland Parish, estate inventories Liber 54, 1773, p. 118-20, JARD. $,%! ! PDVRQVPHWDW0U&XUWLV¶V´DQGSURFHHGHGWRWKHSDULVKFKXUFKZKHUHWKH\KHDUGa sermon by WKH9LFDU-RKQ9HQQKLPVHOID0DVRQ$IWHUWKHGLVFRXUVH³VXLWDEOHWRWKHGD\DQGRFFDVLRQ´ WKH\UHWXUQHGWRWKHLUORGJLQJVIRU³WKHFHUHPRQLHVRIWKHGD\´IROORZHGE\³DJHQWHHO HQWHUWDLQPHQW´338 The procession and celebration were undoubtedly similar to those that had WDNHQSODFHRQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\VLQVHYHUDORWKHU%ULWLVKFRORQLHVDQGWKDWZRXOGVRRQDIWHU FRPPHQFHLQ1HZSRUWDOWKRXJKWKHPLQLVWHU¶VZRUGVGRQRWVXUYLYH2IFRXUVHWKHGLJQLILHG public entertainment in Spanish Town represented only the respectable public face of Masonry on the island. Beneath this surface lay a secretive interest in myth and ritual just as lively as in DQ\RWKHUFRXQWU\DQGWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHVZRXOGVRRQDSSHDOWRWKLVLQWHUHVWDQGWRWKHFRORQ\¶V complex and marginal merchant populations. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 338 Jamaica Courant, June 24, 1754, cited in James Robertson, Gone is the Ancient Glory (Ian Randle, 2005): 78; Census of Spanish Town, 1754, Jamaica papers of Fuller family of Rosehill, Brightling, East Sussex County Record Office, Lewes, UK, $,&! ! ! DĂƐŽŶŝĐũĞǁĞůƉƌĞƐĞŶƚĞĚƚŽdŚŽŵĂƐDĂƌƌŝŽƚƚWĞƌŬŝŶƐďLJ^ĞĂĂƉƚĂŝŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞ͕>ŽŶĚŽŶ͕ϭϳϱϳ͘WĞƌŬŝŶƐ͕Ă G,(>2"*-0$@"+$"##%:*-,3$:*$67SU$"+$A(%B:*>:"5$P("*3$!"+-,($%&$R"G":>"8$$92:+$,*"G,5$"*3$+:5B,($):5-$F,@,50$ "C%=-$-,*$>,*-:G,-,(+$-"550$&,"-=(,+$2=G"*$&:)=(,+$(,#(,+,*-:*)$H2"(:-/$"*3$J":-2$"*3$"*$"*>2%($(,#(,+,*-:*)$ ,ŽƉĞ͕ǁŚŝĐŚĂůƐŽĂůůƵĚĞƐƚŽWĞƌŬŝŶƐ͛ŵĂƌŝƚŝŵĞƉƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶ͘KŶĞŽĨƚŚĞůĂƌŐĞƐƚĂŶĚŵŽƐƚĞůĂďŽƌĂƚĞƐƵƌǀŝǀŝŶŐ !"+%*:>$F,@,5+$&(%G$-2,$,:)2-,,*-2$>,*-=(/0$:-$(,&5,>-+$-2,$@,"5-2$"*3$+-"-=+$%&$-2,$.(:-:+2$G,(>2"*-+0$#5"*-,(+0$ "*3$G:5:-"(/$%&&:>,(+$@2%$"--,G#-,3$-%$)%B,(*$-2,$H("&-$:*$R"G":>"8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$-2,$I:C("(/$"*3$!=+,=G$ %&$J(,,G"+%*(/$"-$-2,$Y*:-,3$P("*3$I%3),$%&$Z*)5"*38 In October 1763, the Mother Lodge in Kingston sent a report to their superiors in London; this earliest surviving Masonic document from Jamaica offers a window into the Masonic world on that island just as it first encountered the Rite of Perfection. Just three years before tKLVUHSRUW.LQJWRQKDGHVFDSHGWKHGLUHFWHIIHFWVRIWKHPDVVLYH7DFN\¶V5HEHOOLRQWKH largest slave uprising in Jamaica up to that time, and the town continued to grow unabated, with a population probably exceeding 10,000 by 1763. In their report, the members of the Mother /RGJHZURWHWRWKH*UDQG6HFUHWDU\WKDWDVWKH\³had been very remiss a long time in not sending $,'! ! home any thing to the general fund of charity´WKH%UHWKUHQKDGYRWHGWRLQVWUXFWWKHLU0DVWHUWR dispatch a donation of 20 guineas to the Grand Lodge. The letter was closed with a wax seal showing Masonic working tools and a stone tower, reminiscent of an alchemical fortress, VXUURXQGHGE\WKHZRUGV³-DPDLFD0RWKHU/RGJH´7KHLUEULHIPHVVDJHLOOXVWUDWHVWKDWWKH Kingston Brethren had amply filled coffers; that they were accustomed to frequent communication with the Modern Grand Lodge of England; and that they still regarded Britain, or /RQGRQPRUHVSHFLILFDOO\DV³KRPH´339 $SSHQGHGWRWKHUHSRUWLVDOLVWRIWKHORGJH¶V PHPEHUVDVof that date. This list, far outpacing the 20 members that the Providence lodge reported to their Brethren in Boston in 1758, reflects a Masonic community of impressive size and strength. Of these Brethren, the occupations of 27 can be identified from surviving tax lists, estate inventories, and other Jamaican records, and can be grouped as follows: 8 merchants 5 planters 1 attorney 1 clerk 1 butcher 1 tavernkeeper 1 auctioneer 1 wharf master 1 ironmonger 7 artisans, viz: 2 carpenters 2 printers 1 cooper 1 goldsmith 1 silversmith 22 indeterminate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 339 /HWWHURI0RWKHU/RGJH-DPDLFDWR-DPHV+HVHOWLQH*UDQG6HFUHWDU\RIWKH³0RGHUQ´*UDQG Lodge of England, October 15, 1763, 22/B/1, LMF-UGLE. $,(! ! The occupational makeup of Mother Lodge shows several similarities to those of the Newport and Providence lodges in the same period, including the large number of merchants and the assortment of other minor trades and professions, among them printing and tavernkeeping. Indeed, perhaps the best-known personality in the colony to join the lodge was the printer 7KRPDV:RROKHDGRQHRI-DPDLFD¶VHDUOLHVWDQGPRVWSUROLILFZKRVHQRWRULHW\LVUHIOHFWHGLQ the polLWLFLDQ%U\DQ(GZDUGV¶YHUVH³Tears trickling from his only eye / Woolhead shall print thine elegy.´$VRIKHZDVLQSDUWQHUVKLSZLWKWKHIHOORZ0DVRQ-printer William Gadd.340 /LNHPDQ\RWKHU.LQJVWRQDUWLVDQV:RROKHDG¶VZHDOWKRXWVWULSSHGWKDWRIhis Rhode Island counterparts, comprising a sizable house on Harbour Street, an adjoining print shop, fine IXUQLWXUHDQGDQHVWDWHLQWKHPRXQWDLQVRI6DLQW$QGUHZ¶V3DULVKZLWKWZHQW\VODYHV341 Similarly, the cooper and fellow Freemason, Osburn Doyle, owned his own house and cooperage on Harbour Street, and left behind mahogany furniture, silver plate, and twenty-two slaves. Doyle lived next door to a smaller but still respectable house occupied by his lodge Brother, the goldsmith George Clinton.342 The larger and wealthier market in Kingston enabled minor artisans to develop lucrative businesses, in turn allowing them to join high-status Brethren in -DPDLFD¶VPRVWSUHVWLJLRXVORGJH Although merchants formed the plurality of the members of the Mother Lodge whose occupations can be identified, in contrast to the Brethren in Providence and Newport, not one of WKHPLVOLVWHGLQVXUYLYLQJUHFRUGVDVD³FDSWDLQ´RU³PDULQHU´7KLVIDFWUHIOHFWVWKHGLIIHUHQW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 340 Frank Cundall, History of Printing in Jamaica (Kingston: 1935): 36. 341 Kingston parish Vestry Minutes, 1765 parish poll tax list, 33; 1766 parish poll tax list, 77, 112; Estate of Thomas Woolhead, stationer, of Kingston, recorded October 1778, estate inventories, Liber 60, JARD. 342 Kingston Vestry Minutes, 1765 Parish Poll Tax list, 43; 1766 Parish Poll Tax list, 121-2; Estate of Osburn Doyle of Kingston Parish, 1773, Estate inventories, Liber 54, JARD. $,)! ! role that Kingston played in the Atlantic economy: although Kingston, Newport, and Providence were all heavily mercantile towns by the 1760s, Kingston was largely concerned with supplying WKHSODQWDWLRQVLQWKHLVODQG¶VLQWHULRUDQGZLWKH[SRUWLQJWKHLUPDMRUSURGXFW²sugar. The work of oceanic navigation among American, British, and African ports was mainly performed by New Englanders, particularly Rhode Islanders. The Masonic membership of such Rhode Island captains as Thomas Rodman, John Burgess, Nathan Bull, and George Croswell (who died of a fever shortly after returning from Jamaica in 1767), surely served to facilitate their contacts with Kingston merchants who purchased slaves, fish, grain, lumber, and hides, in turn supplying the New Englanders with sugar and other tropical products. 343 In further contrast with the Newport and Providence lodges, the Mother Lodge of Kingston boasted at least five planters, and several other members were probably wealthy landowners. The lucrative plantation economy in Jamaica enabled many colonists to maintain estaWHVLQWKHKLQWHUODQGVDQGKRXVHVLQ.LQJVWRQDWWKHVDPHWLPH:LOO7D\ORUWKHORGJH¶V secretary in 1763, who most likely penned the report to London, owned a plantation in Saint $QQ¶V3DULVKZLWKVODYHVDVRIKLVGHDWKLQ$3DVW0DVWHURIWKe lodge, Arundel %XUWRQRZQHGVHYHUDOKRXVHVLQ.LQJVWRQDVZHOODVDVPDOOHVWDWHLQQHDUE\6DLQW$QGUHZ¶V Parish.344 When the Mason Joseph Weatherby died in Kingston in 1784, he was identified as ³late of the parish of Saint Mary, planter´DQGKLVHVWDWe was listed as including mahogany !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 343 Newport Mercury, July 13, 1767, p. 3; Godfrey and John Malbone to Thomas Rodman, Dec. 30, 1763, Mss Box 14, Folder 4, NHS; The Newport, RI Ancestors of Nathan Bull III, Robert E. Swisher, 1986, 28-9; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1768-70, transient taxes, Feb. 1770, p. 270. 344 (VWDWHRI:LOOLDP7D\ORU6DLQW$QQ¶V3DULVK(VWDWH,QYHQWRULHV/LEHU-$5' addendum to inventory of Arundel Burton, estate inventories Liber 68, p. 111; estate of Arundel Burton, SODQWHURI6DLQW$QGUHZ¶V$XJXVWHVWDWH inventories Liber 69, p. 75; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Parish Poll Tax List, p. 73, 109, 111. $,*! ! furniture, silver plate, china, and several horses.345 The flow of agricultural wealth into Kingston and into the Mother Lodge contrasts with the overwhelmingly mercantile base of the Newport lodge, in which only Jahleel Brenton, with his estate at Hammersmith in Newport, and Nicholas Easton, Jr., with his horse and cattle ranch at Whitehall in Middletown, are known to have been concerned in agriculture or animal husbandry.346 The membership list in the 1763 report begins wiWKWKHORGJH¶VRIILFHUVZKRVHQDPHV VKRZDPL[RIPLGGOLQJWRDIIOXHQWPHPEHUVRI.LQJVWRQ¶VIUHHSRSXODWLRQ7KH:RUVKLSIXO Master at the time of the report was the lace merchant Jabez Barton, who also occupied a house on Harbour Street with eight slaves. By 1769, Barton was a vestryman of Kingston Parish, a position of considerable status in Jamaican society.347 Beside Barton was the Senior Warden, :LOOLDP$GDPVD\RXQJFRORQLVWIURP6DLQW&DWKHULQH¶V3DULVKZKRUHVHWWOHGLQ.LQJVWRQE\ 1759, married, and soon after became a merchant.348 The Junior Warden, Richard Hall, was a PRUHPRGHVWPDQLGHQWLILHGLQUHFRUGVRQO\DVD³JHQWOHPDQ´ZKROLYHGLQDVPDOOKRXVHRQ King Street with no slaves. Hall evidently became the Master of the lodge some time before his death in 1770, as his meager estate inventory listed ³DFKDLUIRUWKHPDVWHURI a lodge,´ in addition to some good furniture, a microscope and two spyglasses, a library, some old sadlery, DQGD³yellow silk Masons Apron´349 7KHORGJH¶V7UHDVXUHU-Rhn George, also rented a small !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 345 Estate of Joseph Weatherby, gentleman of Kingston, estate inventories, Liber 65, JARD. 346 Newport Mercury, June 23, 1766, p 4; Jan. 31 1774, p. 4; June 5, 1775, p. 3; June 5, 1784, p. 4; March 1, 1773, p. 3; Oct. 27, 1849, p 3. 347 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Parish Poll Tax List, 112; List of eligible jurors, Dec. 1766, p. 127-9; Kingston Vestry Minutes, 1768-70, p. 192, JARD. 348 Kingston Parish Marriages, 1753-1814, p. 9, 23, JARD; estate of William Adams, merchant, of Kingston, 1782, inventories, Liber 63, 1782, JARD. 349 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Poll Tax list, 114; estate of Richard Hall, esq., deceased, 1770, inventories 1770, p. 225; Grand Court, Feb. 1757, Liber 98, No. 54, folio 174, JARD. $,+! ! KRXVHZLWKQRVODYHVDQGZDVLGHQWLILHGLQDVD³YHQGXHPDVWHU´RUDXFWLRQHHUOLNH-RKQ Gerrish, the first Secretary of the Providence lodge.350 Revealingly, the report lists the Brothers in the order of their importance and prestige ZLWKLQWKHORGJH$IWHUWKHORGJH¶VILYHRIILFHUVWKHUHSRUWOLVWVIRXU3DVW0DVWHUVDOORIZKRP DUHZLWKWKHSDUWLDOH[FHSWLRQRI$UXQGHO%XUWRQREVFXUH,PPHGLDWHO\IROORZLQJWKHPLV³5HY 7KRPDV3ROOHQ´ZKRVHZRUGVZHKHDUGHDUOLHU LQ1HZSRUW&OHDUO\WKHPLQLVWHU¶VSDWURQDJH ZDVDYDOXHGPDUNRISUHVWLJHLQWKH.LQJVWRQORGJHDVLWKDGEHHQLQ5KRGH,VODQG3ROOHQ¶V life in Jamaica, however, is largely a mystery. The minister departed from Newport for Kingston in the later autumn of 1760; in March 1761, he wrote to a friend in Newport named Vernon (who may be the fellow Mason, Thomas Vernon), about his impressions of Kingston, a town that, ³swarms with the human species, yet there seem to be very few white women or children in it´ Pollen expressed his wry disappointment WKDW³I cannot find there came to the Church when it was oSHQ¶GRQHSHUVRQH[WUDRUGLQDU\«to hear me the new Preacher´351 Pollen never explicitly claimed to be the chief clergyman of Kingston, and since the Parish Vestry Minutes from the early 1760s are lost, we cannot know exactly what clerical role he played in Jamaica. Regardless, he most likely left within a few years of his arrival; by March 1765, the surviving Vestry Minutes name Robert Atkins as the rector of Kingston and make no mention of Thomas Pollen.352 )XUWKHUPRUH3ROOHQ¶VOHWWHUWR1HZSRUWIURPMarch 1761, refers EDFNWRHDUOLHUQRWHVKHKDGDGGUHVVHGWR³0UV3ROOHQ´VXJJHVWLQJWKDWWKHPLQLVWHUOHIWEHKLQGD wife in Newport who later joined hLPLQ.LQJVWRQ7KLV0UV3ROOHQPD\EHWKH³0DU\3XOOHQ´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 350 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Poll Tax List, p. 108; List of eligible jurors, Dec. 1766, p. 127-9, JARD; Providence Gazette, Dec. 21, 1771, p. 3. 351 Thomas Pollen to [?] Vernon, March 12, 1761, Vernon Papers, Box 79, Folder 9, NHS. 352 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1765, p. 14, JARD. $,,! ! who appears in Kingston tax lists as early as 1765, implying that she was a widow; on the other hand, the Kingston minister is probably the same Thomas Pollen who published a dissertation on the LoUG¶V6XSSHULQ/RQGRQLQDFFHSWHGDFRXQWU\EHQHILFHDQGGLHGLQ(QJODQGLQ 1780.353 No record survives of any public remarks that Pollen made in Kingston as a minister or DVD0DVRQ3ROOHQ¶VVKRUW-DPDLFDQFDUHHULOOXVWUDWHVWKHDWWUDFWLRQRI:HVW Indian wealth for Europeans of all occupations, and its at once catalytic and destabilizing effects on Freemasonry. Another significant, if indirect, connection to Newport can be seen in the name that appears twentieth in the Mother Lodge report: Alexander Grant. This probably was not the same Alexander Grant who joined the Newport lodge, who at this time was shuttling among Rhode Island, Nova Scotia, and Britain; nor was it his patron, the Baronet of Dalvey, who would have been named near the top of the OLVWDV³6LU´$OH[DQGHU*UDQW5DWKHULWPXVWKDYHEHHQ\HW another colonist of the same name; indeed, men named Alexander Grant positively litter the surviving Jamaican records, suggesting that Sir Alexander had a busy romantic life in the colony. At least four men named Alexander Grant, in addition to the Baronet himself, all of them wealthy enough to have their estates inventoried, died in the colony between 1767 and 1780. Although these men resided in four different parishes and pursued different professions, all of them show close social connections to fellow Scotsmen, particularly the Campbell family (two of whom later became Masons in Port Maria). Though the Alexander Grant who joined the Mother !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 353 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1765 Parish Poll Tax List, 29; Thomas Hervey, The history of the parishes and manor of Colmer and Priors Dean (Colmer: Thomas Hervey, 1896): 113-14; Thomas Pollen, $6KRUW7UHDWLVHRQWKH/RUG¶V6XSSHU (London: Rivington, 1770). %--! ! Lodge may have been any one of these four, he was mostly likely the attorney who died in Kingston in 1769, leaving behind an extensive estate including ten slaves.354 Finally, we must consider a third element of the Mother Lodge of Kingston that links it to its counterparts in Rhode Island: its sizable Jewish contingent. Six Masons with clearly Jewish names can be discerned in the 1763 list.355 Like those of Newport, the Jews of eighteenth- century Kingston sprang mostly from Sephardic roots, they and their ancestors having fled from the Inquisition. Earlier, during the period of Spanish rule, Jamaica had been held as a fiefdom by the descendants of Christopher Columbus, whose granddaughter in turn married into the Portuguese Braganza family. Under the House of Braganza, Portuguese subjects were encouraged to settle in Jamaica, and the migrants included many conversos and crypto-Jews. The large Jewish population on the island was practically an open secret by the time the English seized the colony in 1655. The English legalized the practice of Judaism in Jamaica, and thereafter, large numbers of Jews gathered in the colony, particularly in Port Royal. When the 1692 earthquake destroyed most of that town, including the grand synagogue, the Jewish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 354 Inventory of Alexander Grant, planter, deceased, of Clarendon Parish, 1767, estate inventories 1767, p. 145; estate of Alexander Grant, deceased, of Kingston, attorney at law, 1769, estate inventories 1769, p. 223; estate of Sir Alexander Grant, Baronet, deceased, 1773, estate inventories Liber 54, p. 32, 39; Nathaniel Grant, oath to be appraiser and administrator of estate of Alexander Grant, merchant, deceased, late of the Parish of Saint James, 1772, estate inventories Liber 53, p. 83; inventory of Alexander Grant, esq., of Saint Mary Parish, 1780, estate inventories Liber 61, p. 220, JARD; Robert Currie to James Heseltine, June 18, 1783, HC 22/B/9, LMF-UGLE. 355 Jewish names in the British Caribbean can usually be discerned as Old Testament first names, usually drawn from the five books of Moses, combined with Portuguese or Hebrew surnames. The typically Jewish names in the 1763 report from the Mother Lodge are: Abraham Josephs, Daniel Almeyda, Moses Cohen Pixiotto, Aaron Nunuez Henriquez, Abraham Almeyda, and Isaac Pereira Mendes. In addition, there is a good chance that the tyler, Moses Adolphus, was Jewish. %-$! ! community dispersed throughout the colony, establishing footholds in nearly every Jamaican port and inland settlement.356 Although the largest group of Jewish survivors from Port Royal resettled in Spanish Town, where they built a synagogue in 1704, Kingston counted Jewish colonists among its founders. In 1720, abouWRI.LQJVWRQ¶V total population was Jewish, and in 1744, the congregation in Kingston, Shaare Hashamayim, built an impressive synagogue with a cupola, PDUEOHFROXPQVPDKRJDQ\IXUQLWXUHDQGDIORRUSDUWO\FRYHUHGLQ³ULFKFULPVRQFDUSHWV´357 Shaare Hashamayim and the earlier Neveh Shalom in Spanish Town reportedly included the same basic Neo-Solomonic features that Harrison employed in the Touro Synagogue in Newport.358 The Jews of Kingston derived their wealth overwhelmingly from traffic in provisions demanded by Jamaican planters, including fish and other foodstuffs, textiles, wine, and lumber, while they exported sugar, cocoa, and other tropical goods. Jewish merchants capitalized on their extensive social and kinship connections with other Jews in the West Indies, Europe, and the Ottoman Empire, as well as converso relatives in the Spanish colonies.359 The network of Jewish contacts included connections between Jamaica and Newport. In 1759, Shaare Hashamayim in Kingston donated to support the NewporWFRQJUHJDWLRQ¶VSODQWR build a synagogue, and three years later, the Newport Jews gave monetary support from their charity fund to two Jewish visitors from Savanna-La-Mar, Jamaica. In the 1760s, Newporters supplied kosher meat to the Jewish communities in Jamaica and Suriname, and in the early !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 356 Mordechay Arbell, Portuguese Jews of Jamaica (Kingston: Canoe Press, U. of the West Indies, 2000): 1-26. 357 Ibid, 26-9, 36-7 358 /DXUD/HLEPDQ³6HSKDUGLF6DFUHG6SDFHLQ&RORQLDO$PHULFD´-4, 35. 359 Arbell, 48-9. %-%! ! 1770s, the Palestinian rabbi Chaim Karigal taught in Spanish Town before relocating to Newport in 1773. The two Jewish groups included many members of the same extended families, SDUWLFXODUO\WKH6HL[DV¶ ZKHQWKHmerchant Jacob Mendes Seixas of Hanover Parish, Jamaica, died in 1780, one of the appraisers of his estate was Nathaniel Grant, suggesting a trans-colonial connection between the Jewish Seixas and Scottish Grant families.360 The most important point of contact between the Jewish groups in Newport and Kingston was probably the merchant Isaac Pereira Mendes, who rented a sizable house on Tower Street, a largely Jewish street in Kingston. His father of the same name, who died in 1765, was one of the wealthiest merchants in Jamaica and left behind a large estate. The younger Isaac frequently imported North American provisions supplied by Aaron and David Lopez of Newport, including kosher meat. In 1767, the year before he died, he wrote to Aaron Lopez to express his approval RIKLV\RXQJHUEURWKHU$EUDKDP3HUHLUD0HQGHV¶LQWHQWLRQWRPDUU\/RSH]¶VGDXJKWHU6DOO\ /RSH],VDDF¶VPLVVLYHSD\VWULEXWHWR³WKHDPLDEOHQHVVRI\RXUGDXJKWHU´DQGWRWKHKLJK FKDUDFWHURIWKH/RSH]IDPLO\ZKLFKLVKRQRUHG³DVPXFKLQ3RUWXJDO´DVLQWKH1HZ:RUOG 5HFDOOLQJKLVEURWKHU¶V³UHSHDWHGH[SUHVVLRQVRIUHFLSURFDOORYH´WRZDUG0LVV/RSH]0HQGHV KRSHVWKDW$DURQKDV³IRXQGLQP\EURWKHUVXFKEULJKWTXDOLW\VZKLFKIHZRIKLVDJHDUH HQGRZHGZLWK´361 0HQGHV¶VOHWWHUDWRQFHformal and emotional, illustrates the overlapping ties of kinship, marriage, trade, and shared European roots that bound together the scattered Jewish network in the Americas. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 360Gutstein, 88, 107, 141, 142-3, 152; inventory of Jacob Mendes Seixas, merchant, of Hanover Parish, Inventories Liber 61, 1780, p. 154, JARD. 361 Gutstein,142-3; Isaac Pereira Mendes to Aaron Lopez, Feb. 1767, NHS, cited in Gutstein, 135-6; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1765 Parish Poll Tax List, 31; inventory of Isaac Pereira Mendes, 1765, estate inventories Liber 45, 1765, p. 215; estate of Isaac Pereira Mendes, 1768, estate inventories, Liber 48, p. 82, JARD. %-&! ! Isaac Pereira Mendes was a member of the Mother Lodge, being named in the 1763 report. His brother, Abraham, became a Mason in Boston in 1766 (by which time the lodge in Newport was probably defunct).362 The other Jewish members of the Mother Lodge show close similarities, if not direct social connections, to the Jewish Masons we have already encountered in North America. For instance, Daniel Almeyda owned a house and large workshop on Tower Street with 50 slaves; he was evidently in the silversmithing business, seeing as how his estate included, in addition to a wide array of silver GLVKZDUHDVLOYHUPDNHU¶VPDUN³'$´363 This places Almeyda in the same industry as Myer Myers in New York and Moses Isaacs in Newport, WKRXJKZLWKFRPSDUDWLYHO\JUHDWHUZHDOWKDQGUHVRXUFHV7KH0RWKHU/RGJH¶V0RVHV&RKHQ Peixotto is more mysterious; upon his death in 1779 he left behind some decent furniture, a little &KLQDD³QHJURER\´QDPHG3ULPXVDQGD³0DVRQFDQGOHVWLFN´+HLVLGHQWLILHGLQKLVHVWDWH LQYHQWRU\PHUHO\DVD³JHQWOHPDQRI.LQJVWRQ´ KRZHYHUWKHWD[VXUYH\OLVWVD³3L[RWD -HZUHDGHU´RQ3ULQFHVV6WUHHW364 If this was in fact Moses Cohen Peixotto, it suggests that he was the Chazzan of the synagogue. Finally, nothing specific can be said of Abraham Josephs nor of Aaron Nunez Henriquez, and of Abraham Almeyda, only that he owned twelve slaves and occupied a house on Church Street as of 1766.365 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 362 Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Membership Cards, accessed through NEHGS database. 363 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Parish Poll Tax List, p. 111; estate of Daniel Almeyda, merchant, 1775, inventories Liber 56, p. 189, JARD. 364 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Parish Poll Tax list, 117; inventory of Moses Cohen Peixotto, gentleman of Kingston, 1779, inventories liber 60, p. 263; estate of Moses Cohen Peixotto, late of Kingston, 1780, inventories liber 61, p. 67, JARD. 365 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Parish Poll Tax List, p. 104, JARD. %-'! ! Church Street in central Kingston was largely Jewish in makeup, and at the same time seems to have housed a particular concentration of Masons. Directly next door to Almeyda was his lodge brother, the wharf master Francis Reid. Not far from Reid and Almeyda was Abraham 3HUHLUD0HQGHV,VDDF¶VEURWKHUZKRVRRQDIWHUPDUULHG6DOO\/RSH]$OH[DQGHU*UDQWDOVR resided on Church Street, immediately adjacent to the fellow Mason Richard Gamon, a physician and surgeon who was later elected as Senior Grand Warden of Jamaica.366 The clusters of Masons in Church Street suggest that Freemasonry was part of a dense social entanglement of Jewish and gentile colonists. Nonetheless, one should not take the web of social connections between Jewish and gentile Masons in Kingston to represent a state of perfect equality. We must note that none of the officers of the Mother Lodge in 1763 were Jewish, nor were any of the other known officers of the lodge fRUWKHUHVWRIWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\)XUWKHUPRUHWKHUHSRUWOLVWVWKHORGJH¶V Jewish members toward the end of the roster, with the first Jewish name appearing nineteenth in the rolls, suggesting that the author of the report did not regard the Jewish Brethren as having occupying a high social position in the lodge. Whatever tension arose from the ambiguous position of Jewish Masons in the lodge would only find resolution, if at all, in the growth of the Craft in Jamaica over the ensuing decade. The exact details of the Masonic activities in Jamaica over the next nine years are lost, but the records at the United Grand Lodge of England show that the Craft in Jamaica saw a sudden and dramatic expansion in the early 1770s. In the years between 1770 and 1773, eight !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 366 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Parish Poll Tax List, List of eligible jurors, Dec. 1766, p. 127-9; 1764 Parish Poll Tax list, p. 6, 103; estate of Richard Gamon, of Kingston, practitioner of SK\VLFDQGVXUJHU\LQYHQWRULHVOLEHUS-$5' ³&RS\RI3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*Uand /RGJH-DPDLFD´-XQHE/0)-UGLE. %-(! ! new lodges were constituted on the island, more than doubling the five lodges that had existed prior to that time; four of the new foundations took place in 1771 alone. In 1772, a second Ancient lodge was founded, this time at Green Island, leading one Jamaican historian to VSHFXODWHWKDWWKHH[SORVLRQRIORGJHVDWWKLVWLPHVWHPPHGIURPWKH0RGHUQV¶IUDQWLFHIIRUWWR pre-HPSWWKH$QFLHQWVE\UHFUXLWLQJPRUHRIWKHFRORQ\¶VHOLJLEOHSRSXODWLRQ367 Whatever its immediate cause, one can see several long-building tensions at work in the expansion of Jamaican Masonry in the 1770s. The second surviving Masonic document from Jamaica is a bundle of reports of Masonic meetings held in Kingston in the spring and summer of 1772; these minutes were accompanied by two explanatory letters from the Masons claiming the RIILFHVRI³3URYLQFLDO*UDQG0DVWHU´DQG³3URYLQFLDO*UDQG6HFUHWDU\´RI-DPDLFD 7KHVHWLWOHV must be regarded with caution, since, as the minutes and letters themselves attest, the Craft on the island was in the midst of a crisis of authority.) According to Jasper Hall, the new Provincial Grand Master in 1772, the attempt by the London Grand Lodge to exercise power over Jamaica E\DSSRLQWLQJWKHFRORQ\¶V0DVRQLFRIILFHUVKDGFDXVHGFRQIXsion and ³dishonor to the Craft´ $OH[DQGHU&UDZIRUGZKRKDGEHHQGHSXWL]HGDV-DPDLFD¶V3URYLQFLDO*UDQG0DVWHULQ was still alive 30 years later, and occasionally attempted to exercise his Masonic powers. Crawford had apparently been superseded, however, when in 1762, Thomas Marriott Perkins, a wealthy merchant who had previously organized lodges in Honduras and the Mosquito Shore, arrived in Jamaica with another deputation from London. Hall lamented WKDW³Brother Perkins, WKR¶DQH[SHUW0DVRQ, had it not in his power to do any honor to the Craft´SUREDEO\EHFDXVHKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 367 Seal-Coon, 12, 67. %-)! ! ZDVWRREXV\FRQGXFWLQJWUDGHHOVHZKHUH LQGHHGZLWKLQD\HDUDIWHU+DOO¶VOHWWHU3HUNLQVZDV back on the Mosquito Shore.368 Jamaican lodges, according to Hall, paid their due respects to Perkins during his time on WKHLVODQGEXWKLV³WUDQVLHQW´WHQXUHGLGOLWWOHWRFXOWLYDWHUHVSHFWIRUWKHDXWKRULW\RIWKH*UDQG Lodge of England. In 1770, the London Grand Officers replaced Perkins with William Winter, a wealthy Jamaican planter with several estates on the island. Although he was more firmly rooted LQWKHFRORQ\:LQWHU¶VDVVXPSWLRQRIWKHRIILFHRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG0DVWHUPHWZLWKLPPHGLDWH RSSRVLWLRQ:LQWHUZDVDPHPEHURIWKH³-XQLRU/RGJH´WKDWKDGUHFHQWO\IRUPHGLQ6SDQish Town, where he lived; for unclear reasons, the Brethren of his own lodge refused to recognize his appointment. When, shortly after his assumption of the office, Winter called for a quarterly PHHWLQJRU³FRPPXQLFDWLRQ´RI0DVRQVRQWKHLVODQGWKH-XQLor Lodge failed to send any delegates, and so in retaliation Winter had them stricken from the roll of lodges.369 Putting this conflict behind him, Winter presided over the foundation of several new lodges in the colony. His time in office, however, would turn out to be even more brief than 3HUNLQV¶ WKHSODQWHU¶VGHDWKRQ0D\SOXQJHGWKH)UHHPDVRQVRI-DPDLFDLQWRFRQIXVLRQ as leading Masons scrambled to maintain order and cohesion among the rapidly multiplying lodges. On May 22nd, the Masters and Wardens of the five lodges then existing in Kingston held DFRPPXQLFDWLRQDW³0DVRQ¶V+DOO´GXULQJZKLFKWKH\GHFLGHGWRDVN6DPXHO+RZHOD PHUFKDQWDQGUDQFKHURI6DLQW&DWKHULQH¶V3DULVKWRWDNHXSWKHYDFDQWFKDLUXQWLODQHZOHDGHU should be appointed. Howel obliged, and on June 13th he presided over a meeting of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 368 Jasper Hall to James Heseltine, Kingston, August 22, 1772, HC 22/B/4a, LMF-8*/( ³-HZHO IURPWKH6HD&DSWDLQ V/RGJHWR7KRPDV0DUULRW3HUNLQV´FDWDORJRI/0)-UGLE; Thomas Marriott Perkins to Michael Devon, Great Black River, July 26, 1773, HC 23/E/9, LMF-UGLE. 369 Seal-Coon, 44, 71; Jasper Hall to James Heseltine, Kingston, August 22, 1772, HC 22/B/4a, LMF-8*/( ³6WDWHRI0DVRQU\LQ-DPDLFD´+&%E/0)-UGLE. %-*! ! ³3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH´²possibly the first time that a body claiming such a title had convened in Jamaica²which elected Jasper Hall, the Worshipful Master of the Mother Lodge, as the new Provincial Grand Master. In so doing, the Brethren did not wait for approval from London. On June 24th, Hall, a wealthy planter and former church warden, was formally installed, after which he promised to visit every regular lodge in Jamaica. An oration for the occasion was given by Brother Thomas Coxeter, who had been rector of Kingston since 1768.370 Having taken the governance of the Craft into their own hands, the members of the Provincial Grand Lodge sought to make the shift in power official. On August 3rd, another TXDUWHUO\FRPPXQLFDWLRQPHWDWD%URWKHU¶VKRXVHLQ.LQJVWRQDQGDSSURYHGDSHWLWLRQGUDZQXS by Jabez Barton, a Past Master of the Mother Lodge who was now the so-called Deputy Grand 0DVWHURI-DPDLFD%DUWRQ¶VSHWLWLRQDVLWZDV finally sent to London, asked the Grand Lodge of (QJODQGIRUWKH³power to proceed annually, to the election of provincial grand masters´DUJXLQJ WKDW³such priviledge will be for the advantage of the craft in Jamaica especially considering, vacancys by mortality, and want of early relief, by so great a distance from the Grand Lodge of England´ 371 7KHVLPSOHSUDFWLFDOLW\RIWKHFRORQLVWV¶DUJXPHQWPXVWKDYHEHHQKDUGIRUWKH /RQGRQ%UHWKUHQWRLJQRUHDQGWKH-DPDLFDQV¶GHPDQGVZHUHPHW2QHFDQVHHLQ this episode DQHFKRRIWKH1HZSRUWHUV¶DWWDLQPHQWRIWKHULJKWWRHOHFWWKHLURZQRIILFHUVLQGHSHQGHQWO\RI Boston in 1753. In both cases, Masonic governing bodies allowed self-government to subordinate lodges when the colonial Brethren ran out of patience with officers appointed from !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 370 ³&RS\ RI3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH-DPDLFD´+&%/0)-UGLE; Thomas Gray to the Modern Grand Lodge, August 3, 1772, HC 22/B/3, LMF-UGLE; estate of Samuel Howell, esquire, of Saint Catherine, 1784, inventories liber 66, p. 187, JARD; Kingston Parish Accounts, 1759-75, JARD; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1765 Tax List, p. 32, JARD; inventory of Jasper Hall, esq., of Kingston, Feb. 1780, inventories Liber 61, p. 175, JARD. 371 ³&RS\RI3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH-DPDLFD´2, HC 22/B/2, LMF-UGLE; Thomas Gray to the Modern Grand Lodge, August 3, 1772, HC 22/B/3, LMF-UGLE. %-+! ! afar. Although the problems of distance and of frequent mortality were much greater in Jamaica than in Rhode Island, nonetheless one can see in the two situations a similar threat of possible schism and disintegration as Masonry expanded. Several other significant, if more subtle, developments can be discerned in the expansion of Jamaican Masonry in the 1770s. After the flurry of letters and minutes from 1772, no other Masonic documents from the 1770s in Jamaica survive than a brief letter notifying the Grand Lodge of England in 1775 that three more lodges had been constituted on the island. After this follows a silence of five years, until the Mother Lodge in Kingston sent to London another report with a list of members in April 1780.372 Hence, the makeup and social dynamics of the Craft during its period of astonishing growth must be discerned from comparisons among the 1763, 1772, and 1780 reports from Kingston. The first fact we must note about the growth of Masonry in this period is that even as lodges multiplied and flourished, the Mother Lodge retained its preeminence among the lodges on the island. This oldest lodge was also the largest in Jamaica, counting 63 members in 1772, with newer lodges recording between 23 and 51 members each. When a makeshift communication was held following the death of William Winter, the Brethren who acted temporarily as Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, and Junior Grand Warden were all members of the Mother Lodge; only the Grand Treasurer, Harry Ferguson, hailed from Kingston Lodge no. 2 (the lodge membership of the Grand Secretary, James Cockburn, and of the Senior Grand Warden, Richard Gaman, is unknown). Not surprisingly, the Provincial Grand Lodge that met in June elected Jasper Hall, the current Worshipful Master of the Mother Lodge, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 372 James Stewart to James Heseltine, May 15, 1775, HC 22/B/5, LMF-8*/( ³0LQXWHVRIWKH PHHWLQJRIDFRPPLWWHHRI0RWKHU/RGJHQR-DPDLFD´.LQJVWRQApril 3, 1780, HC 22/B/6, LMF- UGLE %-,! ! as Provincial Grand Master, and Hall in turn appointed Jabez Barton, a Past Master of the Mother Lodge, as Deputy Grand Master.373 While the Mother Lodge maintained its dominance within Jamaica, the other lodges appearing on the island took on their own distinctive roles. The eight new lodges founded on the island between 1770 and 1773 included two in Montego Bay, one in Spanish Town, and an Ancient lodge at Green Island. The identities of the founding Brethren of these lodges, other than those of the officers at Green Island, are lost. The other four new lodges²Kingston Lodge no. 2, Harmony, Union, and Beaufort²were all located in Kingston, creating an unprecedented variety of lodges in a colonial city. These new institutions, along with the Mother Lodge, sent their officers to the communication at Kingston on June 24, 1772, where their names were recorded. Most of them were obscure men about whom little can be said. The officers of Kingston Lodge, no. 2, Harry Ferguson and John Duff, are entirely unknown outside of Masonic UHFRUGVZKLOHWKH0RWKHU/RGJH¶V6HQLRU:DUGHQ5REHUW)RUUHVWHUDTXDUWHUPDVWHU-general, and Junior Warden, Philip Palmer, a wealthy gentleman who served as a collecting constable, UHIOHFWWKH0RWKHU/RGJH¶VFRQWLQXLQJVRFLDOSUHVWLJH374 Despite the gaps in Jamaican and Masonic records, it is clear that the creation of new lodges in Jamaica enabled both diversification and stratification in the Masonic community. Each of the latter three lodges formed in Kingston in the early 1770s displays a unique social profile. Harmony Lodge no. 3, counting 46 members, was probably the most affluent of the three, led by the merchant Dominick Burke as Worshipful Master and the wealthy planter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 373 ³&RS\RI3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH-DPDLFD´+&%/0)-UGLE; ³6WDWHRI0DVRQU\LQ-DPDLFD´+&%E/0)-UGLE 374 Seal-Coon, 67-75; estate of Robert Forrester, esq., estate inventories, liber 58, inventories, 1777, p. 1; Kingston Vestry Minutes, 1768-70, p. 195; estate of Philip Palmer, gentleman of Kingston, estate inventories, liber 75, 1790, p. 39, JARD %$-! ! George Cuthbert as Senior Warden. In contrast, Beaufort Lodge no. 7, with only 23 members, ZDVHYLGHQWO\DFUDIWVPHQ¶VORGJHUHSUHVHQWHGE\WKHJROGVPLWKDQGMHZHOHU*HRUJH&OLQWRQDV Worshipful Master and the carpenter William Simpson as Junior Warden. Clinton had SUHYLRXVO\EHHQDPHPEHURIWKH0RWKHU/RGJHEHIRUHOHDYLQJWRWDNHXSWKH0DVWHU¶VFKDLURI Beaufort Lodge, suggesting that the latter institution was founded by men of the artisanal class who were unable to break into the leadership ranks of the Mother Lodge. 375 The process of specialization among lodges can also be seen most dramatically in the birth of Union Lodge no. 6 in Kingston, which counted 24 members as of June 1772. It was represented at the Provincial Grand Lodge communication by its Worshipful Master, the merchant John Cargill; its Senior Warden, Emanuel Baruch Lousada; and its Junior Warden, Abraham Aguilar. The latter two men are the first known Jewish Masons to have served as lodge officers in Jamaica. Despite its sizable Jewish contingent, no Jewish member of the Mother Lodge is known to have served as an officer at any time in its 57-year existence. Although Lousada and Aguilar are obscure and it is unknown whether they were originally members of the Mother Lodge, their appearance as representatives of Union Lodge suggests that the latter institution was founded in part by Jewish Masons who, like the artisans that formed Beaufort Lodge, broke away from the Mother Lodge. The importance of Jews to Union Lodge is further demonstrated by later developments: in 1797, a group of Jewish Masons in Union Lodge, OHGE\WKH3DVW0DVWHU6RORPRQ0RUDOHVSHWLWLRQHGIRUWKHULJKWWRIRXQGDQRWKHUORGJHDV³ZH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 375 ³&RS\RI3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH-DPDLFD´+&%/0)-UGLE; estate of Dominick Burke, estate inventories, liber 56, inventories 1775, p. 100, JARD; estate of George Cuthbert, esq., of Saint Catherine Parish, estate inventories, Liber 75, 1790, p. 122, JARD; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, List of Eligible Jurors, Dec. 1766, with Freeholders marked, p. 127-9; Kingston Parish Marriages, 1753-1814,p. 9, 10, 21, JARD; Letter of Mother Lodge, Jamaica, to James Heseltine, Grand Secretary of the Modern Grand Lodge, October 15, 1763, 22/B/1, LMF-8*/( ³6WDWHRI0DVRQry LQ-DPDLFD´%E/0)-UGLE. %$$! ! DUHLQWKH8QLRQ/RGJHWRRQXPHURXV´7KHEUHDNDZD\%UHWKUHQUHFHLved a warrant for ³)ULHQGO\/RGJH´ZKRVHIRXQGLQJRIILFHUVZHUHDOO-HZLVK6LQFHWKDWWLPH)ULHQGO\/RGJHKDV DWWUDFWHGPRVWO\-HZLVKPHPEHUVDQGKDVEHHQNQRZQRQWKHLVODQGDVWKH³-HZLVKORGJH´ LWLV today the second oldest lodge operating in Jamaica.376 Though all internal lodge records from this period have been lost, the surviving documents show that the growth of Freemasonry in Jamaica was attended by greater specialization and stratification among lodges. As the Fraternity expanded, well-to-do merchants and planters maintained their near-monopoly on Masonic leadership; lower-status Brethren found recourse mainly in hiving off to form their own lodges, even as the Mother Lodge PDLQWDLQHGLWVGRPLQDQWSRVLWLRQ:KLOHWKH0DVRQV¶VRQJVSUHDFKHGHTuality, boasting that, ³*UHDWNLQJVGXNHVDQGORUGVKDYHODLGE\WKHLUVZRUGV´WRMRLQZLWKWKHLU0DVRQLF%UHWKUHQ VRFLDOVWDWXVVWLOOVXEWO\JRYHUQHGRQH¶VSRVLWLRQLQWKH&UDIWDVUHIOHFWHGLQWKHORGJHWKDWRQH joined and in the offices that one attained. On the one hand, this pattern mirrors the distinctive character of Jamaican society, in which a small European minority endeavored to manage a large, restive slave population. An underlying egalitarian spirit contended with the entrenched customs of social rank, as wealthy and high-born colonists were forced to recognize their reliance on lower-VWDWXVZKLWHV LQKLVWRULDQ7UHYRU%XUQDUG¶VZRUGV³7KHSROLWLFDODQGVRFLDO DWPRVSKHUHLQ-DPDLFD«H[KLELWHGDFRPSOH[DQGFRPEXVWLEOHEOHQGRIRVWHQVLEOe equality and demonstrable elements of social deference and hierarchy, all predicated on a fierce and all- HQFRPSDVVLQJFRPPLWPHQWWRFKDWWHOVODYHU\´2QWKHRWKHUKDQGWKHDPELJXRXVVLWXDWLRQRI Masonry on the island was not unique to Jamaica. The tensions between social deference and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 376 ³&RS\RI3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH-DPDLFD´+&%/0)-UGLE; Seal-Coon, 72, 79. %$%! ! Masonic equality have continued to plague the Craft wherever it takes root, and have never truly been resolved. As we will see in the case of Newport, political tremors can open underlying social fissures in the Masonic edifice.377 In addition to its unusual level of stratification, Masonry in Jamaica reflected the distinctive conditions of its host society in its struggle for continuity and cohesion. Anglo- Jamaican society was constantly hampered by high rates of mortality: migrants from Europe, being vulnerable to tropical diseases, were lucky to live past the age of forty, and native-born Jamaicans fared little better. Every year between 1730 and 1770, around 1 in 10 white colonists on the island died. This continuing demographic disaster put Jamaican Freemasonry on unstable ground. As Thomas Gray lamented in 1772, Provincial Grand Masters died frequently enough to make the traditional relationship between Jamaican Masonry and the Grand Lodge of England untenable. Not surprisingly, lodges on the island saw their own rank-and-file members die at a harrowing rate. Of the 49 members of the Mother Lodge as of 1763, only two were still living and active in 1780. Similarly, the Provincial Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, and Senior Grand Warden elected in Kingston in 1772 all died between 1777 and 1788; the orator who spoke at their election died in 1779. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that lodges struggled to last more than a generation. Of the nineteen lodges, Modern, Ancient, and Scottish, founded in Jamaica before 1780, ten had collapsed by 1800 and the other nine ceased to function by 1815.378 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 377 $QGHUVRQ¶V&RQVWLWXWLRQVS 7UHYRU%XUQDUGMaster, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World (University of North Carolina Press, 2004): 75. 378 Burnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, 16- ³0LQXWHVRIWKHPHHWLQJRIDFRPPLWWHHRI 0RWKHU/RGJHQR-DPDLFD´$SULO+&%/0)-UGLE; inventory of Jasper Hall, esq., of Kingston, Feb. 1780, inventories Liber 61, JARD; inventory of Jabez Barton, late of Kingston, inventories Liber 72, 1788, p. 38, JARD; inventory of Richard Gamon, of Kingston, practitioner of %$&! ! Nonetheless, in such a volatile environment, Masonry surely served as a source of emotional support and consolation, much as it did in North America. Whereas North American lodges usually took religious titles, the names of Jamaican lodges mainly evoked personal, DIIHFWLYHERQGV ³6RFLDEOH´³+DUPRQ\´³8QLRQ´³$PLW\´³)ULHQGO\´)XUWKHUPRUHDOWKRXJK no early Masonic orations or internal lodge records survive from Jamaica, the superbly preserved volumes of Jamaican estate inventories show another side of Masonic emotional life. These inventories, often drawn up after men died suddenly in the prime of life, list the possessions that the deceased and their close relations considered to be valuable and significant. Many of them PDNHVSHFLILFPHQWLRQRI0DVRQLFREMHFWV LQDGGLWLRQWRWKHDIRUHPHQWLRQHG³0DVRQ FDQGOHVWLFN´EHORQJLQJWR0RVHV&RKHQ3HL[RWWRDQGORGJH0DVWHU¶VFKDLUEHORQJLQJWR5LFKDUG Hall, the merchant William Adams, who served as Senior Warden of the Mother Lodge and later DV'HSXW\3URYLQFLDO*UDQG0DVWHUOHIWEHKLQG³JROGPDVRQLFDOOMHZHOOVZHLJKLQJRXQFHV´ KLV³VPDOOVLOYHUWULDQJOHDQGDSURIVPDOOFRPSDVVHV´ZHUHSUREDEO\0DVRQLFDVZHOO,QWKH estates of more modest Masons, Masonic apparel might appear among their most prized possessions: the inventory of the comparatively paltry estate of George Waugh of Kingston EHJLQVZLWK³1 SDLUSODWHGVSXUVQHJURZRPDQ)UHHPDVRQ¶VDSURQ´ Nor should it be surprising that many Jamaican Masons, like those in Rhode Island, managed the estates of their GHFHDVHG%UHWKUHQ:LOOLDP(QQLV:HEERI.LQJVWRQOHIWEHKLQG³D0DVRQLFGDJJHUDQGWwo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! physic and surgery, inventories Liber 58, 1777, p. 12, JARD; estate of Thomas Coxeter, clerk, inventories Liber 60, 1779, p. 79, JARD; Seal-Coon, 67-8, 76-7, 100. The oldest lodge operating in Jamaica today is Royal Lodge at Kingston, which was first warranted in 1789 by the Grand Lodge of Ireland and switched its allegiance to the Ancients in 1794. %$'! ! VDVKHV´ WKHH[HFXWRURIKLVHVWDWHZDV5REHUW(ZDUWZKRKDGEHHQKLVORGJH%URWKHULQ$PLW\ Lodge.379 In sum, the Jamaican Masonic experience epitomized the paradox of Masonry in the New World²the Craft served social and emotional needs that were most pressing in the precise places where it was most difficult to sustain social institutions of any sort. Permanence and stability, which Masonry promised to bring to social life through ritual and tradition, were a mirage, most desired where they were most elusive. Moreover, in its quest for a permanent place in West Indian society, Masonry drew on largely marginal and peripatetic social networks² merchants and artisans, Scotsmen, Jews, and others²WKDWFRQQHFWHG-DPDLFD¶VJHQWHHOFODVVHVWR other colonies. Though this surely did little to provide Jamaican Masonry with firm foundations, it was through this marginal Masonic world that the degrees of the Rite of Perfection would reach North America, and so allow American Masonry to re-imagine itself in a revolutionary world. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 379 estate of William Adams, merchant, of Kingston, inventories Liber 63, 1782, JARD; Letter of Mother Lodge, Jamaica, to James Heseltine, Grand Secretary of the Modern Grand Lodge, October 15, 1763, 22/B/1, LMF-8*/( ³0LQXWHVRIWKHPHHWLQJRIDFRPPLWWHHRI0RWKHU/RGJHQR-DPDLFD´ Kingston, April 3, 1780, HC 22/B/6, LMF-UGLE; Copy of Proceedings of Provincial Grand Lodge, -DPDLFD´-XQHE/0)-UGLE; estate of George Waugh, of Kingston, gentleman, inventories Liber 45, inventories 1765, p. 110, JARD; estate of William Ennis Webb, gentleman of Kingston, inventories Liber 75, 1790, p. 105, JARD ³/HWWHURI$PLW\/RGJH1R +RQGXUDVWR Grand Master of the Moderns Grand LRGJH´-XQH+&%/0)-UGLE. %$(! ! Chapter ³%XW)HZ7KHUH$UH7R:KRP7KH\¶UH.QRZQ´²Masonry in the Colonial Enlightenment The secrecy of Freemasonry allowed for a game of masking and unmasking, of intimation and double meanings. Whatever role it seems to play in the public, political, or LQWHOOHFWXDOFXOWXUHRIWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\³(QOLJKWHQHG´RURWKHUZLVHFDQQRWEHWDNHQDWIDFH value. If we wish today to unmask the Masonic Fraternity and reveal its distinctive character, we must consider the process of unmasking that every Mason experienced himself²in his initiation. First-person accounts of Masonic initiations are very rare, particularly from the eighteenth century, but they are not entirely non-existent. On June 3, 1762, a newly-made Freemason composed a memorandum noting his observations after being initiated the previous night. The note is anonymous, but it was most likely penned by a Jewish colonist in New York who later resettled in Newport; it is held today by the Newport Historical Society.380 The author of the 1762 memorandum, who may have composed it for the benefit of future candidates, exposes few esoteric secrets, but he reveals the complex emotional transformations involved in Masonic experience. He begins by asserting that the ritual itself has RYHUFRPHKLVLQLWLDOZDULQHVVWRZDUG0DVRQU\ ³,«IHHODEXQGDQWO\VDWLVILHGDQGFRQWHQW although the solemnitie of their proceedings did cause at one time great fear to come upon me.´ Of course, the fear and suspicion that he felt prior to his initiation surely heightened his altertness to the richness of the experience and the feeling of relief that followed it. Having seen the Fraternity from the inside, he now finds nothing improper in its secrecy, in the same way that, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 380 7KHPHPRUDQGXPLVORFDWHGLQ³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´9DXOW$%R[ )ROGHUODEHOHGRQO\E\ WKHGDWH³-XQHrd´7KHGDWHDQGWKHQDPHRIWKHORGJH³.LQJ'DYLG´VXJJHVWWKDWLWVPRVWOLNHO\ author was Moses Michael Hays. %$)! ! ³an apprentice is bound to keep the secrets of his master, and an attorney those of his clients´,Q a flourish reminiscent of Thomas Pollen, he remarks that Masonry is not unlike societies of all VRUWV³held together by a sort of cement²by bondes +laws, which are their own peculiarity from the highest to the little club of a private neighborhood´$VWKLVQHZLQLWLDWHKDVEHHQ incorporated into the Masonic body, so he has incorporated Masonry into his own scheme of the larger social world. The author goes on to catalog some of the benefits of Masonic membership to which his QHZ%UHWKUHQKDYHLQWURGXFHGKLP7KHORGJHIRVWHUV³every branch of useful knowledge and learning´DQG³stamps its genuine professors with a mark which nothing can efface´7KLV irreversible change is beneficial mainly on an emotional level: [A] strict observance of its rules ensures tranquilitie to its votaries²teaches in the disappointments of life, resignation²is a friend that will not deceive²is a blessing that will remain to which recourse can be had when the assistance of earthly friends are denied. The emotional sustenance that this new initiate describes may be an ideal to which the Fraternity did not always measure up, but his words demonstrate the psychological power that Masonry could exercise over its members. Previously, the author explains, he had heard Brothers make such lofty claims about Masonry, but before my iniciation I scoffed as a mere pretension, and considered it as a mere society of outward form + ceremony²full of show + sound, recommending itself to the young + giddy by the charm of music²the Solemnity of pictural devices²ye pomp of dress²ye magnificence of architecture²by the dread of SRZHU\HDOOXUHPHQWVRISOHDVXUH« 2XUDXWKRUZDVDSSDUHQWO\VXVSLFLRXVRIWKH0DVRQV¶PDQLSXODWLRn of emotions through the senses of sight and sound, before being entirely swept up and transformed by the same; once %$*! ! again, he insists that his initial mixture of skepticism and fear has given way to feelings of awe and thanksgiving: But I rejoice to find that my self was in that mistaken and that I have experienced the ceremony in a solemn and impressive manner striking upon the senses in every way to correct irreguODULWLHVWRVWUHQJWKHQPRUDOV« 7KHDXWKRUVWLOOQRWHVWKHLPSRUWDQFHRIWKH³VHQVHV´WRFreemasonry²and indeed, music, candlelight, and the beauty of jewels and textiles were integral to Masonic ceremony. He has RQO\FKDQJHGKLVXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIKRZWKHVHVHQVDWLRQVDIIHFWWKHVXEMHFW¶VHPRWLRQV UDWKHUWKDQ appealing to base impulses of fear or hedonism, the sensations of the ritual suppress these LPSXOVHVZLWKDWRQHRIVROHPQLW\,QWKHDXWKRU¶VDVVHVVPHQW0DVRQLFULWXDO appeals to ye reason + imagination²it enthralls the passions²it infects by sympathy²it has age²has the tie of brotherly affection²has numbers²it is a religion, by whose mysterious symbols, like the ancient Eleusinians, is taught the belief of Deity + the truth of ye resurrection, it is a religion of nature improved and chastened by sound reason. +HUHDQHZ0DVRQ¶VXQGHUstanding of the Craft is delineated with almost shocking clarity: it is, LQKLVYLHZ³DUHOLJLRQ´WRZKLFKP\VWHU\DQGHPRWLRQDUHFHQWUDO,WUHLQIRUFHVEHOLHILQ*RG DQGLQLPPRUWDOLW\H[HUFLVLQJLWVLQIOXHQFHPRVWGLUHFWO\RYHU³WKHSDVVLRQV´DQG³V\PSDWK\´ Reason is only a secondary, refining element in the mix, serving to perfect an experience that DSSHDOVWRWKH³LPDJLQDWLRQ´DQGFXOWLYDWHV³EURWKHUO\DIIHFWLRQ´381 $VIRU0DVRQU\¶VRULJLQV the initiate makes no mention of Britain, instead only QRWLQJWKDWWKH)UDWHUQLW\³KDVDJH´ZKLOH OLNHQLQJLWWRWKH(OHXVLQLDQFXOWRIDQFLHQW*UHHFH³Thanks be to God´KHFRQFOXGHV ³who hath allowed my introduction, and may it long remain to the amelioration of ye miseries of KXPDQLW\´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 381 ,QGHHGRQHRIWKHFODXVHVLQWKLVSDVVDJHRIWKHPHPRUDQGXPRULJLQDOO\UHDG³LWDSSHDOVWR\H LPDJLQDWLRQ´ WKHDGGLWLRQDOSKUDVH³UHDVRQ´ZDVDGGHGLQWKHPDUJLQDVLIDQDIWHUWKRXJKW %$+! ! The 1762 memorandum is very unusual as a first-SHUVRQH[SUHVVLRQRID0DVRQ¶V XQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VPHDQLQJDQGSXUSRVH²especially so soon after his initiation; PRVW)UHHPDVRQV¶SHUVRQDOUHIOHFWLRQVRQWKHLUH[SHULHQFHRIMRLQLQJDUHORVWWRKLVWRU\6WLOO alWKRXJKLWLVRQO\RQHPDQ¶VYLHZVLWVHPRWLRQDOFRQWHQWVHHPVFRQVLVWHQWZLWKRWKHUVXUYLYLQJ HYLGHQFHRIPHQ¶VH[SHULHQFHVLQWKH)UDWHUQLW\7KHDXWKRU¶VWUDQVLWLRQIURPIHDUDQG VNHSWLFLVPWRDQHQWKXVLDVWLFHPEUDFHRI0DVRQU\¶VLGHDOVLVVLPLODUWRWhe process recounted by Salem Town, who joined a lodge in upstate New York in 1800 after being warned by his mother to stay away from WKDW³ZLFNHGVRFLHW\´WKDWSUDFWLFHGWKH³EODFNDUW´382 0RUHVSHFLILFDOO\WKHPHPRUDQGXP¶VHPRWLRQDOODQJXDJHDFFRUGVZLth other evidence IURPFRORQLDO5KRGH,VODQGSDUWLFXODUO\LQLWVDVVHUWLRQWKDWWKH&UDIW¶VULWXDOVDQGVHFUHF\IRVWHU fraternal attachment. Masons in this period treated their membership in the Fraternity as a personal, emotional support. Moses Brown, who joined the lodge in Providence in 1757 and served as its secretary after 1759, was a prolific letter-writer, and kept up a brisk correspondence with a wide array of young New Englanders, many of them Masons. One of his frequent correspondents was Jabez Bowen, who had grown up in Providence in a Congregationalist family and went away to Yale for his education. Jabez wrote frequently to Moses from New Haven, expressing his homesickness for Providence. In October 1760, amidst a dangerous epidemic, Jabez DVVXUHG0RVHVWKDW³,DOZD\VPDNHPHQWLRQRI\RXLQP\SUD\HUV´DQGthat, ³ZHGUDQN\RXUKHDOWKDWORGJHWKHHYHQLQJRIWKHILUVWLQVWDQW´+HIXUWKHUVHQGVKLVJRRGZLOOWR WKH0DVRQVLQ3URYLGHQFHDQGVLJQV³ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 382 Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, 1, 163. 383 Jabez Bowen to Moses Brown, October 7, 1760, Moses Brown Papers, Box 1c, Folder 3, RIHS. %$,! ! messages demonstrate how Masonic bonds could strengthen existing emotional links across time and distance. The personal significance of Masonic ties is further demonstrated in Moses %URZQ¶VFRUUHVSRQGHQFHZLWKKLV%RVWRQIULHQG:LOOLDP3DOIUH\who served for a time as the Secretary of the Massachusetts Lodge. Like Jabez Bowen, William asked Moses to convey his ORYHWRWKH³EUHWKUHQ´DQGUHSHDWHGO\VLJQHGKLVOHWWHUVWR0RVHVDV³\RXUDIIHFWLRQDWH %URWKHU´384 In light of the emotional and familial overtones of the communications between Masons, WKHWKHPHVRI7KRPDV3ROOHQ¶VRUDWLRQ³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´DUHXQVXUSULVLQJ$V3ROOHQ GHFODUHVFLWLQJ-RKQWKH(YDQJHOLVWRQHRIWKHSDWURQVDLQWVRI0DVRQU\³KHZKRORYHV*RG loves his brother DOVR´,WZDVWKHSUHVHQFHRIXQLYHUVDOORYHDWWKH&UHDWLRQWKDWJDYHWKHZRUOG ³EHDXW\RUGHUOLJKWDQGOLIH´ LIRQH³ORRN>V@XSRQVRFLHW\DVRQHJUDQGPDFKLQH´WKHQRQHVHHV that the force of universal love holds it together, acting, like magnetism or universal gravitation, to attract every part to every other. In these pronouncements, Pollen merely takes the central emotions of Masonry and projects them outward onto the social and cosmic scales; psychologically speaking, Masonry is a microcosm of the ideal world. Pollen celebrates the FRVPRSROLWDQLQFOXVLRQRIWKH)UDWHUQLW\ XQOLNH³VRPHRWKHUVRFLHWLHV´WKDWDFFHSW³PHQRIRQH QDWLRQRQO\´WKH0DVRQVHPEUDFH³ERWK-HZVDQG*UHHNVERWK&UHWHVDQG$UDELDQV´VHHNLQJ OLNH&KULVWWR³PDNHDOOWKHNLQGUHGVRIWKHHDUWKEHFRPHRQHSHRSOH´385 Exactly how this vision of love projected onto a global scale or translated into concrete SROLWLFDOWHUPVLVXQFOHDU3ROOHQ¶VUKHWRULFSUHVHQWVKLVYLVLRQRIWKH)UDWHUQLW\ZLWKRXWDVLQJOH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 384 See for example, William Palfrey to Moses Brown, August 17, 1761, Moses Brown Papers, Box 1c, Folder 4, RIHS. 385 Pollen, 9-15. %%-! ! explicit reference to Britain or Britishness, and as we have seen earlier, the Newport Masons included a number of Frenchmen, Italians, and other foreigners whose lives are otherwise obscure, as well as the Luxembourg-born Christian Mayer, who hosted Masonic gatherings. Many of these Continental Masons surely benefited from their membership in the Fraternity, which offered them a social entrée in various far-flung ports, and they probably approved of 3ROOHQ¶VGHVFULSWLRQRIWKH)UDWHUQLW\DVIRUPLQJ³RQHSHRSOH´IURP³DOOthe kindreds of the HDUWK´ In practice, the Fraternity that Pollen knew could embrace European Christian men of various nations, uniting them with Britons from the metropolis as well as the colonies. 1RQHWKHOHVV3ROOHQ¶VXQLYHUVDOLVPZDVQRWH[DFWO\HJalitarian, even within the limited circle of Christian men of European descent. The minister was no leveler; the universal DWWUDFWLYHIRUFHRIORYHWKDWKHSRVLWVLVQRWQHXWUDOEXWVHUYHVWRSXOO³DOOPHQWRRQHFHQWUHWKH FRPPRQJRRG´386 His scheme is centripetal, promoting cohesion around a shared focal point. 3ROOHQGRHVQRWH[SOLFLWO\ORFDWHWKLV³FHQWUH´QRUQDPHZKRKDVWKHDXWKRULW\WRMXGJHZKDW FRQVWLWXWHVWKH³FRPPRQJRRG´7KHPHDQLQJRIWKHVHYDJXHDOOXVLRQVPXVWEHXQGHUVWRRGLQ context: London, as the capital of the empire and home of the Grand Lodge, was the center of 3ROOHQ¶V%ULWLVKDQG0DVRQLFZRUOGV$VD%ULWLVK-born and Oxford-trained minister, Pollen represented the imperial order in Newport perhaps more than any other person. Dispatched to the colony by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, he was tasked with promoting a world-view centering on Britain that combined loyalty to King-in-Parliament, the Church of England, and the commercial and expansionist agendas of the House of Hanover. One does not KDYHWRTXHVWLRQ3ROOHQ¶VVLQFHULW\WRVHHWKDWKLVXQLYHUVDOLVWUKHWRULFXQGHUVFRUHGKLVRZQ importance as a representative of the rising British Empire, which aspired to unite a polyglot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 386 Pollen, 11. %%$! ! Atlantic world into a peaceable coPPRQZHDOWKRIWUDGH)RU3ROOHQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHILWLQWR such an imagined commonwealth, where, as a friend in the Bahamas wrote to Thomas Vernon in congratulating him on his appointment as Senior Warden of Trinity Church, ³WKHVWUHDPVRI honor are greatly diffusive and convey their influence to the most distant regions.´387 Neither should one class Thomas Pollen as a supporter of Whiggish free thought or enlightened eirenicism. Pollen advocates toleration and fellowship among Christians of various creedVEXWDWWKHVDPHWLPHGHFULHVWKH³PRQVWURXVGLYHUVLW\RIUHOLJLRXVWHQHWV´WKDWIUDJPHQWHG Rhode Island; he preaches good will across confessional lines while holding out hope for eventual uniformity. Pollen easily elides and combines the Masonic, imperial, and ecclesiastical commonwealths that he helped to build²KHQFHKLVXVHRID0DVRQLFPHWDSKRU³WKDWEXLOGLQJRI *RGVRILWO\IUDPHGWRJHWKHU´IRU&KULVWLDQLW\+LVYRFDEXODU\UHVHPEOHVWKDWRIRUWKRGR[ $QJOLFDQGLYLQHVZKRGHIHQGHGWKH&KXUFK¶VPDndate that all ministers subscribe to a list of articles of faith, countering latitudinarians who argued that theological questions should be left to WKHLQGLYLGXDOFRQVFLHQFH$FFRUGLQJWRKLVWRULDQ%: 7KH'HDQRI*ORXFHVWHU-RVLDK7XFNHUZDUQHGLQDJDLQVW³demolishing the present venerable structure, even before we know, what kind of building it is, or whether any building is to be erected in its place´DQGLQDSKUDVHFORVHO\UHPLQLVFHQWRI3ROOHQ¶VDUJXHGWKDWDOO DVVRFLDWLRQVUHTXLUHD³FRPPRQFHQWHURIXQLRQ´388 7KHVLPLODULWLHVEHWZHHQ3ROOHQ¶VDQG 7XFNHU¶UKHWRULFVKRXOGQRWEHVXUSULVLQJFRQVLGHULQJWKDWWKH1Hwport minister had been !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 387 John Brett to Thomas Vernon, 1753, quoted in George Champlin Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity Church, 104. 388 Young, Religion and Enlightenment, 69-70. %%%! ! educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, which was known to be a bastion of high-church Anglicanism, and where he studied with the Rev. John Burton, an orthodox theologian with Toryish political views.389 Although Dissenters and Jews made significant inroads into the Newport and Providence lodges, Anglicanism remained the most prevalent religion in Rhode Island Masonry throughout WKHFRORQLDOHUD3ROOHQ¶VRUDWLRQVHHPHGWRVHDODQXQRIILFLDOPDUULDJHEHWZHHQ0DVRQU\DQG the Anglican Church, which the Masons reaffirmed when they chose as the site for their Hall the corner of Church and School Streets, just two blocks east of Trinity. The Church of England in the eighteenth century put greater stock in ritual and pageantry than other contemporary 3URWHVWDQWFKXUFKHV $QJOLFDQVVXFKDV3ROOHQVXUHO\ZHUHDEOHWRDVVLPLODWHWKH³IRUPDQG FHUHPRQ\´RI)UHHPDVRQU\LQWRWKHLUH[LVWLQJEHOLHIV\VWHPVIDUPRUHUHDGLO\WKDQ Congregationalists or Quakers, who scorned most rituals as corruptions of Christian piety. Governor John Wanton, a Friend, reportedly attended a Quaker wedding in the 1730s and took the occasion to attack the pompous liturgy of Anglican marriage rituals; after quoting the marital YRZ³ZLWKWKLVERG\,WKHHZRUVKLS´KHH[FODLPHG³ZKDW²a mortal body worship a mortal body²P\IULHQGVLWLVSUHSRVWHURXV´390 We may only imagine how Governor Wanton would have reacted to the elaborate oaths that Masons swore before their Brethren. &RQVLGHULQJWKDW3ROOHQ¶VPHQWRU-RKQ%XUWRn, supported the notion of appointing Anglican bishops to govern the church in America, it is not surprising that Ezra Stiles, the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 389 Dr. Berriman to Samuel Johnson, Feb. 1754, Updike Papers, p. 8, RIHS; W. P. Courtney, µBurton, John (1696±1771)¶LQ0-0ercer, ed., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4133, accessed 1 Jan 2014]; Thomas Hervey, The History of the Parishes and Manor of Colmer and Priors Dean (Colmer: Thomas Hervey, 1896), p. 113-14. 390 RI Historical Tracts, History of the Wanton Family in RI (Providence: JR Bartlett, 1878): 50-1. %%&! ! LQGHIDWLJDEOH&RQJUHJDWLRQDOLVWPLQLVWHUYLHZHG3ROOHQ¶VSURPRWLRQRIERWK0DVRQU\DQGWKH Church of England with suspicion. $VKHGHFODLPHGLQ FRORQLVWVFRXOGVHHWKH³VSLULWRI Episcopal intrigue already working with great cunning. It has set up and recommended the Fraternity of free Masons and is pressing them apace into a subserviency and subordination to the great HQGRILQFUHDVLQJWKH&KXUFK´391 Whereas Ezra Stiles imputed hidden motives and ³FXQQLQJ´WR3ROOHQ¶VFDUHHULQ1HZSRUWZHPD\H[WHQGWKH$QJOLFDQUHFWRUWKHEHQHILWRIWKH doubt that he simply saw no tension between the several world orders that he promoted² Anglican, Masonic, and imperial. None of the three was in fact identical to the others: the British Empire was rife with Dissenters, Jews, and Catholics and placed colonies in an ambiguous relation with the motherland, while Masonry had made strong inroads into the &RQWLQHQWDQGWKH)UHQFKDQG'XWFKSRVVHVVLRQV3ROOHQ¶VDOLJQPHQWRI0DVRQU\ZLWKKLV Church and with British imperial values was an awkward conjunction that depended upon the tacit consensus of the fellow Masons in his audience, whom he assumed would not question the benefits of cooperation in the Hanoverian empire. His scheme could easily be challenged if this consensus ceased to hold²if Brothers doubted the dignity or utility of their place in the British RUGHU3ROOHQ¶VZRUOG-view was indeed a colonial Babel²a precarious structure, impressive in scale but deceptively weak at its foundation, attempting to bridge the gap between man and God. 3ROOHQ¶VYLVLRQZDVIXUWKHUFRPSOLFDWHGE\WKHIDFWWKDW%ULWDLQLWVHOIZDVQRWDXQLIRUP culturDOEORF1HZSRUW¶V0DVRQLFUROOVLQFOXGHDQXPEHURI6FRWVPDQ\RIZKRPZHUHVXUHO\ wayfarers on the busy sea-lanes of the British Atlantic, seeking their fortunes in various ports; for instance, the merchant Leaven Dashiel, who joined the Newport lodge in 1760, clearly spent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 391 Franklin Bowditch Dexter, ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, Vol. 1 (New York: Charles 6FULEQHU¶V6RQV ): 56n. %%'! ! a great deal of his time trading in Jamaica, where he owed a good deal of back taxes as of 1769.392 Scotland in the eighteenth century was a deeply ambivalent society, with some Scots embracing the commercialism of England and others clinging to the social traditions predating the Union. Scots who voyaged to the colonies took advantage of their inclusion in the growing British Empire, but they did not necessarily leave their reservations about the Hanoverian order behind. The backgrounds of several Scottish Masons in Rhode Island, most notably William Hunter and Alexander Grant, included connections to the Jacobites²the wing of British society that remained loyal to the ousted Stuart dynasty, often harboring Scottish separatist sentiments DQGQRVWDOJLDIRU%ULWDLQ¶VIHXGDODQG&DWKROLFSDVWV$OH[DQGHU*UDQW¶VSRUWUDLWZDVSDLQWHGE\ WKH-DFRELWHDUWLVW&RVPR$OH[DQGHUDQGKHZDVSUREDEO\WKH³0U*UDQW´ZKRLQWURGXFHGWKH painter to the teenage boy who would become his most celebrated student²Gilbert Stuart.393 In addition, as we shall see, opponents accused Dr. Thomas Moffitt of supporting the Jacobite Pretender, though there is no evidence to support the allegation except that Moffitt employed the millwright Gilbert Stewart, who had previously taken part in the 1745 Jacobite rising and was the IXWXUHSDLQWHU¶VIDWKHU394 Some recent scholars have noted the persistent Jacobite strain in the history of Masonry, ZKLFKUXQVIURPWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VURRWVLQ6FRWODQGWRWKHQLQHWHHQWK-century success of the higher !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 392Kingston Vestry Minutes, 1768-70, 2/6/5, p. 286, Jamaica Archives and Reccords Department, Spanish Town. 393 0LOR01DHYH³&RVPR$OH[DQGHU¶V3RUWUDLWRI$OH[DQGHU*UDQW´Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, 72:1, 1978, p. 8-10. 394 Charles Merrill Mount, Gilbert Stuart, (WW Norton and Company, 1964): 25-6. Moffitt employed Gilbert Stewart to build and operate his snuff mill in South Kingstown. This millwright was the father of Gilbert Stuart, the famous painter. %%(! ! degrees. 395 7KH1HZSRUWORGJHIRXQGHGMXVWWKUHH\HDUVDIWHUWKH6WXDUWV¶GHIHDWDW&XOORGHQ was haunted by the ghost of Jacobitism. At this stage, we cannot yet fully explore the meaning of this Jacobite link to Rhode Island Masonry, except to note that Jacobitism, like the Hanoverian order to which Thomas Pollen belonged, was also cosmopolitan in its way: a great international network of royal courts, convents and colleges supported the Stuart claimant and linked the British Jacobites to the Catholic world.396 It is therefore not sufficient merely to say WKDWDVRFLHW\VXFKDV0DVRQU\ZDV³FRVPRSROLWDQ´ ZHPXVWUHFRJQL]HWKDWGLIIHUHQW cosmopolitan worlds with competing values and aspirations could exist in tension. The meaning of Masonry, therefore, is to be found not merely in the fact that it was politically or religiously diverse, but in how it created a common ground and shared practices among men from different worlds²LQWKH³FHPHQW´WKDWKHOGLWVPHPEHUVWRJHWKHU7KHVKared PHDQLQJVDQGSUDFWLFHVWKDWGHILQHG0DVRQU\ZHUHVHFUHWDQGWKH0DVRQV¶VHFUHF\VKDSHGLQ turn, their relationships with one another and with outsiders. The esoteric meanings that Masons could share with one another and exchange in their colonial lives were rooted in the rituals that ³PDGH´DSHUVRQD0DVRQDQGLQWKH³P\VWHULRXVV\PEROV´WKDWPHGLDWHG0DVRQLFEHOLHIV )LUVWO\WKHSXEOLF¶VYDJXHDZDUHQHVVRI)UHHPDVRQU\DOORZHG0DVRQVWRGHSOR\PXOWLSOH levels of meaning in their everyday activities outside the lodge. The myths and rituals attending the Craft degrees, which the Masons of Rhode Island practiced, were interwoven with a larger body of alchemical and astrological lore whose common thread was the quest for immortality. Familiarity with the esoteric lore surrounding Craft Masonry enabled Masons to give subtle or !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 395 Most importantly, Marsha Keith Schuchard, in Restoring the Temple of Vision: Cabalistic Freemasonry and Stuart Culture, Brill, 2002. 396 Gabriel Glickman, "The English Catholic Community 1688±1745: Politics, Culture and Ideology (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2009). %%)! ! hidden resonances to signs and symbols that they employed in what might otherwise appear to be RUGLQDU\³VHFXODU´VSKHUHVRIGLVFRXUVH)RUH[DPSOHQRRWKHUPHGLXPKDVEHHQFredited with creating the secular public sphere of the eighteenth century as often as the newspaper. James Franklin, Jr. LQDXJXUDWHG5KRGH,VODQG¶VILUVWORQJ-running newspaper, the Newport Mercury, in 1758, the same year that he became a Mason. Franklin WRRNWKHQHZVSDSHU¶VWLWOHZKLFKKDG been used before by earlier colonial newsletters, from the Roman messenger god. The first several issues of the paper featured a masthead showing a Mercury figure with winged feet and helmet, carrying a caduceus in one hand and a sheet of paper in the other. The god seems to be flying through the air, carrying a message from a fortified town flying a Union Jack seen in the lower left to a sailing ship seen in the right. ! ',@#%(-$!,(>=(/$G"+-2,"30$R"*8$U0$67NL8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$Z"(5/$;G,(:>"*$',@+#"#,(+0$1,"3,E8 The symbolism of the masthead engraving is on one level quite straightforward: as the newspaper of a busy maritime port, the Mercury will convey information between land and sea. At the same time, the composition of the masthead, with a Mercury figure in the top center, %%*! ! uniting and balancing two elements, echoes that of older alchemical prints and drawings. For H[DPSOHLQWKHIURQWLVSLHFHWR(OLDV$VKPROH¶VFasciculus Chemicus, Mercury is seen in the top center, holding a caduceus and star and flanked by Sun and Moon figures, all of them suspended above a symbolic landscape; in alchemical symbolism, Mercury represents both the planet and the metallic element, which is believed to play a special role in the quest for the SKLORVRSKHU¶VVWRQHDQGWKHHOL[LURIOLIH,Q3DUDFHOVXV¶DOFKHPLFDOWKHRU\PHUFXU\VHUYHVWR fuse the two other essential elements, sulfur and salt, representing spirit and body.397 Just as importantly, the Roman god Mercury correspoQGVWRWKH*UHHN+HUPHVZKRPWKH0DVRQV¶ charges, delivered to new initiates, identified as a founding figure of the Craft; at least since the sixteenth century, Masons had taught that a legendary Hermes had discovered the antediluvian stone pillar recording the secrets of geometry and passed the knowledge down to his disciples.398 The symbolism of the masthead reveals a deeper awareness of the meanings of a colonial newspaper, to which Masons, being hyper-literate in alchemical and Hermetic lore, would have been particularly sensitive. The Masonic Hermes was most likely inspired by Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary sage credited by Renaissance alchemists with authoring a set of mystical texts from late-Antique Egypt. Hermes Trismegistus, in turn, merged attributes of the Greek deity with those of the Egyptian death god, Thoth. This pairing seems less bizarre if one considers that the Greek Hermes was not only a messenger but a psychopomp, or guide of souls between the worlds of the living and the dead.399 The placement of the Mercury figure in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 397 Elias Ashmole, Fasciculus Chemicus, London: J. Flesher, 1650; Walter Pagel, Paracelsus: An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance, Karger Publishers, 1892. 398 Albert Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences (New York: Masonic History Company, 1919), ³+HUPHV´ 399 Patrick Boylan, Thoth or the Hermes of Egypt: A Study of Some Aspects of Theological Thought in Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 1922. %%+! ! )UDQNOLQ¶VPDVWKHDGWKHUHIRUHDOOXGHVWRRQHRIWKHSULPDU\IXQFWLRQVRIDFRORQLDOQHZVSDSHU² namely, to report deaths, particularly deaths at sea.400 The flying figure can thus be seen as bridging the chasm between the elements of the landscape²the land and the sea, the living and the dead²in the same way that Hermes and his associated elements unite the bodily and the spiritual, the earthly and the heavenly. The sheet of paper in his hand suggests that the newspapeULWVHOIKDVEHFRPHWKHJRG¶VLQVWUXPHQW DVWKHSKLORVRSKHU¶VVWRQHWUDQVPXWHVEDVH metals into immortal gold, so the act of printing confers permanence upon the momentary happenings of earthly life, bridging the gap between the transient and the eternal. The Mercury masthead exemplifies the multiple levels of meaning that could attend 0DVRQV¶DFWLYLWLHVLQFRORQLDOVRFLHW\$FWLRQVVHHNLQJWRFUHDWHRUGHUDQGSHUPDQHQFHRXWRIWKH transience of life in an Atlantic colony, such as by the formation of social and civic institutions, WRRNRQDFRVPLFLPSRUWDQFH7KHHVRWHULFVLJQLILFDQFHRIWKH0DVRQV¶VRFLDORUJDQL]LQJFDQEH seen especially in their relationship to libraries. In both Newport and Providence, the formation of a library company shortly preceded that of a Masonic lodge, with colonists founding the Redwood Library in Newport in 1747 and the Providence Library Company in 1753. As we have already seen, the relationship between the Newport lodge and the Redwood Library was fairly weak, with ThomDV9HUQRQWKHOLEUDU\¶VORQJWLPHVHFUHWDU\VHUYLQJDVWKHPRVWLPSRUWDQW link between the two. In Providence, the relationship between the library company and the Masons was stronger, but still ambiguous. The original organizers and managers of the library company included Paul Tew and John Randal, who would go on to become founding members of the Masonic lodge as well. In addition, Moses Brown and Jabez Bowen were among the first !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 400 Crane, A Dependent People, 69-70 %%,! ! subscribers to the library, and would go on to serve as presidents of the library company later in their careers.401 The considerable overlap between Masonry and the library company in Providence can EHDWWULEXWHGLQSDUWWRVRFLDOO\DFWLYH³VHULDOMRLQHUV´ 402 on a deeper level, however, the two organizations appealed to similar interests in the quest for ancient or secret knowledge. Another one of the original subscribers to the Providence library company was Benjamin Bowen, a 26- year-old physician born to a large family of doctors. In 1752, the year before the formation of the library company, Bowen received a satirical letter from an anonymous group of women, DGGUHVVHGWR³WKHFOXEXQNQRZQWRXVZKHWKHUWKHVHULRXVPHUU\RUZLWW\FOXE´,QPRFNLQJO\ high-faluting language, the letter asks Bowen and his comrades whether they can name the LQYHQWRURIWKHPRXVHWUDSVLQFH³\RXDUHZHOOYHUVWLQDQWLTXLW\´DQGFRQIHVVHVWKDW³we have QHYHUUHDG/RFNHVQRU3RROH¶V$QQRWDWLRQVQRU3XIHQGRUI¶V/DZRI1DWXUHRU1DWLRQVIRURXU information in these mysterious and weighty Points´ 7KHDXWKRUVIXUWKHUWHDVHWKHLUDXGLHQFH¶V VHFUHF\DQGSUHWHQVLRQVWRUDUHILHGNQRZOHGJHGHFODULQJ³RXUQH[WTXHVWLRQZLOOEHD KLHURJO\SKLF´7KLVOHWWHUVHHPVWRLQGLFDWHWKHH[LVWHQFHRIDVHFUHWLYHFOXERIOHDUQHGPHQLQ Providence which preceded both the library company and the Masonic lodge and whose membership probably fed into both of those institutions later in the decade²Dr. Bowen would JRRQWREHFRPHWKHORGJH¶VILUVWNQRZQ-XQLRU:DUGHQ403 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 401 -RVHSK/HUR\+DUULVRQ³7KH3URYLGHQFH$WKHQDHXP- ´ New England Magazine, Sep.-Oct., 1911, p. 9-10, 21. 402 ,ERUURZWKLVSKUDVHIURP %&-! ! 7KHSULRUH[LVWHQFHRI%RZHQ¶VP\VWHULRXVFOXELQ3rovidence points to the ways in which associations such as library companies can be easily misunderstood. A library did not necessarily represent the open exchange of secular knowledge in the eyes of mid-eighteenth- century colonists; often, it reflected obsessions with the ancient, the esoteric, and the arcane. For example, in From Colonials to Provincials, Ned Landsman discusses libraries as part of the development of an enlightened, genteel culture in eighteenth-century North America. Examining the records of the Hatboro Library in Pennsylvania in the 1750s, he finds many books devoted to the improvement of manners, skills, or practical knowledge²among them, The Art of Memory, A Treatise Useful for Such as Are to Speak in Public.404 Landsman does not mention, however, WKDWWKH³DUWRIPHPRU\´DPHGLWDWLYHSUDFWLFHZLWK+HUPHWLFRYHUWRQHVKDGEHHQSURPRWHGE\ the radical mystic Giordano Bruno before he was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600. The YROXPHE\0DULXVG¶$VVLJQ\ZKLFKWKH+DWERUR/LErary held, cites the Florentine Platonists that translated the Corpus Hermeticum and casts the human body, animated by the VRXODVDPLFURFRVPRIWKHXQLYHUVHJXLGHGE\*RG¶VSURYLGHQFH405 A strain of Neo-Platonic esotericism runs through the literature that circulated in eighteenth-century North America, sometimes hidden behind what appears to be a genteel, secular mask. In the case of the Providence Library Company, the strain of esoteric fascination, due to a lucky accident, is easy to uncover. In 175WKHPDLQERG\RIWKHFRPSDQ\¶VFROOHFWLRQZDV destroyed by fire, and only those books lent out to members at the time escaped the conflagration. The set of 60 surviving titles shows a range of interests, particularly in ancient !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 404 Ned Landsman, From Colonials to Provincials (Cornell U. Press, 2003): 52. 405 0DULXVG¶$VVLJQ\The Art of Memory (London: Darby and Bell, 1706): vi, 2; Frances Yates, The Art of Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966). %&$! ! and modern history, religion, physics, chemistry, and the civilizations of Persia and the Near East. Books on the latter topic include The History of Nadir Shah; The Antiquities of Constantinople; The History of Timbur Bec; The Expedition of Cyrus into Persia; 7KRPSVRQ¶V Travels through Turkey in Asia, the Holy Land, Arabia, Egypt, and other parts of the world; and 5ROOLQ¶VThe Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, etc. Perhaps more GLUHFWO\UHOHYDQWWR0DVRQVZRXOGKDYHEHHQ%RXWDOG¶VCounsels of Wisdom, a collection of sayings of Solomon. More specifically, the esoteric interests of the Providence Library Company took on a Masonic cast. Among the survivors of the fire is the book, M: or, Masonry Triumphant, a British handbook of Masonic history and songs. In addition, one finds two books by the Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay, the exiled Scottish Jacobite who helped to introduce Freemasonry to France; one is The Travels of CyrusGHDOLQJZLWKWKHDQFLHQW3HUVLDQHPSHURU¶V youth, and the other is his theological opus²The Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion: Unfolded in a Geometrical Order. Beyond the two books by Ramsay, someone in the Library Company seems to have had a Jacobite fascination, seeing as how volumes on King James II, the Stuart dynasty, and the 1745 uprising and collections of the works of the Duke of Wharton and Lord Lansdowne all survived the fire.406 ,QWKHIRXQGHUV¶FROOHFWLRQ one sees the tangle of interests in ancient wisdom, natural philosophy, the East, and the Jacobite cause that tended to cluster around Freemasonry in the middle of the eighteenth century. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 406³7KH3URYLGHQFH$WKHQDHXP 7KH6L[W\7LWOHV 9ROXPHV 6DYHGIURPWKH)LUHLQ´ Providence Athenaeum, %&%! ! In sum, the surviving collection of the Providence Library Company demonstrates the fraught and ambiguous relationship between Freemasonry and the literate public sphere. Freemasonry did not create the genteel, intellectual culture of the eighteenth-century port towns. Rather, it cultivated a substratum of ancient lore and symbolism within that culture. The Masonic experience can serve to illuminate the esoteric shadow of the so-called American Enlightenment. A comparison between Rhode Island and Philadelphia may be especially instructive in this regard. When in 1727 the young Benjamin Franklin organized his Junto, which has so often been cited as an early manifestation of American literate gentility, he conceived it as a secret society with a closed membership. As some members wished to increase WKHJURXS¶VQXPEHUV)UDQNOLQUHFRPPHQGHGWKDWWKH\FUHDWHIXUWKHUVHFUHWFHOOVZKRVHDWWHQGHHV would not know of their connection to the Junto. The link between the Junto and Freemasonry is VWURQJO\VXJJHVWHGE\WKHQLFNQDPHWKDWZRXOGODWHUDWWDFKWR)UDQNOLQ¶VJURXS²WKH³/HDWKHU $SURQ&OXE´6RPHPHPEHUVRIWKH-XQWRZRXOGODWHUFRQWULEXWHWRWKHIRUPDWLRQRf the $PHULFDQ3KLORVRSKLFDO6RFLHW\ZKLFKSURSRVHGLQ WRLQTXLUHLQWR³QDWXUDOVHFUHWVDUWV V\DQFHV´,Q3KLODGHOSKLDDVLQ5KRGH,VODQG)UHHPDVRQU\VXSSOLHGPDQ\RIWKHV\PEROVWHUPV and institutional forms of a secretive port-town intellectualism.407 ,QOLJKWRI0DVRQU\¶VHVRWHULFUROHLQFRORQLDOVRFLHW\RQHFDQVHHPXOWLSOHOHYHOVRI meaning in the careers of Rhode Island colonists who otherwise seem typical of the secular (QOLJKWHQPHQW)RULQVWDQFHPRVWRIWKHFRORQ\¶VSK\VLFLDQVDQGdruggists were Masons. Although these professionals stood in one sense at the forefront of eighteenth-century science, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 407 Edward C. Carter II, ³One Grand Pursuit": A Brief History of the American Philosophical Society, 11; Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1888): 123-6; Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (Simon and Schuster, 2003): 55-6. %&&! ! they were also practitioners of an art whose roots stretched back to late antiquity. Medical knowledge at this time was disputed between an Aristotelian school of thought based in the teachings of Galen, which the medieval and Renaissance universities transmitted, and an insurgent alchemical movement inspired mainly by Paracelsus. The Newport druggist William Tweedy showed an awareness of both schools of thought when in 1763 he advertised medicines ³FK\PLFDODQG*DOHQLFDO´ 'U:LOOLDP+XQWHULQRIIHUHGDZLGHDUUD\RIKHUEVHOL[LUV DQG³an assortment of medicines, chemical and JDOHQLFDOLQDOOLWVEUDQFKHV´408 3K\VLFLDQV¶ complex knowledge could make them crucially important members of their societies²Hunter WUHDWHGPRVWRI1HZSRUW¶VHOLWHDQGGHOLYHUHGLQIDQWVRYHUWKHFRXUVHRIKLVFDUHHU²but it could also inspire suspicion and resentment. James Otis, a political opponent of Thomas Moffitt, LQYRNHGWKHVHQHJDWLYHIHHOLQJVLQKLVGHULVLRQRI7KRPDV0RIILWDV³WKHJUHDWPDZJD]HHQRI NQRZOHGJH´ 2WLV¶HSLWKHWIRU0RIILWW³'U0XPFKDQFH´HPSOR\HGDQDUFKDLFZRUGPHDQLQJ ³WRNHHSVLOHQW´RU³WRPDVTXHUDGH´GHULYLQJIURPWKHVDPHURRWDV³PXPPHU´409 Like the player Owen Morris, the physician was part of an ongoing game of masking and unmasking; colonial Masons who practiced medicine partook in traditions and networks of knowledge that contemporary colonists viewed as mysterious and secretive. In sum, the Masons in Rhode Island and much of the Atlantic world were Janus-faced. They were social organizers on the public stage, and emotionally bonded Brethren in the privacy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 408 Newport Mercury, Dec. 19, 1763, p. 1; Nov. 18, 1765, p. 3. William Tweedy had become a Mason in October 1757; William Hunter is listed in the Special Return as one of the original members of the lodge and as a Mason in the 1759 Hall petition. In addition to Tweedy and Hunter, Jabez Bowen VLPLODUO\DGYHUWLVHG³&KHPLFDODQG*DOHQLFDO´GUXJVDWKLVVKRSLQ3URYLGHQFHProvidence Gazette, Jan. 8, 1763, p. 3. 409 Hunter, Dr. William, Medical daybook, 1771-77, extracts, Rhode Island Roots, 27:27, March 2001, p. 28- PXPFKDQFHY³PXPY´2('2QOLQH0DUFK2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV0D\ 2013. %&'! ! of the lodge. They were drivers of civic improvements, and protectors of ancient secrets. This GXDOLW\LVHQFDSVXODWHGLQWKHLUOHJHQGDU\FRQQHFWLRQWRWKHFRQVWUXFWLRQRI6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH² and in the context of Rhode Island, in their plan to build their own Hall. As hollow shelters, buildings both display and conceal at once. The Newport Brethren evidently commissioned Peter Harrison to design a structure that would present a dignified public face to the colony while concealing their ritual activities within. As an avid student of Christopher Wren, Harrison was DZDUHRIWKHVWXGLHVRI6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHE\5DEEL-DFRE-HKXGDK/HRQDQGRWKHUVHYHQWHHQWK- century commentators. In the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Jewish congregations in Amsterdam, London, and the Dutch and British colonies built synagogues that evoked the 7HPSOHJXLGHGE\/HRQ¶VZULWLQJV +DUULVRQIROORZHGWKLVSUHFHGHQWLQ5KRGH,VODQGJLYLQJWKH 1HZSRUWV\QDJRJXHDQHOHYDWHGXQFRYHUHGZRPHQ¶VJDOOHU\DFHQWUDOWHEDKRUUHDGLQJGHVN and other elements mimicking the Temple and its careful demarcations of sacred space.410 Perhaps the most meaningful and the most hidden of these elements was the use of divine proportions. The placement of the tebah in the Newport synagogue closes off a portion of the sanctuary near the Torah Ark. The ratio of the length of this smaller enclosed section of the sanctuary to the entire building, as in the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, is 37:100² recreating the supposed dimensions of the Holy of Holies in proportion to the larger sanctuary of SolomoQ¶V7HPSOH7KHGLYLQHUDWLRRIWKH7HPSOHLQWXUQV\PEROL]HVWKHUHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQ the heavens and the earth, between God and humankind.411 Harrison evidently used this same pattern in his design for the Masonic Hall, begun in the same year. In the GUDZLQJODEHOHG³3ODQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 410 /DXUD/HLEPDQ³6HSKDUGLF6DFUHG6SDFHLQ&RORQLDO$PHULFD´-HZLVK+LVWRU\YROQR February 2011. 411 Ibid, p. 20-2, 28. %&(! ! RI0DVRQ+DOO3XUSRVHGLQ1HZSRUW´ZHVHHWKHEXLOGLQJ¶VODUJHFHQWUDOEORFNGLYLGHGLQWRWZR chambers of unequal size by a thin dividing wall (see Chapter 4). If one takes the width of the smaller chamber and divides it by the width of the entire central block (measured, as in Bevis Marks, from the interior surface of the front wall), one finds the resulting fraction to be 0.3705, as close as conceivably possible to the divine ratio invoked by Leon. In other words, despite using the awkward scale of feet and inches, the architect of the Masonic Hall placed its interior dividing wall within a quarter of an inch of the purported position of the veil covering the Holy of Holies.412 The plan for a Masonic hall in Newport captures the dual personality of Freemasonry in the eighteenth century. Here was a balanced, dignified structure in the current neo-classical style, which would host public functions; meanwhile, as a venue for Masonic ritual, the EXLOGLQJ¶VIORRUSODQHFKRHGWKHORQJ-destroyed Temple of Jersusalem. The Hall would serve as a successor to the Biblical Temple, centering on an inner chamber where, as in the Holy of +ROLHVWKDWKRXVHG$UNRIWKH&RYHQDQWPHQZRXOGHQFRXQWHU*RG¶VSUHVHQFHWKURXJKWKH sacred law. Hiding its secrets in plain sight, the prospective building would allow for an ongoing pageant of masking and unmasking; the Newport Masons aspired to create within the sanctified space of the lodge, a reconstructed Temple, and in their Atlantic colonial town, a new Jerusalem. One can see a similar mediation of esoteric and exoteric meanings in the career of FRORQLDO5KRGH,VODQG¶VPRVWLPSRUWDQWQDWXUDOSKLORVRSKHU²Joseph Brown. The resonance of %URZQ¶VDUFKLWHFWXUDODFWLYLWLHVLQWKHV²GHVLJQLQJKLVWRZQ¶V&ollege Edifice, Market !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 412 The precise width of the central block measured from the interior surface of the front wall is ¶PLQXV¶´RU¶´ZKLOHWKDWRIWKHVPDOOHULQQHUFKDPEHULV¶´SOXV¶´SOXV¶RU¶´ The length of the central block times 0.37 is 13.813 feet, which is only 0.02 feet (or 0.24 inches) smaller than the measurements of the inner chamber seen in the drawing. %&)! ! House, and Baptist Meeting House ²with his identity as a Mason should be obvious. Even before his development as an architect, however, Brown was an avid experimenter in electricity, possessing, according to his associate Benjamin WHVW³as curious and complete an apparatus for electrical experiments, as any, perhaps, in America´413 The mysterious properties of electricity had been a special Masonic obsession at least since the 1720s. Jean Desaguliers, a French Huguenot minister in London and possibly the most influential Grand Master of the eighteenth century, undertook extensive investigations of electricity at the same time that he oversaw the SXEOLFDWLRQRI$QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions.414 After 1743, the quest to understand electricity was taken up by Benjamin Franklin, whose invention of the lightning-rod is well known. Franklin also sponsored the activities of Ebenezer Kinnersley, who toured North America demonstrating the powers of his electrical apparatus, including a sojourn at Newport in 1752. In the 1760s, -RVHSK3ULHVWOH\DQRWKHU%ULWLVK0DVRQUHSULQWHGDQGHODERUDWHGRQ'HVDJXOLHUV¶DQG)UDQNOLQ¶V electrical writings.415 Masonic rituals are filled with images of the careful manipulation of light, of which electricity was a VRXUFH -RVHSK%URZQ¶VHOHFWULFDOLQWHUHVWUHIOHFWVWKHTXDVL-mystical belief expressed in the words of Masonry Dissected, WKDW³[b]y Sciences are brought to Light / Bodies of various Kinds, / Which do appear to perfect Sight´416 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 413 %HQMDPLQ:HVW³$Q$FFRXQWRIWKH2EVHUYDWLRQRI9HQXVLSRQWKH6XQWKHWKLUGGD\RI-XQH DW3URYLGHQFHLQ1HZ(QJODQGZLWKVRPHDFFRXQWRIWKHXVHRIWKRVHREVHUYDWLRQV´3URYLGHQFe: -RKQ&DUWHUDW6KDNHVSHDU¶V+HDG , RIHS. 414 Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1, 207-8; John Desagulliers, A Dissertation Concerning Electricity, London: Innys and Longman, 1742. 415 Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin, 129- ³,QWURGXFWory letter from B. Franklin to Mr. -DPHV%RZGRLQPHUFKDQW%RVWRQ3KLODG6HSW´3KRWRVWDW0+6 (EHQH]HU.LQQHUVOH\ ³(OHFWULFDO)LUH´1HZSRUW SULQWHGE\-DPHV)UDQNOLQ 416 Pritchard, Masonry Dissected, London 1730, 16. %&*! ! The deep entanglement of light, natural science, and Masonic symbolism in Joseph %URZQ¶VFDUHHUFDQEHVHHQHYHQPRUHVWURQJO\LQKLVREVHUYDWLRQRIWKHWUDQVLWRI9HQXV%URZQ paid more than 100 pounds for the equipment necessary to view and record the transit in 1769, which offered the opportunity to gauge the distance and size of the Sun. That he should go to such lengths is not surprising considering that Brown was the Worshipful Master of his lodge, and that Masons considered the Sun to be a symbol of that office. Former lodge Masters customarily received a jewel in the shape of a sunburst, and as Masonry Dissected DWWHVWV³$V WKH6XQULVHVLQWKH(DVWDQGRSHQVWKHGD\VRWKH0DVWHUVWDQGVLQWKH(DVW«WRRSHQWKHORGJH DQGWRVHWKLVPHQDWZRUN´7KHULWXDOSURJUHVVLRn of a lodge meeting was patterned on the movement of the Sun, with the Wardens closing the meeting in the West.417 The Rhode Island Masons were unquestionably aware of the symbolic importance of the Sun to the Craft. They observed the Masonic holidays oI6DLQW-RKQWKH%DSWLVW¶V'D\RQ-XQH 24th DQG6DLQW-RKQWKH(YDQJHOLVW¶V'D\RQ'HFHPEHUth, tracing a solar cycle marked by the summer and winter solstices. The cornerstone-laying ceremony at Newport in 1759 took place at noon and mimicked the motion of the Sun, with the lodge officers progressing from the East, to the South, to the West.418 Masons often used the light emanating from the Sun as a metaphor for the salutary influence of Masonry; the Masonic eulogy for the Duke of Cumberland, reprinted in the Mercury in 1766, boasted WKDW³WKHLQIOXHQFHRIKLV0DVRQLFYLUWXHV«GLIIXVHGLWVHOIIURP (DVWWR:HVW´LQWKHPDQQHURIWKHULVLQJVXQ419 We cannot be certain that Joseph Brown²or for that matter, Moses Brown and Jabez Bowen²saw the observation of the transit as having a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 417 Ibid, 11. 418 Newport Mercury, Sep. 16, 1876, p. 6. 419 Newport Mercury, March 10, 1766, p 1. %&+! ! Masonic significance, but the possibility is strongly suggested by the closing of the Providence lodge, after almost a decade of struggle, on June 7, 1769, just four days after the transit. The timing suggests that Brown and his Masonic cohorts wished for the two events to coincide, or that Brown delayed the closure because he wished to hold the office of Worshipful Master at the time that he made his observations. Finally, the symbolic importance of the Sun is central to an engraving by a Newport DUWLVWWLWOHG³$)UHH-0DVRQ)RUP¶G2XWRIWKH0DWHULDOVRI+LV/RGJH´SURGXFHGLQWKHVDPH year as the transit of Venus.420 Possibly the earliest surviving Masonic image from Rhode Island, the satirical engraving shows a human figure assembled from various Masonic jewels and ritual implements, standing atop a checkerboard floor. The artist, Samuel King, was born in Newport in 1749, apprenticed for a time in Boston, and returned to Newport where he spent much of his career as a minor painter and mathematical instrument-maker. He is remembered mainly for his striking portrait of Ezra Stiles, which employs bold Kabbalistic symbolism. Most RI.LQJ¶VZRUNVKRZHYHUDUHIRUPXODLFDQGGHULYDWLYHDQG³$)UHH-0DVRQ)RUP¶G´HQJUDYHG when King was only twenty years old, is based closely on a 1754 print by the London artist $OH[DQGHU6ODGH6WLOO.LQJ¶VYHUVLRQZDVPRVWOLNHO\FRPPLVVLRQHGE\D5KRGH,VODQGRU Massachusetts Mason, and reflects the ideas and images that its patrons wished to propagate about themselves.421 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 420 The only known surviving copy of the print is held by the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and /LEUDU\RQEHKDOIRIWKH/RGJHRI6DLQW$QGUHZ¶V%RVWRQ7KH0XVHXP¶VFDWDORJOists the print as either 1763 or 1769, although the archivist Aimee Newell believes that the handwritten date on the print reads ³ ´DQGEHVLGHVLQ.LQJZRXOGKDYHEHHQRQO\\HDUVROG 421 The stone blocks or ashlars on which the Masonic figure stands bear the date 1758, suggesting that the patron of the work may have been initiated or raised in that year. Seeing as how the surviving FRS\RIWKHSULQWLVWRGD\RZQHGE\WKH/RGJHRI6DLQW$QGUHZ¶VLQ%RVWRQSRVVLEOHSDWURQVZRXOG include Moses Deshon, Thomas Mitchell, Joseph Webb, and John Jenkins, all of whom were members of %&,! ! ! ͞&ƌĞĞDĂƐŽŶ&Žƌŵ͛ĚKƵƚŽĨƚŚĞDĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐŽĨ,ŝƐ>ŽĚŐĞ͕͟^ĂŵƵĞů<ŝŶŐ͕ϭϳϲϵ͘/ŵĂŐĞĐŽƵƌƚĞƐLJƚŚĞ^ĐŽƚƚŝƐŚZŝƚĞ DĂƐŽŶŝĐDƵƐĞƵŵĂŶĚ>ŝďƌĂƌLJĂŶĚƚŚĞ>ŽĚŐĞŽĨ^ĂŝŶƚŶĚƌĞǁ͛Ɛ͕ŽƐƚŽŶ͘ 7KHHQJUDYLQJFOHDUO\SRNHVIXQDWWKH0DVRQV¶REVHssion with signs and symbols, while simultaneously enticing the uninitiated viewer with its veiled meanings. The short verse !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5KRGH,VODQGORGJHVDQGRI6DLQW$QGUHZ¶VLQ%RVWRQDWGLIIHUHQWSRLQWVEHWZHHQDQG Proceedings in Masonry, 123, 446-7. %'-! ! DFFRPSDQ\LQJWKHLPDJHLQWLPDWHVWKDWWKHEL]DUUH³PLVWLF3RUWUDLW´FRQWDLQV³>W@KH6HFUHWVRI Free-Masonry, / Fair for all to reaGDQGVHH %XWIHZWKHUHDUHWRZKRPWKH\¶UHNQRZQ7KR WKH\VRSODLQO\KHUHDUHVKRZQ´7KHHQJUDYLQJDQGWKHDFFRPSDQ\LQJWH[WLQYLWHWKHYLHZHULQWR DJDPHRIFRGLQJDQGGHFRGLQJ7KHILJXUH¶VDUPVDUHPDVRQ¶VVTXDUHVV\PEROL]LQJUHFWLWXGH and his neck a level representing equality; his torso is a Bible, and his legs the two pillars IODQNLQJWKHHQWUDQFHZD\WR6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHVXUPRXQWHGE\JOREHVUHSUHVHQWLQJWKHHDUWKO\ and heavenly spheres. Most significantly, his head is represented by a PasW0DVWHU¶VMHZHOZLWKD golden face and sunburst, linking the sun and its corresponding element to the head as the seat of consciousness and to the Worshipful Master as the head of the lodge. The composition of the figure evokes Revelations 10:1-2, supposedly penned by John the Evangelist, one of the patron VDLQWVRI0DVRQU\LQZKLFKWKHVSHDNHUVHHVDQDQJHOZKRVH³face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire´-RKQ¶VDQJHOGHOLYHUVWRKLPDVFUROORISURSKHV\DQGDURGZLWKZKLFKWR ³PHDVXUHWKHWHPSOHRI*RG´:KHUHDVWKHILJXUH¶VOHJVDUHOLQNHGWRWKHILUVWWZRGHJUHHVRI Masonry²WKHQDPHVRIWKHWZRSLOODUVVHUYHDVWKH(QWHUHG$SSUHQWLFH¶VDQG)HOORZ&UDIW¶V passwords²his head represents the third degree. Hence, as one progresses through the initiatory levels and offices of Masonry, the engraving seems to say, one ascends toward the spiritual perfection represented by the Temple and the Sun. This process, punctuated by ritual milestones, entails a re-making and reconstitution of oQH¶VSHUVRQ RQHGRHVQRWVLPSO\MRLQWKH0DVRQLF )UDWHUQLW\EXWLV³PDGH´D0DVRQLQDNLQGRIWUDQVPXWDWLRQ The automaton-OLNHPDQLQ.LQJ¶VHQJUDYLQJHPERGLHVWKHFKDUDFWHURIFRORQLDO0DVRQU\ on several levels. There is more to him than meets the eye²the appearance and position of his body contain coded meanings that most outsiders could not decipher. He is constructed out of the lodge implements, making him an essentially different being; as the author of the 1762 %'$! ! memorandum claims, the devotees oI0DVRQU\DUHLQGHOLEO\³VWDPSHGZLWKDPDUNZKLFK QRWKLQJFDQHIIDFH´)LQDOO\WKHXQLI\LQJLGHa behind the figure alludes to Revelations and apocalypticism²the belief that that which is hidden will, in its proper time, be revealed to all. It would be largely through apocalyptic thought that Freemasonry would grapple with the intellectual and political contradictions of its own existence in a revolutionary republic. We must conclude this chapter by returning to the question suggested in its title: that of the relationship between Freemasonry and the so-FDOOHG³(QOLJKWHQPHQW´LQFRORQLDO$PHULFD The very notion of the Enlightenment is expansive, ambiguous, and often deployed without clear boundaries. Therefore, whether Freemasonry was part of the Enlightenment is ultimately up to the arbitrary choice of the reader. What the materials examined in this chapter should demonstrate, however, is that it is not necessary to invoke the Enlightenment in order to interpret the meanings of Masonry. The Craft had a symbolic language of its own, through which it represented its intentions and aspirations to itself and, when, necessary, to outsiders. The LQWHUSUHWDWLRQRI0DVRQLFDFWVDQGLPDJHVGRQRWUHYHDOWKHPWREHDQ³H[SUHVVLRQ´RIWKH Enlightenment, nor of any other external movement. Masonry was, first and foremost, itself; to be a Mason was its own distinctive state of being, with its own beliefs and commitments. In so far as Masonry was an intellectual movement, its ideas either predated the Enlightenment or were so vague and generic as to warrant no specific intellectual taxonomy. In those places where Masonry shared close links to other bodies of knowledge and practice, such as medicine, libraries, and the Church of England, it shared an affinity with the secretive, the esoteric, and the backward-looking aspects of those institutions. If it was, as some may choose to believe, a part of the Enlightenment, it was its shadow side²the secret attic of the eighteenth-century house of knowledge. %'%! ! %'&! ! Chapter 7: The Collapse of Masonry in the Imperial C risis, 1763-1779 The strength and growth of Freemasonry apparently depended upon several related conditions, most importantly: a concentration of young men, whether in large towns, in military forces, or aboard ship; reasonable economic opportunity; and a wide degree of political consensus, or at least a lack of deeply divisive conflicts. Given these conditions, the Fraternity could take hold even in the face of brutal legal and ecclesiastical repression, such as in Spain and Portugal. The Masons in Rhode Island took advantage of these favorable conditions when they could²but the British imperial crisis of the 1760s ended their good fortune. Freemasonry in Rhode Island was already in a precarious position by 1763. As mentioned in Chapter 36DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHH[SHULHQFHGDKDOWLQLQLWLDWLRQV between June 1761 and July 1764. Even the initiation of Edward Dexter in the latter year was apparently a fluke, followed by another drought lasting almost four and a half years. The 3URYLGHQFHVORGJH¶VWULEXODWLRQVPLJKWFRQFHLYDEO\EHEODPHGRQGHPRJUDSKLFV²the lodge had exhausted its sources of likely recruits in the smaller northern town. The failure of its sister lodge in Newport, on the other hand, cannot be blamed on population numbers; its causes were political. The imperial crisis both destroyed Masonry in colonial Rhode Island and forced former Masons to realign themselves into political camps, within which Masonry could reconstitute and reconceive itself as a republican Fraternity. An examination of Freemasonry and of former Masons during the imperial crisis can serve to test the purported relationship EHWZHHQ)UHHPDVRQU\DQGSROLWLFVSDUWLFXODUO\WKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VVXSSRVHGGHPRFUDWLFDQG:KLJ leDQLQJV,IDQ\WKLQJWKH0DVRQV¶UHVSRQVHVWRWKHLPSHULDOFULVLVVKRZDSDWWHUQRISROLWLFDO ambivalence, as Whig views contended with continuing attachment to the Crown. %''! ! When the British ministry achieved victory over France in 1763, it had little time to celebrate before grappling with the enormous debt that the kingdom had incurred over the course of the war. Before the end of the year, the government in London directed customs officials in the colonies to enforce the taxes and fees of the Navigation Acts with renewed vigor. These acts included the long-ignored Molasses Act of 1733, which imposed high tariffs on molasses imported from non-British territories. This policy change caused consternation through much of the American colonies, but particulDUO\LQ5KRGH,VODQGZKHUHWKHFRORQLVWV¶PRVWSURILWDEOH trade depended on acquiring molasses and distilling it into rum for re-export. What is more, the ministry granted royal officers cruising the coast on armed ships the power to seize any vessels suspected of avoiding the tax and sell them at auction.422 The policy change triggered a flurry of pamphlets decrying the disastrous effect that the WD[ZRXOGKDYHRQWKHFRORQ\¶VFRPPHUFHDQGSURWHVWLQJ3DUOLDPHQW¶VHQFURDFKPHQWXSRQWKH Rhode Island Assembl\¶VWUDGLWLRQDOSUHURJDWLYHRIOHY\LQJWD[HV$VSHFLDOFRQYHQWLRQOHGE\ Governor Stephen Hopkins sent a remonstrance to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, pointing to the self-government granted to Rhode Island in its 1663 charter. Nevertheless, British officials held fast to their new enforcement practices, and Parliament backed them up with a renewed Sugar and Molasses Act in April 1764, followed closely by warnings that a stamp tax would soon be levied on the colonies as well. Anxiety over the new British policies combined with long-VWDQGLQJUHVHQWPHQWRYHUWKHSUDFWLFHRI³LPSUHVVPHQW´RUDEGXFWLRQRIVDLORUVIURP ports to force them into service in the royal navy. In Newport, the discontent boiled over into virtual anarchy in the summer of 1764, with colonial mobs roughing up the crews of royal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 422 Lovejoy, Rhode Island Politics and the Revolution, 31-2. %'(! ! vessels, burning their landing boats, and on at least one occasion firing on them from the cannons of Fort George.423 Members of the Rhode Island elite, depending partly on their social positions, responded differently to the virtual civil war that they saw brewing in Newport. Many colonial officeholders, most of them merchants and native-born Rhode Islanders, saw their powers and privileges encroached upon by the new British policies, and treated the violators of the Sugar Act and the colonists who attacked royal vessels with leniency. When the gunner who had fired upon the royal schooner Saint John apologized to the Assembly for his actions, they only wished to know why he had not sunk the ship.424 On the other hand, a small set of colonists looked upon the riots and turmoils of 1764 with disgust, seeing a colony in the grips of a lawless rabble and the corrupt merchants who pandered to it. These colonists were largely professionals who did not have the benefit of offices under the colonial charter and who hoped to advance themselves through royal favor and patronage. They were led by the Newport-born attorney, Martin Howard, Jr., who had been a Mason since 1757, and his Scottish accomplice, Dr. Thomas Moffitt. In fact, the set of legal and PHGLFDOSURIHVVLRQDOVLQWKH1HZSRUWORGJHEHFDPHPRUHRUOHVVLGHQWLFDOWRWKHGHWHVWHG³7RU\ MXQWR´RISUH-revolutionary Rhode Island. This small clique circulated a petition asking the CURZQWRUHYRNH5KRGH,VODQG¶V 1663 charter and to impose direct royal rule, quashing the self- government that allowed colonists to flout the directives of King and Parliament. In response to 6WHSKHQ+RSNLQV¶DUJXPHQWVLQGHIHQVHRIFRORQLDOOLEHUWLHV0DUWLQ+RZDUGGUDIWHGIRUWKHSUess a Letter from a Gentleman at Halifax to his Friend in Rhode Island, advocating for the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 423 Lovejoy, 33-47. 424 Lovejoy, 36-7. %')! ! revocation of the charter. Meanwhile Howard wrote privately to Benjamin Franklin, calling the FRORQ\LQLWVSUHVHQWVWDWH³QRWKLQJEXWDEXUOHVTXHXSRQRUGHUDQGJRYHUQPHQW´FRQWUROOHGE\ ³WKHKHUG´DQG³DSDUFHORILQIDPRXVVPXJJOHUV´425 Rhode Islanders easily identified Howard as the author of the Halifax pamphlet, and he and Moffitt became the focus of an angry political reaction. Joseph Wanton, Jr., a young scion of the Newport clan and a IRUPHUDUP\RIILFHUKHOSHGWRH[SRVHWKH7RU\SHWLWLRQWKDWVRXJKW³WR GHSULYHWKHFRORQ\RILW¶VIUHHGRPDQGPRVWLQYDOXDEOHSULYLOHJHV´ WKLVHDUQHG:DQWRQWKH %URZQEURWKHUV¶HQGRUVHPHQWIRUWKHRIILFHRI'HSXW\*RYHUQRULn the spring of 1764. Like John and Moses Brown, Wanton had been a Mason since 1758, and had been a leader of the Hall construction project in Newport. Once in office, he railed against Howard and the Halifax letter before the General Assembly, urging the deputies to take legal action to suppress the pamphlet. Firmly allied as he was to Stephen Hopkins and the Brown brothers, Wanton probably hoped that the notorious letter would embarrass the Ward faction, with whom Howard had once been associated.426 AltKRXJKWKH$VVHPEO\RSWHGWRUHVSHFWWKHIUHHGRPRIWKHSUHVV0DUWLQ+RZDUG¶V VLWXDWLRQEHFDPHSUHFDULRXVDIWHU5KRGH,VODQGHUVOHDUQHGRI%ULWDLQ¶VSODQWRFROOHFWWKHORQJ- rumored stamp tax. The Lords of the Treasury intended to appoint colonial officials to enforce WKHWD[DQGFKRVHDVVWDPSPDVWHUIRU5KRGH,VODQGWKHFRORQ\¶VDWWRUQH\JHQHUDO$XJXVWXV Johnston. Johnston had been a Mason since 1750 and at leDVWRQFHVHUYHGDVWKHORGJH¶V Treasurer. Politically, he had been elected as attorney general seven times and commanded !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 425 Lovejoy, 48-51, 77-80; Bridenbaugh, Peter Harrison, 124-5; Edmund Morgan and Helen Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1953): 17, 51. 426 Lovejoy, 80-1; Providence Gazette, April 14, 1764, p.4; Newport Mercury, July 3, 1759, p. 3 %'*! ! considerable public respect. Reportedly, Johnston had not sought the office but would accept it, despite the fact that the Stamp Act circumvented the very judicial system in which he had made his career. The announcement of his appointment as stamp master on June 3, 1765 caused a ZDYHRIUHYXOVLRQLQWKHFRORQ\-RKQVWRQ¶VDSSDUHQWEHWUD\DOIXUWKHULQFHQVHGWKHSXEOLFDJDLQVW Howard and Moffitt, whom Rhode Islanders correctly surmised had also sought appointments to help enforce the detested tax.427 $QDPELWLRXVFOLTXHRI:KLJJLVK5KRGH,VODQGHUVVRXJKWWRFKDQQHOWKHFRORQ\¶VDQJHU against Johnston and the Tories into a public demonstration. By August, they hatched plans to shame and threaten the enemies of colonial liberty by burning them in effigy. One of the principal plotters was William Ellery, a young Newport lawyer who had previously acted as a vote-whip and fundraiser for the Ward faction. Ellery was a Congregationalist, and had attended Harvard along with the likes of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. He was also a Freemason, KLVQDPHDSSHDULQJDVDQLQLWLDWHLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI%RVWRQLQWKH\HDUDIWHUKLV Harvard graduation, and as an attendee at later Boston Masonic functions.428 There is no evidence, howeYHUWKDWKHHYHUDIILOLDWHGZLWK6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUW SHUKDSVDVD Congregationalist and a Ward supporter, he found the lodge in his hometown unwelcoming. William Ellery was pivotal to giving the sugar and stamp controversies in Newport a wider regional audience. He drew his Bostonian friend and fellow Freemason, the lawyer James 2WLVLQWRWKHSDPSKOHWZDUZLWK0DUWLQ+RZDUG2WLVUHVSRQGHGWR+RZDUG¶VDUJXPHQWs in support of Parliament with acrimonious rejoinders; as the Stamp Act controversy boiled over, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 427 Lovejoy, 100-1; Martin Howard to B. Franklin, Franklin Papers vol. 2,2, no. 127, May 14, 1765. 428 Lovejoy, 11, 25, 53, 101; Morgan and Morgan, 193-4; Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. 2, p. 17. %'+! ! 2WLV¶1HZSRUWIULHQGVDQGFROOHDJXHVIHGKLPLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKHLU7RU\RSSRQHQWVZKLFKKH H[DJJHUDWHGLQWRVFDWKLQJFDULFDWXUHV+HFDOOHGWKH7RU\JURXSD³OLWWOHGLUW\GULQNLQJ drabbing, contaminated knot of thieves, beggars and trDQVSRUWV´DFFXVLQJWKHPRIVSUHDGLQJ ³OLEHOVXSRQDOOJRRGFRORQLVWVDQGVXEMHFWV´RIKDUERULQJ-DFRELWHOR\DOWLHVDQGRIVZHDULQJ VHFUHWRDWKVWRWKH3UHWHQGHU KHODEHOHGWKHLUOHDGHUV+RZDUGDQG0RIILWDV³0DUWLQXV 6FULEOHUXV´DQG³WKHJUHDWPDZJD]HHQRINQRZOHGJH'U0XPFKDQFH´429 6RPHRI2WLV¶ epithets were attached to the three effigies that a gang of Newport Whigs paraded around the town, each one with a halter around its neck, on the morning of August 27, 1765. As Johnston, Howard, and Moffitt took shelter on a royal man-of-war in the harbor, the protestors hanged the effigies on a makeshift gallows before the Colony House. They remained there until sunset, at which time the crowd threw them onto a bonfire.430 Peace did not follow the frightening but non-violent demonstration of August 27th. Rather, the following evening, an ardent Whig provoked a physical fight with John Robinson, a customs collector who had also been a Freemason since the previous December. The Whigs took this skirmish as a signal to gather and plunder the homes of the most reviled Tories. While Robinson, Howard, and Moffitt again took shelter aboard the Cygnet in the harbor, Augustus Johnston intended to remain at home and face his opponents, but was persuaded to remove to a IULHQG¶VKRXVH7KHDWWRUQH\JHQHUDOHVFDSHGWKHZRUVWRIWKHFURZG¶VZUDWKZKLOHPREV repeatedly raided and ransacked the houses of Moffit and Howard, demolishing fine furniture, glassware, and family pictures. The following day, Ellery and other Whig leaders felt that their !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 429 2WLV³%ULHI5HPDUNV RQWKH'HIHQVHRIWKH+DOLID[/LEHO´ 5; Morgan and Morgan, Stamp Act Crisis, 53. 430 Lovejoy, 104-5. %',! ! point had been made, but some mobs reassembled and threatened to continue the havoc and destruction. The Whig statesmen fretted that the situation had spiraled out of their control, until on August 30th, Augustus Johnston managed WRDUUHVWWKHPRE¶VPDLQLQVWLJDWRUDQGWRFDOPWKH WRZQVSHRSOH-RKQVWRQWKHUHDIWHUDJUHHGWRUHIXVHWKHVWDPSPDVWHU¶VSRVWDQGOLYHGSHDFHIXOO\ in his longtime home; Howard and Moffitt, on the other hand, set sail for Britain on August 31st, never to return to Newport.431 Most of the major players in the sugar and stamp crises in Newport²both the Tory petitioners and their attackers, in and out of political office²were Freemasons. Although a majority of the members of the Newport lodge whose political sympathies can be identified fell RQWKH7RU\VLGHRIWKHFRQIOLFWWKHULIWVXUHO\GDPDJHGWKHORGJH¶VXQLW\DQGDELOLW\WRIXQFWLRQ On September 5, 1765, just eight days after rioters plundered the homes of Howard and Moffitt, the lodge recorded its last known initiation of the colonial era, that of the Baptist sea captain, James Burroughs. Their last public announcement, which instructed the Brethren to gather at -RKQ/DZWRQ¶VWDYHUQWRFHOHEUDWH6DLQW-RKQWKH(YDQJHOLVW¶V'D\DSSHDUHGLQWKHMercury on December 23rd. According to a lodge history written in the twentieth century, the lodge continued to hold meetings until the end of 1765; after this point, several pages were torn out of WKHPLQXWHERRN7KHORGJH¶VPRGHUQKLVWRULDQVVSHFXODWHWKDWthe records of the post-1765 meetings may have been destroyed in order to prevent them from falling into British hands !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 431 Lovejoy, 105- ³$OLVWRILWHPVFRUUHVSRQGLQJRQWKH&RQNOLQJSUREDWHDQGWKH+RZDUG damage ReporW´UHVHDUFKILOH³0DUWLQ+RZDUG´1+6 %(-! ! during the Revolution. 432 However, it is unclear why Masons would have felt the need to hide these particular records from British occupiers. Rather, other surviving clues suggest that it is far more likely that the Newport Masons vandalized their own log book as a result of their political polarization. We cannot know how long the Newport lodge continued to function after the fall of 1765. The Provincial Grand Lodge LQ%RVWRQSHUVLVWHGLQOLVWLQJ6DLQW-RKQ¶VDQGWKH0DVWHU¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWLQWKHUROORI lodges under their jurisdiction through 1767, but no representatives from Newport appeared at any of the quarterly communications.433 On the one hand, the lodges ought to have been able to weather the political storms of 1765, seeing as how the Fraternity had no express political agenda and even prohibited poliWLFDOGHEDWHLQWKHORGJHV$QGHUVRQ¶V Constitutions of the Free-Masons prLQWHGLQ/RQGRQLQDQGLQ3KLODGHOSKLDLQGHFODUHWKDWWKH0DVRQVDUH³UHVROYHG DJDLQVWDOOSROLWLFV´DQGGRQRWDOORZDQ\³4XDUUHOVDERXW5HOLJLRQRU1DWLRQVRU6WDWH-3ROLF\´ in the lodges. Furthermore, the Constitutions enjoined Masons to be loyal subjects, and warned that while political rebellion alone was not sufficient reason for a lodge to expel a Brother, the Fraternity must disavow any rebellious or treasonous activity.434 2QWKHRWKHUKDQGWKH0DVRQV¶VXSSUHVVLRQRISROLWLFDOGHEDWHZithin the lodges left the Fraternity vulnerable to the effects of political divisions in society at large if those conflicts reached a critical intensity. Before the firestorm over the Stamp Act, no public Masonic declaration had so much as hinted at a position on the political controversies that divided Rhode !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 432 Newport Mercury, Dec. 23, 1765, p. 3; Special Return for Newport; Brinton and Johnston, ³6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR$) $01HZSRUW5KRGH,VODQG $/RGJH+LVWRU\´-2 preservation box, Grand Lodge of Rhode Island; Rugg, 785. 433 Proceedings in Masonry, 110-12. 434 Anderson¶VConstitutions, 48-9, 53. %($! ! Island. Then, on January 6, 1766, the Mercury ran a bizarre and ominous announcement, laden ZLWK0DVRQLFV\PEROLVPDQGKLQWLQJDWDYHLOHGSROLWLFDOWKUHDW8QGHUWKHKHDGOLQH³/LEHUW\ Property, DQGQR6WDPSV´WKHDQQRXQFHPHQWEHJDQE\SRLQWLQJDSSURYLQJO\WR$XJXVWXV -RKQVWRQ¶VSURPLVHWKDWKHZRXOGUHIXVHWKHRIILFHRI6WDPS0DVWHU³UDWKHUWKDQEHDQ LQVWUXPHQWLQWKHGHVWUXFWLRQRIWKHOLEHUWLHVRIWKHJRRGSHRSOHRIWKLVFRORQ\´&DOOLQJ thHPVHOYHV³WKHWUXH-ERUQ6RQVRI/LEHUW\´WKHDXWKRUVRIWKHDQQRXQFHPHQWGHFODUHWKHPVHOYHV ³HYHUDQ[LRXVWRSUHVHUYHZKDWRXUDQFHVWRUVZLWKPXFKWUDYDLOEORRGDQGWUHDVXUHKDYH purchased for us, having wisdom, strength and beauty for our supporters, and determining to be XSRQDOHYHOOLYHZLWKLQFRPSDVVDQGDFWXSRQWKHVTXDUH´ 435 Here, the authors combine the common Whig notion of political liberty as a British birthright with veneration of the so-called ³WKUHHSLOODUV´RI0DVRQU\DQGWKHV\PEROLF tools of the level, compass, and square, all of which are discussed in the Masonic catechisms recorded in Masonry Dissected. The abstract conflation of Whig political values with Masonic symbols might have raised the eyebrows of some more conservative Masons, but it was only a mild platitude compared to what followed. After clearly identifying themselves as Masons, the authors of the announcement declare to all North-America, that no son of perdition among us, of what character in life soever, shall ever mention that detestable pamphlet, called a Stamp Act, with applause, nor in any way, by word or writing, sign or token, ever aid or assist in the prosecution of the contents thereof, without our highest indignation, which shall be manifested without so large a mob as a certain honourable gentleman says he can raise. Here, the authors explicitly mark what they consider to be the boundaries of acceptable political speech by Masons, and back this declaration up with a threatening reference to mob action. Most remarkably of all, in warning against cooperation with the Stamp Act, the announcement !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 435 Newport Mercury, January 6, 1766, p. 3. %(%! ! LQYRNHVODQJXDJHUHPLQLVFHQWRI0DVRQLFRDWKVWRSURWHFWWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VVHFUHWVWKXVGUDZLQJD parallel between the sanctity of Masonic lore and that of colonial liberty. Finally, the Mercury DQQRXQFHPHQWGRHVQRWQDPHLWVDXWKRUVEXWLVVLJQHG³E\RUGHURI the Right Worshipful Grand Master, and the Wardens and Stewards of Our Lodge, by four HQWHU¶GSUHQWLFHV%2$=´7KLVFORVLQJVXJJHVWVWKDWWKHDXWKRUs had the approval of the Grand Lodge in Boston, but not of their own lodge Master, who is not mentioned. The last known Master of the colonial Newport lodge was the sheriff, Samuel Brenton,436 who as an Anglican and a member of the Brenton family most likely had Tory affinities. Just as LPSRUWDQWO\WKHFORVLQJVHHPVWRLQGLFDWHWKDWWKHDQQRXQFHPHQWZDVSHQQHGQRWE\WKHORGJH¶V leaders, but by four low-level members who had probably joined comparatively recently; as a pseudonym they use the four letters spelling the name of one of the pillars flanking the entrance WR6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHZKLFKLVDOVRWKHSDVVZRUGRIWKH(QWHUHG$SSUHQWLFH¶VGHJUHH The eventual collapse of the lodge in Newport is fairly easy to explain in light of the political situation and of the customary workings of a lodge in the eighteenth century. The 1766 announcement in the Mercury demonstrates the existence of a breakaway faction within the Newport lodge that attempted to align the Masons with the Whig party in Rhode Island, and that was willing to criticize such longstanding and respectable members of the lodge as Augustus Johnston. Against this Whig faction must have stood many well-to-do Anglican merchants in the lodge, including John Mawdsley, who was viewed as a minor member of the Tory junto.437 The existence of a deep, acrimonious rift in Newport society and within the lodge made its eventual collapse unavoidable. Although the original log books of the Rhode Island lodges !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 436 Newport Mercury, March 19, 1764; Deed, Oct. 17, 1763, Box 5, Folder 7, NHS. 437 %ULGHQEDXJK³+DUULVRQ´-5. %(&! ! before the Revolution are lost, other surviving minute books reflect how Masonic lodges in the later eighteenth century normally operated: they did not collect regular dues from members, but only required fees from new initiates and from candidates for the second and third degrees. Therefore, the lodge was obliged constantly to recruit a stream of new members or face financial ruin. What is more, the lodge could not admit new members casually: a candidate had to receive the approval of a large supermajority²near unanimity²before he was initiated.438 Hence, a lodge in a deeply divided society would find itself in a stalemate, with any new candidate proposed by either group vetoed by the opposing camp; even a small breakaway faction would EHHQRXJKWRVW\PLHWKHORGJH¶VJURZWK6XFKDORGJHZRXOGEHXQDEOHWo admit new members, and hence, would run out of funds. 7KHGLYLVLRQRI1HZSRUWVRFLHW\IROORZLQJWKH6WDPS$FWULRWVZDVFOHDUO\WKHORGJH¶V undoing. Consensus was the air that Masonry breathed, and amidst controversy, it suffocated. Even as prosperity returned to Newport, Freemasonry fell into oblivion. If the Masonic rites continued to be practiced at all, it could only have been by breakaway rump lodges composed of Whigs or Tories. Furthermore, factional division can account for the destruction of a portion of 1HZSRUW¶V0DVRQLFUHFRUGV LIDIWHUDUXPSJURXSGLGWDNHFRQWURORIWKHORGJHWKHQWKH later possessors of the records may have destroyed those pages because they considered the work performed during that period to be illegitimate. As in Jamaica, a moribund lodge could not last long in a high-mortality environment, where men frequently died of disease, drowning, or violence. The collapse of the Newport lodge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 438 For instanceWKHVHUXOHVDUHIRXQGLQWKH³%\/DZVIRU6W$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R´DGRSWHG6HS UHFRUGHGLQWKH6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-KHOGE\6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R %ULVWRO5KRGH,VODQG7KHIRXQGLQJ0DVWHURI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1DWhaniel Waldron, had previously become a Mason at Newport. %('! ! was surely hastened by the deaths of many of its most respected and experienced members. Thomas Rodman, one of the founding members of the lodge, perished in 1766 when his ship foundered on its way back from Honduras. Similarly, Robert Jenkins, Jr., the former Master of the lodge, spent some time trading tropical logwoods in Honduras in 1765, before returning to 1HZSRUWZKHUHKHGLHGLQ-XO\ KLVUHPDLQVZHUHHVFRUWHGWRWKHFHPHWHU\³E\WKHEUHWKUHQ RIWKHDQFLHQWDQGKRQRXUDEOHVRFLHW\RIIUHHDQGDFFHSWHGPDVRQV´-DKOHHO%UHQWRQWKH patriarch of the Brenton clan, died in March 1767, followed just a few days later by Moses Lopez, whom the Mercury HXORJL]HGDV³DJHQWOHPDQWKDWVXVWDLQHGZLWKDEHFRPLQJIRUWLWXGH WKHYDULRXVGLVSHQVDWLRQVRISURYLGHQFH´439 The funeral procession for Robert Jenkins, Jr. was the last known public Masonic ceremony in colonial Rhode Island. On October 31, 1768, the Grand Secretary in Boston addressed a letter to John Mawdsley, announcing that the Provincial Grand Lodge would soon be installing a new Grand Master. He asked Mawdsley to invite all of the Brethren at Newport to DWWHQGWKHLQVWDOODWLRQFHUHPRQ\³ZLWKWKHMHZHOVDQGFORDWKLQJRIWKHLUUHVSHFWLYHORGJHV´+H IXUWKHUUHTXHVWHGWKDW0DZGVOH\VKDUHWKHLQYLWDWLRQZLWKWKHORGJHDW3URYLGHQFH³WKH0DVWHURI WKDW/RGJH¶VQDPHEHLQJXQNQRZQWRPH´+HQHYHUUHFHLYHGDUHSO\440 Evidently, by the autumn of 1768, 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUW had ceased to function. In Providence, the Masons seem to have fought extinction for slightly longer, but could not escape the fate of their Newport Brethren. The sugar and stamp crises did not tear apart Providence society in the same manner that they did Newport, since the northern town had no !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 439 Newport Mercury, March 23, 1767, p. 3; March 30, 1767, p. 3; May 26, 1766, p. 3; Capt. Whipple to Robert Jenkins, Sept. 2, 1765, Box 108, Folder 9, NHS. 440 Proceedings in Masonry, 141. %((! ! visible Tory wing. Townspeople hanged an effigy of the stamp master from a bridge on August 29, 1765, but Providence was otherwise tranquil. Still, the Masons there initiated only one new member in the entire seven-year period between the summer of 1761 and the fall of 1768. The lodge clearly functioned only sporadically, and may have remained afloat with fees from second and third-degree candidates or with support from the increasingly wealthy Brown brothers. The lodge apparently attempted a brief renaissance, initiating two new candidates in December 1768, and finally, the sailmaker John Sinkins on January 4, 1769. Still, this gesture was not enough to keep the Providence Masons operating, especially with the support of the larger Newport lodge pulled out from under their feet. The Worshipful Master of the Providence lodge, the architect and astronomer Joseph Brown, PD\KDYHLQVSLUHGKLVIULHQGV¶LQWHOOHFWXDOFXULRVLW\KHHYLGHQWO\GLGQRWKDYHWKHVNLOOV or resources to sustain a failing organization. After almost a decade of struggle, the only functioning Masonic lodge in the colony ended its precarious existence: on June 7, 1769, just IRXUGD\VDIWHUWKHWUDQVLWRI9HQXVDJDWKHULQJRI3URYLGHQFH%UHWKUHQIRUPDOO\³FORVHGWKH ORGJHDQGVHDOHGXSWKHMHZHOV´441 On that night, any contemporary observer would have been justified in concluding that Freemasonry in Rhode Island was dead. The fact that Freemasonry suppressed discussion of controversial topics in the lodge, instead attempting to reach across partisan and professional line can, ironically, account for the political disaster that befell the lodges in the 1760s. Ambitious men in colonial North America often turned to political office as an avenue for self-advancement. Colonial oligarchies tended to be divided between largely mercantile elites that pursued elective office and hoped to control legislative assemblies, and on the other hand, professional and bureaucratic elites that sought !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 441 /DQH¶V0asonic Records³3URYLGHQFH5KRGH,VODQG86RI$PHULFD´ %()! ! royal patronage and appointments, particularly the governorship. 442 These different elites could coexist and cooperate despite occasional conflicts. In Rhode Island, which enjoyed almost total self-government under the 1663 charter, including an elective governorship, learned men who saw themselves as candidates for royal patronage had to subvert the established political system in order to seek advancemenW+HQFHWKHGLVDVWHURI0DUWLQ+RZDUG¶VHalifax letter and the ensuing violent threats that drove him from Newport. The same qualities of aspiration and DPELWLRQWKDWKHOSHGWRVSXU+RZDUGDQG0RIILWWRSURWHVWDJDLQVW5KRGH,VODQG¶VFKDUWHUDOVR drove William Ellery and Joseph Wanton, Jr. to strike back in its defense. Freemasonry in the colony, by appealing to striving young men across religious, professional, and political lines, had constructed a colonial Babel, which eventually collapsed. Over the HQVXLQJWHQ\HDUVDV5KRGH,VODQG¶VFLYLOVRFLHW\ZDVUHSHDWHGO\GLYLGHGDORQJ shifting lines, former Masons faced repeated tests of loyalty. These tests ultimately served to re- shuffle the Masons into Whig and Tory environments within which Freemasonry could once again thrive. $IWHUWKHUHSHDORIWKH6WDPS$FWLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VSROLWLFDOHOLWHVSHQWWKH rest of the decade either repairing or glossing over the mess that the preceding years of conflict had created. Thomas Moffitt petitioned the legislature for restitution of the damages that his property had suffered at the hands of the Newport mob, but his request fell on deaf ears until Augustus Johnston submitted a similar petition in 1769. Thereafter, the Assembly forwarded the claims to London, where they were caught up in political wrangling and never paid. Still, the Tory exiles could console themselves with the patronage they received after fleeing from Newport. Moffitt was appointed to the office of comptroller of New London, and the tax collector John Robinson to the Board of Commissioners at Boston. Martin Howard, who had !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 442 William Allen Benton, Whig-Loyalism (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1969), 15-16. %(*! ! EHHQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VPRVWYRFDOGHIHQGHURIWKH&URZQ¶VSUHURJDWLYHVUHFHLYHGWKHHQYLDEOHSRVW of Chief Justice of North Carolina; according to a later chronicler, Howard told a Rhode Island IULHQGLQ³\RXPD\UHO\XSRQLW,VKDOOKDYHQRTXDUUHOZLWKWKH6RQVRI/LEHUW\RI Newport; it was they who made me Chief Justice of North Carolina, with a thousand pounds VWHUOLQJD\HDU´443 Meanwhile, the perpetually feuding regional factions that had previously struggled for control of the Assembly and the governorship took steps to put aside their differences. In March 1768, Governor Stephen Hopkins, who had been backed by the Wanton-Brown faction, met and corresponded with a delegation of supporters of his arch-rival, Samuel Ward. Their negotiations ZHUHVSXUUHGE\WKHHPEDWWOHGFRQGLWLRQ³RIWKLVDQGWKHRWKHU$PHULFDQFRORQLHVUHODWLYHWRWKH SDUHQWVWDWH´DQGWKHQHHGWRSUHVHQWDXQLWHGIURQWDJDLQVWHQFURDFKPHQWV on colonial rights. $IWHUVHYHUDOPLVXQGHUVWDQGLQJVWKHWZRVLGHVKDPPHUHGRXWD³WUHDW\´DFFRUGLQJWRZKLFKERWK Ward and Hopkins would put their support by Josias Lyndon, the speaker of the Assembly, for Governor. The Wanton family, however, ignored the agreement and promoted their own SDWULDUFK-RVHSK:DQWRQ6UIRUWKHFRORQ\¶VKLJKHVWRIILFH:DQWRQORVWLQEXWWKH following year, the coalition broke down entirely, and Wanton won a fiercely contested race against Josias Lyndon. He held the governorship for the next six years.444 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 443 Lorenzo Sabine, Biogarphical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Applewood Books, 1864), vol. 1, p. 546-7; Bartlett, ed., Colony records, vol. 6, p. 583-97; Rhode Island Historical MagazineQRYRO-XO\S +RZDUG:3UHVWRQ³5KRGH,VODQGDQGWKH/R\DOLVWV´Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, 21:4, October 1928, p. 114-16; Newport Mercury, Sep. 15, 1766. p. 1. 444 Lovejoy, 136- 6WHSKHQ+RSNLQVWR1LFKRODV(DVWRQ0DUFK :DUG¶VIULHQGVWR Stephen Hopkins, March 11, 1768; Gov. Hopkins and friends to Henry Ward, Joseph Wanton esq. and Benjamin Greene, March 17, 1768; Ward party to Hopkins party, March 24, 1768, Stephen Hopkins Collection, Folder 7, RIHS. %(+! ! /\QGRQ¶VDQG:DQWRQ¶VJRYHUQRUVKLSVUHIOHFWHGDWXUQLQ5KRGH,VODQGSROLWLFVDZD\ from factionalism and towards Whigh unity. The delegation of ten politicians that had negotiated on behalf of the Ward party in 1768 included three Freemasons²William Ellery and John Collins of Newport and Nicholas Easton of Middletown.445 After the end of the Stamp Act crisis, these and other Masons who had taken part in factional politics became increasingly involved in the radical Whig movement. The lawyer William Ellery, as mentioned in Chapter 7, had been a promoter of the Ward faction, but in 1766 was identified as a representative of the Sons of Liberty, along with the merchant John Collins.446 As the governments of Rhode Island and its constituent towns sought to enforce their previously informal non-importation agreements, they appointed committees of leading Whigs to wield quasi-official authority, giving an official imprimatur to what had previously been private organizations. Former Masons continued to be prominently involved in the movement, and in 1770, Collins and the fellow 0DVRQ)UDQFLV0DOERQHZHUHDSSRLQWHGWR1HZSRUW¶V&RPPLWWHHRI&RUUHVSRQGHQFHDQG Inspection.447 After 1770, with the Townshend Acts repealed apart from the duty on tea, much of North America fell into a period of peace; a reconciliation between Parliament and the rebellious colonies seemed possible. Still, Rhode Island merchants remained vigilant against royal officials who sought to prosecute smugglers outside of the colonial judicial system. Small skirmishes were frequent, and it was in Narragansett Bay that the apparent peace of the early 1770s collapsed. On the afternoon of June 9, 1772, a packet boat, the Hannah, owned by John Brown, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 445 :DUG¶VIULHQGVWR6WHSKHQ+RSNLQV0DUFK6WHSKHQ+RSNLQV&ROOHFWLRQ)RGHU RIHS. 446 Book of land evidences no. 15, p. 513-14, cited in Newport Mercury, Jan 8, 1820, p. 1. 447 0HPRLURI5KRGH,VODQG´IRUNewport Mercury, June 2, 1860, p. 1; Lovejoy 144-6. %(,! ! departed from Newport for Providence. As the Hannah sailed, the royal schooner, Gaspée, commanded by Lieutenant William Dudingston, pursued it; WKHVPDOOHUERDW¶VFDSWDLQ shrewdly outmaneuvered the royal vessel, causing it to run aground on a landspit near Warwick. Captain Lindsey continued to Providence, where, just after nightfall, he informed John Brown of the Gaspée¶VSUHGLFDPHQW7KDWQLJKW%URZQDQGKLVFROOHDJXHVKDVWLO\PHWDWa tavern, assembled a group of longboats, and sent boys in the streets of the town to beat drums and gather a crew for a secret undertaking. The little flotilla set out towards Warwick under the command of Abraham Whipple, the men having determined that with the tides, the Gaspée would be immobile until around midnight. When they reached the stranded ship, Whipple demanded that Dudingston and his crew surrender and go ashore. When Dudingston refused, one of the Rhode Islanders grabbed a gun and shot him in the waist. The Providence men boarded the ship, evacuated its crew, and treDWHG'XGLQJVWRQ¶VZRXQG)LQDOO\WKH\VHWILUHWRWKHVFKRRQHUZKLFKEXUQHG GRZQDOPRVWWRWKHZDWHU¶VHGJHOHDYLQJOLWWOHPRUHWKDQDEODFNHQHGKXOO448 The destruction of the Gaspée set off a political firestorm as the British government sought to bring the perpetrators to justice outside of colonial legal channels. In addition, we must note the leadership of Masons, including John Brown and Abraham Whipple, in the affair, DQGWKHVLPLODULW\RIWKH3URYLGHQFHSDWULRWV¶VHFUHWJDWKHULQJLQ6DELQ¶VWDYHrn to a Masonic meeting. One can see in the incident a foreshadowing of the reconstitution of Masonry in a politically radicalized environment. At the same time, the attack on the royal vessel was also an ending: it foreclosed the momentary possibility of reconciliation with Parliament, and hence finally destroyed the social and political order in which Freemasonry in Rhode Island had first !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 448 William R. Staples, The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspée (Providence: Knowles, Vose, and Anthony, 1845). %)-! ! flourished. With imperial politics so violently polarized, Masonic lodges could only function in environments defined by either Whig or Tory commitments. The conflict IXUWKHUHVFDODWHGZLWKWKH%RVWRQ7HD3DUW\RIDQGWKHIROORZLQJ\HDU¶V Port Act, in which Parliament retaliated by shutting down Boston Harbor, declaring in effect that the home government had the power to destroy the economy of any colonial port. To manage the situation, in January 1774, the Newport town council appointed a strengthened Committee of Correspondence whose five members included the former lodge Brothers John Mawdsley, John Collins, William Ellery, and Joseph Wanton, Jr.; in November, Collins also became the chair of the thirty-three-member Committee of Inspection. In December, Providence appointed the 0DVRQV$PEURVH3DJHDQG-RVHSK5XVVHOOWRWKHQRUWKHUQWRZQ¶VFRPPLWWHHRILQVSHFWion, and in January 1775, the town meeting of Middletown elected their own Committee of Correspondence, which included Nicholas Easton, Jr. ,Q0DUFK1HZSRUW¶V&RPPLWWHHRI ,QVSHFWLRQXQGHU&ROOLQVWKUHDWHQLQJO\SULQWHG$UWLFOHRIWKH&RQJUHVV¶V&RQWLQHntal Association, prohibiting the importation of British goods, and promised to punish any violators.449 Rhode Islanders responded to the threat with increasing militancy, with private citizens sometimes harassing and threatening those suspected of violating the non-importation agreements; two Newporters attacked the home of the Tory-Mason Edward Cole, smashing thirty windows as well as mirrors and china dishes. Only a few weeks later, in April 1775, the tensions between the colonies and Britain erupted into open warfare with the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Rhode Island quickly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 449 Crane, A Dependent People, 129-32; Lovejoy 154-79; Newport Mercury, Dec. 19, 1774, p. 3; Newport Mercury, Jan. 17, 1774, p. 1; Nov. 28, 1774, p. 3; Jan. 9, 1775, p. 3; March 27, 1775, p. 3; William Staples, ed., Annals of the Town of Providence (Providence: Knowles and Vose, 1843): 242; Bartlett, ed., Colony Records 7:285-7. %)$! ! contributed troops and supplies to the colonial combatants, but were hampered by Capt. James Wallace, who anchored a fleet of British warships in lower Narragansett Bay. WallDFH¶VVKLSV confiscated goods that might be headed to the colonial forces and demanded supplies from 1HZSRUWIRUKLVRZQIOHHWHYHQDVPRVWRIWKHWRZQ¶VSRSXODWLRQIHOOLQWRQHDU-starvation. In December 1775, Wallace raided the town for food and firewood, but then eased his grip on Newport after Christmas when colonial troops under General Charles Lee arrived and began to fortify the town. Still, deprived of imported firewood, residents resorted to tearing up fences and empty houses to keep warm. In Ma\WKHFRORQ\¶VYRWHUVHOHFWHGDQRYHUZKHOPLQJ:KLJ majority to the Assembly, which promptly declared independence from Great Britain, striking all UHIHUHQFHVWRWKH.LQJIURPWKHFRORQ\¶VODZVDQGFKDUWHU0HDQZKLOH5KRGH,VODQG¶VGHOHJDWHV in the Continental Congress hoped that that body would follow suit. In 1774, the Rhode Island $VVHPEO\KDGFKRVHQ6WHSKHQ+RSNLQVDQG6DPXHO:DUGDVWKHFRORQ\¶VUHSUHVHQWDWLYHVWRWKH first Continental Congress, and the two men suppressed their mutual animosity long enough to embark for Philadelphia together in a show of unity. Ward campaigned vigorously within the Congress for independence, but died in March 1776. He was replaced by William Ellery, who VKDUHG:DUG¶VYLHZVLIQRWKLVSROLWLFDOSUHVWLJH. In July, Ellery and Hopkins voted for and signed the famous Declaration, proclaiming the independence of all thirteen rebel states.450 The escalating radicalization of colonial politics, which culminated in independence, created a series of crises of loyalty for Rhode Islanders. At each successive stage of the conflict, influential men had to judge what sort of resistance to imperial policy they could support, or at least tolerate. These successive crises reveal a pattern of ambivalence and indecision among former Masons, whose ties of Brotherhood had linked them to one another and to London²and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 450 Lovejoy, 166-93; Crane, A Dependent People, 123. %)%! ! some ultimately threw their lot in with Crown$VXEVFULSWLRQOLVWEHORQJLQJWR1HZSRUW¶V postmaster shows that forty-nine Newporters subscribed to the Boston Chronicle, a strongly pro- British newspaper published between 1767 and 1770, including the Masons Augustus Johnston, Dr. William Hunter, George Gibbs, Christopher Champlin, John Mawdsley, Francis Malbone, Benjamin Mason, and Solomon Townsend. However, eighteen Newport subscribers, including the aforementioned Mawdsley, Mason, and Gibbs, cancelled their subscriptions after the Chronicle¶VLVVXHQRSULQWHGRQ'HFHPEHUZKLFKGHYRWHGLWVHQWLUHIURQWSDJHWRD letter defending the policy of taxation without representation, pointing out WKDW³very few, not one in twenty, of the inhabitants of Great-Britain have any right of consenting to, or refusing the taxes they pay.´451 Such strident Toryism surely repulsed those colonists who hoped to maintain a prudent neutrality in the midst of the imperial crisis. Over the course of the 1770s, many former Masons tried to thread the needle of defending colonial rights while also maintaining public order and seeking reconciliation with Britain. In June 1770, eighteen Newporters, troubled by the public disturbances of the preceding GHFDGHIRUPHGDQ³$VVRFLDWLRQWRSUHYHQWULRWVLQ1HZSRUW´7KHLUPDQLIHVWRGHQRXQFHGWKH SRVWLQJRI³VXQGU\LQIODPPDWRU\SDSHUV´WKDWDLPHG³WREULQJLQGDQJHUWKHSURVSHULW\DQG perhaps WKHOLYHVRIPDQ\RIKLVPDMHVW\¶VJRRGVXEMHFWVLQWKLVFRORQ\´ The eighteen signers included Augustus Johnston and the prosperous merchants John Mawdsley, George Gibbs, Edward Wanton, and Christopher Champlin, all of whom had been members of Saint JohQ¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 451 ³/LVWRI1HZSRUW6XEVFULEHUVWRWKH&KURQLFOH6HQWWRWKH3RVW2IILFH´Newport Historical Magazine, vol. 1 (Newport: Newport Historical Publishing Company, 1880-1), 230-1; Boston Chronicle, December 12, 1768, 1-2. %)&! ! Lodge, as well as the young Jewish merchant Moses Seixas, who would later emerge as a leading Mason in the state.452 -RKQ0DZGVOH\RQHRIWKHIRXQGLQJPHPEHUVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶VRI1HZSRUWDQGWKHRQH- timHOHDGHURIWKH0DVWHU¶V/RGJH H[HPSOLILHV0DVRQV¶ ambivalence in the imperial crisis. He VLJQHGWKH³$VVRFLDWLRQWRSUHYHQWULRWV´ZKLOHWKUHHDQGDKDOI\HDUVODWHULQKHDOVR MRLQHGWKHWRZQ¶VFRPPLWWHHWRSUHYHQWWKHLPSRUWDWLRQRIWHD)ROORZLQJRQWKHKHHOVRIWKH Boston Tea Party, thHODWWHUFRPPLWWHH¶VIRXQGLQJUHVROXWLRQVFRQGHPQHG3DUOLDPHQW¶VWD[DWLRQ RIWKHFRORQLVWVZLWKRXWWKHLUFRQVHQWDVDQDWWHPSW³WRLQWURGXFHDUEitrary government and 6/$9(5<´In February, 1776, the Rhode Island Assembly appointed Mawdsely to the FRORQ\¶V Committee of Safety, whom it tasked with gathering funds for the colonial expedition into Canada, and to the delegation to negotiate with the rapacious Captain Wallace. Nonetheless, Mawdsley could not countenance total separation from Britain, the country of his birth. )ROORZLQJWKHVWDWH¶VGHFODUDWLRQRILQGHSHQGHQFHKHUHVLJQHGIURPKLVVHDWRQWKH&RPPLWWHHRI Safety, and thereafter was regarded as a Loyalist.453 0DZGVOH\¶VSROLWLFDOMRXUQH\XSWRWUDFHVWKHSDWKRIZKDWWKHKLVWRULDQ:LOOLDP AllHQ%HQWRQKDVFDOOHG³:KLJ-/R\DOLVP´0DQ\OHDGLQJ1RUWK$PHULFDQSROLWLFLDQVLQFOXGLQJ William Smith, Jr. of New York and Benjamin Church of Boston, called for unified resistance to encroachment on colonial rights, making the same basic arguments as their fellow Whigs, but ultimately balked at the prospect either of armed rebellion or of independence.454 Whig-loyalism !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 452 ³$VVRFLDWLRQWRSUHYHQWULRWVLQ1HZSRUW´-XQHUHSULQWHGLQNewport Mercury, May 19, 1860, p. 1. 453 Newport Mercury, Jan. 17, 1774, p. 1; Bartlett, ed., Colony Records vol. 7, p. 453, 460; Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity Church, 148. 454 William Allen Benton, Whig-Loyalism (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1969): 58. %)'! ! was common among the Newport Masons. The most prominent instance of Whig-Loyalists in Rhode Island caught between the Scylla and Charybdis of revolutionary politics is surely that of WKH:DQWRQIDPLO\-RVHSK:DQWRQ6URQHRI5KRGH,VODQG¶VZHDOWKLHVWPHUFKDQWVDQGWKH patriarch of the Wanton clan, had been elected to the governorship on the understanding that he would be an effective opponent of Parliamentary policy. However, in 1773, the governor sat on the short-lived royal commission investigating the Gaspée attack; although he insisted that he did VRLQRUGHUWRSUHYHQW%ULWDLQIURPUHYRNLQJ5KRGH,VODQG¶VFKDUWHUWKHLQFLGHQWSODFed a blemish on his Whig credentials. The following year, the governor was re-elected, but Joseph Wanton, Jr. lost his Assembly seat after being accused of harboring Tory sympathies.455 ,Q5KRGH,VODQG¶VDWWHPSWWRSUHVHQWDXQLWHGSROLWLFDOIURQWFRllapsed. In April, William Ellery organized an electoral challenge to Governor Wanton, smearing him as a tea- drinking Tory. When ballots were cast on April 19, Wanton won re-election, but that very evening Rhode Islanders received news of the bloodshed at Lexington and Concord. Three days ODWHUWKH$VVHPEO\KHOGDQHPHUJHQF\VHVVLRQDW3URYLGHQFHDQGYRWHGWRUDLVHDQ³DUP\RI REVHUYDWLRQ´WRSURWHFWWKHFRORQ\IURP%ULWLVKDWWDFN*RYHUQRU:DQWRQRSSRVHGWKLV³PHDVXUH pregnant with the most fatal conseTXHQFHV´DQGVXEVHTXHQWO\UHIXVHGWRVLJQWKHFRPPLVVLRQVRI DQ\RIWKHDUP\¶VRIILFHUV$WDVXEVHTXHQWPHHWLQJRIWKH$VVHPEO\WKHGHSXWLHV refused to administer Wanton the oath of office, and installed the Deputy Governor, Nicholas Cooke, in his place. Both the elder and the younger Joseph Wanton were left without an office and cast into the political wilderness. For the remainder of 1775, the father and son made a more open display !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 455 Lovejoy, 136-53, 158-9. %)(! ! of their Tory sentiments, hosting Captain Wallace at the Wanton home, while the fleet made special exceptions to allow Joseph, Jr.¶VYHVVHOVWRSDVVWKURXJKWKHKDUERU456 :KHUHDVWKHSROLWLFDOO\VDYY\:DQWRQ¶VFRXOGTXLHWO\FXOWLYDWHDQDOOLDQFHZLWKWKH British fleet while avoiding the anger of the town, no such recourse was available to the Brentons, who had been so central to the rise of Freemasonry in Rhode Island. When the third Jahleel Brenton died in 1767, he left the bulk of his estate at Hammersmith to his son of the same QDPH7KH³IRXUWK-DKOHHO´KDGHDUO\LQlife been recognized as a talented mariner, and after some training, was appointed as a lieutenant in the Royal navy. At the outbreak of revolution, -DKOHHOUHIXVHGKLV:KLJIULHQGV¶HQWUHDWLHVto serve the colonies at sea. Instead, he and his brother BeQMDPLQVXSSOLHG:DOODFH¶VIOHHWIURPWKHLUHVWDWHDW+DPPHUVPLWKXQWLOKDUDVVPHQW and attacks by Patriots forced Jahleel and two of his sons to take refuge on a British warship. In December 1775, Jahleel traveled to British-occupied Boston, prompting the Rhode Island DVVHPEO\WRGHFODUHKLPDWUDLWRUVHL]H+DPPHUVPLWKDQGRUGHUWKHGHVWUXFWLRQRIWKHHVWDWH¶V barns and outbuildings. The following July, the Royal navy placed Jahleel in command of the Pembroke, while his brother James relocated to Nova Scotia, a popular refuge for Loyalists. The Brentons followed the Wantons into political oblivion, with their future fame coming through the British navy. The only male member of the family known to have remained in Rhode Island is Samuel Brenton, the last recorded Master of the Masonic lodge. Samuel had a second home in :LFNIRUGWKHYLOODJHRIKLVZLIH¶VELUWKRQWKHZHVWHUQVKRUHRI1DUUDJDQVHWW%D\ZKHUHKH relocated during the Revolution and remained until his death in 1797.457 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 456 Lovejoy, 178-85; Updike papers, Case 2, p. 83, RIHS. 457 -DKOHHO%UHQWRQ¶VODVWZLOODQGWHVWDPHQW2FW%R[IROGHU³%UHQWRQIDPLO\´ NHS; Vault A, box 5, #106: Joseph Gerrish to Jahleel Brenton, Sr., London Oct. 7, 1747, NHS; Sabine, %))! ! Newporters of firmly Patriotic convictions also experienced crises of loyalty, as political beliefs called religious affiliations into question. As the imperial conflict flared with a new intensity in 1774, the Congregationalist pastor Ezra Stiles exhorted his flock to action with jeremiads against the British ministry; meanwhile, George Bisset, the rector of Trinity Church, urged his Anglican parishioners to remain loyal. Through thinly veiled allusions he condemned the New England Whigs as an ungovernable people; in June 1774, when the Assembly called for a day of prayer and fasting to protest the Boston Port Bill, Bisset preached a sermon on Matthew ³)DVWQRWDVWKHK\SRFULWHVGR´7ULQLW\EHFDPHDSROHRI7RU\LVPLQ5KRGH,VODQGVRFLHW\ although among its members had been the prominent Whig agitators John Collins and Robert Elliot²both of whom were also Masons. The historian Elaine Crane speculates that in the pressure cooker of the mid-VWKHVHWZRPD\KDYHDEDQGRQHG7ULQLW\LQIDYRURI6WLOHV¶ Second CongregatLRQDO&KXUFK(OOLRW¶VPLJUDWLRQWR&RQJUHJDWLRQDOLVPhad in fact begun much earlier²although his father had once owned a pew at Trinity, in 1765 Elliot married Abigail 6HDULQJWKHGDXJKWHURIWKH&RQJUHJDWLRQDOPLQLVWHU-DPHV6HDULQJDW6WLOHV¶FKXUFK Regardless, after the outbreak of war, the Assembly appointed Elliot as Captain of an artillery company guarding southern Rhode Island, and neither he nor Collins ever appeared in the records of Trinity Church again.458 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ed., Loyalists of the American Revolution, vol. 1, 1864, p. 251-4; Descendants of William Brenton, Governor of Rhode Island, by Chester F. Brenton, 24-7. 458 Newport Mercury, July 22, 1765; Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity, 50-1; Crane, A Dependant People, 129-32; Rhode Island Vital Records, 1636±1850 (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002), Originally Published as: Vital record of Rhode Island 1636-1850: First Series: births, marriages and deaths: a family register for the people, by James N. Arnold. Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company. %)*! ! The battle lines between the opposing wings of Rhode Island society were only truly drawn in the summer of 1776, when the Assembly implemented the Test Act, requiring oaths of loyalty from any male residents suspected of possible Loyalism. The space for neutrality in the conflict rapidly closed. Most of the seventy-six men who were summoned under the Test Act, whatever their previous commitments, compliantly subscribed to the oath; Newporters who refused could be forcibly removed from Newport to another town where they would be unable to collude with the British fleet. One such Tory²a rare exception to the pattern of political ambivalence among Newport Masons²ZDV7KRPDV9HUQRQWKHWRZQ¶VSRVWPDVWHUDQGWKH secretary of Redwood Library. In June 1776, the Assembly sentenced four avoid Loyalists, including Vernon, to removal from Newport in a kind of political quarantine. On June 20, the town sheriff forcibly escorted Vernon and his compatriots to Glocester, a small inland village in the northwestern part of the state. Vernon found the people of Glocester to be moderate, DJUHHDEOHDQGKRVSLWDEOHRWKHUWKDQWKHLUODQGORUGZKRZDV³LQFOLQHGPXFKWRWDONRIOLEHUW\ DQGWKHWLPHV´ DV9HUQRQQRWHG³:HHQGHDYRXUHGWRZDLYHWKHFRQYHUVDWLRQ,WLVDPD]LQJ what false and erroneous opinions anGLGHDVWKHVHSHRSOHKDYHHQWHUWDLQHG´459 The exile and hardships of Thomas Vernon in 1776 foreshadowed the disasters that would remove Newport from its position of regional dominance reconfigure Rhode Island society. Over the summer of 1776, Vernon recRUGHGKLVDQGKLVFRPSDWULRWV¶VLPSOHGXOOOLIHLQ Glocester, with its plain food and cramped lodging. Occasionally, locals would come to gawk at the Tories, including a menacing group of young men on horseback. A far more welcome visitor, though, came one Saturday morning shortly after their expulsion: Jabez Bowen, a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 459 Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity, 104; Diary of Thomas Vernon, Rhode Island Historical Tracts, no. 13 (Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1881), v-vii, 1-9. %)+! ! 3URYLGHQFHWRZQFRXQFLOPDQZKRKDGUHFHQWO\EHHQDSSRLQWHGWKHFRORQHORIWKHWRZQ¶VPLOLWLD UHJLPHQW7KRXJKDQDUGHQW3DWULRW%RZHQ³ZDVYHU\FLYLODQGHQWHUHGRQDFRQYHUVDWLRQ [concerning] our banishment, and the cruel hardship we sustained in consequence of the late act of the assembly. He pitied our fate, and offered his services in assisting us all that lay in his SRZHU´460 Like Vernon, Bowen was a Freemason, having joined the Providence lodge in 1757. :HFDQQRWNQRZZKHWKHU%RZHQ¶VV\PSDWKHWLFFRPPXQLFDWLRQZLWK9HUQRQLQFOXGHGDQ\ 0DVRQLFVLJQVRUSKUDVHVEXWWKHUHFDQEHQRTXHVWLRQRIWKHFRORQHO¶VDUGHQWDWWDFKPHQWWRWKH Craft. A rising star in the state, Bowen would become a critical link between civil and military society and the midwife to the second birth of Freemasonry in Rhode Island. In September, Vernon was forced to relocate to a small Providence jail. Whereas other Tory captives, including the fellow Freemason Samuel Gibbs, returned home after agreeing to sign a loyalty oath, Vernon refused to compromise his principles. Finally, in October, perhaps thanks to the influence of Jabez Bowen, who had recently become a Superior Court justice, Vernon was allowed to return to Newport for a week to see family and settle affairs. He could not have been pleased to see the condition of the town, which had already lost many of its structures to foraging, fires, and raids and at least 14% of its taxpayers to emigration. As if this were not enough, the British soon set their sights on Newport as a base for operations to pacify the New England states. On December 6, 1776, a fleet of eighty ships appeared in the harbor and landed troops in the town, spurring a second exodus, this time of fearful Whigs who dispersed to Providence and other inland towns. In the ensuing winter, Newport was treated !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 460 Diary of Thomas Vernon, Rhode Island Historical Tracts, no. 13 (Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1881), 10- ³-DEH]%RZHQ´Colonial Collegians (database), Yale, 834. %),! ! more or less as a supply depot, with vacant homes, shops, and churches raided or torched. The civilian population of the town fell from over 9,000 to no more than 6,500.461 Nonetheless, the British occupation brought to Newport a measure of order and a UHQHZHGVXSSO\RIIRRG'HVSLWHWKHGHVWUXFWLRQDURXQGWKHPWKHWRZQ¶V$QJOLFDQHOLWHHQMR\HG something of an Indian summer. Joseph Wanton, Jr., whom the Assembly had expelled from Newport and placed under house arrest at his farm in Jamestown, returned to Newport in triumph. His large Georgian house on Water Street was soon hosting balls for Newport ladies and British officers; in April 1777, his daughter married John Morrison, the Deputy Commissioner of Stores. The wedding took place at Trinity, which had reopened the previous month after almost a year of inactivity. In 1778, Joseph Wanton, Jr., John Mawdsley, and Francis Malbone were all elected to the Vestry; 0DOERQH¶VGDXJKWHU(OL]DEHWKmarried the DUP\¶V0DMRU-RKQ%UHHVH7KH³%ULWLVKOLVW´RILQKDELWDQWVRIRFFXSLHG1HZSRUWVKRZVWKDW Thomas Vernon returned to his house on Thames Street where he lived with a household of six; in September 1777, he was elected as a Director of the Redwood Library and appointed to make an inventory of its collection. Around the same time, Ezra Stiles listed Thomas Vernon and &DSWDLQ-RKQ0DZGVOH\DPRQJWKH³SULQFLSDODQGDFWLYH7RULHV´LQ1HZSRUW There is no evidence that any of these men sought to revive the Masonic lodge, although Sir Peter Parker, who led the British occupation of Newport in 1776, was an active Mason in Britain, and after his !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 461Diary of Thomas Vernon, Rhode Island Historical Tracts, no. 13 (Providence: Sidney S. Rider, 1881), 98-114; Crane, 123, 139-44, 157-63; Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, 1900 edition, µPeter Parker (officer)´; Franklin Bowditch Dexter, ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, vol. 2, (New York: Scribner and Son, 1901): 148. %*-! ! appointment in 1778 as the rear-admiral in charge of Jamaica, served as the Provincial Grand Master of that island.462 Even as Newport became the site of a revived Tory society, the ongoing war placed heavy burdens RQWKHWRZQ¶V/R\DOLVWVDr. William Hunter, who had returned from exile in Smithfield in December, 1776, quickly turned to treating soldiers in the tents of the British Army Hospital and sailors on prison ships. He apparently soon contracted a camp disease himself, and treated his last patient on January 23, 1777 before dying a week later. Joseph Wanton, Jr. was reinstated as a militia colonel and successfully recruited 180 supporters of the Crown, but was not as effective in retaining them. In 1779, British officers, cognizant of his lack of military experience, demoted him to Superintendant of Police. Probably the most enthusiastic Loyalist among the former Masons of Newport was Edward Cole, a founding member of the lodge and the hero of Lake George, whose tannery had been confiscated by the Assembly in 1776. General Sir William Howe appointed Cole as a lieutenant colonel, and in March 1777 he began advertising for recruits for a regiment of Loyal Rhode-Islanders. Ezra Stiles remarked on March 20th WKDWKHKDGHQOLVWHG³QRWDPDQ´DQGZKLOHWKDWLVVXUHO\DQH[DJJHUDWLRQD%ULWLVKRIILFHU DWWHVWHGWKDWWKHODFNOXVWHUUHVSRQVHWR&ROH¶VUHFUXLWLQJHIIRUWVKDG³JUHDWO\GLVWUHVVHGKLPDQG HQWLUHO\WKURZQKLPRXWRIDOOEXVLQHVV´1RQHWKHOHVVKHPDLQWDLQHGWKHEHOLHIWKDWD%ULWLVK ³RSHQLQJLQWR1HZ(QJODQG´ZRXOGILOOKLVUHJLPHQWZLWKOR\Dl subjects.463 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 462 (GZDUG%:HOFK³-RVHSK:DQWRQ-XQLRUDQ(LJKWHHQWK&HQWXU\1HZSRUW7UDJHG\´ Newport History, 61 (Winter 1988), 30-34; Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity, 158-9; Mason, ed., Annals of Redwood Library, 63; Peter Parker to James Heseltine, May 30, 1774, HC 8/F/22, LMF-UGLE; ³0LQXWHVRIWKHPHHWLQJRIDFRPPLWWHHRI0RWKHU/RGJHQR-DPDLFD´$SULO%/0)- 8*/( ³2FFXSDQWVRI+RXVHVLQ1HZSRUW5,'XULQJWKH5HYROXWLRQ´Newport Historical Magazine, vol. 2 (Newport: Newport Historical Publishing Company, 1881-2), p. 42; Franklin Bowditch Dexter ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, vol. 2 (New York: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1901), 134. 4630(3RZHO³$)HZ)UHQFK2IILFHUVWR:KRP:H2ZH0XFK´Bulletin of Newport Historical SocietyQR2FWREHU .UXPEKDDU³'RFWRU:LOOLDP+XQWHU´ 523-5; Richard %*$! ! Edward Cole, like so many British and Loyalist leaders in North America, gravely overestimated the extent of colonial attachment to the Crown. The Loyalists of Newport lived in an epistemic bubble, tightly bound to one another and to Britain by ties of business, family, and religion²VRFLDOWLHVRIZKLFK6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHKDGRQFHEHHQDSDUW7KHIRUPHUPHPEHUVRI the lodge in occupied Newport continued to cling to the royalist assumptions of that social world even as it fell apart around them. Ultimately, the political decisions made by most of the 149 men who were recorded as taking part in Masonry in colonial Newport are unknown; many of them had already died or left the colony by 1775, and others maintained a careful neutrality. Alexander Grant, who had relocated to London with his wife Abigail in 1771, struck a fine EDODQFHFDOOLQJKLPVHOID³KHDUW\ZHOOZLVKHURIERWKFRXQWULHV´DQGPDLQWDLQLQJWKDWWKH LQWHUHVWVRI%ULWDLQDQG$PHULFD³QD\WKHLUYHU\H[LVWHQFH>DUH@VRPXFKGHSHQGant, one upon WKHRWKHUWKDWWKH0DQZKRLVD7UXH)ULHQGWRRQHFDQQRWEHDQ(QHP\WRWKHRWKHU´464 Nonetheless, a plurality of the formerly active Masons in Newport sided with the Crown. Surviving military, personal, and ecclesiastical records show that after war broke out, at least twenty-RQHIRUPHU%UHWKUHQRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWVLGHGZLWKWKHPRWKHUFRXQWU\ and at least twelve with the Revolution. This limited information presents the Newport Masons as being disproportionately Loyalist, as Tories made up only a fraction RI1HZSRUW¶VSRSXODWLRQ 7KLVVWURQJVWUDLQRI/R\DOLVPSUREDEO\VWHPVPDLQO\IURPWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VGHPRJUDSKLF makeup, which included a large mercantile, wealthy, and Anglican contingent. The only former lodge officer from Newport known to have served the American cause is Nathaniel Mumford, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! &ROH³$Q(LJKWHHQWK-&HQWXU\5KRGH,VODQG$GYHQWXUHU´5KRGH,VODQG+LVWRU\ 1RYHPEHU S 111-13. 464 Alexander Grant to Henry Marchant, ALS, May 7, 1774, London, Marchant Papers, RIHS, FLWHGLQ0LFKDHO-%RRQVWUD³'HVFHQGDQWVRI µ.LQJ¶'DYLG&KHVHEURXJKRI1HZSRUW5KRGH,VODQG´ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 156, October 2002; p. 383-6. %*%! ! the one-WLPH6HFUHWDU\RI6DLQW-RKQ¶VZKRUHPRYHGWR3URYLGHQFHDQGEHFDPHDILQDQFLDO auditor for the state.465 This is surely a skewed and unrepresentative sample, however, as the political loyalties of more prominent and powerful men are easier to ascertain; the trails left behind by many more obscure colonial Masons run cold. More important than the comparative weight of Revolutionism and Loyalism among the Newport Masons is the common pattern of ambivalence and ambguity. Most of all, Joseph Wanton, Jr. and John Mawdsley exemplify the Whig-Loyalist position, which recognized the danger of infringement on colonial liberty but ultimately maintained loyalty to the Crown. This distinctive position, more than any other, suggests an emotional attachment to kingship transcending policy preferences and interests. A deeply emotional monarchism²as we will see further in Section 3²is in accord with Masonic mythology. Regardless, the coursHRIHYHQWVZDVODUJHO\RXWRI1HZSRUWHUV¶KDQGVE\1778, and the last bastion of colonial Rhode Island would soon fall. With the southern town occupied, Rhode Island was now a land divided, and the contest over its fate, at least in the short term, was military rather than political²a clash between an organized revolutionary army and the full power of the British military as attenuated across the Atlantic. It was in the context of this larger military contest that the British ministry decided, in October 1779, to evacuate its forces from Newport. When the British troops in Newport packed their supplies and prepared to withdraw to New York, the Loyalists in the town were faced with a final test of allegiance. They were obliged either to leave their homes and property or to remain in Rhode Island at the mercy of a Revolutionary government and the resentful townspeople. John Mawdsley, the one-time Senior !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 465 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 8, p. 5, 24, 41, 110; James Gregory Mumford, Mumford Memoirs (Boston: Merrymount Press, 1900), 70-1; Wallace Brown, 7KH.LQJ¶V)ULHQGV (Providence: Brown University Press, 1965): 49-51. %*&! ! Warden of the Masonic lodge, initially intended to remain in Newport and to maintain his innocence of any wrongdoing, but was persuaded to leave with the royal troops. Joseph Wanton, Jr., the former Junior Warden and Deputy Governor of the colony, packed his possessions on his own ship, which he intended to sail to New York under British protection²but as he visited his mansion to bid farewell to his family, the pilot made off for Providence and handed the ship and all of its contents over to the Patriots. Empty-handed, Wanton was forced to ask for passage on a British transport. Ultimately, on October 27th, about 7,000 troops and forty Rhode Island Loyalists embarked from the Brenton estate at Hammersmith, which the British forces, in order to prevent it from falling into American hands, burned to the ground as they left.466 Belonging mainly to an older generation, most of the Newport Loyalists did not survive for long after the break with Britain. Joseph Wanton, Jr. died of smallpox in New York in August 1780, less than a year after his removal from Newport; the Loyalists in the city held a large funeral procession in his honor. Martin Howard, Jr. served on the bench in North Carolina until forced to flee to Britain in 1777; he died in Chelsea in 1781, still referring to himself in his will as the Chief Justice of North Carolina. In the same year, the merchant Myer Polock died in Saint Eustatius, whither he had fled after the British withdrawal from Newport. Alexander Grant, who had attempted to maintain his neutrality during the imperial crisis, died in London in 1783 in severe debt, after his patron, the Baronet of Dalvey, had died and left the younger Grant not a penny of his estate. Doctor Thomas Moffitt, who had fled from Newport along with +RZDUGGLHGLQ/RQGRQLQ 0RIILWW¶VRELWXDU\LQWKH*HQWOHPDQ¶V0DJD]LQH praised the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 466 Edwin Martin Stone, Our French Allies (Providence: Providence Press Company, 1884): 154- ³0DZGVOH\+RXVH,´0DXG/6WHYHQVBulletin of the Newport Historical Society, no. 97, July, 1936, S :HOFK³-RVSHSK:DQWRQ-XQLRU´-5; Chester F. Brenton, Descendants of William Brenton, Governor of Rhode Island, 24-5. %*'! ! GRFWRU¶VFDUHHUDQGKLVVWHDGIDVWDOOHJLDQFHUHIHUULQJWRKLPHXSKHPLVWLFDOO\DVD³QDWLYHRI 1RUWK%ULWDLQ´ KLVHSLWDSKUHFRUGHGWKDW0RIILWW³left his gratitude to the King and British Nation, his prayers to the Loyalists, and pardon to the Rebels of America.´467 Not alO/R\DOLVW0DVRQV¶HQGLQJVZHUHWUDJLF2QHIRUPHU1HZSRUW0DVRQWRILQGODVWLQJ stability and comfort elsewhere after the British evacuation was the tanner and military officer Edward Cole. After fleeing to New York, Cole joined a group of 55 Loyalists in signing a 1783 petition asking the Crown for property in return for their losses in the Revolution. Cole received a grant of 1,000 acres in Nova Scotia²an exceptionally large tract²probably in recognition of KLVVHUYLFHLQWKH6HYHQ Men such as Mawdsley, their homes, their families, and the institutions to which they remained devoted²LQ0DZGOVH\¶VFDVH7ULQLW\&KXUFKDQGWKH0DULQH6RFLHW\²insured that the phantom of colonial Newport persisted long after independence. When Mawdsley finally died at home in 1795, the Mercury SULQWHGDORQJRELWXDU\UHFDOOLQJWKDW0DZGVOH\¶VRQFH- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 467 :HOFK³-RVHSK:DQWRQ-XQLRU´ Boonstra, ³'HVFHQGDQWVRI'DYLG&KHVHEURXJK´-7; 'RQ+LJJLQERWKDPDQG:LOOLDP63HDUFH-U³:DVLW0XUGHUIRUD:KLWH0DQWR.LOOD6ODYH"´ William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, vol. 36, no. 4 (Oct. 1979), 593-601; Mason, ed., Annals of Redwood Library, 29-30; Special Return for Newport. 468 &ROH³$Q(LJKWHHQWK-&HQWXU\5KRGH,VODQG$GYHQWXUHU´-17; Maud L. Stevens, ³0DZGVOH\+RXVH,´ Bulletin of the Newport Historical Society no. 97, July, 1936, p. 15; Sabine, Loyalists, p. 446, 705-6; Newport Mercury, July 14, 1781, p. 1. %*(! ! IORXULVKLQJFRPPHUFLDOSXUVXLWVKDG³UHQGHUHGKLPFRQVSLFXRXVDQGUHVSHctable as a merchant² as did the honour conferred on him by the freemen of this then colony, by electing him one of WKHLUOHJLVODWRUV´:LWKDFXULRXVZLVWIXOQHVVWKHSDSHUUHFDOOV³WKHGD\VRISURVSHULW\´ZKHQ hospitality and urbanity marked his steps²the stranger participated in his bounty, and the blessing of the poor rested on his head²QRPDQ¶VWDEOHZDVVXUURXQGHG ZLWKDJUHDWHUQXPEHURIIULHQGV«%XWQRVRRQHUKDGWKDWILFNOHJRGGHVVIRUWXQH withdrawn her favours, than he was left to the recollection, without the fruit, of his wonted liberality, and to mourn over the delusive charms of all worldly enjoyments. *ORVVLQJRYHUWKHSROLWLFDOFDXVHVRI0DZGVOH\¶VGRZQIDOOWKHMercury makes of him a victim of arbitrary fate. The obituary respectfully notes his reintegration into post-Revolutionary 1HZSRUWE\PHDQVRI³WKH)UHH0DVRQDQG0DULQHVRFLHWLHVRIERWKRIZKLFKKHKDGORQJEHHQD member, and from whom he had experienced, in the day of adversity, all the relief and assistance, for which those humane and charitable bodies have ever been so eminently GLVWLQJXLVKHG´469 The day after the obituary appeared, the Masons laid John Mawdsley to rest with Masonic honors, the lodge having paid for his coffin and for the services of the sexton that attended his funeral.470 When he died, Mawdsley was the last remaining member of the original class of initiates RI6DLQW-RKQ¶VRI1HZSRUWDQGWKHRQO\OLYLQJIRUPHU/R\DOLVWZKRKDGVHUYHGLQRQHRIWKH three principal offices of the lodge in the colonial era. Had the Revolution not intervened, Mawdsley would have been a prime candidate for Worshipful Master. The fact that he died as an ordinary member of the lodge implies that while the Masons could overlook his Loyalist past in order to honor him as a Brother, they could not restore him to the hierarchy of precedence and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 469 Newport Mercury, Feb. 21, 1795, p. 3. 470 ³6W-RKQ¶V/RGJH1LQDFFRXQWFXUUHQWZLWK:7HZ7UHDVXUHU´ -6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge no. 1, Portsmouth, RI. %*)! ! deference. Only two former Loyalists attained Masonic office in post-Revolutionary Rhode Island²Robert N. Auchmuty, who served as Senior Warden of the Newport lodge, and George Gibbs, who was chosen as an honorary member of the Grand Lodge in 1794. Even as the Masons laid to rest the last remaining Loyalists in their midst, reminders of the old world of colonial Rhode Island²a world that Freemasonry, marriage, Anglicanism, imperial trade, and war had all helped to bind together²refused to disappear; the old bonds and loyalties repeatedly resurfaced. In August, 1800, the vestry of Trinity Church called upon Capt. Benjamin Brenton to send thanks and praise to his nieces, the daughters of Capt. Jahleel Brenton, at Leith, Scotland, for an elegant damask-FORWKWKDWWKH\KDGZRYHQIRU7ULQLW\¶VDOWDU471 What could these young women have known of the colony where their father had grown up, other than family stories? When their elder brother, born in Newport in 1770, became a British admiral and a Baronet, did he carry with him even the faintest memory of his colonial birthplace? And for those former colonial Masons who remained in Newport²such as their uncle, Benjamin Brenton²ZKDWZRXOGWKHWRZQ¶V0DVonic lodge be, now that the colony in which it had first flourished was no more? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 471 Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity Church, 226. %**! ! SE C T I O N III: ³5(),1('%<$(7+(5($/),5(´²T H E H I G H E R D E G R E ES A ND R E V O L U T I O N A R Y M ASO NR Y, 1776-1782 %*+! ! Chapter 8: The Revolution and the Return of Masonry to Providence, 1776-1779 In the 1770s, Freemasonry would be reborn in Rhode Island as a patriotic and republican institution. The haze of suspicion surrounding Masonry did not disappear, but rather it forced the Brethren to reposition themselves in a new political environment; in doing so, they helped, ZKHWKHULQWHQWLRQDOO\RUXQLQWHQWLRQDOO\WRUHGHILQHZKDW7KRPDV3DLQHFDOOHG³WKH$PHULFDQ FULVLV´:LWKWKH%ULWLVKRFFXSDWLRQRI$TXLGQHFN,VODQGDNLQGRILURQFXUWDLQGHVFHQGHGXSRQ the state; through Masonic rhetoric, the deprivations and sacrifices of war, felt acutely in Rhode Island, gained apocalyptic meaning. The Revolutionary period saw the decisive rise of Providence over Newport as a center of commerce and politics, and Masonry re-organized in Providence first. 7KRPDV9HUQRQ¶V political exile to the village of Glocester in northwestern Rhode Island in 1776 symbolized the humiliations into which the Revolution plunged Newport. In addition, whether or not Vernon realized it at the time, Jabez %RZHQ¶VYLVLWto the Tory exiles in Glocester was also emblematic of a northward shift in power in Rhode Island that had been building for at least fifteen years. From WKHHDUO\HLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\WKURXJKWKH6HYHQ Brown brothers, had managed to establish direct trade links with Boston, the West Indies, and Britain, allowing them to bypass Newport partners. After the peace of 1763, Providence entrepreneurs began to set up small industrial operations, particularly candleworks. Jabez Bowen rose to prominence after 1765 partly through his partnership with the Brown brothers in %*,! ! developing an iron mine and foundry near Warwick, which supplied the state with cannon during the war with Britain.472 3URYLGHQFH¶VJHRJUDSKLFSRVLWLRQDQGVRFLDOPDNHXSDOORZHGLWWRJDLQJURXQGUDSLGO\LQ its race with Newport. Although the town remained comparatively small, increasing only from about 3,200 to 4,300 people between 1750 and 1775, the region of northern Rhode Island around Providence more than doubled in population during the same period, providing Providence with consumer markets and with a steady supply of necessities. In contrast, the islands and peninsulas of southern Narragansett Bay, hemmed in by water, had practically reached their carrying capacity under the technological conditions of the time. By 1770, Newport was heavily dependent on food, firewood, and other necessities transported to Aquidneck Island by water. Any interruption of shipping, such as the embarJRLPSRVHGE\:DOODFH¶VIOHHWcould leave the WRZQLQGHVWLWXWLRQ)XUWKHUPRUH1HZSRUW¶s elite was fragmented among various religious JURXSVDQGEHWZHHQROGIDPLOLHVDQGQHZFRPHUVZKHUHDV3URYLGHQFH¶VXSSHUFODVVZDVFHQWHUHG on a few related Baptist clans. Cooperation among these old families and with allies such as the Bowens allowed for concerted action in commerce and politics. By 1770, colony-wide commercial partnerships such as the United Company of Spermaceti Chandlers were breaking down as junior partners from Providence sought to out-compete their Newport rivals, and Providence poOLWLFLDQVZHUHFDPSDLJQLQJVXFFHVVIXOO\IRUWKHFRORQ\¶VKLJKHVWRIILFHV473 3URYLGHQFH¶VHOLWHVRXJKWWRGHPRQVWUDWHWKHWRZQ¶VJURZLQJZHDOWKDQGSRZHUWKURXJKD variety of means, particularly building projects. In 1772, the town began raising money for a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 472 Withey, 33- ³-DEH]%RZHQ´Colonial Collegians: Biographies of Those Who Attended American Colleges before the War for Independence (Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Historical Society & New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2005): Yale, 834. 473 Withey, 15, 38-50. %+-! ! market house capable of hosting public meetings. Constructed between 1773 and 1777 DFFRUGLQJWR-RVHSK%URZQ¶VGHVLJQWKHQHR-FODVVLFDOEXLOGLQJULYDOHG3HWHU+DUULVRQ¶VPDUNHW house in Newport. A more direct confrontation between the rival towns took place in 1770, when the young College of Rhode Island, having grown too large for the Baptist church in Warren, offered to move to whichever town raised the most money to construct a new campus. Leaders of Newport and Providence fundraised vigorously, and though the Newporters gathered more subscriptions, the Brown brothers convinced the College that building costs would be lower in Providence. Reveling in its victory, Providence furnished the College with a capacious Georgian building atop a hill overlooking the town. The WRZQ¶VULVLQJZHDOWKDQGVWDWXVZHUH also felt within the Baptist church. In 1771, the Brown and Jenckes families took control of the Providence church, replacing the Reverend Samuel Winsor with the president of the College, James Manning. In 1775, they broke with the tradition of plain Baptist meeting houses to build a large, ornate church designed by Joseph Brown in the Palladian style.474 The reignited imperial crisis of the 1770s finally vaulted Providence into regional pre- eminence. The northern town could depend on trade and supplies from the interior of New England and was comparatively safe from British attack by sea; politically, Providence was fiercely Revolutionary. Newport, on the other hand, housed a significant Anglican bloc and a large Quaker community which maintained its formal neutrality. Moreover, the town was entirely dependent on overseas trade and utterly vulnerable to attack by sea. Whereas Providence threw itself behind the Patriot cause, Newporters hived off into Whig and Tory !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 474 John Hutchins Cady, "The Providence Market House and Its Neighborhood." Rhode Island Historv 11 (October 1952): 97-116; Providence Gazette, June 27, 1772, p. 2; Lovejoy, 147-53; J. 6WDQOH\/HPRQV³7KH%URZQVDQGWKH%DSWLVWV´5KRGH,VODQG+LVWRU\6XPPHU)DOO 9ROXPH Number 2, p. 75-7. %+$! ! camps while many powerful merchant-politicians dithered in between, hoping to ride out the conflict. On one level, the ouster of Joseph Wanton, Sr. from office in 1775 was a political ratification of the rise of Providence over Newport, with the old patriarch replaced by a former Assemblyman from Providence.475 With the British occupation of Newport and the attendant emigration of Whigs from the southern town to Providence and other parts of the state, the longstanding rivalry between Newport and Providence was subsumed into the military contest of the Revolutionary War. Remarkably, apart from the famous Nathaniel Greene, nearly every celebrated hero of the revoloutionary War from Rhode Island eventually became a Freemason; Freemasonry became as GHHSO\HQPHVKHGLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VRIILFHUFRUSVDVLWKDVEHHQLQFRORQLDO$QJOLFDQLVP No LQGLYLGXDOHPERGLHG5KRGH,VODQG¶VUROHLQWKDWPLOLWDU\FODVKDQGWKHFRQQHFWLRQVRI Freemasonry to both, more fully than did James Mitchell Varnum, the Brigadier-General who delivered the first Masonic oration in Revolutionary Rhode Island. His life and words illustrate the realignment of Rhode Island society, and more broadly, the changing meanings and uses of North American Freemasonry in the upheaval of warfare, diplomacy, and revolution. General 9DUQXP¶VVKRUWFDUHHUGUHZKLPLQWRWKHPRVWFUXFLDOWXUQLQJSRLQWVRIWKH5HYROXWLRQDU\:DU the controversies over the Constitution, and the first extension of American government into the trans-Appalachian West, all of which he interpreted from a Masonic and apocalyptic standpoint. James Mitchell Varnum, by and large, stood outside the longstanding contest between northern and southern Rhode Island. His history and social position enabled him to recast Masonry in the state as a patriotic but non-political Fraternity. He was born in Dracutt, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 475 Crane, A Dependent People, 130-5; Wallace Brown, 7KH.LQJ¶V)ULHQGV 7KH&RPSRVLWLRQ and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants (Providence: Brown University Press, 1966): 45-6. %+%! ! Massachusetts in December 1748, the son of a militia major who had fought in Indian wars. At the age of sixteen, he enrolled at Harvard College, which had been roiled by student rebellion several times in the preceding years. In April 1768, Varnum became one of the leaders of a SURWHVWDJDLQVWWKHKDUVKGLVFLSOLQHLPSRVHGE\WKHFROOHJH¶VWXWRUV WKHUHEHOOLQJVWXGHQWV PDUFKHGDURXQGD³OLEHUW\WUHH´DQGDQXPEHURIWKem quit the College but later returned and were readmitted after making public confessions of their sins. Only Varnum declined to return, refusing to repent of his actions, and instead enrolled for his final year in the College of Rhode Island, from which he graduated with honors in 1769. At the commencement ceremony held at WKH%DSWLVWFKXUFKLQ:DUUHQKHWRRNSDUWLQDIRUHQVLFGHEDWHRQWKHTXHVWLRQRIZKHWKHU³>W@KH Americans in the present circumstances cannot consistent with good policy affect to become an independeQWVWDWH´DUJXLQJLQIDYRURIWKHSURSRVLWLRQ,QKHPDUULHG0DUWKD³3DWW\´&KLOG of Warren and began studying law.476 After his admission to the Rhode Island bar in 1771, Varnum took up the practice of law in East Greenwich, a small port town on the western shore of Narragansett Bay. His eloquence, diligence, and Whig convictions soon drew the notice of the Greene family, the dominant clan in the region around East Greenwich. The Greenes employed him to represent their commercial interests, including in a successful suit against William Dudingston for wrongfully impounding the Fortune and imprisoning its captain, Rufus Greene, aboard the Gaspée. VaUQXP¶VGHDOLQJV with the Greenes brought him sufficient income to build a large, elegant Georgian house, the first !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 476 Register of Officers and Members of the Society of Colonial Wars (New York: James Pott and Company, 1898), 567; James Mitchell Varnum of New York City, A Sketch of the Life and Public Services of James Mitchell Varnum of Rhode Island (Boston: David Clapp and Son, 1906), 3-4; Harvard University, Records of the Faculty relating to disorders, 1768-ca. 1880s: an inventory (Harvard University, 2010), %+&! ! of its kind in East Greenwich. The attorney modeled himself on the Classical and Renaissance statesman, enthusiastically pursuing, according to a friend, mathematics, gymnastics, literature, and philosophy; he adored Vattel and Montesquieu, and recited Shakespeare and Pope from memory. His work also brought him into contact with an ambitious young merchant, Nathaniel Greene, who shared a number of interests with the young lawyer and soon bought a house near 9DUQXP¶V477 As the imperial conflict intensified following the Gaspée incident and the Boston Tea Party, Varnum joined in the growing obsession with military readiness; he would soon become an important wartime leader, and the key officers and functionaries who worked with him would in turn form the leadership cadre of Freemasonry in northern Rhode Island for the next twenty years. In October 1774, Varnum and his allies Archibald Crary, Nathaniel Greene, and 1DWKDQLHO¶VFRXVLQ&KULVWRSKHU*UHHQHREWDLQHGDFKDUWHUIRUWKe Kentish Guards, a volunteer militia unit that had organized itself democratically in East Greenwich two months earlier. After EHLQJFKRVHQDVWKHXQLW¶V&RORQHO9DUQXPXUJHGWKH*XDUGVWRDGRSWPRUHIRUPDOKLHUDUFKLFDO discipline and to employ an instructor²which they found in the person of a British deserter, :LOOLDP-RKQVRQ-RKQVRQDJUHHG³to teach said Company the manual exercise, evolution, and monaoevres, with every other movement as taught in the English army´ Although Nathaniel Greene had been an important organizer of the Guards, the men rejected him as a candidate for OLHXWHQDQF\RQDFFRXQWRIKLVOLPSZKLFKVRPHFRQVLGHUHGWREHD³EOHPLVK´RQWKHXQLW,QKLV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 477 'RQDOG'¶$PDWRGeneral James Mitchell Varnum: the Man and his Mansion (East Greenwich: the Varnum House Museum, 1996), 1-6; James Mitchell Varnum of New York City, A Sketch of the Life and Public Services of James Mitchell Varnum of Rhode Island (Boston: David Clapp and Son, 1906), 5-6. %+'! ! humiliation, Greene considered resigning from the Guards, but Varnum and other friends dissuaded him.478 On April 22, 1775, following the news of bloodshed at Lexington and Concord, the Rhode Island Assembly called for an army of observation comprising three regiments, and in May they adopted the Kentish Guards as the First Regiment Rhode Island Infantry, granting Varnum the rank of Colonel. Rather surprisingly, the Assembly passed over Varnum as a candidate to command the entire Rhode Island brigade, instead appointing Nathaniel Greene to the position of Brigadier-General. They were probably influenced by Greene¶s friend and advocate, the former governor Samuel Ward; as it turned out, Greene would soon rise to become RQHRIWKHPRVWEULOOLDQWDQGVXFFHVVIXOWDFWLFLDQVRIWKH5HYROXWLRQDU\:DU:DVKLQJWRQ¶VPRVW trusted comrade and his chosen successor.479 Later in the spring, Varnum marched his regiment north toward Boston, where Massachusetts militiamen had surrounded and besieged the British occupying forces. Arriving at Roxbury on June 8th, Varnum reported to Brigadier-General GreeQH¶VFRPPDQGDQGMRLQHGWKH $PHULFDQV¶FDPSDLJQWRJDLQFRQWURORIVWUDWHJLFSRVLWLRQVRYHUORRNLQJ%RVWRQ7KHUHJLPHQW soon suffered casualties from British shelling at sites west of Boston, but the unit escaped the more destructive Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown. In August, the Continental Congress officially adopted the various American troops around Boston, and so the Rhode Island brigade EHFDPHRQHRIWKHRULJLQDOFRQVWLWXWLYHXQLWVRIWKH&RQWLQHQWDO$UP\ZLWK9DUQXP¶VUHJLPHQW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 478 Contract with William Johnson, October 14, 1774, Colonial Militia Collection, RIHS; Francis Vinton Greene, General Greene (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1893), 16-17; Donald '¶$PDWRGeneral James Mitchell Varnum: the man and his mansion (East Greenwich: the Varnum House Museum, 1996), 6-8; James Mitchell Varnum of New York City, A Sketch of the Life and Public Services of James Mitchell Varnum of Rhode Island (Boston: David Clapp and Son, 1906), 6-9. 479 9DUQXPRI1HZ %+(! ! designated as the 12th &RQWLQHQWDO)RRW$OWKRXJKWKH5KRGH,VODQGHUV¶HQOLVWPHQWVH[SLUHGLQ December 1775, the majority re-enlisted and stayed on until the British evacuated from Boston on March 17, 1776.480 Meanwhile, the Rhode Island Assembly planted the first seeds of an American navy by commissioning Abraham Whipple as a commodore to patrol the coast with two armed vessels, and on March 3, 1776, Esek Hopkins led Whipple and John Paul Jones in a successful raid on Nassau in the Bahamas; both Jones and Whipple were Masons.481 Around this time, North American Freemasons began a re-interpretation of Masonic mythology in the light of their war with Parliament, and to present themselves as part of the new civic-republican order. The British withdrawal from Boston ended the first phase of the Revolutionary War, allowing Americans to take stock of the damages they had sustained. In the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Continentals had taken far fewer casualties than their opponents did, but among them was Doctor Joseph Warren, one of the most promising and charismatic revolutionaries in North America. Active in the Sons of Liberty, Warren had co-authored John +DQFRFN¶VVSHHFKFDOOLQJIRUWKHJDWKHULQJRID&RQWLQHQWDO&RQJUHVVLQUHVSRQVHWRWKH Port Act. In April 1775, he had taken up command in the Battle of Lexington and Concord. On June 17th, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, as American forces retreated, he remained behind on the battlefield for as long as possible, until he was struck in the back of the head by a musketball. The British stripped his body and left it for American compatriots to bury hastily in an unmarked JUDYHWKHIROORZLQJGD\7KHQHZVRI:DUUHQ¶VGHDWKVSUHDGWKURXJKWKHFRORQLHVZKHUHKHZDV mourned as a martyr of the American cause. In March 1776, after the British withdrawal, a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 480 9DUQXPRI1HZ 481 Bartlett, ed., Colony records, Vol. 8, p. 356-7. %+)! ! JURXSRI:DUUHQ¶VIULHQGVLQFOXGLQJ3DXO5HYHUHVHDUFKHGWKHEDWWOHILHOGIRUKLVUHPDLQVZKLFK they located, exhumed, and identified by means of the artificial tooth that Revere had once made for him.482 The group that fRXQG:DUUHQ¶VERG\ZDVFRPSRVHGPDLQO\RI)UHHPDVRQV6LQFH :DUUHQKDGEHHQDPHPEHURI%RVWRQ¶/RGJHRI6DLQW$QGUHZ¶VDQ$QFLHQW-Rite lodge that had been chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland; his Brethren there included John Hancock and Paul Revere. In 1768- KHVHUYHGDVWKHORGJH¶V:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU, and in the latter year, he and his Brethren procured a warrant from the Grand Lodge of Scotland authorizing them to form a Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts practicing the Ancient Rite. Warren naturally became the Provincial Grand Master, and remained in that office until his death at Bunker Hill. On April 4, 1776, after his friends and lodge Brothers discovered his remains, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress granted permission to the Provincial Grand Lodge to take possession of :DUUHQ¶VERG\DQGUHEXU\LWZLWK0DVRQLFKRQRUV, thus formally recognizing the Masons as having a public, civic role in Revolutionary society. Joseph Webb, who had succeeded Warren as Provincial Grand Master, asked the lawyer Perez Morton, a lodge Brother and close friend of Warren, to deliver a eulogy at the re-interment.483 On April 8thWKH0DVRQVLQ%RVWRQDORQJZLWKFURZGVRIWRZQVSHRSOHDQG:DUUHQ¶V VWULFNHQPRWKHUJDWKHUHGLQ.LQJ¶V&KDSHOWRPRXUQWKH fallen General. Perez Morton could not ignore the uncanny parallels between this occasion and the legend of Hiram Abiff, the Temple !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 482 Benton, 135-6; Joseph Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph Warren (Applewood Books, 1865): 518- :LOOLDP+6XPQHU³5HPLQLVFHQFHVRI*HQHUDO:DUUHQDQG%XQNHU+LOO´New England Historical and Genealogical Register, April--XO\ 6DPXHO$GDPV:HOOV>³$%RVWRQLDQ´@ Biographical Sketch of General Joseph Warren (Boston: Shepard, Clark, and Brown, 1857), 69. 483 Lodge of Saint Andrew, and the Massachusetts Grand Lodge (Boston: Arthur W. Locke and co., 1870), 31-3, 198-201. %+*! ! architect and founder of Freemasonry, who was allegedly killed by a blow to the head and buried in a shallow grave. AccorGLQJWR0DVRQLFP\WK+LUDP¶VFRPSDWULRWVRUGHUHGE\6RORPRQWR find their fallen master, exhumed the body and reburied it with proper rites. Perez Morton, in his addressDIWHUHXORJL]LQJ:DUUHQ¶VYLUWXHVDQGFRPSDVVLRQDVDIDWKHUKXVEDQGGRFWRUDQG Mason, EHJLQV-RVHSK:DUUHQ¶VWUDQVIRUPDWLRQLQWRWKH$PHULFDQ+LUDP$ELIIGHFODULQJWKDW [t]he Fates, as though they would reveal, in the person of our Grand-Master, those mysteries which have so long lain hid from the world, have suffered him, like the great master-builder in the temple of old, to fall by the hands of ruffians, and be again raised in honor and authority. We searched in the field for the murdered son of a widow, and we found him, by the turf and the twig, buried on the brow of a hill, though not in a decent grave.484 0RUWRQSURFHHGVWRUHFDOO:DUUHQ¶VSDVVLRQDQGHORTXHQFHLQGHIHQVHRIFRORQLDOOLEHUW\EHIRUH UHWXUQLQJWRWKHGRFWRU¶VGHDWKZKLFKKHFRPSDUHVIDYRUDEO\WRWKDWRIWKH%ULWLVK*HQHUDO:ROIH LQWKHEDWWOHIRU4XHEHF³IRUwhile [Wolfe] died contending for a single country, [Warren] fell in WKHFDXVHRIYLUWXHDQGPDQNLQG´7KLVVHFWLRQRIWKHHXORJ\IROORZLQJ0RUWRQ¶VH[WHQGHG allusion to the Hiram legend, takes on a double resonance for a Masonic audience, seeing as how +LUDPDOOHJHGO\GLHGIRUKLVUHIXVDOWRGLYXOJHWKH0DVRQV¶VHFUHWZRUG7KXVmuch like the denunciation of the Stamp Act in the Newport Mercury RI-DQXDU\0RUWRQ¶VVSHHFKlikens the sanctity of Masonic secrets to that of colonial liberty, and so links the American cause to the longing for a divinely ordained order embodied in the Temple.485 -DPHV0LWFKHOO9DUQXPDQGKLV5KRGH,VODQGWURRSVFRXOGQRWKDYHKHDUG0RUWRQ¶V oration in person, seeing as how they had departed from Boston one week earlier, on April 1st, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 484 3HUH]0RUWRQ³$Q2UDWLRQGHOLYHUHGDWWKH.LQJ¶V&KDSHOLQ%RVWRQ$SULO´HWF UHSULQWHGLQ:HOOV>³$%RVWRQLDQ´@Biographical Sketch of General Joseph Warren, (Boston, 1857), p. 76. 485 Ibid, 79; for the more general campaign to cast Warren as a revolutionary martyr, see Sarah Purcell, Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice and Memory in Revolutionary America (U. of Pennsylvania Press, 2010): 32-5. %++! ! EXWWKH\ZHUHVXUHO\DZDUHRI:DUUHQ¶VVWDWXVDVDQ$PHULFDQPDUW\U,QDGGLWLRQWRKLVJHQHUDO fame, Warren had many close Rhode Island Masonic connections: his brother, Dr. John Warren, was married to the daughter of John Collins, the prominent Patriot and Mason of Newport; -RVHSKZDVILUVWSURSRVHGDVDFDQGLGDWHLQWKH/RGJHRI6DLQW$QGUHZ¶VE\:LOOLDP3DOIUH\WKH close friend and correspondent of Moses Brown; in 1771, he appointed as his Deputy Provincial Grand Master the ship-chandler Joseph Webb, who had originally become a Mason in Saint -RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFH DQGLQKHOHGD0DVRQLFSURFHVVLRQWR&KULVW&KXUFKWRKHDU DQRUDWLRQE\³5HY%URWKHU)D\HUZHDWKHURI1DUUDJDQVHWW´WKHPLQLVWHURIWKH$QJOLFDQFKXUFK of western Rhode Island. It was probably due to his multiple social links to Rhode Island that :DUUHQ¶VLQVWDOODWLRQDV3URYLQFLDO*UDQG0DVWHURI$QFLHQW0DVRQVLQ ZDVUHSRUWHGLQ both the Newport Mercury and the Providence Gazette.486 Nonetheless, when MortRQGHOLYHUHGKLV0DVRQLFHXORJ\IRU:DUUHQ&RORQHO9DUQXP¶V UHJLPHQWZDVDOUHDG\RQWKHPDUFKWRMRLQWKH$PHULFDQGHIHQVHRI1HZ Harlem Heights. Varnum was soon discontented, however, as in August 1776, Nathaniel Greene was promoted to a Major-General while Varnum was shifted, without promotion, to another brigade. His aggrieved letters going unanswered, Varnum resigned from the Continental Army and returned home to Rhode Island in October 1776. In December, he took up command of the Rhode Island militia, which was tasked with defending the mainland against the British forces on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 486 William Allen, An American Historical and Biographical Dictionary, second edition (Boston: William Hyde and co., 1832), 747; Lodge of Saint Andrew, and the Massachusetts grand lodge, (Boston: Arthur W. Locke and co., 1870), 198- (EHQH]HU7KRPSVRQ³)URPWKH/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHZLth the 6WDWH7KHUHRI´1RYHPEHU%R[(/LVWHG'RFXPHQWV*UDQG/RGJHRI0DVVDFKXVHWWV 2OLYHU$\HU Roberts, History of the Military Company of the Massachusetts, vol. 2 (Boston: Alfred Mudge and Son, 1897), 109-10; Newport Mercury, Jan. 8, 1770, p. 3; Providence Gazette, Aug. 12, 1769, p. 3, July 4, 1772, p. 3. %+,! ! Aquidneck Island. From that winter through the end of the war, he and his wife often hosted George Washington, John Sullivan, Nathaniel Greene, the Marquis de Lafayette, and other prominent officers at their home in East Greenwich. In February 1777, however, he was finally commissioned as a Brigadier-General in the Continental Army, in command of two Rhode Island and two Connecticut regiments.487 Returning to the field, Varnum found his brigade to be ragged, ill-equipped, and underpaid, but nonetheless, they aggressively harassed the British forces in New Jersey and New York. In October 1777, General Washington dispatched the brigade to the fortresses at Mud Island and Red Bank on the Delaware River, which would block British boats from supplying +RZH¶VWURRSVLQ3KLODGHOSKLD KHUHWKHEULJDGHZDVGUDZQLQWRRQHRIWhe most dramatic series RIHQJDJHPHQWVRIWKHHQWLUHZDU0RVWUHPDUNDEO\&KULVWRSKHU*UHHQH¶VFRPSDQ\VXFFHVVIXOO\ defended Red Bank with only 400 men against 2,000 Hessians until Major Simeon Thayer, a YHWHUDQRIWKH6HYHQ Although the Americans were ultimately forced to cede control of the Delaware River, the temporary victory at Red Bank made Christopher Greene a national hero, boosting American !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 487 Varnum of New York City, 10- '¶$PDWR -12, 14-16. 488 Varnum of New York City, 14- '¶$PDWR- 6LPHRQ7KD\HU³$QH[WUDFWIURPP\ journals, of some facts relative to my sufferings during the last French war, and the late war between *UHDW%ULWDLQDQG$PHULFD´6LPHRQ7KD\HU3DSHUV)ROGHU5,+6 :LOOLDP:%XUU³$MRXUQDORIWKH VXIIHULQJRI6LPHRQ7KD\HULQWKHWZRODVWZDUVLQ$PHULFD´6LPHRQ7KD\HU3DSHUV)ROGHU5,+6 -DPHV09DUQXP¶VUHPDUNVRQ6LPHRQ7KD\HU¶VSHWLWLRQ6LPHRQ7KD\HU3DSHUV)ROGHU5,+6 %,-! ! morale. This optimistic mood would be necessary to survive the ensuing winter, which the Army spent encamped at Valley Forge. In this harrowing season, Continental troops dwindled from disease and desertion, with the survivors enduring cold, hunger, lack of clothing, and flimsy shelter. The Rhode Island troops received few supplies or reinforcements from their home state, seeing as how the Assembly there prioritized the militias that protected them from British attack, and Varnum often had to mollify mutinous troops. As Varnum warned General Washington GXULQJDSHULRGRIUHVWLYHQHVV³DFFRUGLQJWRWKHVD\LQJRI6RORPRQKXQJHUZLOOEUHDNWKURXJKD VWRQHZDOO´ 9DUQXP¶VFKRLFHRIZRUGVPD\DOOXGHWRWKHILHOGVWRQHIDUPKRXVHZKHUHKHKDG taken up residence. Nonetheless, inveterate disciplinarian that he was, Varnum took the long winter as an opportunity to learn formal military tactics and drills from the Baron von Steuben, an idealistic German who had volunteered to aid the American cause; von Steuben drafted a field manual that Varnum put into practice and that Congress soon officially adopted.489 Just as importantly, on January 2, 1778, desperate for reinforcements, Varnum submitted a very unusual proposal to Washington: he suggested that the Americans recruit a regiment of black and Indian slaves from Rhode Island, each of whom would receive his freedom in return for military service. Cautiously sympathetic, Washington was persuaded to forward the slave- recruitment proposal to Governor Cooke, while Varnum dispatched Christopher Greene, Simeon Thayer, and Lieutenant Colonel Jeremiah Olney to Rhode Island to advocate for the measure. Despite resistance from slaveholders in the southern part of the state, the Assembly approved the plan, noting that, ³KLVWRU\DIIRUGVXVIUHTXHQWSUHFHGHQWVRIWKHZLVHVWWKHIUHHVWDQGEUDYHVW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 489 '¶$PDWR-19; Varnum of New York City, 16-17; James M. Varnum to George Washington, Dec. 22, 1777, quoted in George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed. 1HZ %,$! ! nations having liberated their slaves, and enlisted them as soldiers to fight in defence of their FRXQWU\´7KHSURFODPDWLRQVWLSXODWHGWKDWDQ\VODYHDIWHUSDVVLQJPuster with Colonel Greene, ZRXOGEHFRQVLGHUHGIRUHYHUIUHH³DVLIKHKDGQHYHUEHHQHQFXPEHUHGZLWKDQ\NLQGRI VHUYLWXGHRUVODYHU\´ WKDWKHZRXOGEHHQWLWOHGWRDOOWKHVDPHZDJHVDQGERXQWLHVRIIHUHGWR other Continental soldiers; and that his master ZRXOGEHFRPSHQVDWHGIRUWKHVODYH¶VDVVHVVHG YDOXH7KH$VVHPEO\¶VUHVROXWLRQZDVLQHIIHFWIRURQH\HDUGXULQJZKLFKWLPHLWHPDQFLSDWHG only about one hundred slaves. Several hundred free recruits of all races joined these ex-slaves to form a newly FRQVWLWXWHG)LUVW5KRGH,VODQG5HJLPHQWXQGHU*UHHQH¶VFRPPDQG490 Meanwhile, the idea of an American attack to recapture Newport had been in the air at OHDVWVLQFH$SULOZKHQ:LOOLDP(OOHU\DGYRFDWHG³JLYLQJ>WKH%ULWLVKIRUFHV@DKRPHEORZ´ and warnHGWKDWWKHHQHP\DLPHGDWVXEGXLQJ1HZ(QJODQGE\LQYDGLQJ³through our states by our bay´:KLOH(OOHU\¶VXUJLQJVZHQWXQKHHGHG5KRGH,VODQGHUVXQGHUWRRNRIIHQVLYHUDLGVDQG small attacks. On the night of June 10, 1777, the commander of one of the staWH¶VPLOLWLDXQLWV Captain William Barton, led a raid that captured General Prescott, the commander of British troops on Aquidneck Island.491 Still, the Americans were massively outgunned at sea, and the new United States could not reasonably hope to overcRPH%ULWDLQ¶VQDYDODGYDQWDJHXQWLOLW secured an alliance with France, which it achieved in February 1778. The alliance surely revived the idea of an American attack on Newport, and in April, Washington assigned Major-General John Sullivan of New Hampshire to take up command of the American militia forces in Rhode ,VODQG2YHUWKHQH[WVHYHUDOPRQWKV*HQHUDO6XOOLYDQDQGWKHVWDWH¶V4XDUWHUPDVWHU-General, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 490 Varnum of New York City, 17- '¶$PDWR-1; Colony Records, vol. 8, p. 358-61; Chernoh Sesay, in Hinks and Kantrowitz, eds., All Men Free and Brethren (Cornell U. Press, 2005): 23-5. 491 William Ellery to unknown correspondent in Virginia, April 16, 1777, William Ellery Collection, Series 1, Item 2, RIHS; Mrs. Williams, Biography of Revolutionary Heroes (New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1839), p. 25-55. %,%! ! Ephraim Bowen, Jr., plotted a Continental invasion of Aquidneck Island from the north in coordination with a French landing from the west. In May, the British General Pigot dispatched a force of 600 men to raid the town of Warren, burning boats and taking the Baptist minister KRVWDJH 9DUQXP¶VZLIH3DWW\YLVLWLQJIDPLO\DWWKHWLPHHVFDSHGE\KLGLQJ in a cornfield. Still, Sullivan and Bowen pressed on. The work of coordinating the civilian government with the militias and with General Sullivan was taken up by Jabez Bowen, who had been elected as Deputy Governor in May and quickly became the power behind the throne to the relatively passive governor, William Greene.492 At the same time, in June 1778, the main body of the Continental Army attempted to DWWDFNWKH%ULWLVKIRUFHVZLWKGUDZLQJIURP3KLODGHOSKLD9DUQXP¶VEULJDGHVHUYHGHIIHFWLYHO\DW the Battle of Monmouth, in which Simeon Thayer lost his right eye to the shock wave following a cannonball. Finally, in July 1778, the Rhode Island troops under Nathaniel Greene were sent back to their home state to take part in a prospective expedition to Newport; Washington placed RQHEULJDGHXQGHU9DUQXP¶VFRPPDQGDQGDQRWKHUXQGHUWKH\RXQJ0DUTXLVGH/DID\HWWH hoping to curry favor with France. The troops gathered in Providence, which by this time had taken on the atmosphere of a military camp; the College was suspended and the hilltop edifice used as a barracks. On August 7th, Joseph Russell, a longtime Whig merchant and Freemason, wrote exultantly to his wife WKDW³every body looks spirited, the general Green and the Marquis ZHQWRII\HVWHUGD\´ Whe tRZQZDVOHIW³DOOPRVWHPSW\RIPHQ´DIWHUWKHORQg column of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 492 Otis G. Hammond, ed., Letters and Papers of Major-General John Sullivan, Continental Army, vol. 2 (Concord, N. H.: New Hampshire Historical Society,1931): Preface, vii-viii; Ephraim Bowen, Jr., to Nathaniel Greene, July 20, 1778, Ephraim Bowen, Jr., to unknown addressee, August 24, %RZHQ)DPLO\SDSHUV)ROGHU5,+6 '¶$PDWR-25; Colonial Collegians: Yale, 1757, Jabez Bowen, p. 834; William Peck to Jabez Bowen, May 26, 1778, orders issued by John Garrice, May 25, 1778, Jeremiah Powell to Jabez Bowen, July 24, 1778, Lewis Morris to Jabez Bowen, August 7, 1778, Bowen Family papers, Box 1, Folder 16, RIHS. %,&! ! Continental troops KDGVHWVDLO$V5XVVHOOUHFRXQWHG³7KH/LHut. of the admiral¶VVKLSVDZ them on the march he lifted up his hands to the good God, I am surprised to see such American troops as these ± it surpasses any thing I could have thought of them´493 The expedition turned out to be a successful failure. By August 10th, nine thousand Continentals and militiamen landed at Portsmouth, taking control of the fortifications in the northern part of the island. They proceeded southward expecting to meet their French allies, but a hurricane struck, forcing the infantry to hunker down; the storm dispersed the French fleet, which afterward retreated to Boston for repairs. Now stranded on Aquidneck Island with insufficient forces, Generals Greene and Sullivan pulled back to the northern end of the island to ZDLWIRU)UHQFKUHLQIRUFHPHQWVKROGLQJRXWKRSHIRUDYLFWRU\³E\VWUDWHJHP´7KH%ULWLVKWRRN the opportunity to attack on the morning of August 29th. Outnumbered, the Continental units took up defensive positions, holding off intense fire and repeated enemy charges while the militiamen fled northward. The predominately black First Regiment, temporarily under the command of Major Samuel Ward, Jr., bore the brunt of the battle, repelling three powerful Hessian assaults and losing almost half their number before Varnum and Nathaniel Greene led a counterattack. Finally the British forces retreated, allowing the surviving Continentals and militiamen to remove safely to Tiverton the next day.494 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 493 '¶$PDWR- 6LPHRQ7KD\HU³$QH[WUDFWIURPP\MRXUQDOVRIVRPHIDFWVUHODWLYHWRP\ sufferings during the last FrHQFKZDUDQGWKHODWHZDUEHWZHHQ*UHDW%ULWDLQDQG$PHULFD´6LPHRQ 7KD\HU3DSHUV)ROGHU5,+6 :LOOLDP:%XUU³$MRXUQDORIWKHVXIIHULQJRI6LPHRQ7KD\HULQWKH WZRODVWZDUVLQ$PHULFD´6LPHRQ7KD\HU3DSHUV)ROGHU5,+6 -RVHSK5XVVHOOWR$mey Russell, August 7, 1778, Shepley PDSHUVYRO S5,+6 +77XFNHUPDQ³7KH/LIHRI&RPPRGRUH6LODV 7DOERW861´ Magazine of History, vol. 30, no. 4, 1926, p. 213. 494 '¶$PDWR-5; Otis G. Hammond, Letters and Papers of Major-General John Sullivan, Continental Army, vol. 2 (Concord, N. H.: New Hampshire Historical Society,1931), Preface, viii-ix; John Sullivan to William Greene, August 29, 1778, Letters and Papers, Hammond, ed., vol. 2, 273-4; William Cooper Nell, The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution (Boston: Robert F. Walcutt, 1855), 128-31. %,'! ! In the Battle of Rhode Island, as it has since been called, the Americans averted a disaster. Although the Continental forces failed to capture or even reach Newport, they salvaged the situation by withdrawing from the island in a series of brilliantly executed maneuvers, narrowly escaping the arrival at Newport on September 1st of a massive army under General Howe. Moreover, the battle demonstrated to the British commanders the high cost of continuing to occupy Newport. After their return to the mainland, Varnum set up his headquarters in the vlnerable town of Warren. Meanwhile, General Sullivan and the rest of the division under his command returned to their encampment at Providence.495 The aftermath of the Battle of Rhode Island, which allowed for a small shred of hope amidst the interminable stalemate, was the backdrop for the revival of Masonry in Rhode Island. Over the next several months, nearly every Rhode Island officer who had distinguished himself in the Continental service joined the Masons. The Deputy-Governor, Jabez Bowen, had been deeply involved in the attempt to recapture Newport: shortly after taking office in May, 1778, he had DVVXPHGFRPPDQGRIWKHVWDWH¶VPLOLWLDVDQGDIWHUWKHDUULval of Continental units in July, he communicated closely with their officers in preparation for the attack. It was evidently at this time that Bowen had taken initial steps toward reviving the Masonic lodge: on July 15, 1778, -RKQ5RZHWKH0RGHUQV¶3URYincial Grand Master of Massachusetts, issued a warrant authorizing the lodge to reorganize with Bowen as Worshipful Master. Bowen was probably encouraged in his plans by the fact that Major-General John Sullivan was a fellow Mason, having joined the lodge in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1767. However, the Deputy Governor EHFDPHHQJURVVHGLQ$XJXVW¶VPLOLWDU\H[SHGLWLRQHYHQJRLQJVRIDUDVWRWUDYHOZLWK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 495 9DUQXPRI1HZ %,(! ! the army to the encampment on Aquidneck Island. Distracted by military affairs, the he took no furthHUVWHSVWRZDUGUHYLYLQJWKHORGJHXQWLO'HFHPEHUE\ZKLFKWLPH6XOOLYDQ¶VWURRSVZHUH settling into their winter quarters at Providence. The precise date of the reopening of the lodge has been lost, but on December 16th, a group of eleven men were initiated in Providence²the first known Masonic rituals to take place in Rhode Island in almost a decade.496 At the same time, James Mitchell Varnum exercised tight control over the Continental troops in Providence. His orderly book for the month of December, 1778 shows the general dispensing severe discipline as the regiment endured the onset of the New England winter. On the fifth of the month, several men were tried for mutiny, with one sentenced to death and another to one hundred lashes. On the eighth, a court martial found a colonel guilty of neglect of duty and banned him from any commission in the Continental Army, while several privates were VHQWHQFHGWRODVKHVIRUVWHDOLQJ$VWKHJULPFRQGLWLRQVRIWKHFDPSLQWHQVLILHG9DUQXP¶VGHVLUH to resign from military service, the first bright spot of the season appeared on December 17th, when the general recorded that the Brethren of the Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons who are in the Department are Notifyed that the Feast of St. Johns will be celebrated at Haikins Hall in Providence on Monday the 28th Instant. All visiting Brethering who are desirous of attending the festival are notified >«@that a spetial lodge will be held at the Court House in Providence on Monday Evening Next where such as have not been introduced into the lodge in this place will have an opportunity which will prevent the trouble that may be ocationed by their introduction on the Day of the festival.497 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 496Orders issued by John Garrice, May 25, 1778, [N?] Greene to Jabez Bowen, August 18, 1778, Bowen family papers, Box 1, Folder 16, RIHS; Rugg, 437; Special Return for Providence; Denslow, 10,000 Famous FreemasonsYROS³-RKQ6XOOLYDQ´ 497 James Mitchell Varnum: 1778-9, Orderly Book, Revolutionary War Papers, RIHS. %,)! ! The special lodge meeting scheduled for Monday, December 21st, was clearly intended as an opportunity for soldiers and militiamen to demonstrate their knowledge of secret Masonic signs and passwords, and so to gain prior approval to attend the festival on the 28th. While the meeting surely served this purpose for many Masons, another five non-Masons were also initiated on the evening of the 21st, signaling an immediate interest in Masonry on the part of the soldiers and townspeople. Two nights later, on December 23rd, the lodge initiated a staggering crop of ten men and admitted three others who had previously been made Masons elsewhere. Within just one week, the revived lodge had initiated or admitted twenty-nine members²more than the colonial lodge had taken in during its entire first year.498 The lodge clearly served to bridge the gap between the military and civilian worlds of Providence²much as Jabez Bowen himself had served as the linchpin between the army and the civilian government. The wave of new initiates who joined the lodge in December 1778 included a mixture of soldiers and civilians, with a strong contingent of Rhode Island officers. The first group, initiated on the evening of the sixteenth, included the Quartermaster-General Ephraim Bowen, Jr., who had helped to plan the Newport expedition; Sergeant John Smith of &KULVWRSKHU*UHHQH¶VUHJLPHQW WKHSULYDWHHU&DSWDLQ6DPXHO&KDFH DQGWKH1HZSRUW-born militia major John Handy, who in July 1776 had had the distinction of reading the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Colony House in Newport. Still, the most noteworthy officer to join that night was Major Silas Talbot, a former merchant from Providence, who in 1776 led a fireship in an attack on a British ship-of-the-line on the Hudson River, sustained burns all over his body and went temporarily blind, recovered in time to serve in the Battle of Red Bank, where he was shot in the wrist, only to recover once again in time to serve in the Battle of Rhode Island. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 498 Special Return for Providence. %,*! ! In the dismal autumn following that defeat, Talbot had led a surprise attack that captured the heavily armed British galley guarding the eastern shore of Aquidneck Island. He was surely already notorious among the Rhode Island troops by the time he joined the Masonic lodge.499 The rolls of new initiates show that the revived lodge existed on the margin between military and civilian society and between the officer corps and the mass of enlisted men. Talbot and the other officers who joined the lodge on December 16th did so alongside at least three ordinary privates in the Rhode Island militia, including William Bradford, Jr. RI5REHUW(OOLRWW¶V artillery regiment and Silvester Rhodes of Pawtuxet, whose wife had watched the smoke of the Battle of Rhode Island from across Narragansett Bay. The group of men who joined five days later, on December 21st, included civilian residents of Providence²most notably, the printer John Carter, who had apprenticed with Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia before moving to Providence and taking up publication of the Providence Gazette. Finally, Masonic membership could spread upward among the officers in a given military unit: for instance, on the evening of the 23rd, the lodge admitted as a member Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Flagg, and on the same HYHQLQJLQLWLDWHG)ODJJ¶VFRPPDQGLQJRIILFHU&RORQHOJohn Topham of the Second Rhode Island Regiment.500 7KHUHYLYDORI0DVRQU\LQ3URYLGHQFHVHHPVWRKDYHVRIWHQHG9DUQXP¶VULJLGGLVFLSOLQH Most remarkably, the group of men initiated in December included Private Ebenezer Williams, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 499 Christopher Greene and Thomas Arnold: April 1778, muster roll, Valley Forge, box 1 folder 5HYROXWLRQDU\:DU3DSHUV5,+6 +77XFNHUPDQ³7KH/LIHRI&RPPRGRUH6LODV7DOERt, U. S. 1´Magazine of History, vol. 30, no. 4, 1926, p. 203-226; Providence Gazette, August 30, 1777, p. 3; Isaac W. K. Handy, DD, Annals and Memorials of the Handys and Their Kindred (Ann Arbor, MI: William L. Clements Library, 1992): 91-2. 500 Helen M. Loschkey,: &DUWHUDQG:LONLQVRQ 5KRGH,VODQG¶V)LUVW3XEOLVKLQJ+RXVH -99, MA Thesis, Brown University, 1966, p. 1-2; Josiah Flagg and Thomas Carlile: Aug. 1780, pay abstract, box 8 folder 50, Revolutionary War papers, RIHS; Stone, Our French Allies '¶$PDWR -RKQ 7RSKDP$XJ5,RIILFHUV¶SHWLWLRQER[ IROGHURev. War papers, RIHS. %,+! ! who had been accused of fomenting mutiny in his regiment and been sentenced to death by a court martial on December 7th'XHWRXQQDPHG³circumstances arising,´ :LOOLDPV¶VHQWHQFH was suspended at least twice, and on the 16th of December, he underwent initiation in the Masonic loGJH7KUHHGD\VODWHURQWKHGD\KHZDVWREHH[HFXWHG9DUQXP³convinced that Ebenezer Williams was not the promoter of the late mutiny but that he was persuaded to it by some villainous persons´SDUGRQHG:LOOLDPVDQGRUGHUHGWKDWKHEHUHOHDVHGDQGUeturned to GXW\:HFDQQRWNQRZZKHWKHU9DUQXP¶VFOHPHQF\UHODWHGWR:LOOLDPV¶0DVRQLFLQLWLDWLRQEXW it stands out as an unusual case of mercy from the usually strict Brigadier-General.501 9DUQXP¶VFOHPHQWPRRGDSSDUHQWO\SHUVLVWHGWKURXJKWKHZHHNRI&Kristmas. The JHQHUDODSSURYHGRIWKHDFTXLWWDORI7KRPDV&DUOLOHD&DSWDLQLQ(OOLRWW¶VDUWLOOHU\UHJLPHQW accused of insubordination, on December 23rd, the very same day that Carlile was initiated as a Mason. On the 24th, the General ordered that a gill of rum be distributed to every man at arms, and on Christmas day he granted a long series of pardons. Varnum ordered that another gill of rum per man be given out on the day after Christmas in recognition of the anniversary of the victory at Princeton, DQGWKHQGRXEOHGLWLQOLJKWRI³WKHVHYHULW\RIWKHVHDVRQ´9DUQXPGLGQRW return to dispensing punishments until December 28thDIWHUKHKDGGHOLYHUHGWKH6DLQW-RKQ¶VGD\ sermon for the Masonic lodge.502 By this time, James Mitchell Varnum was a Freemason. No surviving record tells us SUHFLVHO\ZKHQDQGZKHUHKHEHFDPHRQHEXWDQXPEHURI9DUQXP¶VIULHQGVDQGFROOHDJXHVPD\ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 501 James Mitchell Varnum: 1778-9, Orderly Book, Revolutionary War Papers, RIHS. 502 ³$Q2ULJLQDO5HFRUGRI'DLO\DQG:HHNO\5HWXUQVRI&DSW7KRPDV &DUOLOH¶V&RPSDQ\RI &RO5REHUW(OOLRWW¶V5KRGH,VODQG5HJLPHQWRI$UWLOOHU\FRYHULQJDSHULRGIURP0DUFKWR-XO\ WRJHWKHUZLWKVRPHPHPRUDQGDRIRFFXUUHQFHVRI3DZWX[HW5,DWDVRPHZKDWODWHUGDWH´ Revolutionary War Papers, Series III, Rhode Island state troops, Box 2, Folder 135, RIHS; James Mitchell Varnum: 1778-9, orderly book, MSS 9001-V, Revolutionary War papers, RIHS. %,,! ! have initiated him into the Masonic rites outside of a constituted lodge. Oral tradition has long KHOGWKDW9DUQXP¶VFORVHIULHQd and fellow officer, Nathaniel Greene, was a Mason, though no contemporary evidence corroborates this notion other than the fact that Nathaniel owned a sloop called the Free Mason as of 1771. During the Revolutionary War, Varnum served and socialized with superior officers who were Masons, including George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and John Sullivan, the last of whom gave personal permission for troops to take part in WKH6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\IHVWLYDO3HUKDSVWKHPRVWOLNHO\SHUVRQWRKDYHintroduced Varnum to the Craft was the Baron von Steuben, with whom he practiced European-style military techniques during the winter at Valley Forge. Lastly, Varnum may have been initiated in the American Union Lodge, a traveling military lodge first organized by Continental officers at Roxbury, Massachusetts in February, 1776, during the siege of Boston. The founders of this lodge were mainly officers from the Connecticut and Massachusetts brigades, but also included Captain William Bradford of Rhode IsODQG ZKRVHVRQZRXOGODWHUMRLQWKHUHYLYHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge of Providence). The surviving records of American Union Lodge from the spring and summer of 1776 make no reference to Varnum, but the proceedings for the period between August 1776 and March 1779 are mostly lost. The Brigadier-General easily could have joined in this unknown period, during which Varnum commanded two Connecticut regiments.503 5HJDUGOHVVRIWKHH[DFWFLUFXPVWDQFHVRIKLVLQLWLDWLRQ*HQHUDO9DUQXP¶VDVVRFLDWHV knew him to be a Mason by December 19, 1778. On that day, the lodge, meeting in the Council !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 503 GS Greene and FV Greene, Greenes of Rhode Island, p. 186-7; Articles of agreement, April 20, 1771, Shepley Manuscripts, vol. 14, p. 77, RIHS; James Royal Case, Nominal Roll of those on Record in the Minutes of American Union Lodge, Livingston Library of the Grand Lodge of New York; George N. Cole, Transcript of the Minute Book of American Union Lodge, Livingston Library of the Grand Lodge of New York; Charles Sumner Plumb, The History of American Union Lodge No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio, 1776 to 1933 (Marietta, Ohio: American Union Lodge, 1934), 1-10; '¶$PDWR-12. &--! ! &KDPEHUVRIWKH6WDWH+RXVHLQ3URYLGHQFHDSSRLQWHGDFRPPLWWHHWRSODQIRUD6DLQW-RKQ¶V Day celebration on the 28th (delayed so as not to interfere with Sunday church services); the committee asked General Varnum and two other officers to lend their bands of music for the celebration and for Varnum himself to deliver an oration. On the appointed day, an impressive total of seventy-one Masons took part in a public procession and attended the sermon at Joseph %URZQ¶V)LUVW%DSWLVWFKXUFK$FRQVXPPDWHRUDWRU9DUQXPURVHWRWKHRFFDVLRQRIWKHILUVW public Masonic celebration in an independent Rhode Island, delivering a short but striking speech, rich in metaphor and fraught with religious and political meanings. Varnum dedicated the oration WR-DEH]%RZHQDQGWRWKHUHYLYHGORGJH¶VWZRZDUGHQV-RKQ-HQNLQVDQG1DWKDQLHO Mumford, both of whom had been members of the old Newport lodge before relocating to Providence during the imperial crisis.504 3ULQWHGE\-RKQ&DUWHUVRRQDIWHULWVGHOLYHU\9DUQXP¶VXQWLWOHGRUDWLRQVWDQGVLQ UHPDUNDEOHFRQWUDVWZLWKWKH5HYHUHQG7KRPDV3ROOHQ¶VVHUPRQRIWZHQW\-one years earlier. *HQWHHORSWLPLVWLFDQGH[SDQVLYH3ROOHQ¶V³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´FDVts the Masons as the stewards RIDQLGHDOO\FRKHVLYH&KULVWLDQRUGHU³WKDWEXLOGLQJRI*RGVRILWO\IUDP¶GWRJHWKHU´7KH fraternal love that the Masons promoted would overcome the divisions that the minister SHUFHLYHGLQ5KRGH,VODQGVRFLHW\³where a monstrous diversity of religious tenets, a mad coQWHQWLRQDERXWOLWWOHKRQRUV«and an unchristiaQHQPLW\EHWZHHQULYDOIDPLOLHV´XQGHUPLQHG social harmony.505 James Mitchell Varnum similarly presents Freemasonry as an antidote to social division and strife, but whereas Pollen sees these problems as particular to mid-eighteenth- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 504 JF Brennan and Albert Mackey, eds., The American Freemason, A Monthly Magazine, (JF Brennan: New York, 1858), vol. 1, p. 295-6; James Mitchell Varnum: 1778-9, orderly book, MSS 9001- V, Revolutionary War Papers, RIHS; James Mitchell Varnum, An Oration Delivered Before a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, (Providence: John Carter, 1779), 1-3. 505 Pollen, 13. &-$! ! century Rhode Island, Varnum presents them as the universal condition of humankind. Speaking in a society torn apart by civil war, frozen in stalemate, and facing another winter of deprivation, WKH*HQHUDOSODFHV)UHHPDVRQU\DJDLQVWWKHEOHDNHVWEDFNJURXQGRIKXPDQGHSUDYLW\9DUQXP¶V brief summary of the mythic history of the Craft emphasizes its sufferings and persecution: SRVVLEO\DOOXGLQJWRWKH7RZHURI%DEHOKHUHFRXQWV³$/RGJHZDVIRUP¶GDQG)RHVWKH6HFUHWV JDLQ¶G 7KHQGLUH'LVFRUGZLWK/DQJXDJHVFRQIXV¶GGLVSHUV¶GWKHKXPDQ5DFH1RVRRQHU IRUP¶GDJDLQWKDQYLOH$WWHPSWVZHUHPDGHRIEUHDNLQJ&RQFRUG+DUPRQ\DQG2UGHU´506 9DUQXP¶VRUDWLRQDWHYHU\SRLQWSUHVHQWV)UHHmasonry as standing at the embattled edge of a social world that is beyond earthly redemption. 7KH0DVRQVLQ9DUQXP¶VYLVLRQDUHLQYROYHGLQDQHWHUQDOXQUHVROYHGVWUXJJOHRIYLUWXH against vice, truth against falsehood, and light against darkness. The general begins by DSRORJL]LQJWKDWKHLV³\RXQJLQWKHGLYLQHDUW´EXWGHFODUHVWKDWWKHKRQRURIGHOLYHULQJD 0DVRQLFRUDWLRQJLYHVKLP³DVDWLVIDFWLRQZKLFKLQWKHKRXUVRIGDUNQHVVDQGSURIDQLW\FRXOG QHYHUEHREWDLQHG´507 Varnum beseeches his BrethUHQWRVHUYHDVHWKLFDOPRGHOVDQGWR³ULVH DERYHWKHLOOVRISUHMXGLFHDQGHUURU´SURSRVLQJWKDW³while the ties of humanity excite us to pity and commiserate the Ignorant and Profane, let our Light so shine, that they may be reclaimed by the Splendor oIRXU([DPSOH´508 Still, for all his self-importance, Varnum is not optimistic that 0DVRQLFLQIOXHQFHFDQFXUHWKHZRUOG¶VLOOV7KHSUDFWLFHRIWKHYLUWXHVJRHVDJDLQVWWKHJUDLQRI KLVWRU\SDVWDQGSUHVHQW DVWKHJHQHUDOODPHQWV³:HOLYHLQDQ$JHZKerein slander and detraction have assumed the Empire of Candour and Truth: It is our Duty to embrace Integrity in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 506 Varnum, 1779, p. 8. 507 Varnum, 1779, p. 3-4. 508 Varnum, 1779, p. 9. &-%! ! WKHZRUVWRI7LPHV´509 Varnum suggests no possibility for the restoration of virtue without divine intervention; instead, he anticipates with MR\³WKHDOO-glorious Period, when we shall DSSHDULQ5REHVRI,QQRFHQFHDQGMRLQLQDQJHOLFFKRUXVZLWKWKH%UHWKUHQRIWKHXQLYHUVH´510 Varnum uses the classic Masonic metaphor of Temple-building as the leitmotif of his oration, uniting Freemasonry, the Revolution, and the Apocalypse in a single cosmic scheme. Whereas Pollen uses architecture as a metaphor for the creation of a well-ordered society, Varnum understands the Temple as an otherworldly structure that stands apart from temporal life. In discXVVLQJWKH0DVRQV¶GXW\WRVHUYHDVPRUDOH[HPSODUVWKHJHQHUDOFODLPVWKDW, ³ZH are ascending, by a just gradation, from an earthly to a spiritual temple, not made with hands, HWHUQDOLQWKHKHDYHQV´511 7KHODVWHLJKWZRUGVRI9DUQXP¶VVWDWHPHQWDOOXGHWR3DXO¶V assurances of eternal life in 2 Corinthians 5:1; yet the opening phrases imply a permeability between the earthly and heavenly realms and link this multi-OD\HUHGFRVPRVWRWKH0DVRQV¶ ascending degrees of initiation. In undertaking Masonic work, Varnum and his Brethren are metaphorically rising above the profane realm and building a new, spiritualized Temple, which will prepare the way for the millennium. The occasion for this cosmic breakthrough is, of course, the Revolutionary War. By withstanding the political breakdown of the war and reorganizing the lodge in Providence, Rhode Island Masonry has demonstrated that the Craft will survive until the End of Days: 7KDWWKLVLQVWLWXWLRQKDVZLWKVWRRGHYHU\VKRFNRIPDOLFH«WKDWZKHQRWKHU societies and orders have shrunk at the din of arms, and fled from the ills of domestic or foreign slaughter; or have lost their vestiges by the conflagration of public depositories; or have ceased by the necessary demolition of their temporary !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 509 Varnum, 1779, p. 10. 510 Varnum, 1779, p. 11. 511 Varnum, 1779, p. 7. &-&! ! fabric; this, being founded on the Rock of Ages, still remains the wonder and astonishment of all.512 9DUQXP¶VFHOHEUDWLRQRI0DVRQU\¶VVXUYLYDOOHDGVGLUHFWO\LQWRKLVYLVLRQRIWKHFRPLQJ DSRFDO\SVHRUXQFRYHULQJZKHQKXPDQNLQGVKDOOEHUHGHHPHGDQG³YLHZWKHJUDQGIDEULFRf the Universe unfolded to all Creation, and every being made partaker of the holy Secret, the 3HUIHFWLRQRIDOO´513 9DUQXPSUHVHQWV)UHHPDVRQU\¶VHVFKDWRORJLFDOUROHLQWKHUHGHPSWLRQRI the world through the familiar metaphor of the rising sun: The Royal Art began in the East, and like the rising Glory of the World proceeded Westward, and diffused its irradiating Beams to those who sat in Darkness, and saw no Light. At length it has sought an Abode in America, the Center of this terraqueous Fabric, where the Rays of Truth converge, and will increase, till the great Purposes of Humanity shall be completed.514 Thus, without directly espousing a political position, Varnum connects Freemasonry and its millennial significance to the American quest for independence. Just as the historical translatio had moved imperial authority westward from the Orient, to Rome, to Britain, so the spread and IORXULVKLQJRI)UHHPDVRQU\KDGPRYHGWKHZRUOG¶VVSLULWXDOFHQWHUZHVWZDUGIURP-HUXVDOHPWR Europe to North America. American victory, Varnum suggests, would bring the cycle of history WRDFORVHUHWXUQLQJWRWKHSULPLWLYHKDUPRQ\RI&UHDWLRQ³EH\RQGDOOWLPHZKHQXQLW\LWVHOI H[LVWHG´ 9DUQXP¶VJUDQGLRVHYLVLRQRIDVSLULWXDO7HPSOHZDVZHOO-suited to a Masonic community in a state of quasi-exile. With the outbreak of war and the British occupation of Newport, the Rhode Island Masons had lost hope of completing an actual, material temple; the foundations that Nathaniel Mumford himself had helped to lay remained untouched. Moreover, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 512 Varnum, 1779, p. 10. 513 Varnum, 1779, p. 11. 514 Varnum, 1779, p. 11. &-'! ! the Battle of Rhode Island had demonstrated that American forces would never be able to regain Newport without a voluntary British withdrawal or an effective French intervention, neither of which seemed likely at the end of 1778. In the gloRPRIWKLVGRXEOHGHVSDLU9DUQXP¶V suggestion that the mere performance of Masonic work in America would help to pave the way for the millennium served to restore a sense of hope and purpose both to Freemasonry and to the Revolutionary war effort. There FDQEHOLWWOHGRXEWWKDW5KRGH,VODQGVROGLHUVDQGFLYLOLDQVUHVSRQGHGWR9DUQXP¶V message. Over the next nine months, between January and September 1779, thirty-eight Masons ZHUHLQLWLDWHGRUDGPLWWHGLQWRWKHUHYLYHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHIDr outpacing the previous performance of either Rhode Island lodge in its colonial heyday. Most of the recruits were Continental Army or militia officers, including nearly all of the heroes of the preceding Delaware River and Aquidneck Island campaigns. On January 6, 1779, the lodge initiated Colonel Archibald Crary of the Second Rhode Island Regiment, who had temporarily taken up FRPPDQGRI9DUQXP¶VEULJDGHDWWKH%DWWOHRI+DUOHP+HLJKWVDQG'DQLHO7LOOLQJKDVWJr., a SULYDWHLQ7KRPDV&DUOLOH¶VDUWLOOHry company who had served in the Battle of Rhode Island. They were joined on January 22nd by five more new members, among them Major Simeon 7KD\HUWKHKHURRIWKHVHFRQGEDWWOHRI5HG%DQN1DWKDQ2OQH\DFDSWDLQLQ&UDU\¶VUHJLPHQW joined on February 3rd in a now-unusual single initiation. These winter initiations and admissions demonstrate that the Masonic virus could travel upward as well as downward through the officer corps²6LPHRQ7KD\HUIRULQVWDQFHIROORZHGLQDORZHURIILFHU¶VIRRWVWHSVE\ jRLQLQJWKHORGJHGD\VDIWHUKLVFRPSDQ\¶VHQVLJQ-RKQ0*UHHQH515 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 515 List of names of Kentish Gaurds, ca. 1774, Colonial Militia Papers, RIHS; Archibald Crary and Nathan Olney: Feb. 1779, wage and subsistence, Sheply Manuscripts, v. 2 p. 411, RIHS; Josiah Flagg and Thomas Carlile: Aug. 1780, pay abstract, box 8 folder 50, Revolutionary War Papers, RIHS; &-(! ! The growth of the Providence lodge reached a fever pitch in the later winter of 1779 before gradually abating over the rest of the year. A staggering eleven men joined the lodge on the evening of February 17, with nine initiations and two admissions of men who were already Masons. The initiates included Major Samuel Ward, Jr., the son of the former governor, who KDGFRPPDQGHGWKH)LUVW5KRGH,VODQGRU³%ODFN´5HJLPHQWLQWKH%DWWOHRI Rhode Island; &DSWDLQ:LOOLDP7HZRI,VUDHO$QJHOO¶VUHJLPHQW DQG'DQLHO%R[D%ULJDGH0DMRUIRU*HQHUDO Varnum who had lost the use of his left arm in the Continental service. The prestige of these new candidates was quickly outdone on March 3rd by the initiation of Colonel Christopher Greene, the first hero of Red Bank and the organizer of the Black Regiment. As the scion of the wealthier branch of the Greene family that resided at the massive estate of Pastuxet, Christopher Greene could match the social pedigree of Samuel War, Jr., while outshining all in his military achievements. Along with Greene, the lodge initiated the military surgeon Doctor Peter Turner, a close friend and brother-in-law of James Mitchell Varnum.516 One of the incidental effects of the Revolution on Rhode Island Freemasonry was the introduction of the Ward and Greene families and their social networks into the lodges, which they had previously shunned. Their presence in a lodge led by the staunch Brown ally Jabez Bowen indicates a broadening appeal for the Craft in a politically realigned society. Within the pale of Revolutionary Rhode Island, the lodge initiated a catholic variety of men, including officers and privates, soldiers, militiamen, and civilians, natives of Newport and of Providence, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Varnum of New York City, 11; Israel Angell + Simeon Thayer: pay roll, April 1779, Shepley vol. 2 p. 445, RIHS. 516 Israel Angell and William Tew: muster roll, Warren, Nov. 1778, box 7 page 33, Rev. War Papers, RIHS; Edward Field, ed., Diary of Colonel Israel Angell (Providence: Preston and Rounds, 1899), 43-5; Greene and Greene, Greenes of Rhode Island, 105-9, 166-8, 276- '¶$PDWR-2. &-)! ! and former supporters of both political factions that had once fought for control of the colony. In addition to the prominent officers mentioned above, the lodge initiated more obscure individuals, such as the taylor Daniel Stillwell ZKRVHUYHGDVDSULYDWHLQ7KRPDV&DUOLOH¶VDUWLOOHU\FRPSDQ\ and was initiated on February 17th.517 The stories of the more obscure soldiers and sailors brought together in Providence by the events of the 1770s are too various to generalize easily, except to note that many of them traced paths of Odyssean unpredictability. Among the more remarkable are those who came to North America as a result of British naval impressment. Joseph Carlo Mauran, a sailor born in the town of Vilafranca in Provence in 1748, was taken prisoner as a youth on a voyage to Sardinia and pressed into service as a cabin boy on a British man-of-war. After about two years of captivity on voyages to Jamaica and New York, Joseph managed to escape and take refuge with a farming family in Connecticut. By 1768, he settled in Barrington, Rhode Island, where he married and joined the Congregational Church. After the outbreak of the Revolution, he served at sea under Esek Hopkins and was soon appointed to command the small raiding vessels the Spitfire and the Washington. He was admitted to the lodge on February 17, 1779, apparently between the destruction of the Washington and his appointment to command a brigantine on an expedition to South Carolina. In a similar vein, Lieutenant Thomas Coles had been born in Ireland, the illegitimate son of a British officer stationed at the Dublin barracks. Impressed into service in the Navy, he escaped in Boston and served as a schoolteacher in rural Massachusetts. After the outbreak of the Revolution, Coles, harboring a particular antipathy to Britain stemming from his impressment, enlisted in the Massachusetts line. Coles fought at Trenton and Princeton and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 517 Josiah Flagg and Thomas Carlile: Aug. 1780, pay abstract, box 8 folder 50, Rev. War Papers, RIHS; indenture, of Vernon Dunn of Providence, becoming an apprentice to Daniel Stillwell of Providence, a taylor, 1774, Stillwell Papers, RIHS; &-*! ! barely survived the winter at Valley Forge. Serving under Sullivan, Coles married Sarah Walker at Providence on February 21, 1779, before joining the Masonic lodge on March 3rd.518 After the mass initiations of February 17th and March 3rdWKHORGJH¶VSDFHRIJURZWK abated. With armies emerging from their winter encampments, both the British and the American commanders refocused their attentions on the southern states, where Britain hoped to cut a path to seize Virginia. The importance of the Rhode Island theater diminished as both sides accepted a temporary stalemate. On March 5th, James Mitchell Varnum again requested to be discharged from the Continental service, citing the need to attend to personal and family affairs, and the request was granted on March 18th. He returned home to East Greenwich and again took up command of the Rhode Island militia. John Sullivan, for his part, accepted an appointment by George Washington to command an expedition in western New York to expel the British-aligned Iroquois nations from the region.519 6XOOLYDQ¶VLQYROYHPHQWLQ5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQU\OLNH9DUQXP¶Vaddress, served as an opportunity for the Masons to resituate themselves in the new Revolutionary environment. Before the major-general left Providence in late March, a committee consisting of Jabez Bowen, John Jenkins, Nathaniel Mumford, James Greene, and John Brown²all of whom had been Masons since the colonial era²drafted a letter, subsequently printed in the Providence Gazette, in which they thanked General Sullivan for the particular honor you have done [the Masons], in so frequently associating with them in Lodge; for the Respect you have at all times paid to the Craft, not supposing it any Diminution to your important Command to level yourself with !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 518 James Eddy Mauran and John C. Stockbridge, Memorials of the Mauran Family (Providence, Snow and Farnham, 1893), 121-37; Profile of Thomas Coles, 0DQXIDFWXHUV¶DQG)DUPHUV¶-RXUQDO, Dec. 2, 1844; Memorandum of Thomas Coles, 1829, Thomas Coles Papers, RIHS. 519 Varnum of New York City, 20-21. &-+! ! WKHPDV0DVRQV>«@:KHUHYHU\RXJRPD\WKH*UHDW$UFKLWHFWRIWKH8QLYHUVH be your Guide and Protector.520 1RGRXEWWKH0DVRQVWUXO\UHJUHWWHG6XOOLYDQ¶VGHSDUWXUH WKH\DQWLFLSDWHGWKHORVVQRWRQO\RI WKHJHQHUDO¶V³DJUHHDEOH&RPSDQ\DQG&RQYHUVH´EXWDOVRRIWKHSUHVWLJHWKDWKLVSUHVHQFH brought to the lodge. Whereas in the 1750s Thomas Pollen, the Oxford-educated minister, had given the colonial Rhode Island Masons an ideal representative, in the new republican order of things that role devolved upon Revolutionary patriot-heroes, particularly in the persons of James Mitchell Varnum and John Sullivan. 7KRXJK6XOOLYDQ¶VGHSDUWXUHZDVDUHDOORVVLWZDVSDUWO\ FRPSHQVDWHGE\WKH*HQHUDO¶VJUDFLRXVUHSO\LQZKLFKKHGHFODUHGWKDW [c]onnected with a band of brothers, cemented by the immutable ties of fraternal Love and guided by the Principles of unfading Virtue, I cannot help lamenting a Separation, which my own Feelings witness to be as painful on my Part, as your polite and affectionate Address has painted it on yours.521 6XOOLYDQ¶VUHIHUHQFHWRD³EDQGRIEURWKHUV´PHUJHVWKHIDPLOLDUHPRWLRQDODQGUHligious vocabulary of Masonic addresses with the language of wartime camaraderie. Through the words and deeds of men such as Generals Sullivan and Varnum, Rhode Island Freemasonry was subtly militarized. While John Sullivan set about destroying Seneca villages, the Providence Masonic lodge settled into a pattern of slow, stable growth, outside of a four-week pause between April 21st and May 19th, 1779. Around this time, John Carter, recognizing the growing market for Masonic publications, printed A ChoicH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV, a booklet containing twenty-four songs and a short musical play first performed in Dublin about King Solomon and the Queen of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 520 Otis G. Hammond, ed., Letters and Papers of Major-General John Sullivan, vol. 2 (Concord: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1931), p. x, 545-6 521 ibid, 546. &-,! ! 6KHED KHVROGWKHVRQJERRNWRJHWKHUZLWKFRSLHVRI9DUQXP¶V6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\RUDWLRQ522 These prinWLQJVEHJDQ&DUWHU¶VORQJFDUHHUDVD0DVRQLFSXEOLFLVW$PRQJWKHPLOLWDU\RIILFHUV to join the lodge during the later spring and summer of 1779 were Doctor Jonathan Arnold, the director of hospitals for the Department of Rhode Island, and Samuel Snow, a Lieutenant &DSWDLQRI7KRPDV&DUOLOH¶VDUWLOOHU\FRPSDQ\523 6QRZ¶VLQLWLDWLRQRQ6HSWHPEHUst preceded a pause of several months. Masonic growth slowed; probably the pool of potential recruits was saturated, and at any rate, increasingly distracted at this time by the dramatic reshuffling of the military and political situation in Rhode Island. In the autumn of that year, drawn into a massive new campaign in the South and despairing of pacifying New England, the British lost interest in their Rhode Island foothold. In late October 1779, the British evacuated their forces from Newport. The long stalemate was over. ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 522 John Carter, ed., $&KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV7R:KLFK,V$GGHG6RORPRQ¶V Temple, an Oratorio, Providence: John Carter, 1779; Helen M. Loschkey, Carter and Wilkinson: Rhode ,VODQG¶V)LUVW3XEOLVKLQJ+RXVH -99, MA Thesis, Brown University, 1966, p. 9. 523 Certificate for Dr. Jonathan Arnold, Nov. 28, 1791, Simeon Thayer Papers, Folder 3, RIHS; Thomas Carile, returns and memoranda book, 1778-1781, Box 2, Folder 135, Rev. War papers, RIHS. &$-! ! Chapter 9: The French Alliance and .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH Newport, 1779-1782 With the British withdrawal from Newport, the iron curtain separating Newport and Providence fell. Exchange between the two towns resumed, and hence different Masonic responses to the crisis of the Revolution could cross-fertilize. Where Providence had embraced a republican and patriotic self-image, a different strain of Masonic thought took hold in Newport² a deeply royalist mythology encapsulated mainly in the Rite of Perfection. In the early 1780s, Rhode Island became the proving-ground for a new form of Freemasonry in which the higher degrees played an integral UROHIXVLQJDQGUHFRQFLOLQJWKURXJKDSRFDO\SWLFLVPWKH0DVRQV¶ longstanding reverence for kingship with a new republican ethos. Whereas the orchestrators of the return of Masonry to Providence were Jabez Bowen and James Mitchell Varnum, in Newport that role fell to Moses Michael Hays, a Jewish merchant IURP1HZ North America: an active and zealous Masonic apostle, Hays was a link in a complex Masonic network that carried a mystical form of Masonry from Europe to the West Indies and ultimately North America. He was born in New York in 1739 to Judah and Rebecca Michaels Hays, Jewish migrants from the Netherlands. His father was a silversmith and became a freeman of New York. $WDERXWDJH0RVHVEHFDPHDOHDGLQJPHPEHURI6KHDULWK,VUDHO1HZ Rachel Myers, the sister of the renowned silversmith Myer Myers, and the couple welcomed two GDXJKWHUV EHWZHHQDQG KHZDVHOHFWHGDV6KHDULWK,VUDHO¶VDVVLVWDQW3DUQDVDQGODWHU Parnas; and in the latter year he was admitted as a freeman of New York, with his profession &$$! ! identified as that of a watchmaker.524 He soon involved himself in maritime trade, in partnership with fellow Jewish merchant Myer Polock, who shuttled frequently between New York and Newport, where he had close family. By the end of the 1760s, Hays was a Freemason, although it is unknown when and where he became one.525 Myer Polock, his business partner, had become a Mason at Newport in 1761, and possibly he encouraged Moses to join the Fraternity as well. Regardless, some time in 1768, he encountered a merchant from Jamaica named Henry Andrew Francken, who had come to New York for a two-year sojourn. On December 6th of that year, Francken granted to Moses 0LFKDHO+D\VDSDWHQWDXWKRUL]LQJKLPWRSURSDJDWHWKH³5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQ´DV\VWHPRIWZHQW\- five Masonic higher degrees beyond the three familiar ³&UDIW´GHJUHHVDQGWRIRXQGFKDSWHUV and councils of the Rite in North America.526 The Rite of Perfection was a rich and complex elaboration on the Masonic beliefs and practices of the eighteenth century. Lodges practicing the Rite ordinarily organized WKHPVHOYHVDWRSH[LVWLQJ³&UDIW´ORGJHVWKDWDGPLQLVWHUHGWKHILUVWWKUHH GHJUHHV WKHVH³ORGJHVRISHUIHFWLRQ´ZHUHOLPLWHGE\VWDWXWHWRQRPRUHWKDQPHPEHUVHDFK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 524 Harry Smith and J. Hugo Tatsch, Moses Michael Hays: Merchant, Citizen, Freemason, Boston: Moses Michael Hays Lodge, 1937, p. 31-3; Katherine Myslinski and David M. Kleiman, The Loeb Visitors Center at Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island (New York: The George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, 2010): 44-5; Gutstein, 54. 525 7KHQDPHRIWKHORGJH³.LQJ'DYLG´LQWKHPHPRUDQGXPH[DPLQHGLQ&KDSWHU suggests that +D\VPD\KDYHEHHQWKHPHPRUDQGXP¶VDXWKRULQZKLFKFDVHKHZRXOGKDYHEHHQLQLWLDWHG on the evening of June 2, 1762, in an unchartered lodge. 526 Some present-days scholars argue that this system of higher degrees should more properly be FDOOHGWKH³5LWHRIWKH5R\DO6HFUHW´LQUHIHUHQFHWRLWVWZHQW\-fifth and final degree. Rather than become GHHSO\HQWDQJOHGLQVHPDQWLFV,PHUHO\UHWDLQWKHWLWOH³5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQ´HPSOR\HGE\:LOOLDP/)R[ in Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two Centuries of ScoWWLVK5LWH)UHHPDVRQU\LQ$PHULFD¶V Southern Jurisdiction (Little Rock: University of Arkansas Press, 1997). &$%! ! The inventors of the higher degrees had re-worked Kabbalistic, alchemical, and chivalric V\PEROLVPLQWRDORQJVHULHVRIULWXDOVFXOPLQDWLQJLQWKH³5R\DO6HFUHW´527 +D\¶VHQFRXQWHUZLWK)UDQFNHQDSSDUHQWO\ODXQFKHG+D\VLQWRDFDUHHUDVD0DVRQLF DSRVWOH)UDQFNHQFODLPHGIRUKLPVHOIWKHLPSRVLQJWLWOHVRI³*UDQG(OHFW3HUIHFWDQG6XEOime 0DVRQ.QLJKWRIWKH(DVWDQG3ULQFHRI-HUXVDOHP´DQGRI³'HSXW\,QVSHFWRU*HQHUDO´RI Masons; in the patent, Francken conferred these same degrees and titles upon Hays. The following February, the Provincial Grand Master of New York, David Harrison, granted Hays a ZDUUDQWWRIRXQGDORGJHLQ1HZ 0DVWHUDQG0\HU0\HUVDV6HQLRU:DUGHQ1RWKLQJPRUHLVNQRZQRI+D\V¶0DVRQLFDFWLYLWLHV LQ1HZ Francken notes in his patent. Hays would carry with him the extravagant titles conferred on him by Francken when commercial failures drove him out of his native town.528 One morning in November, 1770, Hays awoke in his house in New York to find his friend Myer Polock gone. By that morning in November, the pair had fallen on hard times. A slew of failed ventures had driven them deeply into debt, and at least since August of 1769, they had been relying on sponsors in London and New York to extend them more and more credit. In the spring of 1770, they placed their hopes in a new vessel, the Rising Sun, which would traffic goods from Honduras to North America and Europe, to revive their fortunes, but their bad luck persisted. By the end of May, their London creditors lost patience with their evasions, insisting WKDW³we have little reason to expect that you are the men of integrity and propriety that you have !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 527 Francken Manuscript 1783, 15. 528 Smith and Tatsch, Moses Michael Hays, 44-6; Frederick W. Seal-Coon, A Historical Account of Jamaican Freemasonry, 25-6; Baynard, History of the Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, vol. 1, Boston, 1938, 62-4. &$&! ! so repeatedly boasteGRILQDOO\RXUOHWWHUV´DQGZDUQHGWKDWWKH\ were forced to consider ³pursuing forcible means for the recovery of our debt.´529 As the hapless merchants struggled to mollify their British investors, their North American creditors grew impatient as well. In the autumn of 1770, Polock joined Hays in New York, where they held a long private meeting with those investors who insisted on collecting their debts. Despite some opposition, the two merchants proposed a plan to repay their creditors over time and agreed to remain in New York. Soon after, however, the town was struck by a smallpox epidemic, and Hays had his two young daughters inoculated. Afraid of catching and transmitting the disease, Polock intimated that he may wish to rejoin his relatives in Newport. Still, Hays did not expect that his partner would suddenly vanish one morning before dawn without a word of warning to anyone. Hays had to ask around town to determine that Polock had snuck out and embarked on the Mermaid. Hays pieced together that Polock, influenced by secret communications with his brother Jacob, had escaped their creditors by absconding back to Rhode Island. Over the following winter, Hays wrote to Polock to offer him forgiveness, even as he pleaded with Myer not to take any further action without consulting him. He insisted on acting ³MXVWO\DQGFRQVLVWHQWO\´ZKLOHEDUHO\VXSSUHVVLQJKLVDQJHUWKDW³I have been uninformed of too many WKLQJVZKLFKWLPHRQO\EULQJVIRUWKGDLO\´+D\VKDGOLWWOHFKRLFHEXWWRMRLQ3RORFNLQ Rhode Island, and to begin picking up the pieces of their business; he evidently moved permanently to Newport some time in the early months of 1771.530 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 529 Hays papers, Folder 1, April 1769 ± August 1769, MHS; Folder 2, Polock to Milligan, August 10, 1769, MHS; Channing-Ellery Papers, 1, 71, Hays and Polock to Harford and Powel, April 30, 1770; 1,73, Harford and Powel to Hays and Polock, May 28 and May 31, 1770, RIHS. 530 Harford and Powel to Henry Marchant, March 16, 1771, Channing-Ellery Papers, 1, 107, RIHS; Hays to Samson Mears, Dec. 3, 1770, Hays papers, folder 2, MHS; Hays to Myer Polock, Dec. 13, 1770, and Jan. 14 and Feb. 13, 1771, Hays Papers, MHS. &$'! ! 0\HU3RORFN¶VUHDVRQVIRUIOHHLQJWR1HZSRUWDVLGHIURPWKHIDFWWKDWKLVIDPLO\UHVLGHG WKHUHVXUHO\LQFOXGHG5KRGH,VODQG¶VLQVROYHQF\ODZZKLFKZDs very favorable to debtors. +D\V¶DQG3RORFN¶V/RQGRQFUHGLWRUVIXPHGWKDW5KRGH,VODQGZRXOG³grant to villains the benefit of an act which was only intended for honest men´ Although Hays had worked out a plan to sell their goods and repay their various creditors over the next seven to fourteen years, Rhode Island law offered a faster escape from their spiraling debts. The two petitioned for protection under the Insolvency Act in May, 1771, and their request was granted in September of that year. 531 Thenceforward, Hays would seek to rebuild his life and career as a resident of Newport. In July 1771, while their petition for insolvency was still pending, Hays and Polock drafted a letter to the prestigious Philadelphia mercantile house of Willing and Morris, which they asked Aaron Lopez to look over and bolster with a word of approval. Hays also became involved in the book trade with the help of fellow Freemason Nathaniel Mumford. By no later than May, 1773, Moses and his wife Rachel welcomed a third daughter, and not long after, Hays sojourned in the Caribbean; in December, 1773, he wrote to his trading partners in Newport from Saint Croix, offering to procure sugar and rum from his friends on neighboring islands. He returned safely to Newport soon after.532 Hays seems to have thrived in Rhode Island both socially and commercially, which should not be surprising considering the character of the colony. Rhode Island resembled New !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 531 Channing-Ellery Papers, 1, 107, Harford and Powel to Henry Marchant, March 16, 1771, RIHS; Hays papers, folder 3, Hays to Polock, Feb. 3 and 14, 1771; Newport Mercury, May 20, 1771, September 30, 1771, MHS. 532 +D\VDQG3RORFNWR$DURQ/RSH]1HZSRUW-XO\ +D\VWR³IULHQGVLQ1HZSRUW´ 6DLQW&URL['HF³+HEUHZ6LJQDWXUHV´ -92, Box 43, Folder 15, NHS; Dr. William Hunter, Medical daybook, 1771-77, extracts, Rhode Island Roots, 27:27, March 2001, p. 31, 36; Moses Michael Hays to Daniel Knox, June 21, 1773, Moses Michael Hays Papers, MHS. &$(! ! York and the West Indies not only in its toleration of a Jewish minority but in its broader heterogeneity, embracing Anglo-Americans, Africans, Indians, and Continental Europeans practicing the Anglican, Quaker, Congregationalist, Bapstist, Jewish, and Moravian faiths. Centering on the growing maritime towns of Newport, Providence, and Bristol, with their bustling small industries and wharves crowded with ships bound to the West Indies and Africa, Rhode Island was truly more of a middle colony than a New England colony. Though smaller in scale, it was similar in kind to the other societies in which the chivalric higher degrees took hold. It is not clear exactly when and to what extent Moses Michael Hays propagated the Rite of Perfection in the 1770s. Only a single letter, presented to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1937 E\WZRRI+D\V¶JUHDW-granddaughters, attesting to his Masonic activities in Newport EHIRUHWKH5HYROXWLRQVXUYLYHV GDWHG1HZ ,VODQG´7KHDXWKRURIWKHOHWWHULV-RKQ'DYDQWKH:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHURI7ULQLW\/RGJHLQ1HZ 6RYHUHLJQ.QLJKWRIWKH6XQ F F´FRQJUDWXODWLQJKLP³RQ\RXUKDSS\UHWXUQIURPWKH:HVW ,QGLHV´DQGFRQYH\LQJWR+D\VVHYHUDO1HZ SURVSHULW\DQGKDSSLQHVV´0RVWVLJQLILFDQWO\'DYDQSURPLVHVWKDWDWWKHHDUOLHVWSRVVLEOH RSSRUWXQLW\³,VKDOODVD small token of my friendship send you a dozen of the best Aprons FDOFXODWHGIRUWKH.QLJKWRIWKH6XQZKLFK,VKDOOFUDYH\RXUDFFHSWDQFHRII´533 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 533 John Davan to Moses Michael Hays, New York, August 27, 1774, quoted in Smith and Tatsch, Moses Michael Hays: Merchant, Citizen, Freemason (Boston: Moses Michael Hays Lodge, 1937): 62-3; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York (New York, J. J. Little and Co., 1898): 107-8. &$)! ! 'DYDQ¶VVKRUWOHWWHUGHPRQVWUDWHVWKDW0DVRQVZHUHSUDFWLFLQJVRPHYHUVLRQRIWKH5LWH of Perfection both in 1HZ /RGJHRI3HUIHFWLRQ´DW1HZSRUWSHUIRUPHGLQLWLDWLRQVDVKLJKDVWKHGHJUHHRI.QLJKWRIWKH Sun, which is the 23rd degree of the Rite of Perfection, and it counted enough members to lead 'DYDQWREHOLHYHWKDWLWFRXOGPDNHXVHRIDGR]HQDSURQV'DYDQFORVHVKLVOHWWHUWR³\RXPRVW ,OOXVWULRXV3ULQFHDQGWKHUHVWRIWKH3ULQFHV´ZLWKRXWKLQWLQJDWWKHLGHQWLWLHVRIWKRVHRWKHU higher-degree Masons in Newport. We cannot know who joinHG+D\V¶,QHIIDEOH/RGJHRI Perfection in this period, although later records suggest the young Jewish merchant, Moses Seixas, as a likely candidate.534 Neither can we know for how long or how successfully this higher-degree lodge in Newport functioned. We can only speculate that, as in the West Indies, the secretive Rite of Perfection served as a refuge from the tumult of colonial and maritime life. Though Rhode Islanders in the 1770s did not suffer the same degree of danger from tropical disease that stalked the Caribbean colonies, Rhode Island at this time was veering into another political disturbance even more traumatic than the one that had temporarily destroyed the Craft in the preceding decade. In the summer of 1776, Hays was one of four Jewish men called by a committee of the Rhode Island Assembly to take the loyalty oath.535 While other Jewish Newporters maintained !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 534 Rugg notes that the then-extant record book of the Providence Royal Arch Chapter, in a PHPRUDQGXPGDWHG1RYHPEHU UHIHUUHGWR0RVHV6HL[DVDVD³'HSXW\,QVSHFWRU*HQHUDO´DQGWR 3HOHJ&ODUNHDVD³.QLJKWRIWKH6XQ´5XJJJRHVRQWRVSHFXODWHWKDW+D\VFRQIHUUHGWKH,QHIIDEOH degrees oQ6HL[DVDQG&ODUNHLQ³RUVRRQDIWHUZDUGV´+RZHYHU5XJJZULWLQJLQ ZDVQRW aware of the Davan letter nor even of the fact that Hays lived in Newport before 1780. Rugg, 179-80, 255-6. 535 Lovejoy, 190, 193; Lee Friedman, Jewish Pioneers and Patriots (Philadelphia: Jewish publication Society of America, 1948): 141-4. &$*! ! WKHLUQHXWUDOLW\DQGUHIXVHGWRVXEPLWWRWKHFRPPLWWHH¶VTXHVWLRQVRQO\+D\Vopenly professed support for the American cause. When he appeared before the committee on July 12, 1776, he rejected the imputation of Toryism and called for his accusers. According to the records of the Assembly, Hays insisted, I have and ever shall hold the strongest principles and attachments to the just ULJKWVDQGSULYLOHJHVRIWKLVP\QDWLYHODQG«,DOZD\VKDYHDVVHUWHGP\ sentiments in favor of America and confess the War on its part just. I decline subscribing the Test at present form these principles[:] first that I deny ever being inimical to my country and call for my accusers and proof of conviction, Second that I am an Israelite and am not allowed the liberty of a vote, or voice in common ZLWKWKHUHVWRIWKHYRWHUV«7KLUGO\EHFDXVHWKHWHVWLVQRWJHQHUDO536 Hays concluded by assuring the deputies that he would adhere to any laws enacted by the &RQWLQHQWDO&RQJUHVVRUWKH$VVHPEO\WKRXJKWKH\KDGQHYHUSUHYLRXVO\WDNHQ³DQ\QRWLFHRU FRXQWHQDQFHUHVSHFWLQJWKHVRFLHW\RI,VUDHOLWHV´+HOHIWWKHGHSXWLHVZLWKDVLJQHGFRS\RIKLV refusal, but soon after felt the need to clarify his position; five days later he submitted a petition WRWKH*HQHUDO$VVHPEO\LQZKLFKKHDJDLQGHFODUHGWKHKHZDV³ZDUPO\DQG]HDORXVO\DWWDFKWWR WKHULJKWV OLEHUWLHVRIWKHFRORQLHV´DQGLPSORUHGWKH$VVHPEO\³WR call for the cause [of] my DFFXVDWLRQRILQLPLFDOW\WKDW,PD\KDYHWKHRSSRUWXQLW\RIYLQGLFDWLRQEHIRUH\RXUKRQRUV´ 7KH$VVHPEO\DSSDUHQWO\DOORZHGWKHPDWWHUWRUHVWKHUHDQG+D\V¶3DWULRWLVPZDVQHYHU questioned again.537 Hays was certainly absent from Newport during at least part of the British occupation, and he is not listed in the census of the town compiled shortly after the British landing. However, his whereabouts for most the period are uncertain. Some later chroniclers claim that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 536 Rhode Island Archives General Assembly Papers, Revolutionary War, Suspected Persons, 1775-1783, p. 14, cited in Friedman, 144. 537 Friedman, 145-7; RI Archives General Assembly Papers, Revolutionary War, Suspected Persons, 1775-1783, p. 47, cited in Friedman, 144-5. &$+! ! Hays went to Boston for the remainder of the war; it is also likely that he, like many Newporters, withdrew at least for a short period to western Rhode Island.538 Nonetheless, Hays continued his Masonic activities during this period of exile. Clues as to his location in 1779 are provided by WZR0DVRQLFGLSORPDVWKDW+D\VLVVXHGWR'RFWRU3HWHU7XUQHU-DPHV0LWFKHOO9DUQXP¶V brother-in-law who served as a surgeon for the Rhode Island regiments. Today held by the Newport Historical Society, the diplomas were probably drawn up to enable Turner to participate in military lodges attached to the Continental Army. The first of the two is dated July 19, 1779, DQGLVODEHOHGDVLVVXLQJ³From the East a place of Light where Reigns Silence and Peace´ DIWHU LQYRNLQJ³WKH *ORU\RIWKH*UDQG$UFKLWHFWRIWKH8QLYHUVH´WKHFHUWLILFDWHDWWHVWVWKDW our Dear Brother, Doctr. Peter Turner, hath been by us in due Form and the 8VXDOO6ROHPQLW\(QWHU¶GDQ$SSUHQWLFHLQRXU$UW0LVWHULHVDQGKDYLQJ IDLWKIXOO\VHUY¶GKLVWLPHZH initiated him in the degree of a Fellow Craft, and having given us Solid Proofs of his Fervency, Constancy, + Zeal to our Royal &UDIWDQGWR5HFRPSHQVHKLPIRUKLV$VVLGXLW\ZHKDYHFRQIHUU¶GRQKLPWKH Sublime degree of a Master Mason.539 While most of the diploma follows the familiar Masonic formulas of the time, several of its GHWDLOVGLVWLQJXLVKLWDVVSHFLDOO\VLJQLILFDQW)LUVWO\+D\VLGHQWLILHVKLPVHOIDV³Moses M. Hays Deputy Insp. Genl. of Masons´²a title that only existed in the Rite of Perfection, implying that Hays still claimed the power to propagate the higher degrees. Secondly, the close of the diploma GHFODUHVWKDWLWZDVSHQQHGDW³.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH´LQGLFDWLQJWKDW+D\VFRQWLQXHGWRFRQYHQH a lodge under that name outside of New York. Finally, the most important peculiarity of the diploma is the fact that it was issued at all, considering that Turner had already been initiated, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 538 ³2FFXSDQWVRI+RXVHVLQ1HZSRUW5,'XULQJWKH5HYROXWLRQ´Newport Historical Magazine, vol. 2 (Newport: Newport Historical Publishing Company, 1881-2), p. 41-5; Stone, Our French Allies, 156; Gutstein, 186. 539 &HUWLILFDWHRILQLWLDWLRQ0RVHV0+D\VWR3HWHU7XUQHU-XO\ ³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´ Vault A, Box 69, Folder 3, NHS. &$,! ! SDVVHGDQGUDLVHGLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHRQ0DUFK 7KHPRVWOLNHO\ UHDVRQIRU7XUQHU¶s repetition of the three degrees is that the Providence lodge employed the Modern Rite, whereas Doctor Turner wished to receive from Hays the mysteries in their ³$QFLHQW´YHUVLRQZKLFKFRQWLQXHGWRJURZLQSRSXODULW\GXULQJWKH5HYROXWLRQ The question of the relationships between the Modern and Ancient rituals and between the Craft degrees and the higher degrees arises explicitly in the second diploma, which Hays LVVXHGWR7XUQHURQ$XJXVW 7KLVGRFXPHQWDWWHVWVWR7XUQHU¶VDWWDLQPHQWRIWKHRoyal Arch degree²the most elementary higher degree, developed in Jacobite circles in France or Ireland around 1740, which served as the germ of the Rite of Perfection. The Royal Arch was by this time fairly widespread in Europe and North America, and was known to be conferred on its own in lodges in Virginia as early as the 1750s; William Palfrey of Boston, in a letter to Moses %URZQLQERDVWHGWKDWKH³ZDVPDGHD5R\DO$UFKWKLVZHHN´540 Still, in the 1779 diploma, Hays places the degree within the larger context of the Rite of Perfection by referring to KLPVHOIDV³Moses M. Hayes R[ight] W[orshipful]. Perfe[ct] + Sub[lime] Mason, Prince of Jerusalem´HWFDQGE\VLJQLQJZLWKWKHWLWOHRI³'HSXW\*UDQG,QVSHFWRU*HQHUDO´7KH diploma declares thaW7XUQHUKDVHDUQHGWKHUDUHILHGGHJUHHRIWKH5R\DO$UFKDQG³he having strictly engaged to conform to all DUWLFOHVDQGUXOHVDQG&XVWRPV«we Pray he may be admitted in all lodges of the Royal Arch Both in Antient and Modern Freemasonry´541 While the Royal Arch diploma conforms to the same basic template as the Master 0DVRQ¶VFHUWLILFDWHLVVXHGDPRQWKEHIRUHVHYHUDOIHDWXUHVGLVWLQJXLVKLWDVQRYHODQGSRLQWWR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 540 William Palfrey to Moses Brown, Feb. 19, 1761, Moses Brown Papers, Box 1, RIHS; Bernard E. Jones, )UHHPDVRQ¶V%RRNRIWKH5R\DO$UFK2nd Ed. (London: George. G Harrap and Co., 1969), 19- 30, 36-51. 541 &HUWLILFDWHRILQLWLDWLRQ0RVHV0+D\VWR3HWHU7XUQHU$XJXVW ³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´ Vault A, Box 69, Folder 3, NHS. &%-! ! +D\V¶SHFXOLDUUROHDVD0DVRQLFLPSUHVDULR:KHUHDVWKH0DVWHU0DVRQ¶VGLSORPDDGGUHVVHV itVHOIWR³DOOPHQHQOLJKWHQ¶GRYHUWKHVXUIDFHRIWKHWZRKHPLVSKHUHV´WKH5R\DO$UFKFHUWLILFDWH DGGUHVVHV³DOOWUXHDQG9DOLDQW0DVRQV´OLQNLQJWKHGHJUHHZLWKPDUWLDODQGNQLJKWO\YLUWXHV Like many later Masonic documents, the Royal Arch diploma bears a double date, having been LVVXHG³This tenth day of the Eleventh Month called Ellul, of the year 5779, and of the vulgar era, this twenty-second day of August 1779´$VSHFLDO0DVRQLFGDWLQJV\VWHPZKLFKLQYROYHV the months of the Hebrew calendar and a year determined by adding 4,000 to the Gregorian date, was occasionally invoked in the eighteenth century, and in this case served to emphasize the supposed antiquity of the Craft, its connections with Judaism, and most profoundly, its existence on a parallel time scale, outside of the mundane course of history. This is of a piece with the GLSORPD¶VHODERUDWHWLWOHVDQGJUDQGLRVHUHIHUHQFHVWR³WKHWZRKHPLVSKHUHV´DQGWRWKH³FHOHVWLDO FDQRS\´DOORIZKLFKVHUYHWRSODFH0DVRQLFHYHQWVLQWRDGLVWDQWcosmic frame of reference, RXWVLGHRIWKHYLFLVVLWXGHVRIVHFXODUOLIH7KHGLSORPD¶VFRVPLFRYHUWRQHVDUHILQDOO\EURXJKW WRJHWKHULQLWVFODLPWKDWLWZDVLVVXHGDWDORGJH³KHOGQHDUWKH%%´²mean the Burning Bush²DQGKHQFHXQGHU*RG¶VGLUHFWJXLGDQFe.542 Paradoxically, this same diploma, which adopts a cosmic, extra-historical frame of UHIHUHQFHDOVRJLYHVWKHFOHDUHVWFOXHVDVWR+D\V¶ZKHUHDERXWVGXULQJWKHODVWPRQWKVRIWKH %ULWLVKRFFXSDWLRQRI1HZSRUW7KHFHUWLILFDWH¶VKHDGLQJLVODEHOHG³From the East of the Most Valiant Princes Sublime Masons under the Celestial Canopy of the zenith which Answers the 42. Degs. 10 Mss.´,IWKHODVWIRXUZRUGVRIWKLVSKUDVHUHSUHVHQWDPHDVXUHPHQWRIODWLWXGHLQWKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 542 This reIHUHQFHWRWKH%XUQLQJ%XVKDV³WKH%%´LQ(QJOLVKRUWKH³%$´LQ)UHQFKLVVHHQLQ earlier higher-GHJUHHGRFXPHQWVLQFOXGLQJ(WLHQQH0RULQ¶V³/DZVDQG5HJXODWLRQVIRUD/RGJHRI 3HUIHFWLRQ´RI Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 24) and a diploma issued by Morin to a Mason in Port-au-Prince in 1764 (Kervella, 180). &%$! ! northern hemisphere, the corresponding parallel runs through south-central Massachusetts, between Worcester and the Rhode Island border. As mentioned earlier, Aaron Lopez, colonial 1HZSRUW¶VPRVWLPSRUWDQWPHUFKDQWDQG+D\V¶FRUHOLJLRQLVWUHORFDWHGKLVH[WHQGHGIDPLO\WR Leicester, Massachusetts, a town which, at about 42 degrees 15 minutes north latitude, very QHDUO\FRUUHVSRQGVWRWKHFRRUGLQDWHRQ7XUQHU¶VGLSORPD543 It is possible that Hays followed the Lopez clan to Leicester by 1779. Additionally, the certificate specifies that it was issued, not DW.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHEXWDW³.LQJ6RORPRQ¶V5R\DO$UFK/RGJHKHOGQHDUWKH%%´,WLV likely that Hays himself, the Master of the so-FDOOHG.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHIRXQGHGWKLV5R\DO Arch chapter in south-central Massachusetts, seeing as how the WLWOH³.LQJ6RORPRQ¶V´LQYRNHV .LQJ'DYLG¶VVXFFHVVRUZKRIXOILOOHG'DYLG¶VRULJLQDOYLVLRQIRUWKH7HPSOH 'RFWRU3HWHU7XUQHU¶VWZRGLSORPDVGHPRQVWUDWHWKDWLQ +D\VFODLPHGVLJQLILFDQW Masonic powers, which presaged his activities after returning to Newport. Not only was he conferring the Royal Arch degree in a body probably of his own creation, but he was framing this activity in a language that at once reflected the military atmosphere of the time and sought to distance the higher degrees from the events of ordinary life. The advancement to the Royal Arch GHJUHHPRUHRYHUUHSUHVHQWHGLQ+D\V¶VFKHPHDIXOILOOPHQWRIWKHYLVLRQILUVWSUHVHQWHGLQWKH Craft degrees. The remaining question is this: what was Peter Turner doing in the remote towns of central Massachusetts at this time? His presence in the same town as Hays could hardly have been an accident; rather, during the summer of 1779, a period of quiescence in the Revolutionary War, Turner must have sought out Hays, having heard of his knowledge of Masonic rituals and ORUH7KHGRFWRUPD\KDYHOHDUQHGRI+D\V¶VSHFLDODXWKRULW\DQGH[SHUWLVHLQWKH&UDIWIURP Nathaniel Mumford, who had relocated from Newport to Providence²but regardless of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 543 Gutstein, 185. &%%! ! SDUWLFXODUFKDQQHO+D\V¶LQLWLDWLRQRI7XUQHU represents an instance of Masons from the northern SDUWRIWKHVWDWHUHFRJQL]LQJ+D\V¶VVHQLRULW\LQWKH&UDIWHYHQDVWKHORGJHLQWKHODWWHUWRZQ remained defunct. Whatever his activities in exile, Hays was evidently swifter than Aaron Lopez in returning to Newport once the opportunity arose. As he was sojourning in Philadelphia in the autumn of 1779, the British forces withdrew from Newport. The Revolutionary government of Rhode Island wasted no time in filling the power vacuum that they left behind. Before the transport ships had even set sail, Governor William Greene issued an order prohibiting any privateers from landing on Aquidneck Island and forbidding anyone from looting or harassing WKHLVODQG¶VLQKDELWDQWV6WDWHRIILFLDOVDQGPLOLWLDHQWHred the battered, half-abandoned town and promptly confiscated the property of the Loyalist exiles, while Robert Elliot took up the office of intendant of the port. Newport was quickly re-incorporated into the Rhode Island government, still operating under the 1663 charter.544 At this time, the Jewish community clung to existence by a thread; after the congregation had experienced considerable growth, success, and visibility in the early 1770s, the embargo of 1775-GHYDVWDWHGWKHWRZQ¶V-HZLVKSRSXODWLRQdependent as they were on long-distance trade. During the British occupation, Jews dispersed to far-flung cities and towns ranging from Boston to the West Indies. Hardly enough Jewish families remained in Newport for the adult men to hold a minyan; the British forces used the synagogue at times as a hospital. The Jewish 1HZSRUWHUV¶SROLWLFDOOR\DOWLHVZHUHGLYLGHGZLWKVRPHVWDQGLQJE\WKH&URZQZKLOHRWKHUV supported the Revolution. A Rhode Islander named Moses Isaacs²possibly the same Jewish shopkeeper who had joined the Masonic lodge in 1760²enlisted in the Continental Army, and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 544 Stone, Our French Allies, 155-8. &%&! ! Jacob Isaacs supplied cannon to the Continental forces. However, when the British withdrew in 1779, the chazzan Isaac Touro left with them, proceeding to lead Loyalist Jewish religious services in New York before finally removing to Jamaica. When Patriots retook control of Newport, they showed particular hostility to Jewish Loyalists, even beating the merchant Isaac Hart to death after he had requested quarter. Nonetheless, despite this episode of shocking violence, Jewish families gradually returned to Newport. In 1780, the congregants allowed the Rhode Island Assembly to convene in the synagogue, seeing as how it had been less severely damaged in the war than had the Colony House.545 It seemed for the first two years of Revolutionary rule that the town might recover its former prosperity. However, the loss of talent and social connections in the Whig exodus of 1776 and the Tory exodus of 1779; the sheer physical damage of fire, looting, and neglect; and competition from the comparatively unscathed Providence proved too great to overcome. The WRZQ¶VPRVWSRZHUIXODQGDFFRPSOLVKHGPHUFKDQW$DURQ/RSH]DORQJZLWKPXFKRIKLV extended family, had fled to Leicester, Massachusetts during the British occupation and opened a retail store; in May, 1782, on his journey back to Newport, Lopez accidentally drowned in a pond. With him died any chance that the town might regain its central position in Atlantic trade. Although NewpoUWHUVLQWKHVZHUHDEOHWRUHFRYHUDGHFHQWVWDQGDUGRIOLYLQJWKHWRZQ¶V population remained between 6,000 and 7,000 for the rest of the eighteenth century, reduced from over 9,000 before the Revolution.546 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 545 Wolf and Levy, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen (Philadelphia: Levytype Publishers, 1895): 33-4, 49-50; Gutstein, 180-92; Pencak, Jews and Gentiles in Early Ameerica, 190- 6%URFKHV³0RUH/LJKWRQ0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\V´Masonic Craftsman, Dec. 1939, p. 73. 546 Withey, 77-108; Gutstein, 185-6; Newport Mercury, Feb. 24, 1781, p. 4. &%'! ! It is remarkable that in the aftermath of this devastation, when the survival of Judaism in Newport was still uncertain, Moses Michael Hays opened a Masonic lodge that drew largely on the Jewish population. In June 17+D\VRUJDQL]HG\HWDQRWKHULQFDUQDWLRQRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V Lodge. The log book of this lodge, which survives today in the possession of its successor, Saint -RKQ¶V/RGJHQRRI3RUWVPRXWK5KRGH,VODQGLVQRWRQO\WKHPRVWGHWDLOHGVXUYLYLQJUHFRUG RI+D\V¶PDQDJHPHQWRID0DVRQLFERG\EXWDOVRSUREDEO\WKHHDUOLHVWVXUYLYLQJLQWHrnal record in the world of a lodge under Jewish leadership. The book opens with transcriptions of the two GRFXPHQWVRQZKLFK+D\VEDVHGKLVDXWKRULW\ WKHFKDUWHUIRU.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQ1HZ Henry Andrew Francken. After copying over these documents and a lodge prayer, the secretary UHFRUGHGWKHILUVWPHHWLQJRIWKHUHFRQVWLWXWHG.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHRQ-XQH The first known Masonic gathering in Newport in fourteen years, the meeting on June 7th was attended by a small core group of ten Masons, brought together by the chaotic events of the Revolution in Rhode Island. While Hays presided over the first meeting as Worshipful Master, beside him as Senior Warden was the merchant Moses Seixas²a well-liked but enigmatic man. Hays had by this time already formed a close relationship with Seixas, probably as a replacement for his partnership with Myer Polock, which had been torn asunder by the Revolution. Like Hays and Polock, Seixas was a Jewish merchant originally from New York. His father, Isaac Mendes Seixas, had been born in Portugal and emigrated around 1734 to New York, where Moses was born in 1744; shortly thereafter the family relocated to Newport. After coming of age and marrying in Rhode Island, Moses apparently found himself torn and ambivalent in the IDFHRIWKHLPSHULDOFULVLV,Q6HL[DVVXEVFULEHGWRWKH³$VVRFLDWLRQWR3UHYHQWULRWVLQ 1HZSRUW´DQGGXULQJWKH%ULWLVKRFFXSDWLRQ he remained in his home on Touro Street with a &%(! ! household of six; in March 1777, Ezra Stiles noted his presence in the town but did not label him as a Tory. Immediately after the British withdrawal, Seixas served the Patriot cause by inventorying the possessions of his Loyalist brother-in-law, Hiam Levy, which the Revolutionary government confiscated²although he later helped to put Levy back on his feet economically. In 1780, Seixas signed an agreement with several other Newporters to defend the town against British attack, and at the same time took up the role of custodian and protector of the synagogue while Aaron Lopez remained in Massachusetts. All in all, through the repeated reversals of the Revolutionary upheaval in Rhode Island, Seixas seems to have maintained his overriding commitments to Newport and to the Jewish community.547 Hays, Seixas, and the other four Masons who served as officers of the re-opened lodge represent a mélange of occupations, backgrounds, and religions. The Junior Warden at the ORGJH¶VLQLWLDOPHHWLQJZDV'DYLG/RSH]²FOHDUO\DPHPEHURI$DURQ/RSH]¶VH[WHQGHGIDPLO\ DOWKRXJKLWLVXQFHUWDLQZKHWKHUWKLVZDV$DURQ¶VEURWKHUZKRKDGUHPRYHGWR%RVWRQGXULQJWKH British occupation, or a younger member of the family whose relationship to Aaron is unclear. In either case, he is probably the same David Lopez who exported kosher meat and cheese from 1HZSRUWWRWKH&DULEEHDQLQWKHV7KHORGJH¶V7UHDVXUHUZDVWKH-year-old Anglican merchant and sea-captain Jeremiah Clarke, whRKDGDIILOLDWHGZLWK6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI Newport in 1765. Acting as Secretary was the 28-year-old shopkeeper Henry Dayton, who commanded a small militia company in Newport, and the Deacon was Solomon A. Myers²a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 547 ³$VVRFLDWLRQWRSUHYHQWULRWVLQ1HZSRUW´-XQHUHSULQWHGLQNewport Mercury, May S ³2FFXSDQWVRI+RXVHVLQ1HZSRUW5,'XULQJWKH5HYROXWLRQ´Newport Historical Magazine, vol. 2 (Newport: Newport Historical Publishing Company, 1881-2), p. 43; Dexter, ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, vol. 2, p. 132; Laura Leibman, Messianism, Secrecy, and Mysticism (Vallentine Mitchell, 2012):, 2, 7; Gutstein, 183-4, 192-3. &%)! ! man of whom little can be said except that he was probably a relation of the Jewish Myers family of New York.548 This corps of Masonic officers faced a difficult task in gathering a sufficient body of )UHHPDVRQVWRVXVWDLQDORGJHLQ1HZSRUW0XFKOLNHWKHUHYLYHG6DLQW-RKQ¶VRI3URYLGHQFH the Newport lodge served as a meeting-place for civilians and soldiers from the militia and Army units occupying the town²but rather than welcoming a wealth of eligible candidates, as the lodge in Providence had done in 1778, the initial meeting in Newport hosted only four men apart IURPWKHORGJH¶VRIILFHUV7KHVH0DVRQVFRPSULVHG&RORQHO5REHUW(OOLRWWRIWKHVWDWH¶VDUWLOOHU\ UHJLPHQW 0DMRU-RKQ+DQG\ *HQHUDO9DUQXP¶VEULJDGHPDMRU'DQLHO%R[ DQGWKHPHUFKDQW and slave trader Peleg Clarke. While all of these four men had previously been made Masons in Newport or Providence, Hays and the other lodge officers considered their initiations to be invalid because they had been performed according to the Modern rather than the Ancient Rite. Therefore, at the initial meeting, the lodge officers re-initiated the four candidates according to the Ancient forms. Three days later, on the evening of June 10th, the lodge passed and raised these four men according to the Ancient Rite and re-initiated Colonel John Topham. Having corrected the flawed degree rituals of the past, the lodge then re-elected its officers. While Hays and Seixas retained their positions, Peleg Clarke replaced Lopez as Junior Warden, Jeremiah Clarke became Senior Deacon, Henry Dayton became Junior Deacon, Robert Elliott was elected Treasurer, and John Handy became the Secretary. Seixas, Handy, and Clarke were then selected as a committee to draft a set of by-laws for the lodge, and finally, Isaac Isaacs was appointed as WKHORGJH¶V7\OHURUJuard. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 548 Gutstein, 143, 186; George Austin Morrison, Jr., 7KH³&ODUNH´)DPLOLHVRI5KRGH,VODQG, New York: Evening Post, 1902, p. 245; William Barton and Henry Dayton: March 1780, muster roll (Newport), box 8, folder 17, Rev War Papers, RIHS; GHR Scrapbook no. 982, p. 70, NHS. &%*! ! Clearly, the elections on June 10th conferred offices on the re-initiated Masons in accordance with their seniority in the Craft²particularly that of Peleg Clarke, who had been a 0DVRQIRUDWOHDVWILIWHHQ\HDUV7KHVHQHZRIILFHUVUHSODFHG+D\V¶-ewish friends and associates, David Lopez and Solomon A. Myers, whose personal backgrounds and histories in Masonry are unknown. It is therefore all the more remarkable that Moses Seixas retained his position as Senior Warden, despite his comparative youth and his uncertain history in Masonry. His re-election is surely a testament to his close relationship with Hays and to the respect with ZKLFKRWKHU0DVRQVLQ1HZSRUWUHJDUGHGKLP6HL[DV¶SRVLWLRQZRXOGVRRQEHSXWWRWKHWHVW when, only two days later, on June 12, 1780, Hays called a special meeting and announced that, ³having business abroad it would occasion his absence for some time and recommended our brother Moses Seixas SW to take the chair till his return, which the brothers unanimously consented to.´$OVRSUHVHQWDWWKLVPHHWLQJZDV&RORQHO&KULVWRSKHU*UHHQHNQRZQIRUKLV YLFWRU\DW5HG%DQNDQGIRUKLVFRPPDQGRIWKHVWDWH¶VVR-called Black Regiment. Nine days later, on June 21, 1780, Seixas presided over a meeting that presaged the ORGJH¶s course of development over the next two years. Present at that meeting, in addition to the aforementioned lodge officers, were several men who represented religious and professional networks with strong ties to Masonry. One such man was Abraham Pereira Mendes, Aaron /RSH]¶V-DPDLFDQ-born son-in-ODZZKRKDGEHHQLQLWLDWHGLQ%RVWRQ¶V6HFRQG/RGJHLQ DQGZKRVHDWWHQGDQFHDW.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHUHLQIRUFHGLWVHQWDQJOHPHQWLQWKH-HZLVK$WODQWLF world. Another was John Goddard, the brilliant Quaker furniture-maker who had become the patriarch of the Goddard-Townsend clan.549 The most prominent attendee that evening was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 549 A merchant also named John Goddard resided in Newport around this time, but the signature VHHQRQWKHRDWKSDJHRIWKH.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRNPDWFKHVWKDWRIWKHIXUQLWXUH-maker as seen on receipts and accounts in Vault A, Box 43, Folder 13, NHS. &%+! ! Colonel William Barton, famous for his abduction of General Prescott in 1777, who as of the spring of 1780 was in command of a corps of light infantry at Newport. It is not clear when and ZKHUH%DUWRQEHFDPHD0DVRQEXWKHPD\KDYHEHHQLQVSLUHGWRDWWHQG.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHE\ KLVVXERUGLQDWHRIILFHU&DSWDLQ+HQU\'D\WRQRQHRIWKHORGJH¶VIRXQGLQJPHPEHUV550 As for the business conducted on the evening of June 21st, the Brethren voted to admit to the lodge Colonel Jabez Champlin, the brother of Christopher Champlin, who had served for several years as the sheriff of Newport (and in that capacity had escorted Thomas Vernon into exile). Six days later, on June 27th, the lodge held a special meeting where they approved the request of Lieutenant John Cooke to be initiated in an expedited manner; the following night, the Brethren initiated both Champlin and Cooke and re-initiated the merchant Benjamin Fry. Although June 1780 saw a flurry of initiations, the lodge grew in size mainly by attracting existing Masons through social groups with strong Masonic elements, including Jews and Revolutionary officers.551 Meanwhile, as the Newport Brethren HQGHDYRUHGWRSXW.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHRQDVWDEOH footing, a French fleet was already under sail on its way to America. The Marquis de Lafayette had persuaded the French Crown to dispatch a large expeditionary force, which Washington hoped would help to recapture New York from the British. Rhode Island was selected as the base of operations; the Council of War in Providence prepared the College Edifice there to serve as a French military hospital. On July 10th, after a journey of seven weeks, 45 French vessels carrying more than 5,000 men weighed anchor south of Newport. The commander of the French !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 550 Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons membership Cards, via NEHGS database; William Barton and Henry Dayton: March 1780, muster roll (Newport), box 8 folder 17; William Barton: March 20, 1780, weekly return, box 2, folder 124, Rev War Papers, RIHS. 551 Diary of Thomas Vernon, 1-4; Newport Mercury, May 12, 1766, p. 3; Newport Mercury, May 13, 1776, p. 1. &%,! ! troops, the Comte de Rochambeau, set forth on a boat and disembarked in Newport at noon. Finding the streets of the town empty and the few townspeople in sight sullen and quiet, the *HQHUDOIHDUHGWKDW1HZ(QJODQG¶VROGDQWL-Catholic and anti-French sentiments were at work. Still, the battered town scrambled over the next two days to prepare an appropriate welcoming. Thousands of French troops disembarked and were barracked in the town, while the high-ranking RIILFHUVUHFHLYHGTXDUWHUVLQVRPHRI1HZSRUW¶VPRVWHOHJDQWKRPHVLQFOXGLQJ-RKQ0DZGVOH\¶V and Joseph Wanton, Jr.¶VYDFDQWPDQVLRQV2QWKHQLJKWRIWKHth, the bells of the churches in Newport rang until after midnight, as Whig households placed arrays of thirteen candles in their windows. Rochambeau accepted formal messages of welcome from the Assembly and the town FRXQFLOZKLOHKLVWURRSVEHJDQLPSURYLQJWKHLVODQG¶VIRUWLILFDWLRQVPLQGIXORID British fleet that loomed not far from Block Island.552 The arrival of the French troops in Newport unavoidably changed the environment in ZKLFK.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHRSHUDWHG²but the Brethren probably did not anticipate the degree to which the French presencHZRXOGLQILOWUDWHWKHORGJH¶VLQQHUOLIH2Q-XO\ th, the same night that the Brethren passed a resolution that they would re-LQLWLDWHDQ\0RGHUQ0DVRQV³LQWKH $QWLHQWZD\´IRUIUHHWKH\UHFHLYHGDUHSRUWWKDWSUREDEO\FDPHDVVRPHWKLQJRIDVXUSULVH: ³%URWKHU%R[acquainted the lodge that Monsieur Sibille Secretary to Count Rochambeau was desirous to be initiated into our ancient mystery[;] he accordingly stands proposed to be balloted for next lodge night´1RWRQO\ZDV-HDQ-Louis de Sybille approved and soon after initiated, but over the ensuing eleven months, while the French forces resided at Newport, thirteen French PLOLWDU\RIILFHUVIROORZHG5RFKDPEHDX¶VVHFUHWDU\LQWRWKHORGJH%\$XJXVW%URWKHU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 552 Stone, Our French Allies, 181- $QQD:KDUWRQ:RRG³7KH5RELQVRQ)DPLO\DQGWKH &RUUHVSRQGHQFHZLWKWKH9LFRPWHDQG9LFRPWHVVHGH1RDLOOHV´%XOOHWLQRI1+6QR2FW Dexter, Ed., Diary of Ezra Stiles, vol. 2, p. 454. &&-! ! *LGHRQ6LVVRQ¶VWDYHUQQHDU7ULQLW\&KXUch, where the Brethren gathered two or three times a month, became a peculiar meeting-place of Frenchmen and Americans, of officers and civilians, and of Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. Before the departure of the French in June 1781, the following names were recorded in the log book as members of the lodge, each one identified as a ³)UHQFKRIILFHUXQGHU5RFKDPEHDX´ &ODXGH%DULOOH-RKQ%XLWGHQ$OOHQ&DYLOLHU-RKQ Collomes, James Cullio, Antoine DeChartres, Monsieur DeMoulines, Jean B. Fiory, Monsieur Jomecourt, John Lagord, Henry LaNeal, Joseph Monela, and J. Montelier.553 7KHQDPHVUHFRUGHGLQWKHORJERRNRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHRIIHURQO\DKD]\SLFWXUHRI the group of French officers who took part in Masonry in Newport. They were apparently men of middling status: while all of them are labeled as officers, they do not include the leading commanders of the expeditionary force, namely, the Admiral de Ternay, the Vicomte de Noailles /DID\HWWH¶VERUWKHU-in-law), nor the Comte de Rochambeau himself. Aside from that of Monsieur de Sybille, the names of only two other Masons reflect noble birth in the use of the QRPLQDWLYH³GH´,WLVJHQHUDOO\GLIILFXOWWRPDWFKWKHVH0DVRQVZLWKNQRZQ)UHQFKRIILFHUV given that the ORGJH¶VVHFUHWDU\VSHOOHGWKHLUQDPHs inconsistently (many of them Italianized or ,EHULDQL]HGSRVVLEO\UHIOHFWLQJWKHLQIOXHQFHE\WKHORGJH¶V6HSKDUGLF-HZLVKPHPEHUV 1RQHWKHOHVVVHYHUDOFOXHVDVWRWKH)UHQFK0DVRQV¶UHODWLRQVKLSWRWKHLU5KRGH,VODQG%UHWKUHQ can be discerned in the records of the lodging arrangements in Newport as of the winter of 1781. 7KH0DVRQ³-DPHV&XOOLR´LVDOPRVWVXUHO\WKH³&ROORW´WKHDLGHWRWKH)UHQFK0DUVKDO-General, ZKRZDVTXDUWHUHGXSRQ-RKQ:DQWRQLQ%URDG6WUHHW/LNHZLVH³0RQVLHXU'H0RXOLQHV´Ls SUREDEO\LGHQWLFDOWRWKH³0XOOLQVFDSWDLQGHVJXLGHV´ZKRORGJHGZLWKD³0UV0XPIRUG´ PRVWOLNHO\WKHZLIHRI1DWKDQLHO0XPIRUG0RVWVLJQLILFDQWO\WKH0DVRQ³-HDQ%)LRU\´LV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 553 Newport Mercury, June 18, 1787, p. 4; Special Return for Newport. &&$! ! SUREDEO\WKHVDPHPDQDVWKH³0DMRUGH)OXHU\´ZKRKDGSUHYLRXVO\YROXQteered to serve in the American army and who lodged on Water Street with Jeremiah Clarke, the Senior Deacon of .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH0DQ\)UHQFKRIILFHUVIRUPHGFORVHODVWLQJIULHQGVKLSVZLWKWKHIDPLOLHV that quartered them in Newport, and in the case of Major de Fleury, his host may have encouraged his induction into Masonry.554 7KHLQIXVLRQRI)UHQFKFDQGLGDWHVLQWR.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHDOORZHGLWWRVXUYLYHDQG function in the straitened conditions of post-RFFXSDWLRQ1HZSRUW7KHORGJH¶VILQDQFLDODFFRXQWs for 1780-LQVFULEHGLQWRWKHRSHQLQJRIWKHORGJH¶VORJERRNVKRZKRZWKHLQVWLWXWLRQVFUDSHG by with the 72 pounds that it received in return for conferring degrees; at least 27 pounds, or PRUHWKDQDWKLUGRIWKHWRWDOFDPHIURP%URWKHUV³'H6LE\OOH´³%DUULOO´³&DYDOOLHU´ ³0RQWHOLHU´DQG³&KDUWUHV´7KHLQLWLDWLRQIHHVSDLGIRUWKHEDVLFJRRGVDQGVHUYLFHVWKDWWKH lodge needed in order to meet and perform its rituals, including jewels from the silversmith William Hookey, blue ribbons from a tailor, and an advertisement by the printer Henry Barber. The lodge evidently economized by procuring their lodging and most of their goods at low cost directly from members of the Fraternity: the treasurer paid one pound to Brother Sisson (presumably Gideon 6LVVRQ IRU³WZRPRQWKVUHQWRQKLVURRPV´ VHYHUDOSRXQGVWR³%URWKHU &KDPSOLQ´IRUWDEOHVEHQFKHVDQGWKUHHODUJHFDQGOHVWLFNV VHYHUDOKXQGUHGGHSUHFLDWHG &RQWLQHQWDOGROODUVWR0RVHV6HL[DVIRUVHYHUDOJODVVHVDQGIRUWKUHH³ODUJHVSHUPDFHWLFDQGOHV´ presumably to serve as the three lights surrounding the Masonic altar; a small sum to John Carter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 554 ³(WDWGHV/RJHPHQWVGDQVODYLOOHGH1HZSRUWDX[RUGUHVGH0¶VOH&RPWHGH5RFKDPEHDX Quartier-*HQHUDO´³:LQWHU4XDUWHUVRI6ROGLHUVXQGHUWKH&RPPDQGRI5RFKDPEHDXLQ1HZSRUW5,´ Vault A, Mss Box A-16, Rochambeau and the French in Newport, Papers and miscellaneous, 1760s-1940, 1+6 $QQD:KDUWRQ:RRG³7KH5RELQVRQ)DPLO\DQGWKH&RUUHVSRQGHQFHZLWKWKH9LFRPWHDQG 9LFRPWHVVHGH1RDLOOHV´%XOOHWLQRI1+6QR2FW 7KRPas Balch, ed., The Journal of Claude Blanchard (Arno Press, 1969): 60-1. &&%! ! RI3URYLGHQFHIRUWKLUWHHQORJERRNV IRXUWHHQSRXQGVWR%URWKHU-RVHSK0\HUVIRU³ZKLWH VNLQV´SUHVXPDEO\ODPEVNLQVWRXVHDVDSURQV DIHZSRXQGVWRBrother Handy for two boxes of spermaceti candles; and a few pounds to Brother Tew (probably James Tew, Jr. IRU³DFKLQD ERDO´$OORIWKHVHLWHPVZHUHLQVRPHZD\QHFHVVDU\IRURUGLQDU\0DVRQLFULWXDOVDQG ccelebrations, while other materials were surely borrowed. The only other expense recorded in WKHORJERRNZDVGROODUVRI&RQWLQHQWDOPRQH\GRQDWHGWR³%URWKHU0\HUV´²either Solomon A. Myers or Christian Myers²who had fallen into poverty.555 More than just a temporary civilian amusement, Freemasonry became an important social link between the French forces and their American hosts in Rhode Island. Beyond Newport, the French officers built Masonic bonds with their allies in Providence. In late August 1780, Jabez Bowen escorted the Comte de Rochambeau and the Admiral de Ternay by boat from Newport to 3URYLGHQFHZKHUHFDQQRQURXQGVZHUHILUHGRIIDQG%RZHQ9DUQXPDQG-RKQ6XOOLYDQ³GLG HYHU\WKLQJLQRXUSRZHUWRJLYH>WKH)UHQFKRIILFHUV@DKHDUW\ZHOFRPH´5RFKDPEHDXWRRNWHD DW9DUQXP¶VKRXVHDQGORGJHGDW%RZHQ¶V)ROORZLQJWKLVYLVLW5RFKDPEHDXDQG%RZHQ became close and lifelong friends. Although it is unclear whether the Comte himself was a member of the Fraternity, during the ensuing winter, as a large detachment of the French troops set up camp in northern Rhode Island, several other French officers known to be Masons took up UHVLGHQFHLQ3URYLGHQFH7KHVDPH³&ROORW´ZKRORGJHGZLWK-RKQ:DQWRQLQ1HZSRUW UHORFDWHGWR3URYLGHQFHZKHUHKHUHFHLYHGTXDUWHUVRQ%DFN6WUHHW WRGD\¶V%HQHILt Street) near !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 555 .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHDFFRXQWVZLWK7UHDVXUHU5REHUW(OOLRWWILQDOL]HG-XQH.LQJ 'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN- 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, &&&! ! WKHEULGJHDQG³0XOOLQV&DSLWDLQHGHV*XLGHV´WRRNVKHOWHURQ0DLQ6WUHHWQHDUWKH6WDWH House.556 )UHHPDVRQU\LQ3URYLGHQFHGUHZWKHDWWHQWLRQRIWKHWRZQ¶V)UHQFKJXHVWV6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge of Providence held a celebration for Saint John WKH(YDQJHOLVW¶V'D\'HFHPEHU as the French commissary Claude Blanchard recorded, despite the gelid air and powerful wind that began to freeze Providence Harbor that day, there was a meeting of [Masons] at Providence; it was announced in the public papers, for societies of this sort are authorized. I met in the streets of Providence a company of these free-masons, going two by two, holding each other's hands, all dressed with their aprons and preceded by two men who carried long staves. He who brought up the rear and who was probably the master had two brethren alongside of him and all three wore ribbons around their necks like ecclesiastics who have the blue ribbon.557 This public Masonic procession²XQKHDUGRILQ)UDQFHZKHUHWKH&KXUFK¶VSURKLbition against Masonry remained in place, if loosely enforced²must have made a positive impression on the Commissary, for precisely six weeks later, on February 7, 1781, he recorded, M. de Jumecourt, an officer of artillery, and M. Pisançon, my secretary, both very zealous free-masons, conferred on me the grade of apprentice, and in the evening I was at an American lodge where I was present at two receptions. I was then nearly 39 years old. This was beginning rather late.558 %ODQFKDUG¶V)HEUXDU\MRXUQDOHQWUy is remarkable not only as a rare first-person attestation of being initiated as a Mason, but also as an index of the special role of Freemasonry in the Franco- $PHULFDQDOOLDQFH7KH³0GH-XPHFRXUW´ZKRKHOSHGWRSHUIRUPKLVLQLWLDWLRQLVVXUHO\WKH saPH³0RQVLHXU-RPHFRXUW´ZKRZDVHDUOLHUUHFRUGHGDVMRLQLQJ.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 556 Stone, Our French Allies, 239-49, 321; Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. 4, p. 58; Jabez Bowen to William Heath, August 28, 1780, William Heath Papers, 16.425, MHS. 557 " Balch, ed., The Journal of Claude Blanchard, 84. 558 Ibid, 88. &&'! ! 1HZSRUWDQGWKHSDUWLFLSDWLRQRI%ODQFKDUG¶VVHFUHWDU\IXUWKHUFRQILUPVWKDW0DVRQU\RIWHQ spread upward through the military hierarchy. As Blanchard noted, the Craft did not have to contend with the opposition of an ecclesiastical establishment, and²as his observation on the ORGJHRIILFHUV¶ULEERQVVXJJHVWV²it could even take on the pretensions of an established church. Masonry allowed French Catholics and American Protestants and Jews to socialize not only in an atmosphere of polite conviviality²which was easily provided by balls and social visits²but in one of religious solemnity defined by shared myths and ethics. It not only facilitated social contacts, but became a distinctive and memorable feature of the French experience in America² as illustrated by the fact that two months after his initiation, in April 1781, Claude Blanchard was raised to the degree of a Master Mason.559 Meanwhile, Hays and the Freemasons in Newport were not to be outdone by their 3URYLGHQFH%UHWKUHQ%HJLQQLQJRQ'HFHPEHU.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHUDQDQ announcement in the Newport Mercury, which Solomon Southwick had reconstituted after the %ULWLVKZLWKGUDZDOFDOOLQJXSRQ0DVRQVLQWKHWRZQ³ZKHWKHUPHPEHUVRIWKHORGJHRUQRW´WR attend a meeting on December 20th. At this preparatory gathering, at the boarding house of James Tew, Jr. adjacent to Trinity Church, the Masons would make plans to celebrate Saint -RKQ¶V'D\RQWKHth.560 Although this initial announcement made no direct mention of the )UHQFKWURRSVVWDWLRQHGLQWKHWRZQWKHORGJH¶VLQWHQWLRQVZHUHFOHDU7KHSUHFHGLQJPRQWKWKH French expeditionary force had set up its own press in Newport and begun printing a newspaper, the Gazette Françoise, to inform and entertain the troops; on December 22, 1780, two days after WKHVFKHGXOHGSODQQLQJPHHWLQJWKH)UHQFKQHZVSDSHUSXEOLVKHGDPHVVDJHIURP.LQJ'DYLG¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 559 Ibid, 103. 560 Newport Mercury, Dec. 14, 1780, p. 2; Newport Mercury, April 14, 1781, p. 4; &&(! ! Lodge in reasonably elegant French, advising all Masons in the town to gather on the afternoon RI6DLQW-RKQWKH(YDQJHOLVW¶V'D\LQWKHKRPHRI-RKQ/DZWRQQHDUWKH6WDWH+RXVH561 Although the celebration in Providence in December 1780 may have been larger and more extravagant than its counterpart in Newport, the public invitation that the members of King 'DYLG¶V/RGJHH[WHQGHGWRWKHLU)UHQFK%UHWKUHQPXVWKDYHWXUQHGKHDGV1HZ(QJODQGVRFLHW\ had defined itself for generations in opposition to the Popish menace, and the forebears of many Jewish Newporters, including Moses SHL[DV¶VRZQIDWKHUKDGIOHGIURPWKH,QTXLVLWLRQ-XVW three weeks earlier, the Gazette Françoise had carried reports of a mob in Bath, England FKDQWLQJ³1R3RSHU\´DQGVHWWLQJILUHWRWKHFLW\¶V&DWKROLFFKDSHOUHPLQGLQJWKHQHZVSDSHU¶V French readers of the similarly virulent anti-Catholicism that had traditionally held sway in British America. Remarkably, despite this background, whereas the Rhode Island Masons of the 1750s had forged fraternal bonds while battling the French, those of 1780 brought French soldiers into their Masonic sanctum. It is reasonable to suppose that the French officers who joined the lodges in Newport and Providence did so with a view towards forging social bonds with their American allies, One can certainly see the useful contacts and relationships of mutual trust that the Craft helped to foster; for instance, in April 1781, the Comte de Rochambeau wished for the Continental Congress to appoint a barrack master for the French troops, and believed that the man to fill the office should !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 561 Howard M. Chapin, ed., Gazette Francoise: a Facsimile reprint of a newspaper printed at Newport on the printing press of the French fleet in American waters during the revolutionary war. With an introduction by Howard M. Chapin (New York: Grolier Club, 1926). The original text of the DGYHUWLVHPHQWZKLFKDSSHDUVRQSDJHRILVVXHQR'HFHPEHULVDVIROORZV ³/HV)UqUHV )UDQFV DFFHSWpV0DoRQVVRQWDYHUWLVGHV¶DVVHPEOHUFKH] M. Jean Lawtons proche la Maison de Ville, 0HUFUHGLSURFKDLQ-RXUGHODIrWHGH6W-HDQDWURLVKHXUHVSUpFLVHVGHO¶DSUqV-midi suivant leur résolution. Par ordre du très-GLJQH0DvWUH-HDQ+DQG\6HFUpWDLUH´ &&)! ! be an American who commanded the respect of his own countrymen as the French. Rochambeau and General Washington settled on the choice of Colonel Jabez Champlin of Newport.562 ,WVXUHO\FRXOGQRWKDYHKXUW&KDPSOLQ¶VFDQGLGDF\WKDWKHKDGMRLQHG.LQJ'DYLG¶V Lodge on June 28, 1780, less than a month before Jean-Louis de Sybille, the Comte de 5RFKDPEHDX¶VRZQVHFUHWDU\GLGVR 6WLOOLWZRXOGEHZURQJWRUHGXFHWKH)UHQFKRIILFHUV¶0DVRQLFDFWLYLW\WRPHUH networking. The influence of Masonic bonds upon military appointments and promotions is easy WRH[DJJHUDWH$OH[DQGHU+DPLOWRQ:DVKLQJWRQ¶VFORVHVWDGYLVRULQWKH$PHULFDQDUP\ZDV not a Mason, and the oft-repeated notion that the Marquis de Lafayette became a Mason at Valley Forge in order to gain greater military responsibilities is dubious, based upon tenuous third-hand accounts circulated in the nineteenth century; rather, the surviving evidence suggests that the Marquis was already a Mason before he journeyed to America.563 Furthermore, Washington was notorious for avoiding any appearance of nepotism, and his approach to Masonic Brethren was no exception. For instance, when Silas Talbot wrote to Washington in DVNLQJIRUWKH*HQHUDO¶VVXSSRUWLQREWDLQLQJDFRPPLVVLRQIURP&RQJUHVVWKe Captain mentioned that the two had spoken personally at the Army encampment at Morristown, New Jersey in the winter of 1779-80²at which time they most likely encountered one another at meetings of American Union Lodge. Rather than agreeing to use his inIOXHQFHIRU7DOERW¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 562 ³)URP$OH[DQGHU+DPLOWRQWR&RORQHO7LPRWK\3LFNHULQJ>$SULO@´)RXQGHUV2QOLQH National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-1152, ver. 2013-09-28). Source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779±1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 595± ³*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQWR6DPXHO+XQWLQJWRQ$SULO ´)RXQGHUV2QOLQH1DWLRQDO$UFKLYHV KWWS IRXQGHUVDUFKLYHVJRYGRFXPHQWV+DPLOWRQ-02-02- 1156, ver. 2013-12-02). Source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779±1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 597. 563 Charles Sumner Plumb, Lafayette and His Contacts with American Freemasonry (Marietta, GL of Ohio, 1939), 5-8; Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. 2, p. 169, vol. 3, p. 45. &&*! ! benefit, however, Washington instructed the Captain to apply directly to Congress, closing SROLWHO\LIUDWKHUFXUWO\³If you found your claim to this indulgence upon your merits and services, they are too well known and recorded to neHGDQ\UHFRPPHQGDWLRQIURPPH´564 Masonic favoritism in military affairs appears very rare, and the French Masons that served in the Revolution were surely drawn by the same mixture of social, emotional, and intellectual needs as their American Brethren. Far from being mere opportunists in their approach to the Craft, they surely were, as Claude Blanchard described the officers that initiated him in 3URYLGHQFH³]HDORXVIUHH-PDVRQV´ 6LPLODUO\WKH0DVRQV¶SURWHFWLYHQHVVRIORFDODXWRQRP\FRXOGVRPHWLPHVcome into conflict with the demands of wartime politics, as can be seen in the uncertainty over General :DVKLQJWRQ¶VUROHLQWKH&UDIW2Q0DUFKWKH$PHULFDQ8QLRQ/RGJHPHHWLQJQHDUWKH Continental Army encampment at Morristown, proposed the formation of a General Grand Lodge of the United States with Washington as Grand Master; one of the attendees at the Morristown gathering was James Mitchell Varnum. These plans soon fell through, mainly because the Masons of various American states, especially Massachusetts, wished to protect their autonomy.565 A similar dilemma arose on a smaller scale in Newport. Exactly one year after the American Union Lodge meeting, on the evening of March 6, 1781, Washington arrived in Newport in order to confer with the Comte de Rochambeau. He was greeted with great fanfare and a brilliantly illuminated harbor before being led through the town in a torch-lit procession. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 564George Washington to Silas Talbot, August 13, 1782, Silas Talbot papers, Box 1, Folder 13, RIHS. 565 Plumb, History of American Union Lodge, 60-2. Another attendee at the meeting was ³%URWKHU7KD\HU´ZKRPD\KDYHEHHQ6LPHRQ7KD\HURI5KRGH,VODnd. &&+! ! 2YHUWKHIROORZLQJZHHN:DVKLQJWRQPHWPRVWRI1HZSRUW¶VQRWDEOHVDVZHOODV*HQHUDO 5RFKDPEHDX¶V staff, including Secretery de Sybille. According to later chroniclers, Washington GDQFHGDWDEDOOZLWK0DUJDUHW&KDPSOLQ&KULVWRSKHU&KDPSOLQ¶VXUEDQHDQGHOHJDQWGDXJKWHU and visited the home of Moses Isaacs, a fellow Freemason who had served in the Continental Army.566 Absent from the celebration in Newport, however, was any formal Masonic ZHOFRPLQJ7KHSUHFHGLQJPRQWKWKH%UHWKUHQRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHKDGSURSRVHGWRSUHVHQW an address to Washington upon his arrival in Newport, and appointed a committee comprising +D\V6HL[DVDQGWKUHHRWKHUPHQWRGUDIWWKHGRFXPHQWDV³KLVH[FHOOHQF\>«@ZDVGDLO\ expected among XV´7KHFRPPLWWHHTXLFNO\DERUWHGWKHSURMHFWKRZHYHUILQGLQJ*HQHUDO Washington XSRQLQTXLU\>«@QRWWREH*UDQG0DVWHURI1RUth America; as was supposed, nor even Master of any particular lodge. They are, therefore, of opinion that this Lodge would not choose to address him as a private brother²at the same time, think it would not be agreeable to our worthy brother to be addressed as such.567 It is open to question whether the members of the committee were correct in supposing that :DVKLQJWRQZRXOGKDYHFRQVLGHUHGLWEHQHDWKKLVGLJQLW\WREHDGGUHVVHGDVD³SULYDWHEURWKHU´ LQ1HZSRUW(LWKHUZD\WKHPHPEHUVRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/odge sensed a conflict between the egalitarian overtones of Masonic Brotherhood and the profound reverence with which the American people had come by that time to regard General Washington. Indeed, so strong was WKHVHQVHRIDZHVXUURXQGLQJWKH*HQHUDO¶Varrival in Newport that according to oral tradition, a young Newport boy, upon seeing Washington passing by through an open window, exclaimed, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 566 James Royal Case, Nominal Roll of those on Record in the Minutes of American Union Lodge Livingston Library of the Grand Lodge of New York; Stone, Our French Allies, 362-6; Newport Herald, November 13, 1788; Henry Samuel Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia (Phila.: Levytype, 1894): 241; Wolf, The Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen, 49. 567 ³([WUDFWIURPWKH5HFRUGVRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH´Antimasonic Republican Convention of Massachusetts, Held at Worcester, Sept. 5th and 6th, 1832 (Boston: Perkins and Marvin, 1832), 21-2. &&,! ! ³ZK\)DWKHU*HQHUDO:DVKLQJWRQLVDPDQ´²which the General overheard, prompting him to UHSO\³ :KLOH:DVKLQJWRQ¶VYLVLWEURXJKWDQHPRWLRQDOWKULOOWRWKHLQKDELWDQWVRI1HZSRUWLW also signaled the beginning of the end of the French sojourn in Rhode Island. On March 13, 1781, Washington and a group of French and American officers proceeded to Providence, where the General lodged with Jabez Bowen. In the ensuing months, after Washington rejoined the Continental Army, he and Rochambeau corresponded to give greater definition to their plans for a summer campaign. At the beginning of June, Commissary Blanchard set forth to scout a path for the French forces to join the Continental Army. On June 10th, the remaining French troops in Newport removed to Providence, and between the 18th and the 21st, the four French regiments departed from Rhode Island and began their march to the southwest, finally meeting up with :DVKLQJWRQ¶VDUP\DW'REE¶V)HUU\RQWKH+XGVRQ5LYHURQ-XO\nd.569 Nonetheless, King 'DYLG¶V/RGJHPDLQWDLQHGLWV0DVRQLFERQGVZLWKZKDWHYHU)UHQFK%UHWKUHQPLJKWKDYe remained in Newport. The Gazette Françoise had ceased publication in January, so on June 16th, DQWLFLSDWLQJDQRWKHU6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\FHOHEUDWLRQ+D\VDQGWKH6HFUHWDU\-RKQ+DQG\UDQDQ announcement in the Mercury in both English and French instructing any Masons who might attend to leave their names with the lodge officers by the 21st.570 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 568 George Champlin Mason, Newport Illustrated (Newport: Hammett, 1854): 37. 569 Stone, Our French Allies, 390-4. 570 Newport Mercury-XQHS7KHWH[WRIWKHDQQRXQFHPHQWLVDVIROORZV ³.LQJ 'DYLG¶V/RGJH-XQH²5781. The lodge will celebrate the feast of Saint John, on Monday the 25th inst, at the house of Brother James Tew, jun. No. 189, in Newport, where all brothers, whether members of the lodge, or not, that are desirous of joining the festivity, will please to leave their names by Thursday the 21st inst. that the Lodge may govern themselves accordingly. M. M. Hays, Master. By RUGHU-RKQ+DQG\6HFUHWDU\'LQQHU3UHFLVHO\DWR¶FORFN'HOD/RJHGX5RL'DYLGOH-XLQ 1781²5781. La Loge célébrera la Fète de la St. Jean Lundy le 25 de ce moi, dans la maison du frère Jacques Tew, le jeune, au Nombre 189, où tous freres reçus ou etrangers a la ditte loge, qui desireront &'-! ! The remarkable encounter between French and American Masons in Rhode Island took place just as a new era in higher-degree Masonry began. In the early 1780s, Hays clearly practiced the Rite of Perfection in Newport. In addition to the 1774 letter addressed to the ³,QHIIDEOH/RGJHRI3HUIHFWLRQ´DW1HZSRUWWKHVFULEHRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHFRSLHG+D\V¶ higher-degree patent from Henry Andrew Francken at the opening of thHORGJH¶VPLQXWHERRNLQ 1780. On February 11, 1781, Hays issued to Peleg Clarke, a merchant who had previously been DPHPEHURIWKHFRORQLDO6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDGHJUHHFHUWLILFDWHDWWHVWLQJWKDWKHKDGFRQIHUUHG upon Clarke the degrees of the Rite of PHUIHFWLRQXSWRWKRVHRI³.QLJKWRIWKH(DVW3ULQFHRI -HUXVDOHP3DWULDUFK1RDFKLWHDQG6RYHUHLJQ.QLJKWRIWKH6XQ´571 On June 15, 1782, DQWLFLSDWLQJDQRWKHU6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\FHOHEUDWLRQWKHORGJHUDQDQDQQRXQFHPHQWLQWKHMercury calling for a gatheULQJRI³all brethren of the ancient and honourable society of free and accepted and perfect masons´ HPSKDVLVDGGHG WKHZRUGLQJRIZKLFKVXJJHVWVWKDWWKH%UHWKUHQKDG integrated the higher degrees into the routine practices of Masonry in Newport. 572 HoZHYHU.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHUHPDLQHGTXLWHVPDOODQGLWLVGRXEWIXOZKHWKHU+D\V could gather enough higher-degree Masons to sustain a permanent lodge of perfection in post- occupation Newport. Hence, the future of the higher degrees lay elsewhere. While King 'DYLG¶V/RGJHZDVUHFUXLWLQJPHPEHUVIURPamong the French army, Hays was frequently away from Newport to conduct business, whether commercial or Masonic. As mentioned earlier, he left Newport for an unknown destination on June 12, 1780, only five days after the opening of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! prendre part a la fête auront labour de remettre leur nom Mardi le 21; dans la ditte maison a fin que la loge puisse [des] arrenge[r] [en] consequence. M. M. Hays, Maitré. Par ordre, Jean Handy, secretaire. /HGLQQHUFRPPHQFHDKHXUHVSULHFLVH´ 571 'HJUHHFHUWLILFDWH0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\VWR3HOHJ&ODUNH³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´ER[ IROder 3, NHS. 572 Newport Mercury, June 15, 1782, p. 3. &'$! ! .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHDQGLQWKHVSULQJRIDIWHU:DVKLQJWRQ¶VYLVLWWR1HZSRUW+D\V sojourned for an unknown length of time in Philadelphia. He traveled to Boston and visited the Massachusetts Lodge on July 3, 1781; over the course of 1782, he would return to Boston several times, evidently building a strong relationship with the Ancient Masons there. In January 1782, he opened a shop in Boston at the American Café, selling beef, rum, and brandy, and later in the year began dealing in real estate and insurance.573 +D\V¶WUDYHOVWRWKH$PHULFDQ-held cities of Philadelphia and Boston reflect an effort to maintain and strengthen social bonds²commercial, religious, familial, and Masonic²among Americans, particularly Jews, whose lives had been upended by the Revolution. 7KHHQWDQJOHPHQWRIWKH5HYROXWLRQ-XGDLVPDQG)UHHPDVRQU\LQ+D\V¶LWLQHUDQWFDUHHU is most vividly demonstrated in his sojourn in Philadelphia in the spring of 1781, which turned out to be a momentous event in the history of higher-degree Masonry. Over the course of this visit, Hays used his authority as a Deputy Grand Inspector General to confer the degrees of the Rite of Perfection on several fellow Masons and to deputize a select group of them as governing officers of the Rite. The exact timing of his activities in Philadelphia is unclear; the only patent that Hays issued in 1781 that survived into later years was that of Abraham Forst, a London-born Jewish merchant. The patent follows the same basic form as the Royal Arch certificate issued to Peter Turner two years earlier, but names Forst as a fellow Deputy Grand Inspector General with the power to form and govern any higher-GHJUHHERGLHVLQWKHVWDWHRI9LUJLQLD LWLVGDWHG³WKLV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 573 Baynard, History of the Supreme Council, vol. 1, 65- 6%URFKHV³0RUH/LJKWRQ0RVHV 0LFKDHO+D\V´0DVRQLF&UDIWVPDQ'HF -5. &'%! ! Ninth Day of the Seventh MRQWKFDOOHG1LVVDQRIWKH\HDU>«@DQGRIWKHYXOJDUHUDWKH )RXUWKGD\RI$SULO´574 The selection of men on whom Hays conferred Masonic authority in Philadelphia reflects a belief that Freemasonry, particularly the higher degrees, offered a refuge from the dangers and uncertainties of life in the age of revolution. All told, by June 1781, Hays appointed eight Brethren as Deputy Grand Inspectors General of the Rite of Perfection, each one of whom received the authority to govern the higher degrees in a given territory, ranging from Pennsylvania to the Leeward Islands (while Hays presumably retained authority over New York and New England for himself). All but one of these men were Jewish, and most of them had faced danger and dislocation as a result of the war, not unlike their Jewish ancestors in the Old :RUOG0RVWRIWKHPZRUVKLSHGDW0LNYHK,VUDHO3KLODGHOSKLD¶V-HZLVKFRQJUHJDWLRQZKLFK ZDVPLQLVWHUHGWRE\0RVHV6HL[DV¶EURWKHU*HUVKRP0HQGHV6HL[DV7KHFKD]]DQRI1HZ British-RFFXSLHG1HZ Myer Myers, fled to Connecticut. Another was Solomon Bush of Philadelphia, a Captain in the Continental Army who had been injured and twice taken prisoner by the British. Simon Nathan was also a refugee from New York, where he had been one of the founding members of the RULJLQDO.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQ $PRQJWKHPRUHREVFXUH'HSXWLHVDSSRLQWHGE\+D\V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 574 Baynard, 72-3; Julius Sachse, Ancient Documents Relating to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (Philadelphia: Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 1915): 14-18. &'&! ! Moses Cohen was a fairly ordinary Philadelphia shopkeeper while Thomas Randall, the lone gentile of the group, cannot be definitely identified but was most likely a New Yorker as well.575 ,QDGGLWLRQ+D\V¶VHOHFWLRQRIGHSXWLHVUHIOHFWVWKHLPSRUWDQFHRI&KDUOHVWRQLQWKH chaotic social reshuffling of the 1780s&KDUOHVWRQ¶VH[SHULHQFHRIWKHZDUHFKRHGWKDWRI Newport; the largest and most important port in the southern states, Charleston had avoided the ravages of the war for its first four years, but in October 1779, when Sir Henry Clinton evacuated Newport, he took several thousand troops to British-held Savannah, where they prepared to invade South Carolina. In early April 1780, the British forces laid siege to Charleston, cutting off supply lines and opening cannon fire on the town. By May, with the town completely surrounded, the inhabitants resorted to slaughtering horses for food. Captain Jonathan Donnison of Rhode Island was in Charleston during the siege, and after the American commanders surrendered, he maintained in a letter to his wife WKDW³if we hDGSURYLVLRQV,GRQ¶WWKLQN>WKH British] could ever take it.´576 As a major maritime port located on a small peninsula, with close connections to the West Indies and a sizable Jewish community, Charleston resembled Newport, and its capture in 1780 created a diaspora within the United States not unlike the one that had resulted from the occupation of Aquidneck Island. At least two of the Jewish men that Hays deputized in the Rite of Perfection in Philadelphia in 1781 were refugees from Charleston²Barend Moses Spitzer and Isaac da Costa. Spitzer had fled temporarily from Charleston to Philadelphia, where he joined the Jewish congregation and was appointed as Deputy Inspector General with authority over Georgia. Isaac Da Costa, born in Britain in 1721, had received rabbinical training before !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 575 Baynard, 65-97; Sachse, Ancient Documents, 12-14. 576 Jonathan Donnison to Jonathan Donnison [Jr.?], June 2, 1780, MSS 9001-D, Box 4, RIHS. &''! ! migrating to Charleston, where he became a merchant and the Chazzan of the religious FRQJUHJDWLRQ ZLWKWKHVXUUHQGHURI&KDUOHVWRQWRWKH%ULWLVKDOORI'D&RVWD¶VSURSHUW\ZDV confiscated. After he sought refuge in Philadelphia, Hays appointed Da Costa as Deputy Grand Inspector General for South Carolina.577 The group of Masons that Hays deputized in the spring of 1781 evidently used the Rite of Perfection to strengthen social ties among the displaced Jews of North America and their allies. 2Q-XQHD³&KDSWHURI*UDQG(OHFW3HUIHFWDQG6XEOLPH0DVRQV´FRQYHQHGLQ Philadelphia; in attendance were six of the eight Deputy Inspectors that Hays had appointed, LQFOXGLQJ,VDDF'D&RVWDZKRZDVLGHQWLILHGDV³*UDnd Warden, Inspector General for the :>HVW@,>QGLHV@DQG1RUWK$PHULFD´$OVRSUHVHQWZHUH%HQMDPLQ6HL[DV DQRWKHUEURWKHURI Moses Seixas), identified as a Prince of Jerusalem, and two other Masons identified as Knights of the Sun. This Chapter would convene again in October 1781, and then on a regular basis during the years 1785 to 1790. Outside of its initial meeting, the gatherings of the Chapter remained small, with never more than ten attendees; among them were a number of gentile Masons, includinJ³-RKQ'HYDQ´SUREDEO\LGHQWLFDOWRWKH³-RKQ'DYDQ´ZKRKDGVHQW0DVRQLF aprons to Newport in 1774.578 The organization of the higher-degree Chapter in Philadelphia was a watershed event in the development of the higher degrees, mainly in that its members went on to found other higher- degree bodies throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Most importantly, Isaac Da &RVWDLGHQWLILHGDWWKHLQLWLDOPHHWLQJDVWKH&KDSWHU¶VKLJKHVW-ranking member, returned in 1782 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 577 Baynard, 70-3. 578 Sachse, ed., ³0LQXWH%RRNIRUWKH/RGJHRI*UDQG(OHFW3HUIHFWDQG6XEOLPH0DVRQVLQWKH &LW\RI3KLODGHOSKLD´Ancient Documents Relating the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, 40-165. &'(! ! to Charleston, where he founded a higher-degree lodge. Although Da Costa died in 1783, Charleston became the principal center of the Rite of Perfection in North America. In the 1790s, when many French West Indian Masons fled the effects of the French and Haitian Revolutions, they formed Lodges of Perfection in North American cities, including New Orleans, Baltimore, and New York; still, it was in Charleston that the Rite attained its greatest popularity. In 1801, American and French higher-degree Masons in Charleston organized a Supreme Council which put forward an extended system of thirty-WKUHHGHJUHHVZKLFKWKH\UHQDPHGWKH³6FRWWLVK5LWH´ Thus, the propagation of the Rite of Perfection that Hays set in motion in Philadelphia resulted in the creation of an internationally standardized higher-degree system that today claims thousands of followers throughout the world.579 Hays surely had many motivations for his constant travels up and down the Atlantic coast in the early 1780s; one of them was the need for commercial contacts to rebuild his fortune. By WKHHQGRIWKHVWDJQDWLRQRI1HZSRUW¶VWUDGHZDVREYLRXVDQGVRLWLVQRWVXUSULVLQJWKDWLQ December of that year, Hays took up permanent residence in Boston. Hays was admitted to the Massachusetts Lodge in November of that year and elected its Worshipful Master in December, REOLJLQJ0RVHV6HL[DVWRDVVXPHWKH0DVWHU¶VFKDLURI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQ1HZSRUW580 The rapid seeding of the Rite of Perfection in North America was over, but the myths and rituals that it brought to Rhode IVODQGZRXOGKHOSWROLQNWKHVWDWH¶VUHSXEOLFDQIXWXUHZLWKWKHPRQDUFKLFDO values of the past. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 579 Baynard, 70-1; Kervella, 293-307. 580 6%URFKHV³0RUH/LJKWRQ 0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\V´Masonic Craftsman, Dec. 1939, p. 74-7. &')! ! &'*! ! Chapter 10: The Higher Degrees and Masonic Royalism It is a striking and uncanny fact that Moses Michael Hays revived and promoted the Rite of Perfection at precisely the moment that Rhode Island hosted a military expedition from )UDQFHWKH5LWH¶VRULJLQDOELUWKSODFH7KHVRFLDOPDNHXSRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQWKHHDUO\ 1780s, with its mixture of Anglicans, Quakers, Jews, and French Catholics and its preponderance of military officers, recreates that of the Jacobite network that first developed the higher degrees. The coincidence becomes all the more extraordinary when one considers that the Newport Masons, like their Jacobite forebears, were united in their mission to overthrow a Hanoverian British king. The body of myths and rituals composing the Rite of Perfection traveled from Europe to the West Indies and North America through a complex, mysterious network of mostly marginal social groups, eventually finding fertile ground in the American republic. The origins and content of the higher degrees reveal a continuing attachment to monarchy and a closely connected tradition of apocalyptic thought, running through the Jacobite movement into the American Revolution and its aftermath, and their success reflects an underlying strain of esoteric and millennial thought in the American founding. Scholars usually assume Jacobitism to be absent from and alien to early America, perceiving the Jacobite movement as a vestige of the absolutist past and the American Revolution as a leap towards the secular and democratic future. Although some recent historians KDYHVKRZQDQLQWHUHVWLQWKHUHEHOOLQJFRORQLVWV¶UR\DOLVPDQGLQWKHUHOLJLRXVGLPHQVLRQVRIWKH Revolution,581 most have traditionally taken their cues from New England Whigs such as the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 581 Brendan McConville, 7KH.LQJ¶V7KUHH)DFHV 7KH5LVHDQG)DOORI5R\DO$PHULFD- 1776, Chapeil Hill: UNC Press, 2006; Eric Nelson, The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2014). &'+! ! Reverend Ezra Stiles, who despised the Jacobites and saw them as secretly manipulating the British government during the imperial crisis. For instance, in July 1775, Stiles gave credence to a spurious rumor that Lord North and the Earl of Bute had dispatched an army to suppress the American rebellion merely in order to leave Britain vulnerable to a Jacobite invasion, and the following November, the Newport minister exclaimed with KRUURU³+LJK7RU\-DFRELWHV´DVKH recorded a report that the leading merchants of Manchester had proclaimed their opposition to the American revolt.582 In fact, the relationship between Jacobitism and the American Revolution is far more subtle and complex than the Reverend Ezra Stiles would have allowed, with the two movements VKDULQJGHHSFRQQHFWLRQVDQGSDUDOOHOV,WLVQRWFOHDUKRZIDU6WLOHV¶PHQWDOLW\H[WHQGHGEH\RQG the Congregational church, and the notion that fear of the Popish menace was a major motivation of the Revolution raises the awkward question of how the American rebels could have countenanced an alliance with France²%ULWDLQ¶VPRVWSRZHUIXO&DWKROLFHQHP\DQGWKH traditional backer of the Stuart cause. As both Brendan McConville and Eric Nelson have pointed out, the American patriots presented their revolt as one against Parliament and professed their steadfast loyalty to the Crown²right up to the moment of independence. Moreover, the $PHULFDQSDWULRWV¶HPEUDFHRIUR\DODXWKRULW\LQYROYHGDUHYLYDORIWKH6WXDUWG\QDVW\¶VROG claims of royal prerogative, which the Hanovers had long since ceded to Parliament. As their RSSRQHQWVVRPHWLPHVSRLQWHGRXWWKHSDWULRWV¶DUJXPHQWVORJLFDOO\LPSOLHGDNLQGRI Jacobitism²since it had been an act of Parliament that removed the Stuarts from the line of succession in favor of the Hanovers; as William Knox, the agent for Georgia, wrote cautiously in WKHSDWULRWDJLWDWRUV³PXVWVHHWKDWLIWKH\UHMHFWSDUOLDPHQWDU\DXWKRULW\WKH\PDNH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 582 Dexter, ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, vol. 1, p. 590, 637. &',! ! themselves still to be subjects of the abjured Stuart race. This however is too delicate a matter to VD\PRUHXSRQ´583 It is impossible to say whether American patriots consciously confronted the possibly Jacobite implication of their arguments before 1776²but the separation with the Crown led to a crisis of loyalty and legitimacy similar to that faced by Stuart loyalists, which similar myths and rituals could address. Freemasonry, and in particular the higher degrees, form the missing link between Jacobitism and the American Revolution. The relationship among the three movements is subtle and necessarily ambiguous, rooted in esoteric and sometimes mystical traditions of thought, but their interconnections reveal hidden apocalyptic meanings that many revolutionaries attached to American independence. At the very least, it is easy to establish that involvement in the Jacobite cause in the first half of the eighteenth century did not preclude active support for American independence in the latter half. This fact is most vividly demonstrated by the example of Hugh Mercer, a Scottish physician born around 1720, who served as a surgeon for the Jacobite army in the rebellion of 1745. After the Stuart defeat at Culloden, Mercer emigrated to Philadelphia and then to Fredericksburg, Virginia, which housed a large Scottish community and where he opened an apothecary shop. After the outbreak of the Revolution, he served as a colonel in the Virginia regiment before being promoted to brigadier-general at the urging of George Washington, but died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Princeton in January 1777. It should go without saying that Mercer was a Freemason²but what is more, he served for a time as Worshipful Master of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 583 William Knox, The Controversy Between Great Britain and her Colonies, Reviewed (London, 1769): 138, quoted in Nelson, The Royalist Revolution, 43. &(-! ! Fredericksburg Lodge, no. 4, one of the first lodges in the world known to confer the Royal Arch degree.584 Whether Freemasonry helped to unify and harmonize the various loyalties that Mercer held over the course of his life may be impossible to know, but either way, the Masonic rites can be seen to transmit the values, ideas, and problems that preoccupied the Jacobites to the generation of American Revolutionaries. The notion that Jacobitism served as a model or precedent for the American Revolution may appear strange in that the former movement seems superficially to be nostalgic and backward-looking, seeking to re-impose the powers of the Crown and Church. In fact, Jacobite political thought was not merely reactionary. One wing of Jacobite propagandists in the early eighteenth century advocated for greater religious and constitutional freedom than Britons enjoyed at that time, with many arguing that a Stuart restoration could only succeed with popular and Parliamentary support, and hence would lead to the extension of political liberties beyond those established by the settlement of 1689. Indeed, the most radical country-party Whigs could sometimes gravitate toward Jacobitism, sharing its disgust with the corrupt commercialism of eighteenth-century Britain and its hope for a moral renovation.585 The more liberal and Whiggish Jacobites shared with their traditionalist Catholic and Tory compatriots a cyclical view of history. The true heir to the throne could be designated only by God, not by Parliament nor by any human institution. Hence, any interference in the true line of succession would lead to a divine correction; the moral degeneration of Britain under an illegitimate usurper would be reversed by the moral renewal following the return of the rightful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 584 Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. 3, p. 193. 585 Monod, Jacobitism and the English People, 15-32. &($! ! NLQJ-XVWDV3DUOLDPHQW¶VRYHUWKURZRI&KDUOHVI and the tyranny of Cromwell had given way to the return of the Stuarts, so the Williamite coup and the illegitimate Hanoverian monarchy would end with a second Restoration²and so the cycle would continue. Jacobite propagandists likened the exiled Stuart claimants both to their ancestor Charles II and to mythic deities, particularly the traditional European vegetation-god, that disappear and return in an eternal cycle. An influential -DFRELWHOLWHUDU\FOXEHYHQFDOOHGLWVHOI³7KH&\FOH´DQGXVHGWKH2XURbouros, the ancient image of a snake devouring its own tail, as its emblem. As historian of Jacobitism Paul Monod has pointed out, the figure of the dying and resurrecting or disappearing and returning hero finds a further parallel in the Masonic myth of Hiram Abiff, who is murdered, interred, and exhumed in a cyclical story resembling those of Osiris, Orpheus, and other heroes who travel to the world of the dead and return.586 While the Jacobite movement failed to restore its preferred ruler to the throne, its principal political effect was, ironically, the desacralization of the British monarchy. By stubbornly adhering to the divinely sanctioned right of the Stuarts, the Jacobites forced the Whig regime to adopt secular, contractual, and pragmatic justifications for Hanoverian rule. For LQVWDQFHZKLOHWKH6WXDUWFODLPDQWVFRQWLQXHGWRSUDFWLFHWKH³NLQJ¶VWRXFK´DVDPDJLFDOFXUHIRU scrofula, William III and his successors (apart from Queen Anne) refused²not because they considered the ritual a bit of superstitious nonsense, but because they were afraid that it would QRWZRUN,Q3DXO0RQRG¶VZRUGV³:KHQWKHWRXFKZDVDEDQGRQHGDJUHDWGHDORIWKHGLYLQH mystery of kingship wore off, and a secular image of monarchical authority crept up the backstairsWRFRYHUWKHUR\DOQDNHGQHVV´587 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 586 Monod, 35-67, 295-9, 305. 587 Monod, 132. &(%! ! While hardly anyone in the eighteenth-century colonies could openly admit to being a Jacobite, at least an undercurrent of doubt or ambivalence regarding the legitimacy of the Hanoverian regime ran through colonial America. In the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising of 1745-6, the Stuart dynasty enjoyed something of a revival of interest and esteem in the American colonies. Colonial assemblies displayed portraits of Stuart monarchs in their chambers, while miniatures sold briskly on colonial streets. This revival of interest was evidently part of a wider HIIRUWWRSUHVHQWWKH+DQRYHU¶VDVSDUWRIDFRQWLQXRXVXQEURNHQOLQHRINLQJVVWUHWFKLQJLQWRWKH mists of time, and thus to restore the heavenly mystique of monarchy. Historian Brendan McConville asserts that the colonial rehabilitation of the Stuarts was in no way connected to Jacobitism, and that colonists could carry portraits of Charles II while cursing his descendants.588 However, as the surviving collection of the Providence Library Company attests, certain colonists in the 1750s entertained a lively interest in Jacobitism. Neither was the Jacobite flame entirely extinguished on the western side of the Atlantic, as purported agents of the Stuart cause could sometimes be encountered in North America. For example, as late as April 1775, Ezra Stiles recorded hosting an Irish Protestant minister from Nova Scotia who claimed to have met Charles Edward Stuart three times and asserted that the Pretender, whom the minister supported, was secretly a Protestant.589 The undercurrent of American doubt regarding the House of Hanover formed the background for the success of Masonry during the American Revolution. The Fraternity, particularly its Ancient branch, which had been founded by Irish Jacobite Brethren in London, proliferated in America during the imperial crisis and the Revolution, and it was mainly to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 588 McConville, 7KH.LQJ¶V7KUHH)DFHV, 193-205. 589 Dexter, ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, vol. 1, p. 534-6. &(&! ! Ancient lodges that higher-degree Lodges of Perfection attached themselves. Moreover, several prominent Masons of the earlier half of the century were known to be Jacobites²most importantly, Andrew Michael Ramsay, the Scottish-born writer and courtier who became something of an international celebrity in the 1730s. Along with several books on the Stuart dynasty, two volumes by Ramsay²his bestselling Travels of Cyrus and his theological opus, Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion²survived the 1758 fire at the 3URYLGHQFH/LEUDU\&RPSDQ\$VLGHIURPWKHVH5DPVD\¶V0DVRQLFRUDWLRQLQZKLFKKH claimed a Crusader origin for Masonry, was widely read and reprinted in the eighteenth century. 5DPVD\¶VQRWRULHW\LQVXUHGWKDW)UHHPDVRQU\SDUWLFXODUO\WKHKLJKHUGHJUHHVZHUHFRQQHFWHGLQ the public mind with Jacobitism.590 2QWKHRWKHUKDQG5DPVD\¶VFHOHbrity can distract from the broader esoteric traditions WKDWSURYLGHGWKHUDZPDWHULDOIRU0DVRQLFP\WKV6RPH0DVRQLFKLVWRULDQVVHHLQJ5DPVD\¶V influence on the higher degrees, have incorrectly asserted that he invented the Rite of Perfection himself, when in fact the degrees developed at multiple nodes of a diffuse Jacobite network. The Jacobites, in turn, imitated many of the beliefs, practices, and shared metaphors of older secretive movements that had been forced underground or into exile by persecution. Sephardic Jews and Marranos, French Huguenots, British recusants and other secretive networks in early modern Europe drew from a deep well of alchemical, astrological, and neo-Platonic metaphors to represent their beliefs selectively to trusted audiences. The most important and central symbol in WKLVHVRWHULFWUDGLWLRQZDV6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHZLWKWKHGHVWUXFWLRQRIWKH7HPSOHDQGWKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 590 George Henderson, Chevalier Ramsay (Nelson, 1952): 0DUWLQ,0F*UHJRU³$ %LRJUDSKLFDO6NHWFKRI&KHYDOLHU$QGUHZ0LFKDHO5DPVD\´3DSHUILUVWGHOLYHUHGDWWKH5HVHDUFK/RGJH of Southland No.415 on August 14, 2007, &('! ! Babylonian captivity standing in for the state of exile in which these religious and political groups found themselves.591 Hence, Masons could easily appropriate images, stories, and ideas from the stream of European esotericism, attaching them to the basic structure of Masonic ritual. The Rite of Perfection was a rich and complex elaboration on the Masonic beliefs and practices of the eighteenth century. Lodges practicing the Rite ordinarily organized themselves DWRSH[LVWLQJ³&UDIW´ORGJHVWKDWDGPLQLVWHUHGWKHILUVWWKUHHGHJUHHV WKHVH³ORGJHVRISHUIHFWLRQ´ were limited by statute to no more than 27 members each. The inventors of the higher degrees had re-worked Kabbalistic, alchemical, and chivalric symbolism into a long series of rituals, FXOPLQDWLQJLQWKH³5R\DO6HFUHW´592 In order to understand the origins of the higher-degree rite whose banner Moses Michael Hays eventually took up, we must recall that it developed in early modern Britain, where a long series of crises of the British monarchy forced members of the )UDWHUQLW\UHSHDWHGO\WRTXHVWLRQZKDWLWPHDQWWRSUDFWLFHWKH³5R\DO$UW´ The rituals and practices of Freemasonry developed, so far as the documentary record can WHOOXVPDLQO\LQ6FRWODQGZKHUHWKHDEXQGDQFHRIZRUNDEOHVWRQHJDYHWKHPDVRQV¶FUDIWD particular importance. A popular medieval legend held that the Scots were descended from ancient Hebrew and Egyptian migrants to Europe, and medieval Scottish builders often related WKHLUSUDFWLFHVWRWKRVHRIDQFLHQW-XGHD6FRWODQG¶V6WXDUWNLQJVSDWURQL]HGWKHEXLOGLQJFUDIWV and presented themselves as successors of Solomon, with Scotland cast as the new Israel. After the accession of James I to the English throne, the Stuarts brought their Solomonic pretensions to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 591 For rich and sprawling explorations of these secretive networks, see: Laura Leibman, Messianism, Secrecy, and Mysticism: A New Interpretation of Early American Jewish Life; Neil Kamil, )RUWUHVVRIWKH6RXO 9LROHQFH0HWDSK\VLFVDQG0DWHULDO/LIHLQWKH+XJXHQRWV¶1HZ:RUOG-1751. French Huguenots, like the Jacobites, bridged the English channel and came to play an important role in Freemasonry, with the French-born inventor and natural philosopher John Desaguliers leading the London Grand Lodge through much of the 1720s. 592 Francken Manuscript 1783 (Kila, Montana: Kessinger Pubishing, 1993), 15. &((! ! England, where William Laud, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, celebrated King James and the Church of England as the new marriDJHRI&URZQDQG7HPSOHOLNH.LQJ'DYLG¶V-HUXVDOHP KLVVHUPRQRQWKHPRQDUFK¶VELUWKGD\LQH[KRUWHGWKHQDWLRQWRUHEXLOGDQGEHDXWLI\LWV FKXUFKHVDQGVRWRUHVWRUH³domicilium religionis, the house of religion, as well as regni, of the NLQJGRP´593 The most influential and well-known Freemasons of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were Catholics and High-Church Anglicans, closely connected to the Stuart court. :LOOLDP6FKDZ.LQJ-DPHV9,RI6FRWODQG¶V0DVWHURI:RUNVZKRLVVXHGDVHULHVRf statutes regularizing Masonic practices in the 1590s, was Roman Catholic, as were the Sinclairs of Roslyn, the official patrons of Masonry in the 1620s. Not surprisingly, when the Stuart monarchy came under attack in the English Civil War, the Masons largely rallied to the support of the Crown; the most prominent Mason of that period, the natural philosopher and astrologer Elias Ashmole, who penned the earliest known first-person account of a Masonic initiation, served the Royalist cause. With Charles II restored to the throne, Ashmole and several other natural philosophers, such as the fellow Mason, Robert Moray, formed of the Royal Society.594 7KH0DVRQV¶IXVLRQRI6WXDUWOR\DOWLHVDQG6RORPRQLFP\WKVZRXOGVKDSHWKHLUUHVSRQVH to the next great crisis of the British monarchy²WKH³*ORULRXV5HYROXWLRQ´RI:KHQ :LOOLDPRI2UDQJH¶VIRUFHVRYHUWKUHZWKH&DWKROLF-DPHV,,VRPH0DVRQVHPEUDFHGWKHQHZ government, while many others, particularly courtiers and military officers, remained loyal to James. Many joined the Jacobite diaspora in Catholic Europe, especially France, and planted the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 593 Schuchard, Restoring the Temple of Vision, 9-379; William Laud, The Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, William Laud, ed. William Scott (Oxford: John Parker, 1847), I, 26, cited in Schuchard, 338. 594 Stevenson, 2ULJLQVRI)UHHPDVRQU\ 6FRWODQG¶V&HQWXU\27-9, 101-15, 165-88, 219-23; Schuchard, Restoring the Temple of Vision, 400-734. &()! ! seeds of Freemasonry on the Continent. English Jacobite exiles formed the first known Masonic lodges in Madrid, Paris, and Rome, and the Jacobite Earl of Derwentwater served for a time as Grand Master of the Masons in France. Paranoid Whigs came to fear the spectral alliances of Jacobites, Masons, and Jews; in response, the Whig Masons who took control of the Grand Lodge of London in the 1720s, including the Huguenot John de Saguliers and the Presbyterian minister James Anderson, strove to present a face of Masonry that was supportive of the Protestant succession and to distance the Fraternity from James II. Nonetheless, Masonry remained popular among Jacobites in Britain. The lodges in the largely Episcopalian Lowlands of Scotland supplied many of the officers of the 1745 Jacobite uprising, including Prince &KDUOHV¶VHFUHWDU\6RRQDIWHULQPRVWO\,ULVK0DVRQVLQ/RQGRQIRUPHGWKHLURZQ ³$QFLHQW´*UDQG/RGJH LQFRQWUDGLVWLQFWLRQWRWKHH[LVWLQJ³0RGHUQ´*UDQG/RGJHDQGJDLQHG the patronage of the Dukes of Atholl, the patriarchs of a Jacobite Scottish clan. Through the middle of the eighteenth century, both the Jacobites and the Whiggish London Grand Lodge spread the Craft in Britain as well as on the Continent, building rival Masonic networks.595 Recognizing the close relationship between Jacobitism and Freemasonry in the eighteenth century can shed light on the belief systems of both movements. Kingship is central to the V\PEROLFZRUOGRI0DVRQU\ZKLFKLWVSUDFWLWLRQHUVFDOOHGWKH³5R\DO$UW´0DVRQLFP\WKVWUDFH the formal organization of stonemasons to Solomon and Hiram of Tyre, divinely sanctioned monarchs who stood as intermediaries between the earthly DQGKHDYHQO\UHDOPV DVWKH³0DVWHU¶V 6RQJ´LQ$QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions GHFODUHVRIWKH6RORPRQLFDJH³7KH5R\DO$UWZDVWKHQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 595 Schuchard, 738-95; Paul Monod, Jacobitism and the English People, 300-5; Jessica Harland- Jacobs, Builders of Empire, 102- ,DLQ0DF,QWRVK³7KH8SULVLQJDQGWKH,QYROYHPHQWRI(DVWRI 6FRWODQG0DVRQVDQG/RGJHV´SDSHUGHOLYHUHGDWWKH,QWernational Conference on the History of Freemasonry, Edinburgh, UK, May 24, 2013. &(*! ! GLYLQH7KHFUDIWVPHQFRXQVHOO¶GIURPDERYH´6LQFHWKH0DVRQV¶DUWVXEVHTXHQWO\HQOLJKWHQHG WKHUXOHUVRIYDULRXVUHDOPV³>n]o wonder then if Masons join, / To celebrate those Mason- .LQJV´596 (Indeed, remarkably for a pamphlet that supposedly promoted proto-democratic FRQVWLWXWLRQDOLVPWKHILUVWHGLWLRQRI$QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions XVHVWKHZRUG³UR\DO´DWOHDVW WLPHVDQG³NLQJ´DWOHDVWWLPHV.) Jacobites, too, emphasized the sanctity of monarchy, with their learned advocates adhering to the doctrine of the divine right of kings while their popular propaganda associated the monarch with the pagan gods of virility and spring; the Stuart FODLPDQWVLQH[LOHHYHQFRQWLQXHGWKHROGFXVWRPRIWKH³NLQJ¶VWRXFK´DVDFXUHIRUDLOPHQWV597 The obsession with kingship extended to all branches of eighteenth-century Masonry, including the Whiggish branch centering on the London Grand Lodge. Although the leaders of WKH*UDQG/RGJHUHMHFWHGWKH6WXDUWV¶FODLPWRWKHWKURQHWKH\VRXJKWUR\DOSDWURQDJHIURPWKH House of Hanover, which they obtained with the initiation of Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1737.598 James Anderson, the English Grand Warden who penned the Constitutions of the Free- Masons, was a fervent monarchist who also published the obsessively thorough Royal Genealogies; or, the Genealogical Tables of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, from Adam to these times in 1732.599 Though he was a Presbyterian minister and a Whig, Anderson was eager to SURFODLPKLVUHYHUHQFHIRUNLQJVKLS KHSXEOLVKHGWKHVHUPRQ³1R.LQJ-.LOOHUV´LQWKH \HDURIWKHODUJHVW-DFRELWHXSULVLQJLQRUGHUWRGHQ\WKH3UHVE\WHULDQV¶UROHLQWKHH[HFXWLRQ of Charles I sixty-five years earlier; he dedicated the work to his mentor, Daniel Williams, ³D !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 596 Anderson¶V&RQVWLWXWLRQV77. 597 Monod, 15-69, 127-8. 598 Harland-Jacobs, 109; Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. 1, 70. 599 James Anderson, Royal Genealogies; or, the Genealogical Tables of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, from Adam to these times, London: James Bettenham, 1732. &(+! ! SURIHVV¶GDQGILUPIULHQGRIPRQDUFK\DQG3UHVE\WHU\[who] ever asserted them to be highly FRQVLVWHQW´600 (The marriage of kingship with the Temple in Masonic myth helps to explain the close relationship in the eighteenth-century British colonies between the Craft and the Anglican Church, which placed the Crown at the center of a sanctified national order.) At the same time, Freemasonry helped to cement Jacobite social alliances in Europe, particularly in France, where British exiles and their French associates formed a Masonic network formed around the Stuart court at Saint-Germain. Many Jacobite émigrés were former military officers and members of knightly societies such as the Order of the Thistle; the exiles KHOSHGLQYHQWDYDULHW\RI³IUHH-IORDWLQJ´GHJUHHULWXDOVHYRNLQJFKLYDOULFDQG5RVLFUXFLDQ symbols, beyond the customary three Craft degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master; the earlieVWZDVSUREDEO\WKHGHJUHHRI³5R\DO$UFK´RU³pOXSDUIDLW´ZKLFKIRUPHGLQ either France or Ireland in the early 1740s. In an almost dizzying process of bricolage, Masonic impresarios in France began to collect the new higher degrees into a sequential system.601 The ideas of the Jacobite higher-degree network drew their inspiration largely from the &KHYDOLHU$QGUHZ0LFKDHO5DPVD\¶VDiscourse Delivered at a Reception of Freemasons by Monsieur de R--, Grand Orator of the Order. Ramsay, a Scottish-born convert to Catholicism and sometime tutor of the Stuart Prince of Wales, asserted that the Masons had inherited their rituals from the ancient Near Eastern mystery cults by way of the Crusading knightly orders, particularly the Hospitallers. Seeing in the Crusaders a model of Christian cosmopolitanism, 5DPVD\WUDFHGWKHIRXQGLQJRIWKH)UDWHUQLW\WR3DOHVWLQHZKHUH³PDQ\SULQFHVORUGVDQG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 600 :-&KHWZRGH&UDZOH\³7KHUHY'U$QGHUVRQ¶VQRQ-Masonic Writing, 1712- ´$UV Quatuor Coronatorum, (London: H. Keble), vol. 18, 1905, p. 30. 601 Monod, 95-125; Baynard, 6-11; Schuchard, 740-92. &(,! ! citizens associated themselves, and vowed to restore the Temple of the Christians in the Holy Land, and to employ tKHPVHOYHVLQEULQJLQJEDFNWKHLUDUFKLWHFWXUHWRLWVILUVWLQVWLWXWLRQ´ 7KRXJKWKH&KHYDOLHUKLPVHOIGLGQRWPHQWLRQWKHP5DPVD\¶VDGPLUHUVDWWDFKHGKLV0DVRQLF genealogy to the Knights Templar, who offered an ideal combination of romantic chivalry with Temple-centered secrecy.602 $OWKRXJK5DPVD\¶VWDOOWDOHVSURYHGWREHYHU\SRSXODUDPRQJ0DVRQVWKHFKLYDOULF higher degrees did not take hold in most of the Masonic world. Many rituals evidently remained isolated within rarefied French-Jacobite circles, while others experienced only brief periods of wider use. However, one place where the so-called écossais RU³6FRWWLVK´KLJKHUGHJUHHVGLG JDLQDODVWLQJIRRWKROGZDV%RUGHDX[RQHRI)UDQFH¶VPDMRUKXEVRIWKHVODYHWUDGHDQGRI maritime commerce with Britain and the Caribbean. The city is located in southwestern France, a traditional homeland of heterodox and mystical religion, such as the medieval Cathars and the seventeenth-century Huguenots. A lodge practicing some of the higher degrees, les Élus Parfaits, formed at Bordeaux in 1745. This lodge represents an early instance of the use of the WHUPV³HOHFW´DQG³SHUIHFW´ZLWKUHIHUHQFHWRWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHVVXJJHVWLQJWKHLUDVVRFLDWLRQ with mystical perfectionism.603 Between 1745 and 1760, les Elus Parfaits warranted a series of subordinate écossais lodges in France and the West Indies, including Martinique and Saint 'RPLQJXHODUJHO\WUDFLQJ%RUGHDX[¶VWUDGHQHWZRUN7KHILUVWNQRZQIRRWKROGRIWKHpcossais !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 602 Mackey, Encyclopedia³5DPVD\´ -33; Kervella, 56-7. 603 *HUU\3ULQVHQDQG&ODXGH*XHULOORW³$Q,QWURGXFWLRQWRWKH6KDUS'RFXPHQWV´Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 107, 1994, p. 155-9. For the importance of alchemical and Hermetic mysticism and perfectionism to the Protestant movement in southwestern France, see Neil Kamil, Fortress of the Soul. &)-! ! system on the American mainland was at New Orleans, but this lodge was short-lived, collapsing DPLGVWWKHFRORQ\¶VSROLWLFDODQGHFRQRPLFFKDQJHVLQWKHV604 The Caribbean was by this time a major arena of Masonic activity, with lodges taking hold in French, British and Dutch colonies. The most effective apostle in spreading the écossais system in the West Indies, and probably the most crucial individual in the history of the Masonic higher degrees, was a merchant named Étienne Morin. He was born near Cahors in southwestern France, around 1717; according to his passport, he was a Catholic. His father was believed to be a Jansenist²a member of a heterodox Catholic neo-Augustinian movement that was particularly strong in the French southwest²and the elder Morin was briefly imprisoned in the Bastille for his anti-clerical writings. When Étienne was still a child, the family moved to Martinique; after reaching adulthood, Morin became a very mobile cloth merchant, wayfaring constantly among the French and British West Indies, Bordeaux, and Paris. It is not known exactly when he became a Mason, but in 1744, during a sojourn on the British island of Antigua, which had been the destination of many British Jacobite exiles, Morin received the first Masonic higher degree, NQRZQDVWKDWRIWKH³5R\DO$UFK´³eOX3DUIDLW´RU³0DvWUHeOX´ ³3HUIHFW(OHFW´RU³(OHFW 0DVWHU´ 7KHIROORZLQJ\HDUGHVSLWHWKHVWDWHRIZDUEHWZHHQ)UDQFHDQG%ULWDLQ0RULQ journeyed to Bordeaux and took part in the formation of les Élus Parfaits, which attracted a number of French Masons with Jacobite connections.605 After 1745, Morin worked diligently to organize lodges performing both the Craft and écossais degrees in the French Caribbean. In 1757, he organized a Council of Knights of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 604 Prinsen and Guerillot, 160-71; Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle, 15-16. 605 André Kervella, /¶(IIHW0RULQ 3UHVWLJHG¶XQ+RPPH*HQqVHG¶XQV\VWqPH (Editions Ivoire- Clair, 2010): 11-43, 62, 149- $ODLQ%HUQKHLP³(VWLHQQH0RULQ± 1HZ,QIRUPDWLRQ$ERXW+LV%LUWK´ Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 105, 1992: p. 255-6; Monod, Jacobitism and the English People, 340-1. &)$! ! East at Les Cayes in Saint Domingue, which included some descendants of English royalists of the 1640s, and which would have the power to adjudicate disputes in higher-degree lodges. Meanwhile, devotees of the higher degrees in France set up a similar governing Council under the leadership of the Duc de Clermont, but this regulating body broke down in the 1760s as the war with Britain dragged on and drained its personnel, many of whom were military officers.606 In his dissemination of higher-degree Masonry in the Caribbean, Morin struck a fine EDODQFH)UHHPDVRQU\SUROLIHUDWHGGXULQJWKH6HYHQ Lodge of France saw their authority undermined as existing lodges spawned others in a ³KRUL]RQWDO´V\VWHP0RULQ¶VWDOHQWZDVLQIRVWHULQJWKHJURZWKRIWKHMasonic network while maintaining fealty to the practices of the metropolis. To bolster his own authority, in 1761, Morin obtained a confirmatory patent certified by the Grand Lodge of France and by a body FDOOLQJLWVHOIWKH³(PSHURUVRIWKH(DVWDQG:HVW´7KLVSDWHQWQDPHGKLPDQ,QVSHFWRU*HQHUDO and authorized him to create higher-degree lodges in the New World and to appoint other Inspectors.607 Armed with this authority, Morin set sail for the West Indies, but his vessel was captured and brought in custody to Britain. Morin took the opportunity to travel to London, ZKHUHKHPHWLQSHUVRQZLWKWKH*UDQG0DVWHURIWKH³0RGHUQ´*UDQG/RGJHRI(QJODQG Washington Shirley. According to Morin, Shirley granted the French merchant another patent giving him similar powers over lodges in the British West Indies. Perhaps, then, it is not surprising that when Morin subsequently sailed to the New World, he made a sojourn in Jamaica !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 606 Kervella, 43-5, 52-4, 60, 93-6, 107-8, 121, 332. 607 Kervella, 141-2, 324; Fox, Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle, 15. &)%! ! before returning to Martinique. His activities at this time in Jamaica are unknown, but he may have made Masonic contacts on the island that would later prove important.608 During the next several years, Morin added Jamaica to the roster of West Indian colonies that he frequented. At some point, he introduced the system of 25 higher degrees known by that WLPHDVWKH³5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQ´WR+HQU\$QGUHZ)UDQFNHQD'XWFK-born merchant residing at Kingston. In 1767, Francken traveled to New York, where he introduced the Rite to a small circle of acquaintances and granted two of them permission to set up a Lodge of Perfection at Albany; the following year, he deputized Moses Michael Hays in the Rite. Meanwhile, Morin continued to circulate through the Caribbean basin. By the later 1760s, he had set up a Council of Princes of the Royal Secret at Kingston, consisting of Francken and six other men, which would govern the practice of the higher degrees in Jamaica. Jamaica presents the first partial window into the social makeup of the Rite of Perfection in the New World, although it is unclear how many Jamaican Masons took part in the Rite during its early years in the colony. It was only in April 1770 that Morin produced a document recording the names of Masons who had attained the Ineffable degrees, at least as far as the fourteenth degreH$WWKDWWLPHKHDVVHPEOHGVHYHQPHQDQGDSSRLQWHGWKHPD³JUDQGFKDSWHURI 3ULQFHVRIWKH5>R\DO@6>HFUHW@´HPSRZHULQJWKHPWR³JRYHUQDOOORGJHVFRXQFLOVJUDQG councils, grand chapters, consistories, etc. from the Secret Master to the Royal Secret´DQGWR ³GHWHUPLQHDOOFDXVHVFRPSODLQWVHWF´609 Morin may have appointed this governing council in anticipation of his own death, which would come the following year. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 608 Kervella, 117-39, 208-9. 609 Seal-Coon, 26; Francken Manuscript 1783, Kessinger Publishing, 2. &)&! ! 7KH*UDQG&KDSWHUFRPSULVHGDQRGGDVVHPEODJHRIPHQUDQJLQJIURPWKHLVODQG¶V most powerful and prominent Masons to others who are entirely obscure; in effect, the Grand Chapter linked two Masonic worlds, one visible and prominent and the other socially marginal and absent from mainstream Craft Masonry. Morin appointed as president of the chapter :LOOLDP:LQWHUWKHSODQWHUZKRZRXOGVRRQDIWHUEHFRPHWKHFRORQ\¶V3URYLQFLDO*UDQG0DVWHU :LQWHUZDVWKHZHDOWKLHVWDQGPRVWSRZHUIXOPDQLQ6DLQW&DWKHULQH¶V3DULVKDWWKHWLPHDQG surely among the richest men in the entire colony. He had served in 1759 as one of the two MXVWLFHVRIWKHSDULVKDQGLQDVWKH³&XVWRV´RUSDULVKJRYHUQRU$VRIKHKDGDQ estate with twenty-three slaves and 111 cattle; by his death in 1772, Winter had acquired an estate in Saint Thomas PariVKZLWKVODYHVDQGDGLVWLOOHU\ DQRWKHU³SHQQ´RUFDWWOHUDQFKDW 0RXQW3OHDVDQWLQ6DLQW&DWKHULQH¶VZLWKVODYHV DQGDOX[XULRXVKRXVHLQ6SDQLVK7RZQ ZLWKVODYHV7KHUHLVWRWKLVGD\DWRZQLQ6DLQW&DWKHULQH¶V3DULVKE\WKHQDPHRI³:LQWHU¶V 3HQ´$V:LOOLDP:LQWHU¶VGHSXW\0RULQDSSRLQWHG*DEULHO-RQHVDODZ\HUZKRPWKH Kingston Parish Vestry frequently hired to represent them in legal proceedings. Unlike William Winter, who served as Provincial Grand Master for the last two years of KLVOLIH*DEULHO-RQHV¶ relationship to Freemasonry outside of the 1770 Grand Chapter is unknown.610 Aside from Winter and Jones, the Grand Chapter included two Masons whom Morin had SUHYLRXVO\DSSRLQWHGDV³'HSXW\,QVSHFWRUV´RIWKH5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQ +Hnry Andrew Francken and the merchant William Adams. Francken was apparently prosperous in Kingston, owning his own fairly large house on Barry Street with four slaves. He is not recorded in any surviving documents, however, as belonging to any Jamaican lodge, and his Masonic membership is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 610 Saint Catherine Vestry Minutes, 1759-68, p. 4, 7, 31, 79, JARD; estate of William Wynter, late of parish of Saint Catherine, esquire, estate inventories Liber 53, 1772, p. 112-17, JARD; Kingston Parish Vestry minutes, 1768-70, p. 193, JARD; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1765, p. 17, JARD. &)'! ! attested only by papers relating to the Rite of Perfection. In contrast, William Adams, another affluent merchant, was among the most active and committed Freemasons on the island: he served as the Senior Warden of the Mother Lodge in 1763, as an acting Junior Grand Warden in 1772, and as a Deputy Grand Master of Jamaica some time before 1780. He was socially connected to the most prominent and visible Masons on the island, including his brother-in-law, the Reverend Thomas Coxeter.611 The remaining three Princes of the Royal Secret²Edward Bowes, John Pendergast, and Martin Matthias²VKRZWKHVDPHRGGPL[WXUHRISURPLQHQFHDQGREVFXULW\3HQGHUJDVW¶V SURIHVVLRQLVXQNQRZQDOWKRXJKKHVHUYHGDVRQHRI.LQJVWRQ¶VWHQ9HVWU\men in 1767. His UHODWLRQVKLSWR&UDIW0DVRQU\LVQRWUHFRUGHG%RZHV¶SURIHVVLRQLVDOVRXQNQRZQDQGOLWWOHFDQ be said of his non-Masonic life other than that he lived directly next door to Pendergast on Hanover Street. Edward Bowes was listed, however, as a member of the Mother Lodge in 1763 DQGZDVHOHFWHGLQDVWKHLVODQG¶V-XQLRU*UDQG:DUGHQ/DVWO\0DUWLQ0DWWKLDVZDVPRVW OLNHO\*DEULHO-RQHV¶ODZSDUWQHUVHHLQJDVKRZWKH.LQJVWRQ3DULVK9HVWU\UHFRUGHGSD\PHQWV WR³-RQHVDQG0DWKLDVDWWRUQH\VDWODZ´LQ+HZDVDOVRSUREDEO\DSHUVRQDOIULHQGRI eWLHQQH0RULQVHUYLQJDVDQDVVHVVRURIWKHODWWHU¶VHVWDWHLQ+LVDFWLYLWLHVLQ0DVRQU\ outside of the Grand Chapter are unknown.612 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 611 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1765 Parish Poll Tax List, p. 29; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1766 Parish Poll Tax List, p. 111, JARD; Letter of Mother Lodge, Jamaica, to James Heseltine, Grand Secretary of the Modern Grand Lodge, October 15, 1763, 22/B/1, LMF-8*/( ³&RS\RI 3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH-DPDLFD´-XQHE/0)-8*/( ³0LQXWHVRIWKH PHHWLQJRIDFRPPLWWHHRI0RWKHU/RGJHQR-DPDLFD´.LQJVWRQ$SULO+&%/0)- UGLE; Kingston Parish Marriages, 1753-1814, p. 23, JARD; estate of Thomas Coxeter, clerk, inventories Liber 60, 1779, p. 79, JARD. 612 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, Jan. 8, 1767, p. 131, JARD; Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1769 Parish Poll Tax list, p. 209, JARD; Letter of Mother Lodge, Jamaica, to James Heseltine, Grand Secretary of the Modern Grand Lodge, October 15, 1763, 22/B/1, LMF-8*/( ³&RS\RI 3URFHHGLQJVRI3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJH-DPDLFD´-XQHE/0)-UGLE; Kingston Parish &)(! ! All in all, the formation of the Grand Chapter in 1770 seems to signal a convergence of two Masonic worlds. One, represented by the likes of William Winter and William Adams, was high-status, publicly visible, and well-attested in surviving Masonic records. The other, represented by Henry Andrew Francken, John Pendergast, and Martin Matthias, seems to have comprised men of middling or ambiguous social standing whose Masonic lives took place mainly in the shadowy world of the higher degrees. Personal relationships, centering on Morin himself, seem to have brought together these two Masonic networks, whose interconnections are otherwise mysterious. For instance, it is not clear whether Jean-3LHUUH*LOOLHURQ0RULQ¶VIULHQG and the executor of his estate, ever took part in Masonry in Jamaica, but it is worth noting that he lived on Maiden Lane directly next door to Mary Pullen, who, as discussed earlier, may have EHHQWKH5HYHUHQG7KRPDV3ROOHQ¶VZLIH613 On June 3, 1770, an earthquake drove Morin him permanently out of Saint Domingue, and he relocated to Kingston, where he died the following \HDUDW*LOOLHURQ¶VKRPH614 In tracing its circuitous path from France to the Carribbean to North America, where it eventually met up with Moses Michael Hays, the Rite of Perfection followed certain peculiar patterns of transmission, which help to clarify its social significance. The first of these patterns KDVDOUHDG\EHHQQRWHGLQ(XURSHDQGSHUVLVWHGLQWKH:HVW,QGLHV WKHKLJKHUGHJUHHV¶HQGXULQJ connection with Jacobitism. In the Caribbean, the écoassais lodges continued to attract men connected to the Stuart cause; in Saint Domingue, one higher-degree lodge even took the name !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vestry Minutes, Parish Accounts, 1766, p. 48; estate of Stephen Morin, gentleman, of Kingston, estate inventories, 1771, p. 131, JARD. 613 Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes, 1776 Parish Poll Tax List, p. 72, JARD. 614 Kervella, 247- )R[ ³5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQ0VGDWHG762, Francken Ms., the original RIZKLFKLVQRZWKHSURSHUW\RIWKH6XSUHPH&RXQFLO6FRWWLVK5LWH1RUWKHUQ0DVRQLF-XULVGLFWLRQ´ photocopy, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, United Grand Lodge of England, London, UK. &))! ! RI³eGRXDUG6WXDUW´LQKRQRURIWKHhead of the H[LOHG%ULWLVKG\QDVW\GHVSLWH0RULQ¶V discomfort with such an open espousal of political loyalties.615 In addition, we must note that the higher degrees developed and traveled among marginal UHOLJLRXVDQGHWKQLFJURXSV7KH-DFRELWHPRYHPHQW¶VVWURQJHVWEDVHZDVDPRQJ%ULWLVK Catholics, who were marginal in Britain by virtue of their faith and in France by virtue of their nationality. Furthermore, British recusants practiced a gentry-centered form of Catholicism, with little reverence for the clerical hierarchy.616 In France, they seem to have built relationships with Jansenists, such as the Morin family, who were anti-clerical. The Chevalier Ramsay served for a time as secretary to Madame Guyon, a heterodox mystical theologian whose writings the Church had prohibited. When Morin and other French Masons brought the higher degrees to the West Indies, their recruits included many devout Catholics; nonetheless, it is worth noting that Morin deputized his most successful disciples in Jamaica, where Catholicism was illegal. Although many French and Spanish Catholic traders were allowed to reside in Jamaica and to maintain their beliefs in private, they did not organize a parish nor seek to support any clergy; Morin himself was interred in an Anglican churchyard.617 In sum, it seems as if Catholics who were independent of or skeptical towards clerical authority found in Masonry a space of social and religious fellowship²DSDWWHUQZKLFKLVXQVXUSULVLQJFRQVLGHULQJWKH9DWLFDQ¶V condemnation of Masonry. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 615 Kervella, 172-3. 616 Monod, 134-6. 617 Edward Long, History of Jamaica (London: Lowndes, 1774): 300; Francis Xavier Delaney, History of the Catholic Church in Jamaica (Jesuit Mission Press, 1930): 26; F. W. Seal-Coon, An Historical Account of Jamaica Freemasonry, 26. &)*! ! Once Morin was in Jamaica, his deputization of Henry Andrew Francken signaled a new development: the movement of the Rite of Perfection into the disparate Anglo-Dutch world. Francken had been born in the Netherlands in 1720, migrated to Jamaica in 1757, and was naturalized as a British subject the following year. He worked as a merchant and was soon appointed as an appraiser for the Vice-Admiralty court at Kingston. His exact place of birth is unknown, but the surname Francken is common mainly in the southern portion of the Netherlands then known as Flanders; hence, there is a good chance that he was a Catholic by birth. In addition, Francken was clearly proficient in French, seeing as how he translated 0RULQ¶V5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQULWXDOVIURP)UHQFKLQWR(QJOLVKDQGDOVRUHWDLQHGKLVIOXHQF\LQ Dutch, having served the Vice-Admiralty court as a Dutch interpreter. When Francken ventured out to spread the Rite of Perfection, he traveled to New York, a former colony of the Netherlands some of whose residents were still Dutch speakers)UDQFNHQ¶VGLVFLSOHVFUHDWHGD/RGJHRI Perfection at Albany, a predominately Dutch town. The lodge functioned for about seven years, and attracted a number of Masons of Dutch extraction, such as Jeremiah van Renssalaear, the scion of a prominent New Netherlands family.618 The Dutch connections among the practitioners of the Rite of Perfection continued with WKHLQLWLDWLRQRI0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\V+D\V¶SDUHQWVKDGEHHQERUQLQWKH1HWKHUODQGVDQG Moses maintained connections to the Dutch West Indies, suggesting he may have spoken the Dutch language; one of his most important trading partners was Samson Mears on the Dutch island of Saint Eustatius. By 1773, a higher-GHJUHH³ORGJHRISHUIHFWLRQ´KDGIRUPHGLQWKHODWWHU colony, uniting Masons of French, Dutch, and British extraction. In the same year, Jean-Pierre !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 618 Seal-Coon, 24; Kervella, 250- $ODLQ%HUQKHLP³4XHVWLRQV$ERXW$OEDQ\´Heredom, vol. 4, 1995, p. 139-71. &)+! ! GiOOLHURQ0RULQ¶VKRVWLQ-DPDLFDKHOSHGIRUPD0DVRQLFORGJHLQ&XUDoDR%\WKHODWHU eighteenth century, the Netherlands had fallen from its position of pre-eminence in maritime trade and naval power, leaving Dutch merchants to manage a shadow empire, dependent on WHQXRXVVRFLDODQGFRPPHUFLDODOOLDQFHV'XWFKFRORQLVWV¶HPEUDFHRI0DVRQU\DQGRIWKH5LWH of Perfection suggests an effort to underpin these alliances with shared religious and ethical values.619 Finally, Hays provided a point of contact between the largely Jacobite and Dutch world of the Rite of Perfection and the Jewish networks of North America. In sum, the Rite of Perfection appears to have traveled along the intersecting strands of several related social networks²Jacobites, Jews, Dutch-speakers, and heterodox Catholics² whose members held to precarious footholds at the edges of established states and churches. In this light, Rhode Island may appear as the perfect environment in which the Rite of Perfection could thrive²a mercantile colony with no religious establishment and with a number of Masons with Jacobite and Dutch-Jewish backgrounds. Still, the success of higher-degree Masonry in Rhode Island was not inevitable. The Rite might never have reached Newport in the first place without Moses Michael Hays, and more importantly, the success of the higher degrees once they reached a given environment was never guaranteed. Indeed, the last common pattern in the transmission of the Rite of Perfection that we must note is its fragility. An écoassis lodge that Morin founded at Le Cap in 1747 suffered a schism and collapsed by 1753. Each of the first two similar lodges on the American mainland, founded at New Orleans in the 1750s and at Albany in 1767, disbanded within a decade. Even the higher- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 619 Hays to Samson Mears, Dec. 3, 1770, Hays Papers, Folder 2, MHS; Perfect Masons of the lodge of St. John of Jerusalem to the lodge of St. Peter, 23/C/7, 13 October 1773, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, United Grand Lodge of England, London; Seal-Coon, 73-5. For the decline of the Dutch maritime empire, see Jonathan Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585-1740 (Oxford U. Press, 1989): 377-416. &),! ! degree governing bodies in France collapsed after the death of the Duc de Clermont in 1771. AORQJZLWK0RULQ¶VGHDWKLQWKHVDPH\HDUthis loss greatly impeded the advancement of the Rite. Nor was the spread of the higher degrees without controversy. For instance, in Saint Eustatius, where a renegade French Mason introduced the écossais degrees in 1773, the innovation caused a schism, with some skeptical Masons complaining WKDW³IDQDWLFLVP´KDG JLYHQELUWKWR³a number of degrees, not only fastidious but ridiculous´0HGLDWRUVGLVWLQJXLVKHG nine legitimate higher degrees from the rest of the lot which they considered apocryphal, but they could not prevent the expulsion of the French interloper from the lodge.620 With this last consideration in mind, the success of the higher degrees in Newport and, after 1781, throughout the American republic is all the more remarkable. It stands to reason that this success was related in some way to the peculiar hardships and hopes evoked by the American Revolution and the Franco-American alliance. The Rite of Perfection served to dramatize and even to resolve contradictions and anxieties that the Revolutionary struggle evoked. The royalist commitments of the American colonists could not be easily reconciled with their eventual break with the Crown and the creation of a republic. For the small number of men who joined, the Masonic higher degrees offered a set of symbols and practices to smooth over this psychic transition. In the higher degrees, one can see the JDFRELWH0DVRQV¶HODERUDWLRQRQ0DVRQLFP\WKVLQ a way that addressed doubts and uncertainties over the nature of royal authority. The first nine degrees of the Rite of Perfection (the 4th through the 12th degrees of Masonry, according to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 620 Gerry L. Prinsen, ed., The Sharp Documents, vol. IV: The Story of the Ecossais Lodge of New Orleans (Latomia, 1993): 5-7; Kervella, 78; Perfect Masons of the lodge of St. John of Jerusalem to the lodge of St. Peter, 13 October 1773, 23/C/7, LMF-UGLE; Minutes of an extraordinary lodge, 17 November 1773, 23/C/8, LMF-UGLE. &*-! ! 0RULQ¶VVFKHPH Geal with the aftermath of the murder of Hiram Abiff, dramatizing the month- ORQJTXHVWWRDYHQJHWKHPDVWHUEXLOGHU¶VGHDWK7KHVHGHJUHHVGHDOZLWKWKRUQ\TXHVWLRQVRIWKH legitimate use of violence and of the conflicting demands of loyalty to Masonry and to the state, but offer ambiguous and inconclusive lessons. The violence and irresolution of the 4th through 12th degrees reflect the anxieties of Masons in the Jacobite diaspora²who merely by practicing the Craft in France were violating the directives of Crown and Church. Moreover, the British Jacobites on the Continent were suspended in a political no-PDQ¶V-land, torn between the competing authorities of the reigning House of Hanover, the deposed House of Stuart, and the rulers of their host countries. In this state of uncertainty, the troubled consciences of Jacobite Masons could be comforted by stories and rituals that integrated the ambiguity of competing loyalties into a mythic cycle. For instance, in the 9th GHJUHH³0DVWHU(OHFWHGRI1LQH´WKH initiate plays the role of -RDEHUWD0DVRQLFZRUNPDQVHQWWRDSSUHKHQGRQHRI+LUDP¶VWKUHHDVVDVVLQV-RDEHUWORFDWHV WKHIXJLWLYHLQDFDYHEXWEUHDNV.LQJ6RORPRQ¶VFRPPDQGVE\NLOOLQJKLPRQWKHVSRWUDWKHU than returning him to Jerusalem to stand tULDO:KHQ-RDEHUWUHSRUWVWR6RORPRQ¶VSDODFHWKH king orders him executed, but his fellow Masons intercede, obtaining clemency for Joabert on the grounds WKDW³it was an excess of zeal and love for the memory of our respectable Master H[iram] A[bif] tKDWKDGFHUWDLQO\SURPSWHGKLPWRGLVREH\KLVRUGHUV´7KHOHFWXUHIROORZLQJWKH ULWXDOGHFODUHVERWKWKHQHFHVVLW\RIIROORZLQJRUGHUVSUHFLVHO\DQG³KRZHDVLO\WKHKHDUWRID JRRGNLQJLVLQIOXHQFHGWREHPHUFLIXO´ZLWKRXWUHVROYLQJWKHWHQVLRQEHWZHHQ these two notions.621 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 621 Francken Manuscript 1783, 76, 80. &*$! ! The first nine degrees of the Rite mainly set the stage for the Royal Arch and the degree of Perfection, which serve as the 13th and 14th degrees of the Rite. These two longer and more elaborate degrees offer a partial resolution of the tensions present in the preceding degrees through the attainment of divine knowledge. The degree of Royal Arch, which travelled through the Masonic world independently as well as in the context of the Rite of Perfection, deals with the loss and recovery of the sacred word that Hiram Abif had refused to divulge to his assailants. $FFRUGLQJWRWKLVGHJUHHWKHZRUGZDVLQIDFW*RG¶VWUXHQDPHZKLFKWKHGHLW\KDGRULJLQDOO\ entrusted to the Biblical hero Enoch. In a vision, God transported Enoch to an arched vault deep underground where he saw the name engraved on a golden tablet. Enoch had a lavish temple built above the vault and sealed the underground chamber with a heavy iron trap door so that it would survive the coming flood, after which no one knew of the true name. Subsequently Moses learned the same name from the Burning Bush, but promised never to utter it, allowing it to be again lost to posterity. Centuries later, Solomon dispatched three Masons to search in the ruins RI(QRFK¶VWHPSOHIRr materials to embellish his own edifice. In the Masonic legend, they find the trap door and despite their trepidation, descend into the darkness of the vault to find the golden tablet, which glows like the sun. When they bring the tablet to the royal palace, 6RORPRQLQKLVJUDWLWXGHLGHQWLILHVWKHZRUGDV*RG¶VQDPHDQGJLYHVWKHWKUHH0DVRQVLWV correct pronunciation. The workmen, together with Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre, install the WDEOHWLQDVHFUHWFKDPEHURI6RORPRQ¶VSDODFHZKHUH6RORPRQKas the Masons swear an oath to NHHSWKHWDEOHW¶VKRO\VHFUHWWKXVFUHDWLQJWKHPWKHILUVW.QLJKWVRIWKH5R\DO$UFK622 The Royal Arch is followed by a longer explanatory degree, that of Perfection, which deals with events in the years following the rediscRYHU\RI(QRFK¶VWDEOHW6RORPRQDFFRUGLQJ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 622 Francken Manuscript 1783, 121-37. &*%! ! WRWKHOHFWXUH³SURXGRINQRZLQJKLPVHOIDVWKHJUHDWHVWNLQJRQHDUWK>«@VRRQIRUJRWWKH JRRGQHVVRI*RGDQGJDYHKLPVHOIXSWROLFHQWLRXVQHVV´HYHQPDNLQJVDFULILFHVWR0RORFK Anticipating divine retribXWLRQIRUWKLVZLFNHGQHVV³WKHJUHDWHVWSDUWRIWKHJRRGPDVRQV>FKRVH@ WREDQLVKWKHPVHOYHVYROXQWDULO\WKDWWKH\PLJKWQRWEHVSHFWDWRUVRIWKLVKRUURU´:KLOHPRVW Masons dispersed through the Near East and Europe, a company of higher-degree Brethren UHPDLQHGLQ-HUXVDOHP6RORPRQZDVVXFFHHGHGE\WKH³FUXHODQGLPSUXGHQW´5HKRERDP causing ten of the twelve Hebrew tribes to revolt and form the kingdom of Israel. For hundreds of years the Jewish kingdom remained divided and at war, until Nebuchandezzar swifly conquered the land and ransacked Jerusalem. In the ritual, the Elect Masons at the Temple prevent the golden tablet from falling into the hands of the invaders and efface the word engraved thereon. Since that time, only Elect Masons have known the name and repeat it only when gathered together, although the correct pronunciation has been gradually corrupted. The modern Masonic fraternity supposedly originated when a company of Masons served in the Crusades, and the Crusading Princes and the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, impressed with their courage, asked to be initiated into their mysteries.623 Taken together, the fourteen degrees of Masonry from the Apprentice degree to the Perfection seek to preserve the holiness of kingship while gradually transferring it from monarchs to the Masons themselves. More specifically, the thirteenth and fourteenth degrees set up a cycle of loss and rediscovery of the holy name, which parallels but is not identical to the cycle of unity and disunity in worldly affairs. The name, which God initially entrusts to his chosen viceroys on Earth (i.e., Enoch, Moses, and Solomon) falls into the hands of the higher- degree Masons, who must preserve it as best they can and who have the power to confer it upon !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 623 Francken Manuscript 1783, 141-86. &*&! ! latter-day kings and knights. The transfer of the divine mandate from the Biblical kings to the Masons is dramatized at the opening of the Perfection degree, in which the Worshipful Master DQRLQWVHDFKFDQGLGDWH¶VH\HVOLSVDQGKHDUWZLWKRLOUHSUHVHQWLQJWKDWZKLFKDQRLQWHG³WKH SHQLWHQW'DYLGDQGWKHZLVH6RORPRQ´624 )XUWKHUPRUH7KHVWRU\RI6RORPRQ¶VIDOOIURPJUDFH and the dispersal of the Masons echoes the experience of the Jacobite émigrés who went into exile following the ouster of James II. In the lecture, the Master of the Lodge of Perfection asks the candidate for the 14th GHJUHH³ZKHUHGRWKH*>UDQG@(>OHFW@ZRUNQRZDGD\VDVWKH\KDYH QRPRUHODQG"´WRZKLFKKHPXVWUHSO\LQDQDOPRVWHHULHFRPPHQWRQHLJKWHHQWK-century SROLWLFV³,QVHFUHWSODFHs, to re-establish the edifice ruined by the traitors, under the protection of WKHVRYHUHLJQDQGVXEOLPHSULQFHV´7KXV0DVRQVLQWKH-DFRELWHGLDVSRUDVDZWKHPVHOYHVDV trustees of the divine authority of the monarch during such time as a usurper held the throne.625 Nonetheless, while the higher degrees clearly reflect concerns over the disposition of royal authority in the eighteenth century, they also trace certain continuing themes that run through the European esoteric tradition and the three degrees of Craft Masonry²most importantly, death, resurrection, and immortality. Like death, the higher degrees offer an escape from temporal life into an eternal realm. The liturgies of the degrees are repeatedly interrupted E\WKHTXHVWLRQV³:KDW¶VR¶FORFN"´DQG³:KDWDJHDUH\RX"´WRZKLFKWKHORGJHRIILFHUVRU candidates give symbolic answers, thus splicing linear time and rearranging it into a cyclical pattern. The sun is repeatedly invoked as a symbol of the divine principle in the universe, which enactVDQHWHUQDOF\FOHRIGHDWKDQGUHELUWK (QRFK¶VJROGHQWDEOHWJORZVOLNHWKHVXQDQGLQWKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 624 Ibid, 152-3. 625 Ibid, 183. &*'! ! IRXUWHHQWKGHJUHHWKH6HQLRU:DUGHQGHFODUHVWKDWLWLV³+LJK«EHFDXVHWKHVXQGDUWVLWVUD\V perpendicular into this lodge for us to work efficaciously the eQGRIRXUSHUIHFWLRQ´626 In the parallel world of higher-degree Masonry, ordinary experience must be left behind as part of a spiritual rebirth. The degrees are mystical in the sense that they cultivate what WKHRORJLDQVKDYHFDOOHGD³G\LQJOLIH´²the clarified state of mind attained through the experience of psychological death.627 In the fifth degree, a tomb is placed beside the entrance to WKHORGJHURRP³LQRUGHUWRWHDFKXVWKDWDPDQPXVWGLYHVWKLPVHOIRIDOOZRUOGO\FDUHWREH qualified to enter thH6DQFWXP6DQFWRUXP´ WKHFDQGLGDWHZHDUVJUHHQWKHFRORURIYHJHWDWLRQ DQGVSULQJ³WRLPSULQWLQP\PLQGWKDWEHLQJGHDGWRVLQ,H[SHFWWRJDLQQHZOLIHE\WKH SUDFWLFHRIYLUWXH´628 In accord with the customs of eighteenth-century French Masonry, the lodge room hangings in most higher-degree rituals are strewn with teardrops, evoking the alchemical matrix in which base, corruptible materials are refined and transmuted into immortal gold.629 Taken as an extended commentary and elaboration on Masonic myths, the 4th through 14th GHJUHHVGHPRQVWUDWHWKH&UDIW¶VSRWHQWLDODSSHDOWRPHQLQYROYHGLQDSROLWLFDOUHYROXWLRQ Reflecting on questions of royal legitimacy, conflicts of loyalty, and the need for moral authority in worldly affairs, higher-degree Masonry could offer a set of philosophical guide-posts for such men as Hugh Mercer and Peter Turner who were swept up in the currents of civil war. The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 626 Francken MS 1783, 143. 627 William Ralph Inge, Christian Mysticism (London: Methuen and co., 1899), p. 11. 628 Francken Ms 1783, 44-5. 629 Kamil, 672. &*(! ! GUDVWLFDFWRIWDNLQJXSDUPVDJDLQVWRQH¶VRZQVRYHUHLJQFRXOGEHOHVVGDXQWLQJIRURQHZKRKDG himself EHHQDQRLQWHGZLWK'DYLG¶VDQG6RORPRQ¶VRLO There can be no doubt of the widespread popularity of Masonry among American revolutionaries²in addition to such prominent statesmen as Washington, Franklin, and Hancock, many Revolutionary officers and soldiers became Masons in a series of military lodges. The most prominent and longest-lived of these was American Union Lodge, whose Saint -RKQ¶V'D\FHOHEUDWLRQV:DVKLQJWRQDWWHQGHGWKUHHWLPHV$PHULFDQ8QLRQ/RGJHIDLOHG however, in its attempt to create a national Grand Lodge, and the most striking institutional innovation of Masonry during the Revolution was the spread of the higher degrees, including the Royal Arch and the Rite of Perfection. As we have seen, the most active and successful promoters of the higher degrees were Jewish patriots who had been cast into exile by the British occupations of New York, Newport, and Charleston. In their hands, the legends of exile from Zion, appropriated and retold by Jacobite émigrés, could find further instantiation in the trials of American rebels. The spread of Revolutionary Masonry was often intertwined with political events, conferring religious significance on the progress of worldly affairs. These religious meanings might be stated explicitly, as in VarnXP¶VRUDWLRQRUFDUHIXOO\KLGGHQDQGHQFRGHG ,QGHHGVRPH0DVRQLFKLVWRULDQVKDYHUHDVRQDEO\VSHFXODWHGWKDW+D\V¶WULSWR Philadelphia, in which he deputized several Brethren in the Rite of Perfection, doubled as a campaign to raise funds from Jewish donors for the nearly-bankrupt Continental Army.630 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 630 6%URFKHV³0RUH/LJKWRQ0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\VFRQW¶G´Masonic Craftsman, Jan. 1940, p. &\UXV)LHOG:LOODUG³7KH3ODFHRI0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\VDQGWKH6HSDKUGLP-HZ´Masonic Craftsman, December 1937, p. 80-3. As Willard notes, in the spring of 1781, while Hays was at work in Philadelphia, Haym Solomon received a series of anonymous loans and gifts to fund the Continental forces. &*)! ! )XUWKHUPRUHLUUHVSHFWLYHRIWKHH[DFWQDWXUHRI+D\V¶EXVLQHVVLQ3KLODGHOSKLDKLVLQLWLDWLRQRI French comrades in Newport underscored the special spiritual relationship between France and America. As the Rite of Perfection makes manifest, a Masonic and mystical subtext permeates the Franco-$PHULFDQDOOLDQFH7KHDFWLYLWLHVRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHKDGWKHLUFRXQWHUSDUWRQWKH RSSRVLWHVLGHRIWKH$WODQWLFLQ%HQMDPLQ)UDQNOLQ¶VGLSORPDWLFPLVVLRQ to France: in 1778, Franklin and John Paul Jones famously joined the Loge de Neuf Soeurs, a prominent artistic and intellectual lodge in Paris. As he campaigned for French intervention in support of the United States, Franklin appeared in public dressed LQDFUXGHIXUFDSDQG³WKHVLPSOHVWJDUPHQWV´WDNLQJ on the persona of the rustic man-of-the-woods that is so central to the esoteric tradition. The 3HQQV\OYDQLDGRFWRUKDGORQJFXOWLYDWHGWKHLPDJHRIWKHSODLQDUWLVDQ³3RRU5LFKDUG´DQGLQ 1777, a Parisian publishing house dedicated to Franklin an edition of the works of Bernard Palissy, the sixteenth-century Huguenot potter and alchemist who had come to symbolize the HQFRGLQJRIHVRWHULFEHOLHIVLQSULPLWLYHIRUPV WKHSULQWHUVSRVLWHGD³JUHDWDQDORJXH´EHWZHHQ the two men.631 Franklin reveled in his rustic persona, evoking older legendary embodiments of the spirit of nature and virility such as John the Baptist and Robin Hood, who according to the sixteenth-century version of the legend, had endeavored, like the later Jacobites, to remove a usurper and restore the rightful king to the English throne. $QDOPRVWP\VWLFDOVHFUHF\FDQEHVHHQWRFRORUWKH0DVRQV¶DFWLYLWLHVLQWKH)UDQFR- American alliance. Moses Michael Hays and Aaron Lopez secretly imported chemicals from Bordeaux to Newport to produce gunpowder using a secret formula; they reported to the Secret !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 631 Kamil, 275. &**! ! Committee of Safety chaired by Benjamin Franklin. In the summer of 1781, George Washington WKDQNHG5RFKDPEHDX¶VVHFUHWDU\-HDQ-Louis de SybLOOHDPHPEHURI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHIRU enciphering the letters between the two generals. All military and political alliances require a degree of secrecy, which allows for the play of esoteric meanings, as clearly pointed out in the sixth degree of the 5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQWKDWRI³,QWLPDWH6HFUHWDU\´,QWKLVGHJUHHWKHFDQGLGDWH plays a workman who eavesdrops on the private conversations between King Solomon and his ally, King Hiram of Tyre. Rather than execute the Mason, the two kings appoint him as a secretary to rewrite and renew the secret articles of their alliance.632 Freemasonry, even in the Craft degrees, celebrates the Solomon-Hiram alliance as the model of international partnership based upon shared beliefs; in Masonic mythology, secrecy and fraternity are inseparable. The esoteric connections underpinning the Franco-American alliance were further underscored by the presence, among the four regiments quartered in Newport in 1780, of a regiment that hailed, like Bernard Palissy, from Saintonge, a rural region north of Bordeaux that had long been a hotbed of mystical heterodoxy. Major de Fleury, who lodged in Newport with -HUHPLDK&ODUNHDQGEHFDPHDPHPEHURI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHEHORQJHGWRWKH6DLQWRQJHDLV regiment.633 The French southwest was also the traditional stronghold of Protestantism in that country, and many colonial Rhode Island Masons, including Augustus Johnston, were descended !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 632 &\UXV)LHOG:LOODUG³7KH 3ODFHRI0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\VDQGWKH6HSDKUGLP-HZ´0DVRQLF Craftsman, December 1937, p. 81- ³)URP*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQWR-HDQ-Louis Aragon de Sibille, 21 July ´)RXQGHUV2QOLQH1DWLRQDO$UFKLYHV KWWS IRXQGHUVDUFKLYHVJRYGRFXPHQWV:DVKLQJWRQ99-01- 02-06465>, ver. 2013-12-02; Francken Ms. 1783, 48-52. 633 ³(WDWGHV/RJHPHQWVGDQVODYLOOHGH1HZSRUWDX[RUGHUVGH0¶VOH&RPWHGH5RFKDPEHDX Quartier-*HQHUDO´³:LQWHU4XDUWHUVRI6ROGLHUVXQGHUWKH&RPPDQGRI5RFKDPEHDXLQ1HZSRUW5,´ Vault A, Mss Box A-16, Rochambeau and the French in Newport, Papers and miscellaneous, 1760s-1940, NHS; Kamil, 272-5. &*+! ! in part from Huguenot migrants from the western coast of France; the Ayrault family of Newport, which had intermarried deeply with the Wanton and Brenton clans so central to colonial Masonry in the town, derived from a pair of Protestant refugees from Saintonge and La Rochelle.634 -RKQ+DQG\WKHVHFUHWDU\RI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQWKHHDUO\VFRXOGDOVR claim a Huguenot grandmother who had migrated from Brittany to Newport earlier in the century.635 +XJXHQRWP\VWLFLVPKDGORQJFRQVLGHUHG6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHDVDV\PEROERWKRIDQ elusive divine order and of the lost Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle, and it is not hard to imagine that the French troops in Newport, like Jean de Saguliers and other Huguenots in eighteenth-century London, could find in Masonry a set of shared ideas and values with their English-speaking neighbors. Ultimately, the activities of 0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\VDQG.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHGHPRQVWUDWH that the American alliance with France, in addition to evoking the Jacobite legacy, conferred a religious and esoteric significance on the political break with Britain. Masonic myth drew on a deep well of esoteric thought and offered a possible reconciliation of the psychic tensions of rebellion, as it had done for the Jacobites. Still, the obvious fact remains that the American rebels did not seek a Stuart restoration. Although Eric Nelson contends that a strain of royalism lingered after the Revolution and paved the way for the American presidency,636 the federal republic nonetheless remained a republic. The stubborn contradiction between a reverence for kingship and the final overthrow of monarchy could be resolved only by the most radically despairing and most radically hopeful theology²apocalypticism. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 634 George Champlin Mason Genealogy, Vault A, Box 127, NHS. 635 Isaac W. K. Handy, Annals and Memorials of the Handys and Their Kindred. Ann Arbor: William L. Clements Library, 1992, p. 32-5; Annals of Trinity Church, p. 35, 45. 636 Nelson, The Royalist Revolution, 184-228. &*,! ! &+-! ! &KDSWHU ³$5HYROXWLRQLQ)XOOQHVVRI7LPH´²Masonry and Apocalypse The American revolutionaries, unlike the Jacobite exiles, did not seek to restore a king to the English throne against a usurper, but instead established an independent American republic. Masonry²outwardly secretive and inwardly royalist²did not fit easily into the new American order. The disjuncture between the American patriot-0DVRQV¶UHSXEOLFDQDFWLRQVDVFLWL]HQVDQG WKHLUUR\DOLVWVHQWLPHQWVDV0DVRQVDQGEHWZHHQWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VVHFUHF\DQGLWVLQFUHDVLQJ public prominence, could be resolved through apocalypticism. Kings, in the apocalyptic world- view, serve as temporar\LQWHUPHGLDULHVUHSUHVHQWLQJGLYLQHDXWKRULW\RQHDUWK *RG¶VGLUHFW intervention in worldly affairs renders human kingship unnecessary. The role of the Masons, according to the higher degrees, was not to confer power upon the people, but to prepare the world for a moral renovation and the direct rule of God. In this millennium of peace, concealment would end, and secrets would be revealed. Apocalyptic thought of this sort could be seen in various manifestations in the later years of the Revolution; Rhode Island, hit particularly hard by the trials of war, saw apocalyptic symbols arise in the context of Masonic rituals and orations as well as in everyday art. The Franco-American alliance served as a backdrop for the appearance of Revolutionary apocalypticism. The arrival of American envoys in Paris led some French observers to describe the American Revolution in apocalyptic terms, with Franklin standing in for the primitive artisan who, like Elias Artista in the Paracelsian tradition, would reveal the secrets of nature and announce the restoration of primitive society.637 Even before the alliance, apocalyptic restorationism could be seen even in the most widely-read text of the American Revolution: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 637 Kamil, Fortess of the Soul, 272-3. &+$! ! 7KRPDV3DLQH¶VUHPDUNLQCommon Sense WKDW³Government, like dress, is the badge of lost LQQRFHQFH WKHSDODFHVRINLQJVDUHEXLOWRQWKHUXLQVRIWKHERZHUVRISDUDGLVH´638 not only argues against monarchy but holds out the possibility of a return to a prelapsarian Eden in which political authority is superfluous. The same train of thought²the questioning of royal authority leading to apocalyptic hopes²can be seen in the Rite of Perfection. The final eleven degrees of the Rite of Perfection are torn by the tension between the quest for worldly power and the allure of an escape from politics into philosophical contemplation. Here, the Masonic traveler ascends the political ladder at the same time that he climbs a spiritual ladder, approaching an enlightenment that renders the political order obsolete. The higher-degree Masons would take up the spiritual authority formerly belonging to kings, and with it would create a renovated, non-political society. The Masonic reverence for monarchy could be reconciled with the American quest to establish an independent republic through the later parts of the mythic cycle, which were clearly added some time after the Royal Arch and Perfection degrees. The fifteenth through twentieth degrees of the Rite grapple with the prospect of the Masons²who have previously seen themselves as perpetual exiles²DWWDLQLQJSROLWLFDOSRZHU,QWKHILIWHHQWKGHJUHH³.QLJKWRIWKH(DVW´WKH candidate plays the role of Zerubbabel, a Jewish elder in the Babylonian exile who successfully petitions the Persian emperor Cyrus for permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the 7HPSOH,QWKHIROORZLQJGHJUHH³3ULQFHRI-HUXVDOHP´WKHFDQGLGDWHDJDLQSOD\V=HUXEEDEHO this time at the head of a delegation that procures the authority from the emperor to defray the costs of Temple-building by demanding tribute from the recalcitrant Samaritans. According to WKHOHFWXUH³)RUWKHLUJUHDW]HDOFRXUDJHDQGNQRZOHGJH>WKH0DVRQV@REWDLQHGWKHWLWOHRI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 638 Thomas Paine, Common Sense (New York: Peter Eckler Publishing Co., 1918), 1. &+%! ! JRYHUQRUVRIWKHSHRSOHZKLFKWKH\ZHUHWRJRYHUQZLWKHTXLW\´7KHGHJUHHOLQNVWKHFUHDWLRQ of political order with the cosmic cycles of the sun; as the Senior Warden declares in closing the ORGJH³WKH6XQKDVWUDYHUVHGKDOIKLVFDUHHUDQGMXVWLFHLVGRQHWRWKHSHRSOH´639 Higher-degree Masons who have attained the degree of Prince of Jerusalem receive an array of Masonic powers, including the right to attend any lodge and to inspect its constitutions. Along with these privileges, however, comes the taint of violence: the aprons of the degree are red, representing the blood of the Samaritan rebels. The symbolic acquisition of earthly power FXOPLQDWHVLQWKHWZHQWLHWKGHJUHH³6RYHUHLJQ3ULQFHRI0DVRQU\´LQZKLFKWKHFDQGLGDWH enters the lodge unescorted, in the guise of Zerubbabel, but in the course of the ritual changes his name to Cyrus, thus leaving behind the role of humble petitioner for that of emperor.640 As we have seen previously, the first fourteen degrees of Masonry according to the Rite transfer the divine mandate from kings to the Masons; in the later eleven degrees, the roles of king and Mason fuse. The authors of the Rite of Perfection resolve the Masonic ambivalence towards worldly power by placing the final degrees in an apocalyptic framework. The mythic time in which they take place lies on the cusp of the millennium. The rituDORIWKHVHYHQWHHQWKGHJUHH³.QLJKWRI WKH(DVWDQG:HVW´IROORZLQJGLUHFWO\DIWHUWKDWRI3ULQFHRI-HUXVDOHPWDNHVSODFHLQDORGJH illuminated by sun and moon figures. The Master of the lodge draws objects one by one out of a chest or trunk with seven compartments, re-enacting the breaking of the seven seals described in the Book of Revelations. On the opening of the sixth compartment, the sun goes dark and the PRRQ³LVVWDLQHGZLWKEORRG´7KHEUHDNLQJRIWKHVHYHQWKVHDOUHYHDOVVHYHQWUXPSHWVZhich are !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 639 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 201-2. 640 Ibid, p. 224. &+&! ! VRXQGHGDVWKHFDQGLGDWHUHFHLYHVWKHDSURQMHZHOVDQGFURZQRIWKHGHJUHH³WRVKRZWKDWD JRRGPDVRQLVHTXDOWRWKHPRVWKLJKSULQFH´641 The prior renunciation of worldly ambition allows for the embrace of spiritual authority, which the Masons will wield in the End of Days. 7KH0DVRQV¶IXWXUHGRPLQLRQLVUHSUHVHQWHGLQWKHWUHVWOHERDUGRIWKHQLQHWHHQWKGHJUHHWKDWRI ³*UDQG3RQWLI´DVDKHDYHQO\-HUXVDOHPZKRVHZDOOVDUHDSHUIHFWVTXDUHSLHUFHGE\WZHOYH gates, and at the center of which grows, as in the Garden, the Tree of Life.642 The final five higher degrees, which continue to use the sun as a symbol of the eternal DQGGLYLQHLOOXVWUDWHWKHPXOWLSOHPHDQLQJVRIWKHWHUP³UHYROXWLRQ´DVLWZDVXVHGLQWKH eighteenth century. The twenty-WKLUGGHJUHHRIWKH5LWHWKH³.QLJKWRIWKH6XQ´ZKLFK+D\V RIWHQFRQIHUUHGDVDWHUPLQDOGHJUHHWHDFKHVWKDWWKHVXQ³LVDQHPEOHPRIWKHGLYLQLW\ZKLFK PLJKWEHUHJDUGHGDVWKHLPDJHRI*RG´ WKHORGJHIRUWKLVGHJUHHLVWREHLOOXPLQDWHGE\DVLQgle lamp refracted through a glass bowl filled with water.643 In this ritual, human and earthly LQVWLWXWLRQVDUHVXSHUVHGHGE\*RG¶VUHSUHVHQWDWLYHV WKHFDQGLGDWHLVLQVWUXFWHGWRFXOWLYDWHDQ DOFKHPLFDOO\SXULILHGERG\³IURPZKLFKPXVWFRPHDQHZNLQJDQd a revolution in fullness of WLPHILOOHGZLWKJORU\´644 The Mason himself becomes the instrument of a divine mandate to re-establish the peace and harmony of Eden. In this revolutionary age, the Masons will restore WKHSULPLWLYHIDLWKWKH³RQHDQGWUXH UHOLJLRQDQGWKHVDPHZKLFK$GDPUHFHLYHGIURP*RG´645 The overthrow of worldly authority, which the Hanovers embodied for the American revolutionaries as well as for the Jacobites, went hand in hand with a religious restoration and the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 641 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 207-9. 642 Ibid, 219-20. 643 Ibid, 240-1, 252-3. 644 Ibid, 249. 645 Ibid, 248. &+'! ! return of human aIIDLUVWRWKHLUSUHODSVDULDQLQQRFHQFH$³UHYROXWLRQ´ZDVWKHFRPSOHWLRQRI both a political and a cosmic cycle. Still, the understanding of revolution expressed in the final higher degrees is fundamentally metaphysical rather than political. Since the Masonic duty is to usher in the millennium, the form of government embraced in the interim is incidental, secondary to the cosmic processes at work. The Masonic ritual texts show the influences of eighteenth-century religious writings, such as Andrew MicKDHO5DPVD\¶VTravels of Cyrus of 1727, which depicts the Persian prince voyaging through the ancient world and discerning the primitive religious WUXWKXQGHUO\LQJDOOUHOLJLRQVLQFOXGLQJWKHXQLW\RI*RGDQGKXPDQLW\¶VIDOOIURPJUDFHDQG eventual redemption. Likewise, elements of the higher degrees echo the teachings of the English P\VWLF:LOOLDP/DZDQRQMXULQJ-DFRELWHZKRLGHQWLILHGWKH6XQZLWK*RG¶VXQG\LQJFUHDWLYH fire. Law rejected the notion of creation ex nihilo in favor of an eternal, cyclical universe; the lecture of the twenty-first degree similarly claims WKDW³9000 years before the era of Adam this ZRUOGGLGH[LVW´646 /DZ¶VA Practical Treatise Upon Christian Perfection probably VXSSOLHGWKHWLWOHRI0RULQ¶V-degree Rite of Perfection. The revolutionary restoration envisioned by Ramsay, Law, and the authors of the higher degrees were ultimately anti-political rather than democratic or egalitarian, looking to the spiritual enthronement of an enlightened elite. The Knight of the 6XQGHJUHHUHSHDWHGO\FRQGHPQVWKH³YXOJDUSUHMXGLFH´WKDWPRWLYDWHV PRVWRIPDQNLQGZDUQLQJWKHFDQGLGDWH³QRWWRVXIIHU\RXUVHOIWREHGUDZQDZD\E\WKH PXOWLWXGHRIEOLQGDQGLJQRUDQW´0RUHHYHQWKDQWKH&UDIWGHJUHHVWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHVVWUHVV that only a small circle of wise men can lead the world into the Millennium. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 646 Young, Religion and Enlightenemnt, 130-5; Henderson, Chevalier Ramsay, 124-9; Francken Manuscript 1783, 236-7. &+(! ! As the Masons attained greater prominence and political influence in the later years of the Revolution, the tensions between public power and the renunciation of worldly ambition, beWZHHQUHSXEOLFDQLVPDQGHOLWLVWVHFUHF\RQO\KHLJKWHQHG7KH0DVRQV¶VHOI-importance could not go unchallenged in an increasingly egalitarian society. In Providence, the reopened lodge, still led by Jabez Bowen, continued to grow at a strong pace, initiating or admitting fifty-nine men between the beginning of 1780 and the end of 1783. In October 1781, the Franco- American victory at Yorktown effectively ended the war on the eastern seaboard, while battles with British-aligned Indian nations continued in the Mississippi basin; with the armed forces withdrawn far to the south and west, the new initiates in Rhode Island were mainly civilians, including many skilled artisans and professionals such as the silversmith John Gibbs, the clockmaker Caleb Wheaton, the surgeon Joseph Bowen, and the pewtersmith Gershom Jones. 2Q'HFHPEHUWKH0DVRQVKHOGD6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\FHOHEUDWLRQIHDWXULQJDQRUDWLRQE\ the physician and militia captain Dr. Thomas Truman, who had joined the lodge in September of the prHFHGLQJ\HDU,QKLVRUDWLRQ7UXPDQVRXJKWWRDGGUHVVWKHDQ[LHWLHVFDXVHGE\WKH0DVRQV¶ newfound political and military importance. Matter-of-IDFWDQGWLPHO\LIKDUGO\LQVSLUHG7UXPDQ¶VRUDWLRQFRPEDWVWKHVXVSLFLRQVWKDW increasingly surrounded the Craft. The physician emphasizes the importance of fraternal EHQHYROHQFHZKLFKKHFDOOV³WKHFULWHULRQRIWKH&KULVWLDQIDLWK´647 and cribs many ideas and SKUDVHVIURP$QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions DQGIURP7KRPDV3ROOHQ¶V³8QLYHUVDO/RYH´+H defends the Craft DJDLQVWWKHPDOLJQLPSUHVVLRQVFUHDWHGE\³WKHLUUHJXODUEHKDYLRURIVRPHRI WKHEUHWKUHQ´SRLQWLQJRXWWKDWDOOLQVWLWXWLRQVQRPDWWHUKRZDGPLUDEOHLQWKHLUSULQFLSOHVKDYH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 647 Thomas Truman, An Oration, Delivered in Public, at the State-House, In Providence (Providence: John Carter, 1782), p. 8. &+)! ! some wicked members. Here, Truman traces a line of argument already familiar from earlier Masonic orations, but he goes on to address the issue of Masonic secrecy much more DJJUHVVLYHO\WKDQKLVSUHGHFHVVRUVKDG+HVDUFDVWLFDOO\LPLWDWHVWKH0DVRQV¶XQQDPHG detractors, declaring, Ay! but the secrets! those dreadful, dangerous secrets, which you are afraid or ashamed the world should be acquainted with! what are they?²Secrets indeed!²,ID%URWKHULQQHFHVVLW\VKRXOGDVNUHOLHIDQGUHFHLYHDVVLVWDQFHµWLV known only to the benefactor and himself; for true Charity is no boaster. If a %URWKHUEHDGPRQLVKHGµWLVLQSULYDWHIRULWZRXOGEHXQNLQGDVZHOODV dangerous, to give cause of triumph to the malicious.648 Likewise, Truman explains, the names of candidates rejected for initiation are kept secret so as to avoid causing embarrassment. The physician conveniently neglects to mention the secret rituals that punctuate Masonic life, instead pointing to the broader usefulness of secrecy and arguing WKDW³would people in general, in the common concerns of life, so far imitate the Brethren of the lodge, as to keep their own personal affairs and particular business to themselves, I am persuaded WKH\ZRXOGVRRQEHFRQYLQFHGRIWKHXWLOLW\RIWKHPHDVXUH´+HGULYHVWKHSRLQWKRPHZLWKDQ H[DPSOHVXLWHGWRZDUWLPH ³KRZRIWHQKDVD*eneral, at the head of an army, found all his plans frustrated, and the operations of a whole campaign defeated, for want of this poor, despised, and VHHPLQJO\LQVLJQLILFDQWDUW"´649 7KRXJKPRVWO\YDJXHDQGJHQHUDOLQLWVWHUPV7UXPDQ¶VRUDWLRQLVHYLGHQFH of the increasing controversy surrounding the Masons as they became associated with political power LQWKH\RXQJUHSXEOLF7KH$PHULFDQ)UDWHUQLW\¶VVXFFHVVLQUHFUXLWLQJPDQ\RIWKHOHDGLQJ Continental officers and Revolutionary statesmen at once attracted suspicion and offered a shield !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 648 Truman, 11-12. 649 Truman, 12. &+*! ! DJDLQVWLW$V7UXPDQDUJXHV³,WLVQRWWREHLPDJLQHGWKDWPHQRIVHQVHKRQRUDQGUHSXWDWLRQ if they had been ensnared into a foolish or delusory scheme, would contribute to its HQFRXUDJHPHQWDQGVXSSRUW´UHPLQGLQJ KLV%UHWKUHQWKDWD0DVRQLFEDGJHZDV³DWWKLVGD\DQ KRQRUWRWKHJUHDWHVWJHQHUDODQGPRVWUHQRZQHGSDWULRWRQ(DUWK´)LQDOO\7UXPDQVDZILWWR OD\KLVKDQGRQKLVKHDUW³DQGLQWKHSUHVHQFHRIWKLVUHVSHFWDEOHDVVHPEO\DIILUPWKDW,QHYHU\HW discovered any thing in Free-Masonry, that was inconsistent with the strictest rules of morality, RUWKHSHDFHDQGJRRGRUGHURIVRFLHW\´650 7KHWHQVLRQEHWZHHQVHFUHF\DQGSXEOLFYLVLELOLW\UHIOHFWHGLQ7UXPDQ¶VRUDWLRQZRXOG only intensify before the end of the eighteenth century. Secrecy is a double-edged sword: at the same time that it offers the allure of mystery, it attracts suspicion and fear. The ambivalent SXEOLFUHVSRQVHWR0DVRQLFVHFUHF\ZDVHVSHFLDOO\LQWHQVHLQWKHQHZFLYLFUHSXEOLF7UXPDQ¶V address, though sensible and well-stated, is mainly defensive, lacking the poetic sweep of 9DUQXP¶VRUDWLRQRIWKUHH\HDUVHDUOLHU7KHSK\VLFLDQPDNHVDOPRVWQRPHQWLRQRIWKHWKHPHV of immortality, Temple-building, or the apocalypse, which so saturate the higher degrees and 9DUQXP¶VDGGUHVV+RZWKHFLWL]HQVRIWKHQHZUHSXEOLFUHFHLYHGDQGUHVSRQGHGWRWKH apocalyptic understanding of the Revolution cannot be found in Masonic orations so much as in everyday art that Rhode Islanders created in the early 1780s. Considering the Masonic fascination with death, resurrection, and immortality, it should not be surprising that Masonic and apocalyptic symbols appeared on gravestones of the Revolutionary era, casting independence as a step toward the final judgment. Funerary art, like Masonic ritual, offered a venue for the resolution of the psychic upheaval of the break with the monarch. In the early 1780s, smallpox and other diseases that festered in army encampments !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 650 Truman, 13-14. &++! ! swept through North America, killing thousands. As burial of the dead became an ever more frequent ritual, Masonic and apocalyptic motifs proliferated in Rhode Island cemeteries. A GLVWLQFWLYHVW\OHRIVWRQHFDUYLQJZKLFK,ZLOOFDOO³6RORPRQLF´IORXULVKHGLQ5KRGH,VODQGDQG reached its pHDNRISRSXODULW\MXVWDWWKHWLPHRI'U7UXPDQ¶VRUDWLRQIXUWKHUGHPRQVWUDWLQJWKH connections among Freemasonry, the Revolution, and apocalypticism. Several Rhode Island Freemasons were memorialized with Solomonic graves, along with many of their wives and FORVHUHODWLRQVUHIOHFWLQJPHQ¶VHIIRUWVWRILWWKHLURZQSHUVRQDOWULDOVLQWRDFRVPLFQDUUDWLYH The Solomonic style of gravestone arose when some Rhode Island stonecarvers began to replace the single winged angel in the tympanum, which had previously been almost universal in New England cemeteries, with an empty tympanum surmounted by two cherubim. The core motifs of the Solomonic style, of which nearly every gravestone of this type includes at least two, are: 1. Twin pillars, often entwined with vegetation and surmounted by globes or fruit 2. A rising sun with a face in the tympanum 3. Two cherubim framing the tympanum, with wingtips touching Other common features of the Solomonic gravestone include a masonry archway surrounding the tympanum and inscriptions invoking immortality and resurrection. Some of these features appeared sporadically as early as the 1750s, such as the twin pillars seen on the gravestone of Samuel Comstock, who was interred in Providence in 1755. However, one of the first gravestones in which these unusual features combine to form a distinctive new style is that of Thomas Kinnicutt, who died in 1767 in Providence. As Kinnicutt died without issue, his estate was administered by his nephew, Ebenezer Thompson, the formHU6HFUHWDU\RI6DLQW-RKQ¶V &+,! ! Lodge of Providence.651 The stone, which Thompson probably commissioned, is framed by two Corinthian pillars supporting a masonry archway. These architectural forms evoke the twin SLOODUVIODQNLQJWKHHQWUDQFHZD\WR6RORPRQ¶VTemple as well as the stone vault in which the 5R\DO$UFKOHJHQGWDNHVSODFH,QWKHQHJDWLYHVSDFHVEHWZHHQWKHDUFKZD\DQGWKHJUDYHVWRQH¶V upper corners are two cherubim with wingtips extended towards one another in the manner of the cherubim guarding the Ark of the Covenant; this motif, like the Royal Arch degree itself, may originate from wordplay between the near-KRPRQ\PV³DUFK´DQG³DUN´7UDFLQJWKHLQVLGHRI WKHDUFKZD\RQ.LQQLFXWW¶VKHDGVWRQHLVWKHVORJDQ³,QKRSHVRIEOHVVHGUHVXUUHFWLRQ´ ! P("B,+-%*,$%&$92%G"+$[:**:>=--$\6766$ʹ$67S7]0$'%(-2$.=(:"5$P(%=*30$A(%B:3,*>,8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 651 Providence Gazette, Feb. 14, 1767, p. 4; NEHGS database. &,-! ! (DUO\6RORPRQLFJUDYHVWRQHVVXFKDV.LQQLFXWW¶VH[SUHVVWKHH[SHFWDWLRQRIDFRPLQJ messianic age by evoking the lost Temple. As historian of colonial Judaism Laura Leibman notes, for those who had studied Kabbalah and other mystical traditions, ³to call upon the Temple in Jerusalem [was] to engage in messianic longing. Ezekiel had predicted that the messiah would restore the Temple in Jerusalem, and during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the TemplHZDVDPHWRQ\PIRUWKH0HVVLDK´7KHSLOODUVEHLQJWZLQVUHSUHVHQW brotherhood as well as access to the heavens, and they appeared on many Jewish gravestones in Amsterdam and Hamburg between the 1670s and the 1740s, reflecting the messianic furor surrounding Sabbetai Zevi. The Solomonic style, which always features the two pillars, first appeared in Rhode Island during the imperial crisis of the 1760s and became more common as the conflict escalated. A number of graves carved in Rhode Island during the Revolutionary War take on further details with mystical import, such as that of Sarah Whitehorne who died in Providence in 1777, showing twin pillars entwined with vines and supporting small orbs. The vines and fruit seen on the pillars evoke the pomegranates that supposedly grew atop Jachin and Boaz, symbolizing regeneration²Masonry Dissected GHVFULEHVWKHSLOODUVDVFRYHUHGLQ³QHW- ZRUNDQGSRPHJUDQDWHV´²ZKLOHWKHRUEVHPSKDVL]HWKHSLOODUV¶URle as a link between the earthly and heavenly spheres.652 The most innovative and distinctive feature of the Solomonic style in Rhode Island appeared only after 1780, during the dire and uncertain final years of the war²namely, the placement of a rising sun with a face in the tympanum. This motif of course echoes the importance of the sun to Masonry, as a symbol of God and of the lodge Master, as seen in 6DPXHO.LQJ¶V SULQWDQGLQWKHOHFWXUHVRIWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHV7KHDQWKURSRPRUSKL]HGVXQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 652 Leibman, Messianism, 59-60, 265-7. &,$! ! appears in a rough but dramatic form on the gravestone of Lois Baker, who died in Warren in 1781. There was no Masonic lodge in Warren at this time, and it is unknown whether her husband, Jesse Baker, was a Mason, although her son, Jesse Baker, Jr., went on to become one of the founding members of the lodge that formed in Warren in 1796.653 %DNHU¶VJUDYHVWRQHVKRZV twin pillars on pedestals supporting amorphous figures that may represent foliage or smoke. In the tympanum, beneath a simple archway, is a round face surrounded by a sunburst. Extending IURPWKHILJXUH¶VPRXWKDUHWZRWUXPSHWVDQGUDGLDWLQJWKURXJKWKHEDFNJURXQGRIWKHVFHQHDUH small zigzag lines representing sound. The full symbolism of the Solomonic style is made PDQLIHVWRQ%DNHU¶VKHDGVWRQHFDUved within days of the Battle of Yorktown: here is the rising sun of Judgment Day, trumpeting the Resurrection. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 653 Special Return for Warren; NEHGS database. &,%! ! ! P("B,+-%*,$%&$I%:+$."?,($\>"8$67^K$ʹ$67W6]0$'%(-2$.=(:"5$P(%=*30$D"((,*8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 &,&! ! ! P("B,+-%*,$%&$I%:+$."?,($\>"8$67^K$ʹ$67W6]0$'%(-2$.=(:"5$P(%=*30$D"((,*$\3,-":5]8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 The rising sun motif grew in popularity in Rhode Island between 1781 and 1783, as the prospects of a peace treaty recognizing American independence increased. The vast majority of gravestones at this time were unsigned, and their carvers cannot be traced. However, one particularly talented sculptor, Gabriel Allen, who was probably the master of the Solomonic style, signed a headstone that he made for Anne Hopkins, the wife of Stephen Hopkins, in 1783. The Hopkins stone features fluted Ionic pillars surmounted by flowers, a slender masonry arch, and a sun with its eyes barely peeking over the horizon. No surviving record attests to Gabriel $OOHQ¶VLQLWLDWLRQDVD0DVRQEXWDVRI$OOHQZDV serving as a lieutenant in Captain John 7RSKDP¶VFRPSDQ\DORQJZLWK-RVLDK)ODJJ7KRPDV&DUOLVOHDQG6DPXHO6QRZDOORIZKRP &,'! ! were Freemasons, with Flagg serving at the time as Junior Warden of the Providence lodge. 654 There can be little doubt that Allen was exposed to Masonic ideas and iconography during the Revolution, and there is a good chance that he carved the second masterpiece of the Solomonic style²the gravestone of Israel Stillwell, a Providence boy who died a few weeks short of his second birthday, in September 17,VUDHO¶VIDWKHUWKHWD\ORU'DQLHO6WLOOZHOOKDGEHHQD Freemason since 1779, and had served as a private in the artillery company commanded by Thomas Carlisle and Josiah Flagg, through whom Stillwell may have been acquainted with Allen.655 7KHJUDYHVWRQHIRU6WLOOZHOO¶V\RXQJVRQIHDWXUHVIOXWHGSLOODUVHQWZLQHGZLWK flowering vines and supporting flowers set within orbs. Over the inscription rises a sun surrounded by shallow rays that subtly play on the grain of the slate, an inventive means of representing light. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 654 -RKQ7RSKDP $XJ5KRGH,VODQGRIILFHUV¶SHWLWLRQER[ IROGHU5HYROXWLRQDU\:DU Papers, RIHS; Master Mason certificate issued to Samuel Snow, August 24, 1780, RIHS Manuscripts, vol. 14, p. 337, RIHS. 655 Josiah Flagg and Thomas Carlile: Aug. 1780, pay abstract, box 8, folder 50, Revolutionary War Papers, RIHS. &,(! ! ! P("B,+-%*,$%&$4+(",5$Q-:55@,55$\67W6$ʹ$67W^]0$'%(-2$.=(:"5$P(%=*30$A(%B:3,*>,8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 The Solomonic style remained common through most of the 1780s, particularly on the graves of men and women connected to Freemasonry. Captain Thomas Carlisle, who had joined the Providence lodge on December 23, 1778, just a week after its reopening, and served in military units with Gabriel Allen and Daniel Stillwell, died in 1785; his gravestone in the burial ground RI6DLQW-RKQ¶V&KXUFKVKRZVWZLQSLOODUVVXSSRUWLQJDPDVRQU\DUFK,QWKHFRUQHUVLQ place of the two cherubim seen on earlier Solomonic graves, the stone features abstract forms &,)! ! which may represent sunlight beaming downward through clouds. The two cherubim are retained on the gravestone of Gilbert Deblois, who died in the same year at the age of twenty- two; his headstone was most likely commissioned by his father, Lewis Deblois, a Boston merchant who had served for a time as Senior Warden of that town¶V)LUVW/RGJHEHIRUHIOHHLQJ to London as a Loyalist.656 ! 'ƌĂǀĞƐƚŽŶĞŽĨdŚŽŵĂƐĂƌůŝƐůĞ;Ě͘ϭϳϴϱͿ͕^ƚ͘:ŽŚŶ͛ƐĞŵĞƚĞƌLJ͕WƌŽǀŝĚĞŶĐĞ8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 656 Proceedings in Masonry, 36, 45; Providence Gazette, Nov. 1, 1780, p. 4. &,*! ! ! P("B,+-%*,$%&$P:5C,(-$_,C5%:+$\>"8$67S^$ʹ$ϭϳϴϱͿ͕^ƚ͘:ŽŚŶ͛ƐĞŵĞƚĞƌLJ͕WƌŽǀŝĚĞŶĐĞ8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 While the tympanums of the Carlisle and Deblois gravestones, both found in the Episcopal churchyard in Providence, are empty, the anthropomorphized sun continued to appear in Rhode Island sporadically through the 1780s. On the gravestone of Olive Paine of Bristol, who died in 1786, the rising sun is again paired with twin pillars entwined with flowering vines; on that of Sarah Allen, also interred in East Burial Ground in Bristol in 1785, the rising sun appears sounding a trumpet as lesser lights rise from the earth around her.657 Nonetheless, the Solomonic motifs had passed the peak of their popularity, and after 1786 they gradually disappeared, replaced by the image of an urn under a willow tree, which became nearly as !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 657 Dickran and Tashjian, Memorials for Children of Change: The Art of Early New England Stonecarving (Wesleyan U. Press, 1974): 166-7. It is possible that Sarah Allen was a kinswoman of Gabriel Allen, who was born in nearby Rehoboth, Mass. &,+! ! ubiquitous in the 1790s and early 1800s as the single winged angel had been a century before. The twin pillars made what was probably their last appearance in Rhode Island in 1792, on the 3URYLGHQFHJUDYHVWRQHRI'DQLHO6WLOOZHOO¶VIDWKHU-in-law, Christopher Sheldon, where they support urns rather than orbs or flowers. It is impossible to know exactly what meanings the stonecarvers of Rhode Island intended to convey through their Solomonic motifs²passing aesthetic fashions may have no reasoning behind them at all²but the timing of the VW\OH¶VDSSHDUDQFHDQGLWVIUHTXHQW connection to the Freemasons suggest that by 1780, some Rhode Islanders saw the Revolution as DVWDJHLQWKHXQIROGLQJ(QG7LPHV7KDWV\PEROVFRQQHFWHGWR6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHVKRXOG appear on gravestones is not surprising: not only are tombstones an art form associated with mortality and resurrection, but they are markers of the location of a human body, which the esoteric tradition identifies with the Temple. Kabalistic art draws parallels between the architecture of a sacred building and the anatomy of a human body, 658 and the rising sun and twin pillars on a Solomonic gravestone can be seen to echo the head and limbs of a human ILJXUHPXFKDVWKHVRODUMHZHODQGWZLQSLOODUVVWDQGLQIRUWKHKHDGDQGOHJVRIWKH³)UHH0ason IRUP¶GRXWRIWKHPDWHULDOVRIKLVORGJH´LQ6DPXHO.LQJ¶VSULQW$VWKHOHFWXUHRIWKHWZHQW\- WKLUGGHJUHHRIWKH5LWHRI3HUIHFWLRQDWWHVWV³7KH7HPSOHUHSUHVHQWVRXUERG\ZKLFKZHDUH REOLJHGWRSUHVHUYHE\RXUQDWXUDOIHHOLQJ ´659 as the body will rise from the grave at the dawn of the Millennium, so will the Temple rise from its ruins. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 658 6HHIRUH[DPSOH³$1HZ+RXVH´IURP7RELDV.RKHQ¶V0D¶DVHK7RELDK (Venice, 1707), p. 106a, cited in Leibman, Messianism, Secrecy, and Mysticism, p. 4. 659 Francken manuscript 1783, p. 249-50. &,,! ! The Solomonic style appears to have been unique to Rhode Island. While Massachusetts stonecarvers in the 1760s occasionally depicted twin cherubim or the angel Gabriel trumpeting the Resurrection,660 millennial motifs joined with architectural forms only in Rhode Island cemeteries. The interest in the Apocalypse, though widespread, took on a unique importance in a state that had survived fierce division between Whigs and Tories and three years of crippling RFFXSDWLRQEHIRUHKRVWLQJWKHQHZUHSXEOLF¶V)UHQFKDOOLHV7KHVW\OHOLQJHUHGWKHORQJHVWLQ Warren and Bristol, towns that had remained in American hands but sustained heavy damage from British raids. The riVLQJVXQPRWLIHFKRHVWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHV¶REVHVVLRQZLWKVRODUF\FOHV which parallel the course of political revolution, and the Solomonic style, by recreating icons VHHQZLWKLQ0DVRQLFORGJHVGHPRQVWUDWHVWKHEHOLHILQDWUXH³DSRFDO\SVH´LQWKHRULJLQDl sense²that of an uncovering of what has been hidden. Furthermore, the display of Masonic and apocalyptic symbols outside of the sanctum of the lodge suggests the influence of Jewish millennialism. Congregational ministers in Connecticut and Massachusetts sometimes presented the Revolution as a sign of the End Times; for example, the Continental Army chaplain Timothy Dwight of Massachusetts predicted that, ³the Empire of North-$PHULFDZLOOEHWKHODVWRQHDUWK´DQGZRXOGIXOILOO³WKDWUHPDUNDEOH Jewish tUDGLWLRQWKDWWKHODVWWKRXVDQG\HDUVRIWKHUHLJQRIWLPHZRXOG«EHFRPHDJORULRXV 6DEEDWKRISHDFHSXULW\DQGIHOLFLW\´661 However, Dwight and other Congregational ministers belonged to a church with strict anti-iconographic precepts, according to which the Word alone would proclaim the coming Judgment. In contrast, while the Jewish faith is also anti- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 660 Dickran and Tashjian, 85-96; Harriette Forbes, Gravestones of Early New England (Boston, 1927): 122-5. 661 C. A. Patrides and Joseph Wittreich, eds., The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature (Ithaca, N.Y., 1984): 288-91. '--! ! iconographic, the mystical and esoteric traditions of early modern Judaism allowed for the revelation of secret knowledge and symbols in anticipation of the Messiah. Active preparation for the Messiah and for the return to Jerusalem was common in colonial Judaism, particularly in 1HZSRUWDQGDVKLVWRULDQ/DXUD/HLEPDQSRLQWVRXW³by strategically showing things that should be hidden, the Jews of the Atlantic world emphasized that they lived in an era of redemption. When the Messiah came, secrecy would end´662 A Jewish messianic understanding of Masonic symbols may have been transmitted to northern Rhode Island by Moses Michael Hays via his contacts with Peter Turner and Nathaniel Mumford. Additionally, Providence Masons may have been exposed to Jewish West Indian Freemasonry before the Revolution through Daniel Cohen Peixotto, an Amsterdam-born Mason who introduced the Craft to Curaçao in the 1740s; according to Dutch estate records, Cohen Peixotto died in Providence in 1769.663 Whatever the means of their exposure to Jewish and Masonic millennial prophesies, the Masons of Revolutionary Rhode Island engaged in a game of secrecy and revelation, transmuting their personal grief into messianic hope. 7KH5KRGH,VODQG)UHHPDVRQV¶JDPHRIFRQFHDOPHQWDQGUHYHODWLRQUHDFKHGLWVFOLPD[RQ 'HFHPEHULQ-DPHV0LWFKHOO9DUQXP¶VVHFRQG6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\RUDWLRQ2QWKDWGD\ 66 Brethren marched to the EpiscoSDO&KXUFKLQ3URYLGHQFHWRKHDU9DUQXP¶VDGGUHVVIROORZLQJ ZKLFKWKH\UHPRYHGWR+DFNHU¶VWDYHUQIRUHQWHUWDLQPHQW664 By the time that Varnum took the SXOSLWRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V&KXUFKRQWKDW'HFHPEHUGD\$PHULFDQHQYR\VZHUHQHJRWLDWLQJZLWK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 662 Leibman, Messianism, Secrecy, and Mysticism -RQDWKDQ6DUQD³7KH0\VWLFDO:RUOGRI &RORQLDO$PHULFDQ-HZV´in Mediating Modernity: Essays in Honor of Michael A. Meyer, Ed. Lauren B. Strauss and Michael Brenner (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2008), 185-94. 663 Isaac S. Emmanuel, Precious Stones of the Jews of Curaçao (New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1957), 397. 664 Providence Gazette, Dec. 28, 1782, p. 3. '-$! ! their British counterparts for recognition of American independence and had already signed a preliminary draft of the Peace of Paris. Varnum had only returned to Rhode Island the preceding summer; between 1780 and 1782, he had served in Philadelphia as a member of Congress, where he reportedly exercised considerable influence on the committee for apportioning wartime expenses among the several states.665 In dedicating his oration to George Washington, Varnum WRRNWKHOLEHUW\RILGHQWLI\LQJKLPVHOIDVD³)ULHQGDQG%URWKHU´RIWKHFRPPDQGHU-in-chief, which surely added immeasurably to his prestige. Varnum, by that December day, had gone through the same journey in his political life that the higher degrees of Masonry traced in myth² from powerlessness and exile (from his native Massachusetts) through violence and self- discipline to the attainment of authority. General Varnum embodied the chivalric hero celebrated in the higher degrees, combining the wisdom of the esoteric sage with the disinterested virtue of the knight. 9DUQXP¶VRUDWLRQVHUYHVLQODUJHSDUWWRH[SODLQDQGMXVWLI\WKH0DVRQV¶QHZIRXQG SROLWLFDOSURPLQHQFHWKURXJKDJDPHRIVHOHFWLYHUHYHODWLRQ³7RJUDWLI\WKHFXULRXV´9DUQXP EHJLQV³LQZKDWHYHUPD\EHXVHIXOWRPDQNLQGLQJHQHUDOLVDGHEWZHRZHWRhumanity; but FXULRVLW\DERXWWKHSHFXOLDULWLHVRIRXUVRFLHW\FDQQRWEHVDWLVILHGXSRQWKHSUHVHQWRFFDVLRQ´ While the End of Days may be near, it has not yet arrived, and revelation must be selective; only WKHXQLYHUVDOWKHPHVRIPDQNLQG¶VFRVPLFMRXUQey, of which Masonry is a part, may be GLVFXVVHG ³6RPHRIWKHIXQGDPHQWDOSULQFLSOHVRQZKLFKWKHIDEULFRI0DVRQU\LVHUHFWHGDQG ZKLFKGLUHFWRXUUHVHDUFKHVLQWKHFDXVHRIWUXWK´WKH*HQHUDOSURPLVHV³ZLOOEHVXEPLWWHGWRWKH candid attention of thiVSROLWHDVVHPEO\´9DUQXPZKRVHPLQGZDVRIDQLQHOXFWDEO\QDUUDWLYH bent, proceeded to recapitulate the history of the world and humankind as understood from a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 665 Varnum of New York City, 24-6. '-%! ! 1HRSODWRQLFYLHZSRLQW³%HIRUHWKLVJOREHDQGZRUOGVLQQXPHUDEOHZHUHIRUPHG´9DUQXP annRXQFHV³RPQLVFLHQFHWUXWKDQGZLVGRPH[LVWHG IURPWKLVHWHUQDOVRXUFHDURVHWKHYDVW variety of creation, continued by imperceptible gradations, from the minutest particle of DQLPDWHGPDWWHUWRWKHGHSXWHGVRYHUHLJQRIWKHXQLYHUVH0DQ´7KHKXPDQSXrsuit of KDSSLQHVVDQG³LPSURYHPHQWRIWKHPHQWDOIDFXOWLHV´VHHNDVWKHLUXOWLPDWHHQGWKHUHWXUQWRWKH original source of existence. In this pursuit mankind has developed the liberal arts, civil society, DQGILQDOO\WKHVWXG\RI³WKHPRWLRQVUHYROXWLRQVDQGKDUPRQ\RIWKHKHDYHQO\ERGLHV´,QD IORXULVKUHPLQLVFHQWRI*LRUGDQR%UXQR9DUQXPDVVHUWVWKDWWKHVH³LQQXPHUDEOHZRUOGV´VHUYH DVWKH³UHVLGHQFHRIP\ULDGVRIEHLQJVZKRDUHJUDGXDOO\DWWUDFWHGWRWKHLPPRYDEOHFHQWHU´666 The impulse of attraction towards the source and center of existence manifests itself in WKH³VRFLDOYLUWXHV´RI³EHQHYROHQFHFKDULW\DQGIULHQGVKLS´ZKLFKRXJKWLGHDOO\WRJRYHUQDOO human relations. However, the dispersal of humankind into various regions and the confusion of WRQJXHVKDYH³UHQGHUHGWKHSURJUHVVRIFLYLOL]DWLRQXQHTXDO´OHDGLQJWRKRVWLOLWLHVZLWKLQDQG EHWZHHQVRFLHWLHV³7RVXSSUHVVWKHIRUPHUDQGUHSHOWKHODWWHU´9DUQXPFODLPV³IRUFHZDV introduced, which gave rise to the establishment of political dominion, and subjected mankind to WKHODZVRIXVXUSDWLRQ´:KLOH9DUQXP¶VFRVPLFQDUUDWLYHLVWKXVIDUDIDPLOLDUUHWUHDGLQJRI Hermetic and Neoplatonic ideas, his political egalitarianism is more novel; in a clear allusion to American independence, the General proclaims that the fallen state of humankind began to be UHYHUVHGZKHQ³WKHPLQGRIWKHRSSUHVVHGUHYROWHGDJDLQVWWKHRSSUHVVRUDQGLQWKHHYHQW contributed to restore the original equality which constitutes the basis of civil society; and which will finally supercede the necessity of political institutions, and reconduct mankind to their !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 666 James Mitchell Varnum, An Oration Delivered in the Episcopal Church in Providence. (Providence: John Carter, 1783), 5-7. '-&! ! JORULRXVGHVWLQDWLRQV´667 Thus, the Revolution in which Varnum had taken part was an outward manifestation of the cosmic return journey in which all of humankind is involved; rule by mutual consent is a way-station on the path toward Edenic anarchy. 0DQNLQG¶VSROLWLFDOMRXUQH\RIUHWXUQWRLWVSULPLWLYHRULJLQVKDVLWVDQDORJXHLQWKHUHDOP of religion. As the minds of both oppressor and oppressed were perverted by power, the ³UHOLJLRQRIQDWXUHZDVIRUJRW´ UXOHUV³LPSRVHGWKHPVHOYHVDVJRGVXSRQWKHFRQTXHUHG´ $OWKRXJKWKH&UHDWRUVDZILWWRUHYHDO+LPVHOIWKURXJKGLYLQHLQVSLUDWLRQ³SDUWLFXODUUHOLJLRQV soon characterized the several nations; and flying from the immovable center, became subdivided into numerous sects, according to the ignorance, the caprice, or the mistaken MXGJPHQWVRIPHQ´0RVWWUDJLFDOO\RIDOOSHUVHFXWLRQZDVXQOHDVKHGDV³WKHKHDGVRIHDFK religion assumed the authority of dictatLQJWRWKHZRUOG>«@DQG«RYHUZKHOPHGWKH(DUWKZLWK KXPDQEORRG´$OPRVWLQWKHPDQQHURID&RPPRQZHDOWKUDGLFDO3URWHVWDQW9DUQXPGHFODUHV that reformations in religion have, in some measure, kept pace with the advancements of civilization; and the rights of humanity have prevailed over the horrors of persecution. When the knowledge of these rights shall be fully imbibed, all distinctions in religion will cease; and mankind embrace one religion, already unfolded in the nature, order, and harmony, of truth.668 ,Q9DUQXP¶VRZQYHUVLRQRIWKH0DVRQLFZRUOG-view, the cessation of religious persecution necessarily implies the end of religious difference, with uncorrupted minds freely embracing a purified faith. Political revolutions and religious reformations together presage the arrival of that grand, that august scene, when this globe, with its kindred orbs, which in spiral revolutions are now accelerating to their common center, shall plunge into !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 667 Ibid, 7-8. 668 Ibid, 8-9. '-'! ! yonder glorious luminary; and being refined by aethereal fire, will form more extensive circuits in the immensity of space.669 Obviously, we have traveled a long way from the Episcopal church in Providence one ZLQWHU¶VDIWHUQRRQLQWKHVWRWKHIXWXUHDJHZKHQWKHSODQHWVZLOOFUDVKLQWRWKHVXQ+RZ this grand narrative relates to his Masonic audience, Varnum only briefly sketches in the final part of his address. Vouching for the authenticity of Masonry, Varnum asserts WKDW³through all WKHGLVDVWHUVWKDWKDYHEHIDOOHQWKHKXPDQUDFH«RXUVRFLHW\KDVUHPained substantially the VDPH«7KH\KDYHSUHVHUYHGDQXQLYHUVDOODQJXDJHDQXQLYHUVDOEHQHYROHQFHDQGDVDFUHG UHJDUGWRDQXQLYHUVDOUHOLJLRQ´7KH0DVRQVKROGWKHUHPQDQWVRIPDQNLQG¶VXQLW\DQG innocence, the prisca sapientia that preserves the primitive faith. Moreover, the Masons in his DXGLHQFHOLYH³LQDULVLQJHPSLUH´ZKLFK³E\DUHYROXWLRQXQSDUDOOHOHGLQWKHKLVWRU\RIPDQNLQG H[KLELWVWKHIDLUHVWSURVSHFWVRIRIIHULQJDOOLWVKRPDJHDWWKHVKULQHRIKXPDQLW\´,QWKHQHZ age that was then GDZQLQJ9DUQXPWHOOVKLV0DVRQLFFRPSDWULRWVWKHLUGXW\³DVPHQDQG 0DVRQV´ZRXOGEH³LQDYRLGLQJWKRVHSHUVRQDODQLPRVLWLHVDQGSDUW\DOWHUFDWLRQVZKLFKGLVWXUE WKHKDSSLQHVVRIVRFLHW\´670 The new republican society must overthrow not only British rule, but the selfish and competitive impulses that had necessitated the existence of government in the ILUVWSODFH 9DUQXP¶VUHYROXWLRQZDVQRWSROLWLFDOEXWDQWL-political. (QWLUHO\DEVHQWIURP9DUQXP¶VRUDWLRQLVWKHWLPLGGHIHQVLYHQHVVRI7KRPDV7UXPDQ¶V address of the preceding year. The prominent involvement of the Masons in the Revolution and its aftermath did not lead Varnum toward cautious self-justification as it did Truman; rather, it led him to ever more grandiose pronouncements, as political developments seemed to fulfill his !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 669 Ibid, 9. 670 Ibid, 10. '-(! ! SURSKHWLFYLVLRQ/LNHWKH*HQHUDO¶V6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\RUDWLRQRIKLVDGGUHVVXQLWHV the Revolution, Freemasonry, and the apocalypse in a single narrative²but whereas the former speech acknowledges the grim realities of political and social strife, the latter announces their imminent end. In his short but ambitious address, Varnum takes on the role of Masonic statesman as well as that of the primitive man proclaiming, like John the Baptist or Elias Artista, the coming of a new dispensation. As historian J.G.A. Pocock has pointed out, early modern revolutionaries often turned to chiliastic excitement before settling upon civic republicanism; a ³6DYRQDURODQPRPHQW´SUHFHGHVWKH³0DFKLDYHOOLDQPRPHQW´671 Like the citizens of fifteenth- century Florence, the Americans of the 1780s faced the dilemma of how to realize eternal ideals ZLWKLQWKHWHPSRUDODQGVSDWLDOERXQGVRIDQHDUWKO\FRPPRQZHDOWK 9DUQXP¶VVHFRQGRUDWLRQ LOOXVWUDWHVWKH*HQHUDO¶VLQFUHDVLQJFRQILGHQce in human action as a complement to divine providence in instituting a godly state on earth. 8OWLPDWHO\ERWK9DUQXP¶VSURSKHWLFRSWLPLVPDQG7UXPDQ¶VFDXWLRQZRXOGSURYH necessary in the decade that followed the Treaty of Paris, during which the Rhode Island Masons found themselves in a golden predicament. Varnum himself apparently never took up a Masonic office, leaving the Providence lodge under the leadership of Jabez Bowen. In addition, by the time Varnum gave his oration in December, 1782, Moses Michael Hays had already taken up permanent residence in Boston; Hays was admitted to the Massachusetts Lodge in November of that year and elected its Worshipful Master in December, obliging Moses Seixas to assume the 0DVWHU¶VFKDLURI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLn Newport.672 Bowen, Seixas, and their trusted allies !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 671 J.G.A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1975), 375. 672 6%URFKHV³0RUH/LJKWRQ0RVHV0LFKDHO+D\V´Masonic Craftsman, Dec. 1939, p. 74-7. '-)! ! were tasked with leading the Craft in a newly independent state, laboring under nearly impossible expectations: the growth of Freemasonry during the Revolution and the anti-political hopes expressed in VDUQXP¶VRUDWLRQSODFHGWKH0DVRQVLQWKHUROHRIGLVLQWHUHVWHGDUELWHUV seeking harmony and conciliation in a society emerging from the frenzy of Revolution into the hard practical realities of self-government. No one in the new republic was more anxious than the Masonic Brethren were to emerge into a harmonious, non-political future, to move towards WKRVHLPDJLQHGDQGVWLOOXQFKDUWHG³JORULRXVGHVWLQDWLRQV´ '-*! ! 6(&7,21,9 ³7+(&216800$7,212)$//7+,1*6´²T H E FR E E M ASO NS IN T H E E A R L Y R EPUB L I C, 1781-1803 '-+! ! &KDSWHU ³7KH:HVWHUQ3LOJULPV´²James Mitchell Varnum and the Peacetime T ransition, 1781-1789 In 1782, with American independence looming on the horizon, the French-born American writer Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur published his famous Letters from an American Farmer, in which he attempted to describe and define a people who remained largely a mystery to Europeans as well as to themselves. In his third letter, the rustic farmer who narrates the book describes the mixture of languages and religions found in North America, leading him to pause DQGDVN³:KDWWKHQLVWKH$PHULFDQWKLVQHZPDQ"´7KH$PHULFDQKHFRQFOXGHVLVWKH HPLJUDQW³who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced´)ROORZLQJKLVFODVVLFSDHDQWR$PHULFDQ dynamism, the farmer closes on a mystical note, more strange to modern-GD\HDUV ³$PHULFDQV are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry which began long since in the east; they will finish the great circle.´673 As the medieval pilgrim and Crusader journeyed eastward to Jerusalem, so the American pilgrim journeys west toward a new, spiritual Zion. The new race is not free of the burdens of the past, EXWFDUULHVKXPDQNLQG¶VLQKHULWHGOHJDF\WRZDUGVLWVXOWLPDWHGHVWLQ\Hector Saint John de Crèvecoeur echoes, in a more subtle and pithy style, the cosmic history put forward in James 0LWFKHOO9DUQXP¶VRUDWLRQRI²a moral translatio in which the spiritual center of the world travels, like the sun, toward its final destination, where east will meet west and the old will be new. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 673 J. Hector Saint John Crèvecoeur, Letters from An American Farmer (New York: Fox, Duffield, and co., 1904), p. 55. '-,! ! In the aftermath of the Revolution, among the ruins of the old political order, the citizens of the American states set about rebuilding the institutions of the Atlantic seacoast towns and extending them westward into the North American landmass. They stood, according to their champions, at the beginning and the end of history; their reborn society would be at once new and ancient. The American Freemasons, having already laid claim to an unbroken tradition stretching back to Jerusalem and to a symbolic role as builders, felt the burden most acutely. Following the break with the Crown, which had been the conceptual anchor both of colonial civic life and of Freemasonry, the Masons took up the task assembling a new body of unifying, symbols and practices. &UqYHFRHXU¶VYLVLRQGHOLYHUHGWKURXJKWKHPRXWKRI\HWDQRWKHUUXVWLFSURSKHWVXJJHVW the great symbolic importance that Americans of the 1780s might attach to westward expansion, which offered not only potential wealth, but a sense of shared national destiny. Could his words KDYHEHHQIDUIURPWKH0DVRQV¶PLQGV in the aftermath of independence? Surely they were IDPLOLDUWR'U-RQDWKDQ$UQROGWKHDXWKRURI5KRGH,VODQG¶VGHFODUDWLRQRILQGHSHQGHQFHRI May, 1776, who became a Mason in 1778 and served as the Junior Warden of the Providence ORGJHEHIRUHWDNLQJXS-DPHV0LWFKHOO9DUQXP¶VVHDWLQ&RQJUHVV$UQROG in partnership with other wealthy Rhode Islanders, invested in Vermont land-development schemes; in 1786, he procured a charter for a new town that he helped to carve, with axes and fire, out of the Vermont IRUHVWDQGWKDWKHDQGKLVFRPSDWULRWVQDPHG³6DLQW-RKQVEXU\´LQKRQRURI&UqYHFRHXU674 Could WKH$PHULFDQ)DUPHU¶VDOOXVLRQWR³WKHJUHDWFLUFOH´KDYHEHHQIDUIURPWKHPLQGRI Moses Seixas, who after the death of Aaron Lopez and the departure of Moses Michael Hays !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 674 :LOOLDP:DWHUPDQ&KDSLQ³*HQHDORJ\RIWKHGHVFHQGDQWVRI'U-RQDWKDQ$UQROGRI 3URYLGHQFH5,DQG6W-RKQVEXU\9W´-RQDWKDQ$UQROG3DSHUV%R[5,+6 3eggy Pearl, A Brief History of Saint Johnsbury (Charleston, S. C.: The History Press, 2009), 13-15. '$-! ! from Newport was left in charge of both the Masonic lodge and the synagogue, whose Ark faced directly east toward Jerusalem? In the 1780s, problems and disputes that had been suppressed under the pressure of wartime came to the surface. The new republic faced a series of difficult choices involving relations among the states, the powers of Congress, the reorientation of commerce, the shortage of specie, the slave trade, conflicts with Native American nations, and the disposition of the thousands of officers and soldiers that had served during the war. As American elites advanced a series of related responses to these dilemmas, Masonry would supply those elites with a unifying religious and emotional vocabulary. In engaging in the debates of the 1780s, politically active Freemasons used the myths and metaphors of Masonry to distinguish between mere opportunistic partisan politics and what they regarded as transcendent or sacred principles; Masonic lore facilitated the creation of a sacrosanct sphere of practices and loyalties that could take the place of the overthrown monarch. First, after the Continental forces dissolved, Freemasonry came to symbolize the emotional bonds connecting the American veterans. The close parallel between military camaraderie and Masonic brotherhood was noted even by non-Masons. In June 1783, when the DUP\¶V&RUSVRI6DSSHUVDQG0LQHUVUHFHLYHGLWVGLVFKDUJHSDSHUVWKH0DVVDFKXVHWWV-born Sergeant Joseph Plumb Martin noted WKDW³there was as much sorrow as joy transfused on the RFFDVLRQ´ LQ0DUWLQ¶VYLHZ³the soldiery, each in his particular circle of acquaintance, were as VWULFWDERQGRIEURWKHUKRRGDV0DVRQVDQG,EHOLHYHDVIDLWKIXOWRHDFKRWKHU´,QFLGHQWDOO\ after having received an honorable discharge and some practically worthless certificates as '$$! ! meager payment, Martin looked, like many veterans, to the west, journeying into the Catskills UHJLRQ³ZKHUHWKHUHZDVSOHQW\RIJRRGODQGWREHKDGDVFKHDSDVWKH,ULVKPDQ¶VSRWDWRHV´675 The real-life Freemasons took up the values and agendas of the Continental veterans² both the living and the dead. In the first place, the Fraternity had lost some of their most prominent Brethren to combat²most notably, Colonel Christopher Greene, the hero of Red Bank and commander of the First Regiment. On the night of May 13, 1781, a company of Loyalists had surrounded and surprised Greene¶s quarters near Croton, New York, and rather WKDQWDNLQJWKH&RORQHOSULVRQHUED\RQHWHGKLPWRGHDWKDQGDEDQGRQHGKLV³LQKXPDQO\ PDQJOHG´ERG\LQWKHZRRGV676 This unusually brutal treatment may reflect a particular animosity towards Greene, who had commanded ex-slaves against the Crown. The living, though, presented more pressing dilemmas than the dead. The former officers of the Continental Army presented a particularly thorny problem for the new republic, especially as American commerce remained in a doldrums and offered slender opportunities for advancement. Many officers felt that they had not received the recognition and compensation due to them. For instance, Major Simeon Thayer, who had lost the vision in his right eye to the shockwave of a cannonball at the Battle of Monmouth, struggled for a decade to obtain compensation that would ease his straitened circumstances. In February, 1791, the Department of War refused his petition, but in November of that year, Doctor Jonathan Arnold, visiting from 9HUPRQWDWWHVWHGWKDW7KD\HUZDVEHJLQQLQJWRORVHWKHYLVLRQLQKLVRWKHUH\HDVZHOO$UQROG¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 675 Joseph Plumb Martin, Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier: The Narrative of Joseph Plumb Martin (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2006), 159-60. 676 Stone, Our French Allies, 382- ³/HWWHU$ERXW&RO*UHHQH¶V'HDWK´3DSHUVRI&RO Christopher Greene, Box 1, Folder 1, RIHS. '$%! ! report helped to prompt Congress to place Thayer on the pension list of the United States, with half the pay of a major.677 The problem of aggrieved ex-officers was especially severe in Rhode Island, the most eminently maritime state. Rhode Island had taken the initial steps toward the creation of an American navy in 1775 with the commissioning of Abraham Whipple to patrol the coast in June RIWKDW\HDUDQGWKH$VVHPEO\¶VUHVROXWLRQFDOOLQJIRUD&RQWLQHQWDOQDY\LQ$XJXVW7KURXJKWKH remainder of the war, Rhode Islanders staffed most of the important posts in the nascent naval force, and many of them, including Whipple and Silas Talbot, were Masons, along with non- Rhode Islanders such as John Paul Jones. However, naval commissions offered less dependable compensation, depending instead on prize money, and were generally viewed as carrying less prestige than offices in the Army. Silas Talbot, despite the commendations that he received for his capture of British ships, campaigned for a commission on land in 1779; though Congress was UHSRUWHGO\DZDUHRI7DOERW¶V³DFWLYLW\VSLULWEUDYHU\DQGSUXGHQFH´DWVHDWKH\IRXQGQRRIILFHU in the Army whom he could conveniently replace, and Talbot had to be dissuaded from quitting the service altogether. The situation faced by Talbot and other American naval officers grew worse after 1785, when Congress dissolved the navy and sold off its remaining ships. With no place to employ martial naval skills in the United States, Silas Talbot sent his two sons to France LQWRMRLQWKDWQDWLRQ¶VPDULWLPHRIILFHUFRUSV678 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 677 ³&HUWLILFDWHIURP'U-RQDWKDQ$UQROG1RY ´6LPHRQ7KD\HU3DSHUVIROGHU 5,+6 ³&RS\RI5HSRUWRIWKH6HFUHWDU\RI:DURQWKHSHWLWLRQRI6LPHRQ7KD\HU´VLJQHGE\+HQU\ .QR[)HE 6LPHRQ7KD\HU3DSHUVIROGHU5,+6 ³$Q$FWIRUWKHUHOLHIRI6LPHRQ7KD\HU´ Feb. 11, 1793, Simeon Thayer Papers, folder 4, RIHS. 678 Henry Marchant to Silas Talbot, August 9, 1779, Silas Talbot Papers, Box 1, Folder 5, RIHS; Henry Knox to Silas Talbot, Nov. 24, 1787, Silas Talbot Papers Box 1 Folder 10, RIHS. '$&! ! The quandary faced by former naval officers would change only after 1790, as Congress saw the need to protect American shipping in Europe and the Mediterranean. Not surprisingly, Rhode Island Freemasons were at the forefront of the revival of the navy, with John Brown campaigning IRUDIOHHWRI³IORDWLQJFDVWOHV´WRSURWHFW$PHULFDQPHUFKDQWYHVVHOVIURP1RUWK African pirates; he promised Congressman and fellow Freemason Benjamin Bourne WKDW³if commerce is incouraged and protected, then within 70 years the inhabitants of the US will outnumber France´679 The gradual rebuilding of the navy exemplifies the response of many Freemasons and ex-officers to the problems faced by Revolutionary veterans in the aftermath of the war: the American fleet symbolized the union among the states and the development of national institutions at the same time that it served the material interests of the mercantile class and of ex-officers in search of commissions. Silas Talbot was eventually appointed to represent the United States as an envoy to Saint Domingue, where he combated French piracy and offered WDFWLFDOVXSSRUWWR7RXVVDLQW/¶2XYHUWXUH680 The nationalist aspirations harbored by both the ex-officer corps and the Masons are demonstrated most directly by the creation of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal organization for Continental officers and their sons which formed amidst the Army encampments in the Hudson Valley in 1783. The Society sought to preserve the social bonds and propagate the patriotic ideals that had helped to unite the Revolutionary army; it took its name from the Roman citizen-general Cincinnatus who according to legend assumed dictatorial powers in order to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 679 John Brown to Benjamin Bourne, Dec. 30, 1793; John Brown to Benjamin Bourne, Jan. 15, 1794, Benjamin Bourne Papers, RIH6-RKQ%URZQ¶VSUHGLFWLRQZDVDSSDUHQWO\VOLJKWO\RIIWKHPDUN WKH 1860 United States census showed a population of 31.4 million people, while that of France in 1861 showed 37.4 million. 680 Toussaint Louverture to Silas Talbot, July 10, 1800, Silas Talbot Papers, Box 1, Folder 34, RIHS; Toussaint Louverture to Silas Talbot, Silas Talbot Papers, Box 1, Folder 35, RIHS. '$'! ! protect the republic before peaceably resigning his post and returning to his farm. Freemasons were central to the formation of the Society, with the idea of a fraternal union first conceived by Henry Knox and the initial meetings taking place at the quarters of the Baron von Steuben.681 Not surprisingly, many of the original organizers and officers of the Rhode Island chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati were also Masons, such as Abraham Whipple; Ephraim Bowen, Jr.; Thomas Coles, who served for many years as the treasurer of the Rhode Island chapter; and Captain Samuel Snow, who later served as its secretary.682 That the Rhode Island officers saw the Society of the Cincinnati as connected to Freemasonry is suggested by the fact that they formally founded the chapter at Schuylerville, New York on June 24, 1783²Saint John the %DSWLVW¶V'D\, on which Masons customarily held festive conventions and elections.683 At its first election, held on the same date in 1784, the Rhode Island Chapter of the Cincinnait chose Nathaniel Greene as its president and James Mitchell Varnum as Vice President; Varnum soon succeeded to the presidency after Greene died as a result of sunstroke in 1786.684 The Society of the Cincinnati, born amidst the high ideals of the Continental service, was baptized in controversy. The creation of such a fraternal union seemed to threaten the republican principles of the Revolution by creating an aristocracy out of the officer corps, most of whom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 681 ³7KH)RXQGLQJRIWKH6RFLHW\-´7KH6RFLHW\RIWKH&LQFLQQDWL 684 '¶$PDWR Providence Gazette, July 17, 1784 p. 3. '$(! ! had sprung from the upper strata of North American society in the first place. In late 1783, a South Carolinian judge published a pamphlet warning that the Cincinnati posed a threat to UHSXEOLFDQOLEHUW\DQGUHDGHUVZHUHSDUWLFXODUO\DODUPHGE\WKH6RFLHW\¶VSODQIRUKHUHGLWDU\ membership passed on through primogeniture in the manner of a British noble title. In response, in May 1784, George Washington proposed that all state chapters of the Society revise their constitutions to eliminate inherited membership; 5KRGH,VODQG¶VZDVRQHRIWKHIHZFKDSWHUVWKDW adopted the revision. Rhode Islanders may have been especially sensitive to anti-aristocratic feelings in the state with the broadest and most inclusive franchise, or they may have been particularly influenced by George Washington, who was a close friend of Greene and Varnum. Whatever the reason for the disparity, most other state chapters quietly rode out the storm of controversy and kept their membership policies unchanged, although the Society never exercised any significant political power.685 The controversy over the Society of the Cincinnati exemplifies the problematic position of Freemasonry in the early republic. Masonry, too, sometimes aroused suspicions of subverting UHSXEOLFDQSULQFLSOHVDVUHIOHFWHGLQ7KRPDV7UXPDQ¶VRUDWLRQEXWDOZD\VPDQDJHGWR withstand attacks. The Craft itself steadfastly maintained its non-partisan stance, but nonetheless its institutional forms, its fraternal ideals, and the exclusive social circles that it fostered allowed it to serve as a blueprint for social organizations with more concrete political goals. The Society of the Cincinnati applied the Masonic call foUDGKHUHQFHWRD³FHQWHURIXQLRQ´DPRQJPHQRI different lands and different faiths to the specific problem of unifying the American states. By binding together the former Continental officers, the Society institutionalized the most strongly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 685 ³7KH6RFLHW\DQG,WV&ULWLFV-´6RFLHW\RIWKH&LQFLQQDWL '$)! ! nationalist element of the American polity, and where the Masons had failed to form a national organization with George Washington at its head, the Cincinnati succeeded. Still, the Masons of 5KRGH,VODQGOLNHWKHVWDWH¶VFKDSWHURIWKH&LQFLQQDWLFDUHIXOO\UHLQHGLn their ambitions in a state that was sensitive to class inequality and defensive of its local autonomy. Beyond the views and concerns of the ex-officer corps, the Freemasons of the 1780s adopted the role of building stable institutions and bestowing upon them the sacred aura that had once emanated from the Crown. The Masonic quest of institution-building was especially urgent in Newport, reeling in the aftermath of occupation. Some of these new republican institutions that Masons helped to organize would take on national or even global significance, from banks to embassies to Abolition Societies. Most, though, were local and historically minor, such as the United Fire Club, which a group of Newporters organized in 1783 to protect the town in case of conflagration, the founders of which included five Masons.686 As in the case of the Revolutionary struggle, the public life of Rhode Island Freemasonry in the 1780s is embodied most vividly in the person of James Mitchell Varnum. In the last years of his lifH9DUQXPZDV5KRGH,VODQG¶VVWURQJHVWDGYRFDWHIRUQDWLRQDOLQWHJUDWLRQZKLFKKH understood in religious as well as practical terms. Firstly, during his time in Congress between 1780 and 1782, Varnum represented the interests of his home state, but he broke with his constituents over the crucial question of the Impost. As Congress struggled to scrape together funds to support the Continental Army, several members proposed in February 1781 that a tariff be levied on all imports. The proposal required the unanimous approval of all states before Congress could implement it; concerned that the burden of the tariff would fall most heavily on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 686 Newport Mercury, June 27, 1868, p. 1. The Masons in the founding group were Peleg Clarke, Christopher G. Champlin, George Champlin, Francis Malbone, and George Gibbs. '$*! ! maritime states and that no corresponding plan was in place to raise funds from the sale of western lands, Rhode Island balked. In March 1781, Varnum wrote to the Providence Gazette in support of the Impost, arguing that the sovereignty that the Revolution had won from Britain resided in Congress, not in the individual states. The public was unpersuaded by Varnum and even by Thomas Paine, who travelled to Rhode Island to campaign in support of the law. Several prominent Rhode Islanders replied to Varnum, warning that the Impost was a threat to the independence that the state had only barely won from Great Britain and even likening the Impost to the Stamp Act. The Assembly unanimously rejected the measure, and recognizing that KHKDGORVWWKHYRWHUV¶FRQILGHQFH9DUQXPGHFOLQHGWRUXQIRUUH-election. In the spring of 1782, Rhode Island sent to Congress a new delegation, including Dr. Jonathan Arnold, that uniformly opposed the Impost.687 5KRGH,VODQG¶VVLQJOH-KDQGHGYHWRRIWKH,PSRVWRIUHIOHFWVWKHVWDWH¶VH[WUHPHO\ skeptical stance toward national integration. The small state was particularly jealous of its autonomy in light of its unusual customs of a broad franchise, powerful and autonomous town PHHWLQJVDQGVHFXODUJRYHUQPHQW5KRGH,VODQGHUV¶SURWHFWLRQRIWKHLUFRPPHUFLDODQG maritime interests united with their classic Whig opposition to empowering a single body both to UDLVHIXQGVDQGWRZDJHZDU WKH\ZHUHGHWHUPLQHGWKDWWKHQDWLRQ¶VUHYHQXHVKRXOGEHH[WUDFWHG from the land as much as from the sea, and that the power of the purse should not be combined with that of the sword.688 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 687 )UDQN*UHHQH%DWHV³5KRGH,VODQGDQGWKH,PSRVWRI´Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1894 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1896), 351-9. 688 +LOOPDQ0HWFDOI%LVKRS³:K\5KRGe Island Opposed the Federal Constitution: The &RQWLQHQWDO,PSRVW´ Rhode Island History, 8:1, Jan. 1949, 8-10; Irwin Polishook, Rhode Island and the Union (Northwestern University Press, 1969): 77-82. '$+! ! The Masons were clearly aware of the controversy around them, but remained non- partisan. Between the Treaty of Paris and the end of the 1780s, the Masons in the state put forth only one public oration, delivered on January 1, 1784 by the young Harvard-educated deacon of ProvidencH¶V6DLQW-RKQ¶V&KXUFK7KRPDV)LWFK2OLYHU7KHFORVHUHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQ Freemasonry and the Anglican ChurchQRZFDOOHG³(SLVFRSDO´VXUYLYHGWKH5HYROXWLRQZLWK 2OLYHUZKRDIHZ\HDUVODWHUEHFDPHWKHPLQLVWHURI6DLQW-RKQ¶VDVZHOODVKLVVXFFHssors 0RVHV%DGJHUDQG$EUDKDP/\QVHQ&ODUNHEHORQJLQJWRWKH)UDWHUQLW\2OLYHU¶VRUDWLRQRI DWWHQGHGE\EUHWKUHQDQGDPXVLFDOEDQGFLWHVWKH*RVSHORI-RKQ¶VLQMXQFWLRQWR³ORYH RQHDQRWKHU´DQGUHcapitulates the familiar Christian-Masonic themes of fraternal unity and benevolence. The deacon advocates toleration in religion, and suggestively adds WKDW³freedom of sentiment likewise, in political affairs, in a state where such liberty is the basis of the government, is very essential; let iWQHYHUEHGLVFRXUDJHGE\XV´689 This advice was not merely an expression of democratic-republican values, but a response to the often acrimonious political disputes that repeatedly broke out in Rhode Island in the eighteenth century. The rejection of the Impost of 1781 was a high point not only for localism but for political unity in Rhode Island, with both the mercantile and the agrarian classes opposed to the PHDVXUH9DUQXP¶VVXSSRUWIRUWKH,PSRVWZDVKLJKO\XQXVXDODQGVXJJHVWVDQLGHRORJLFDO attachPHQWWRIHGHUDOL]DWLRQWKDWWUDQVFHQGHGKLVKRPHVWDWH¶VHFRQRPLFLQWHUHVWV7KH philosophy behind VarQXP¶VSRVLWLRQZRXOGEHFRPH clear as a more divisive controversy erupted in the state in the mid-1780s. The Revolutionary War had benefited Rhode Island farmers by bringing an influx of specie and a massive demand for food; afterward, the peace of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 689 Thomas Fitch Oliver, A Discourse Delivered at the Episcopal Church in Providence (Providence: John Carter, 1784), 13; Providence Gazette, Jan. 3, 1784, p. 3; Providence Gazette, Sep. 6, 1783, p. 3. '$,! ! the 1780s saw the onset of an agrarian crisis. The draining of gold and silver out of the region led to price deflation, with farmers obtaining progressively lower compensation for their produce and facing ever greater hardship in paying taxes and in repaying the debts that they owed to merchants. The stakes of the question were raised by the fact that the Assembly itself was a debtor, obliged as it was to pay RIIWKHVWDWH¶VZDUERQGVZLWKRXWWKHEHQHILWRISXEOLFODQGVWR auction. Repaying these debts with specie would necessitate ever higher taxes, wringing what little gold remained out of a money-scarce state.690 Exacerbating the situation was the fact that Rhode Island had issued certificates to many of its militiamen in lieu of wages. Over time, as the soldiers despaired of receiving their pay, most of them had sold the certificates to speculators for pennies on the dollar. Had the Assembly honored these certificates in full, the financiers would have gained a great deal of wealth, much of it paid for by taxes levied on the former soldiers who had previously held the bonds. The prospect of such a transfer of wealth to the mercantile class caused dismay throughout the country, and Rhode Island newspapers in particular printed scores of letters and doggerel poems full of vHQRPDJDLQVWWKH³VWRFNMREEHUV´ZKRVRXJKWWRSURILWfrom ³VROGLHUV¶EORRG´691 The precarious economic and fiscal situation in led to a dramatic breakdown of WKHVWDWH¶V former unity. In 1785, Assemblymen from smaller agrarian towns proposed that the state issue an emission of paper money, as the colony had done several times earlier in the eighteenth century, in order to expand the money supply and ease the pressure of deflation; the currency PLJKWDOVREHXVHGWRSD\RIIWKH$VVHPEO\¶VZDUGHEWVDQGFHUWLILFDWHV7KRXJKWKH$VVHPEO\ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 690 Polishook, 103-15. 691 Isaac Putnam Noyes, Reminiscences of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations (Washington, D. C., 1905), 3-5, cited in Polishook, 115. '%-! ! UHMHFWHGWKHSURSRVDOWKDW\HDULQWKHHOHFWLRQVRI0D\DVWURQJ³FRXQWU\SDUW\´VZHSWLQWR power unGHUWKHVORJDQ³7R5HOLHYHWKH'LVWUHVVHG´ Jabez Bowen lost his seat as Deputy Governor, and the new majority immediately enacted a paper-money law and issued 100,000 pounds in bills. In June, the Assembly added a penal clause mandating that all creditors who refused the paper bills as legal tender for any debts or transactions face the justice of a special three-judge panel. As a result, many creditors began disappearing from town to avoid receiving the bills, which they regarded as worthless; sheriffs accepted payments from debtors on their behalf and placed notices in the newspapers that the debts had been discharged. Many important OHDGHUVRIWKH³WRZQSDUW\´WKDWRSSRVHGWKHSDSHU-money emission were merchant-financiers who had lent the state critical funds during the war and who expected that the Assembly would repay the debts owed to them with specie.692 On the financial level, Rhode Islanders in the late 1780s experienced a moratorium on debts, while on the political level the state fell into factionalism just as fierce as the Ward- Wanton dispute but involving a substantive question of policy. Port-town merchants accused the country party of trying to wipe out all debts in a kind of jubilee, prompting leading country-party deputy Jonathan Hazard to advise his opponents in WKH$VVHPEO\WKDWLIWKH\GLGQ¶WOLNHWKHODZV of the state, they could leave.693 In fact, the paper-money emission enjoyed the support of a strong majority of voters, with only the penal clause proving to be truly controversial. Hence, a faction of furious FUHGLWRUVPRVWRIWKHPPHUFKDQWVFDOOLQJWKHPVHOYHV³WKHUHVSHFWDEOHDQG YLUWXRXVPLQRULW\´EHJDQORRNLQJRXWVLGHRIWKHVWDWHIRUDVROXWLRQ$EDQGRQLQJWKHLUIRUPHU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 692 %LVKRS³:K\5KRGH,VODQG2SSRVHGWKH)HGHUDO&RQVWLWXWLRQ´Rhode Island History, 8:2, p. 33-9; Polishook, 119-128, 157-9. 693 Polishook, 129. '%$! ! localism, town-party authors portrayed Rhode Island abroad as a chaotic free-for-all of debt HYDVLRQDODQGRI³URJXHV´DQG³YLOODLQV´DQGSUD\HGIor Congressional intervention.694 While it is unclear what positions most Rhode Island Freemasons took in the paper- money controversy of the 1780s, a slight preponderance of them probably opposed the emission, seeing as how they were concentrated in the towns of Newport and Providence and heavily involved in trade. At the end of August, the Assembly heard (and rejected) a petition calling for the repeal of the paper-money law on the grounds that it violated the Articles of Confederation and the Treaty of Paris, that it threatened to ruin merchants and artisans, and that it did not allow IRUWKHULJKWRIDSSHDO DPRQJWKHSHWLWLRQ¶VWKLUWHHQVLJQHUVZHUHWKH)UHHPDVRQs John Topham, William Littlefield, John Brown, and William Barton, reflecting strong affinities among Freemasonry, the town party, and the former officer corps. Not surprisingly, these critics of the paper-money regime often found themselves on the losinJHQGRIWKHODZ¶VOHJDO-tender clause. Just a few weeks after the failed petition, a judge announced in the Providence Gazette that Earle Tabor, a yeoman of Tiverton, had used paper currency to discharge his 335-pound debt to John Brown, and the following April, two similar announcements notified Brown of the discharge of debts owed to him by residents of North Kingstown and Barrington.695 The Rhode Island Masons, however, were not unanimous in their opposition to paper money. In 1786, Capt. John Gardiner of South Kingstown, a Revolutionary veteran and a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 694 3ROLVKRRN %LVKRS³:K\5KRGH,VODQG2SSRVHGWKH)HGHUDO&RQVWLWXWLRQ´Rhode Island History, 8:2, p. 37-43. 695 Providence Gazette, Sep. 2, 1786, p. 1; Providence Gazette, Oct. 7, 1786, p. 4; Providence Gazette, April 7, 1787, p. 4; Providence Gazette, April 14, 1787, p. 3; Providence Gazette, Sep. 30, 1786, p. 4. '%%! ! PHPEHURI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHHQWHUHGWKH$VVHPEO\DVDSDSHU-money supporter.696 Most remarkably, John Collins, who had been a Mason since the 1750s and had served for several years in Congress, helped tRSHQWKHVWDWH¶VSDSHU-money law and was elected to the governorship in 1786 on the country-party ticket.697 Moreover, several Masons took advantage of the paper-money regime to discharge their own debts, particularly in Newport, where trade was stagnant. In February, 1787, the distiller Henry Hunter, a Newport Mason, and Margaret 'UHZ&KDPSOLQWKHZLGRZRI-DPHV'UHZDQRWKHU0DVRQSDLGRIIDGHEWWKDW-DPHV¶HVWDWH RZHGWR-RKQ&UDPPRQGZLWKWKHMXGJHDWWHVWLQJWKDW+HQU\DQG0DUJDUHWKDG³LQDOOUHVSects FRPSOLHGZLWKWKHODZUHVSHFWLQJWKHSDSHUFXUUHQF\´698 Masonry in Rhode Island faltered during the post-war recession and the period of the paper-money crisis. The end of combat on the eastern seaboard reduced the population of potential Masonic candidates in the state, and the Providence lodge, after averaging 29 initiations per year between 1778 and 1781, slowed to only 11 per year between 1782 and 1785. Among the new initiates were the furniture-maker John Carlile and the merchants Joseph Tillinghast and Seth Wheaton, all of whom would later serve as important Masonic officers, but the Special Return for Providence otherwise records no noteworthy names for this period.699 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 696 JR Cole, History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island (New York: W. W. Preston and co., 1889), 395, 535. 697 William Read Staples, ed., Rhode Island and the Continental Congress (Providence: Providence Press Company, 1870): 549-50; William McLoughlin, Rhode Island: A History, 102-3; ³*DUGQHU-RKQ - ´Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, ! 0HDQZKLOHLQ1HZSRUW.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHFRQWLQXHGWRDWWUDFWDVPDOOVWUHDP of merchants, artisans, and shopkeepers after the withdrawal of French and American troops. Moses Seixas kept the lodge afloat, but its legitimacy was not uncontested. Some of the veterans RI6DLQW-RKQ¶VPDLQWDLQHG a hope of reasserting the older lodge¶VULJKWVDWOHDVWDV late as 1785: in that year, four Newport Masons ZURWHWR*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQLQIRUPLQJKLPWKDW6DLQW-RKQ¶V ³KDVODWHO\EHHQUHYLYHGE\WKHODWHPDVWHU6DPHO%UHQWRQDQGKLVIRUPHU!:DUGHQV´ In their petition, the officers explain that their lodge once HPEUDFHG³a very Respectable number of the first Characters and Stood equal in reputation to any Lodge upon the Continent´EHIRUHWKH 5HYROXWLRQDQGWKH%ULWLVKRFFXSDWLRQGLVSHUVHGLW7KHSHWLWLRQHUVSUD\WKDW6DLQW-RKQ¶VPLJKW EH³reinstated to its former Powers & Consequence´DVNLQJ:DVKLQJWRQWR³LQWHUIHUHLQRXU behalfs´E\FRQILUPLQJWKHLUSUHVHQW:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU³with Power of Constitut[in]g Lodges within the State´7KHSHWLWLRQZDVVLJQHGE\6DPXHO%UHQWRQDV0DVWHU-HUHmiah Clarke and Henry Dayton as Wardens, and John Handy as Secretary. Brenton enclosed with the 1785 petition a letter which reveals that property was the material issue at stake in their request: the FRORQLDOORGJHKDG³purchasd a Real Estate for the accomodateing themselves with a building to be held by the master & wardens of Sd Lodge in Perpetuity´²namely, the plot of land on &KXUFK6WUHHWDFTXLUHGLQ %UHQWRQTXHVWLRQHGZKHWKHU³a new Constituted Lodge Can Claim the priviledge of the Charter Granted to the lodge St Johns´DQGZLWKLWWKHSORWRIUHDO estate.700 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PHQRUDQDYHUDJHRIHOHYHQSHU\HDUMRLQHG.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHGXULQJLWVWHQ-year existence in 1HZSRUWLWLVLPSRVVLEOHWRFRPSDUHWKHORGJH¶VSURJUHVVZLWKLWVFRXQWHUSDUWLQ3URYLGHQFHRQD\HDU-by- year basis. 700 ³7R*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQIURP6W-RKQ¶V0DVRQLF/RGJH1HZSRUW5,´)RXQGHUV Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-03-02-0416, ver. 2014-02-12). '%'! ! Brenton and his comrades may have had a fair point, but General Washington evidently ignored their petition, having no legal or Masonic authority to interfere in such a dispute. Additionally, the petition suggests a possible personal resentment on the part of the authors WRZDUG0RVHV6HL[DV7KH:DUGHQVDQG6HFUHWDU\RIWKHUHYLYHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V²Jeremiah Clarke, Henry Dayton, and John Handy²ZHUHDOODFWLYHPHPEHUVRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH having taken part in its opening in Newport in 1780, but Clarke and Dayton had been forced to accept demotions to the offices of Senior and Junior Deacon, while Hays, Seixas, and Peleg Clarke superseded them. Samuel Brenton, for his part, absented himself frRP.LQJ'DYLG¶V Lodge entirely, possibly because he could not accept losing the position of Worshipful Master. Thus, had the petition succeeded, it would have replaced Seixas with Brenton and restored the older colonial generation to primacy. The episode can be seen as a final, failed attempt to return the leadership of Masonry in Newport to the hands of the pre-Revolutionary elite, and more specifically to the Brenton clan.701 Remarkably, this generational conflict in Newport posed less of a threat to Masonry in the state than did the paper-money dispute, which almost led to outright collapse. In 1786, the year of the country-SDUW\³UHYROXWLRQ´WKH3URYLGHQFHORGJHSHUIRUPHGQRLQLWLDWLRQVDWDOO,WLV possible that the lodge in the northern town went dormant entirely: on September 9, 1786, the Gazette reported WKDW³VRPHKDUGHQHGYLOODLQ´KDGEURNHQLQWRDQDSDUWPHQWLQWKHVWDWHKRXVHLQ 3URYLGHQFHDQGVWROHQ³DOOWKHMHZHOVRIWKHORGJHRIIUHHDQGDFFHSWHGPDVRQV ZURXJKWLQ silver) with the book of constitutions, a small carpet of crimson velvet, and sundry other articles !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 701 ³7R*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQIURP6DPXHO%UHQWRQ-DQXDU\´)RXQGHUV2QOLQH1DWLRQDO Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-02-02-0198, ver. 2014-02-12); King 'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-XQH '%(! ! RIIXUQLWXUH´702 It is unknown whether they were ever recovered. The burglary may have been SDUWO\GXHWRWKHORGJH¶VLnactivity. Clearly, Rhode Island Freemasonry in the 1780s, as in the 1760s, could not function for long in a polarized environment. Into the midst of the precarious paper-money crisis stepped James Mitchell Varnum, whose intervention illustrates the role of Freemasonry in shaping the political culture of the new republic. On September 13, 1786, the Providence cabinet-maker John Trevett attempted to buy meat from the butcher John Weeden; after the butcher refused to accept paper money as payment, Trevett invoked the penal clause and brought suit against Weeden in court. On the 25thWKHVWDWH¶V6XSHULRU&RXUWDVVHUWHGLWVMXULVGLFWLRQDQGKHDUGWKHFDVHEHIRUHDSDFNHG courtroom in Newport. James Mitchell Varnum, on leave from another stint in Congress, argued LQWKHEXWFKHU¶VGHIHQVH 703 On the day of the hearing, Varnum addressed the Superior Court not DVDQDWWRUQH\EXWVXSSRVHGO\DVDFRQFHUQHGFLWL]HQ³deeply interested in the constitutional laws of a free, sovereign, independent state´DQGLQVLVWLQJWKDW³from the first settlement of this country until the present moment, a question of such magnitude as that upon which the judgment of the Court is now prayed, haWKQRWEHHQMXGLFLDOO\DJLWDWHG´704 Thus, Varnum adopted the persona of the impartial arbiter, the role that he had exhorted his fellow Masons to fulfill in the new republic²DOWKRXJKLQGRLQJVRKHDGYRFDWHGIRUDSRVLWLRQWKDWEHQHILWHG5KRGH,VODQG¶V mercantile upper class, whose interests he had first made his fortune in defending. In his address, which was published several months later by John Carter, Varnum attacks the paper-PRQH\ODZLQSDUWLFXODUWKHSHQDOFODXVHDQGLWV³QHZ-fangled jurisdictions erected by !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 702 Providence Gazette, Sep. 9, 1786, p. 3. 703 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records of Rhode Island, vol. 10, p. 219; Polishook, 134-5. 704 James Mitchell Varnum, The Case, Trevett Against Weeden (Providence: John Carter, 1787) (Alden #1105), 3. '%)! ! WKH*HQHUDO$VVHPEO\´DVFRQWUDU\WRWKHEDVLFOHJDOQRUPVRI$QJOR-American society. The *HQHUDO¶VDUJXPHQWFDUHIXOO\DYRLGVWKHVubstantive question of paper money while positing a body of sacred principles which stand above partisan controversy. Varnum begins his argument by establishing that the Superior Court has the right and the duty to nullify any acts that violate WKH³IXQGHPDQWDOODZV´RIWKHVWDWH+HGHOLQHDWHVWKHUHVSHFWLYH³VRXUFHVRISRZHU´RIWKH executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, with courts possessing the power to interpret the laws in an unbroken tradition stretching from the Magna Carta to the present. Citing Montesquieu, he warns that under a democratic government, laws contravening accepted customs will be unworkable; the paper-money law, Varnum insists, cannot be enforced because it blocks the right of appeal and because it denies the accused a trial by jury. As clarity and uniformity are fundamental to the judiciary function, defendants must have the right to appeal to higher courts, and the supreme judiciary ³FRPPDQGVSURKLELWVDQGUHVWUDLQVDOOLQIHULRU jurisdictions, whenever they attempt to exceed their authority.´705 Deploying an astrological analogy, Varnum casts the high court as the sun: As all the glory of the solar system is reflected from yonder refulgent luminary, so the irradiations of the inferior jurisdictions are derived from the resplendent control of this primum mobile in the civil administration.706 9DUQXP¶VLPDJLQLQJRIWKHVXSUHPHMXGLFLDU\DVDEHQHYROHQWVXQFUHDWLQJRUGHUDQGKDUPRQ\ among the bodies around it echoes the royalist propaganda that portrayed the Hanoverian kings ruling over their empire in the same manner.707 9DUQXP¶VDUJXPHQWWUDQVIHUV, the symbols of kingship to other, non-monarchical institutions as the current political crisis requires. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 705 Ibid, 5-9. 706 Ibid, 10. 707 McConville, 203-8. '%*! ! Having established the proper authority of the Superior Court over all cases in the state, 9DUQXPSRLQWVWRWKHSHQDOFODXVH¶VH[FOXVLRQRIDWULDOE\MXU\+HDUJXHVWKDWWKHODZ specifically forbids a jury trial because its authors were afraid of jury nullification; nonetheless, the right to a trial by jury is fundamental and cannot be revoked. In a gesture towards contemporary Anglo-Saxonism, the General argues that the precedent establishing the right to a jury trial stretches beyond the Magna Carta to King Ethelred and even to the primitive Nordic peoples. Furthermore, Varnum maintains that the English tradition of legal rights and precedents was not overthrown by the Revolution, citing WKH$VVHPEO\¶VGHFODUDWLRQWKDWWKHILUVW colonial settlers had carried their legal rights with them across the ocean. $VLQWKH*HQHUDO¶V 0DVRQLFRUDWLRQVDQGLQ&UqYHFRHXU¶VOHWWHUVWKH5HYROXWLRQLVQRWDEUHDNIURPWKHSDVWEXW SDUWRIDUHWXUQWRSULPLWLYHRULJLQV7KH*HQHUDOXUJHVYLJLODQFHDJDLQVWFKDQJHVLQVRFLHW\¶V ³IXQGDPHQWDOODZV´ZKLFKFXPulatively form D³FRQVWLWXWLRQ´708 Finally, Varnum unites the two strands of his argument, concluding that a law that YLRODWHVDVRFLHW\¶VIXQGDPHQWDOOHJDOQRUPVPXVWEHVWUXFNGRZQE\WKHVXSUHPHMXGLFLDU\ Whereas the legislature is entitled to enact laws, the judicLDU\³FDQQRWDGPLWDQ\DFWRIWKH /HJLVODWLYHDV/DZZKLFKLVDJDLQVWWKHFRQVWLWXWLRQ´&DXWLRQLQJWKDW5KRGH,VODQG had overthrown the Crown but unlike other states had created no strong executive to counterbalance the power of the legislature, Varnum exhorts the Superior Court to act as a check against the Assembly. Using a building metaphor for the legacy of the Revolution, Varnum asks, ³while the fathers of their country«are completing the mighty fabric of our freedom and independence, shall the decision of a moment rob us of our birthright, and blast forever our noblest !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 708 Varnum, The Case, Trevett Against Weeden, 10-25. '%+! ! SURVSHFWV"´709 ,QVXP9DUQXP¶VEULHIVHUYHVWRVHSDUDWHSROLWLFDOTXHVWLRQVLQWRWZRVSKHUHV WKH partisan sphere, which is temporal and fickle, subject to popular passions; and the sphere of LPPXWDEOH³IXQGDPHQWDO´SULQFLSOHV ,QLPPHGLDWHSUDFWLFDOWHUPVWKH*HQHUDO¶VDUJXPHQWserved to shift the debate over paper money in Rhode Island. The five judges of the Superior Court ruled unanimously in the EXWFKHU¶VIDYRUILQGLQJWKHFDVHEHIRUHWKHP³QRWFRJQL]DEOH´ZLWKWZRRIWKHPFDOOLQJWKHODZ DWLVVXH³XQFRQVWLWXWLRQDO´)XULRXVWKHPDMRULW\LQWKH$VVHPEO\VXPPRQHGWKHMXGJHVWRWKHLU autumn session for questioning, to which only David Howell, the youngest of the judges, submitted, on the understanding that he did so only to advise the Assembly and not because he was accountable to it; like Varnum, he cited Montesquieu regarding the separation of powers. 9DUQXPKLPVHOIVSRNHLQWKHMXGJHV¶GHIHQVHDVZHOODQGDOWKRXJKPRVWof them were not re- appointed for the following session, they suffered no other ill consequences. Rhode Islanders accepted that in day-to-day exchange creditors could not be forced to accept paper money at face value, although it was still legal tender for the discharge of past debts. With the most controversial clause of the paper-money law nullified but the currency still in circulation, the VWDWH¶VSROLWLFDOGHEDWHVKLIWHGWR ther questions.710 0HDQZKLOHIURPD0DVRQLFVWDQGSRLQW9DUQXP¶VDGGUHVVLVDn example of the use of solar and architectural metaphors to transfer the sanctity of kingship onto an American institution. These metaphors served to construct a sacred sphere of laws and practices beyond WKHUHDFKRIHOHFWRUDOSROLWLFV,Q9DUQXP¶VYLHw, the court must take up the magisterial authority once held by the Crown, defending the sanctity of ancient law against the whims of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 709 Ibid, 26-7, 30-6. 710 Ibid, 37-40; Philip Hamburger, Law and Judicial Duty (Harvard University Press, 2008): 443. '%,! ! legislature7KH*HQHUDO¶VDUJXPHQWLQTrevett vs. Weeden set a precedent of almost sacerdotal power and prerogativeVIRUWKHMXGLFLDU\ DW9DUQXP¶VXUJLQJWKH6XSHULRU&RXUWKDGH[HUFLVHG what we woXOGWRGD\FDOO³MXGLFLDOUHYLHZ.´ The ruling provided one blueprint for Marbury vs. Madison of 1803, in which the United States Supreme Court claimed the authority to overturn laws and actions it deemed to be contrary to the federal Constitution; Chief Justice John 0DUVKDOO¶VZRUGLQJLQMarbury at times closely echoes 9DUQXP¶V before the Rhode Island court.711 Trevett, as it turned out, was a building-block in the creation of a centralized national order, reverential both of individual rights and of a purportedly impartial judicial elite. Varnum, however, was not personally on hand to see either of these results of his DUJXPHQW7KHODVWVHJPHQWRIWKH*HQHUDO¶VOLIHEHFDPH absorbed in yet another project that sought to address the conflicts and scarcities of life in the new republic: westward expansion. As early as 1785, Varnum had been interested in the creation of an American town on the Ohio River. In October 1786, within weeks of the paper-money ruling, Varnum sought to vacate his spacious Georgian house, and placed an ad in the Gazette VHHNLQJWRVHOO³WKHGZHOOLQJ-house where in he now lives, elegantly finished, and most beautifully situated in East-*UHHQZLFK´ With DQDFHUELFWZLVWKHDGGHGWKDWKHZLOODFFHSWDVSD\PHQW³WKHSDSHURIWKLVVWDWH FDOOHG PRQH\ ´712 In the spring of 1787, Varnum lost his seat in Congress, and in August, he was elected as one of the directors of the Ohio Company of Associates, which mainly comprised New England military veterans interested in settling or speculating in trans-Appalachian lands. Like the revival of the navy, the Company served in large part to employ former members of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 711 Brinton Coxe, An Essay on Judicial Power and Unconstitutional Legislation (Philadelphia: Kay and Brother, 1893), 243. 712 Providence Gazette, Oct. 28, 1786, p. 4. '&-! ! officer corps. In October 1787, the governor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St. Clair, appointed Varnum as one of the judges of the first federal court that was slated to convene west of the Appalachians.713 In the spring of 1788, he set out for the Ohio Country via Baltimore, accompanied only by Griffin Greene, a 39-year-old blacksmith from Warwick who was a distant cousin and brother-in-law of Christopher Greene and who had served as a paymaster for the Continental forces. Varnum and Greene traveled on horseback through the forest for several hundred miles of their journey before finally arriving, on June 5th, at the confluence of the Ohio and 0XVNLQJXPULYHUV7KH&RPSDQ\KDGFKRVHQWKLVVLWHZKLFKLWFDOOHG³WKH3O\PRXWK5RFNRI WKH:HVW´IRUDVHWWOHPHQW7KHFRORQ\JUHZUDSLGO\RYHUWKHFRXrse of 1788 mainly due to the arrival of Massachusetts and Connecticut veterans under the leadership of General Rufus Putnam. Also among the migrants was Commodore Abraham Whipple, the Rhode Island naval hero whose war debts Congress had failed to reimburse. The wider region was inhabited by the Miami and other Indian nations, some of whom were hostile to American encroachment, and a makeshift fortification called Fort Harmar defended the site. 714 9DUQXP¶VLQYROYHPHQWLQWKHVHWWOHPHQWRIWKH1RUWKZHVW7Hrritory, like his argument in Trevett vs. Weeden, reflects his grand vision for the American republic, which formed part of a larger millennial narrative. On July 2, 1788, the directors of the Ohio Company formally founded a town at the confluence site anGFKULVWHQHGLW³0DULHWWD´LQKRQRURIWKH)UHQFKTXHHQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 713 Varnum of New York City, 28-31; Polishook, 153-4; Elkanah Watson, Men and Times of the Revolution, or, Memoirs of Elkanah Watson, Winslow Watson, ed. (New York: Dana and Company, 1856), p. 335. 714 Varnum of New York City, 31; Charles Sumner Plumb, The History of American Union Lodge No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio, 1776 to 1933 (Marietta, Ohio: American Union Lodge, 1934), 85-6, 151-3; Sheldon S. Cohen, Commodore Abraham Whipple of the Continental Navy: Privateer, Patriot, Pioneer (University Press of Florida, 2010), 140-53. '&$! ! Marie-$QWRLQHWWH(YRNLQJFODVVLFDODQWLTXLW\DVZHOODVWKHVHWWOHUV¶PLOLWDU\EDFNJURXQGWKH GLUHFWRUVQDPHGWKHWRZQ¶VFHQWUDOVTXDUHWKH³&DPSXV0DUWLXV´7ZRGD\VODWHURQWKH anniversary of American independence, James Mitchell Varnum delivered an oration for the WRZQVSHRSOHDQGWKHRIILFHUVDQGODGLHVRI)RUW+DUPDU7KHJHQHUDO¶VRUDWLRQFDVWDQRSWLPLVWLF H\HWRZDUGVWKHIXWXUHRIWKHLQGHSHQGHQW$PHULFDQFRQIHGHUDWLRQ+HRIIHUHG³JUDWitude to the Supreme Being,!for that revolution, which caused tyranny and oppression to feed upon their own disappointment´DQGDOWKRXJKKHH[SUHVVHGKLVV\PSDWK\IRUWKH³WHDUVRIDWHQGHUPRWKHU´KH SUD\HGWKDWKLVDXGLHQFHVKRXOG³QRPRUHHPEUDFHWKHKDOORZHGVKULQHVRIYHQJHDQFH´+DYLQJ UHFRQFLOHGZLWK*UHDW%ULWDLQLQ9DUQXP¶VYLHZWKHZHVWHUQVHWWOHUVZHUHIUHHWRHQMR\WKHVRLO air, and prospect of good commerce in the Ohio country.715 In his oration, Varnum links the achievements of westward expansion to national unification; just as clearly as the nation must extend into the Ohio Valley, so the union of the states must be strengthened. While Americans may celebrate their military defeat of Britain, the 1780s have proved to be a fiasco, because ³XQIRUWXQDWHO\IRUWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVWKHLUSURJUHVVWR victory and independence was so rapid, as not to admit of a correspondent change in the nature RIWKHLUJRYHUQPHQWV´Probably thinking of the Impost of 1781, Varnum warns that the threat of disuniW\DPRQJWKHVWDWHVUHPDLQVVHULRXVGXHWR³prejudices too deeply imbibed«DQGORFDO habits, the offspring of unequal advances in civil society´7KHQHZO\LQGHSHQGHQWVWDWHVPXVW PRYHEH\RQGWKHVHSURYLQFLDOFRQFHUQVWRSURPRWH³WKHPHFKDQLFVFLHQFHVDQG OLEHUDODUWV´DQG UHGLUHFWWKHLUWUDGH³WKURXJKFKDQQHOVHQWLUHO\FRQWUDULHQWWRFRORQLDOV\VWHPV´0RVW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 715 James M. Varnum, An oration delivered at Marietta, July 4, 1788, by James M. Varnum (Newport: Peter Edes, 1788): 1-4; Plumb, History of American Union Lodge, 89. '&%! ! LPPHGLDWHO\UHOHYDQWWR9DUQXP¶VDXGLHQFHDVWURQJHUQDWLRQDOJRYHUQPHQWLVUHTXLUHGWR manage and defend ³immense tracts of territory, not within the limits of any particular State´716 9DUQXP¶VYLVLRQIRUWKH$PHULFDQQDWLRQSURMHFWVKLVSHUVRQDOIHHOLQJVDVDIRUPHU Continental officer onto a political screen. The disorders of the 1780s were caused by the weakness of the Articles of Confederation, particularly in the executive function; indeed, 9DUQXPZDUQV³but for that superior wisdom, which formed the new plan of a federal government, now rapid in its progress to adoption, the confederation itself, before this day, would have been dissolved´7he solution lies in carrying the emotional bonds of the ex-officers over into the political realm: probably alluding to the Society of the Cincinnati, Varnum asserts WKDWWKHQDWLRQKDVEHHQVDYHGIURPFROODSVHE\³those friendships which have formed and preserved an union sacred to honor, patriotism and virtue´)LQDOO\9DUQXPSODFHVKLVFDOOIRU national unity into the Old-Testament myth of exile and return, likening the cohesion of the officer corps to a lost Zion: had the confederation dissolved, the General warns, alluding to Psalm 137, ³then LQGHHGZHPLJKWKDYHµKXQJRXUKDUSVXSRQWKHZLOORZV¶µIRUZHFRXOGnot have sung in a strange land.¶´717 Varnum extends his Old-Testament metaphor to account for the American expansion into the Ohio country: the western settlements are a new Jerusalem. Marietta represents an ideal VRFLHW\RIWKHODWHUHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\ZLWKPDQ\RIWKHWRZQ¶VIRXQGHUV³distinguished for wealth, education, and virtue; and others, for the most part, are reputable, industrious, well informed planters, farmers, tradesmen and mechaQLFV´ ODWHUDUULYDOVZLOOVXUHO\HPXODWHWKH ³HOHJDQFHRIVLPSOLFLW\´HPERGLHGE\WKHVHILUVWVHWWOHUV7KHWRZQ¶VFLWL]HQVKDYHEXLOWDVWXUG\ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 716 Varnum, An Oration Delivered at Marietta, 4. 717 Varnum, An Oration Delivered At Marietta, 4-5. '&&! ! edifice, equally practical, providing for ³scholastic and liberal education,´DVLWLVKRO\ ³conscious that our being as well as prosperity depend upon the Supreme will, we have not neglected the great principles and institutions of religLRQ´718 The Ohio settlement, still taking shape in the forest, is at once rudimentary and enlightened. Like the rustic prophets of the esoteric tradition, the frontier settlers will re-introduce the primitive virtues to the world: MANKIND, my friends, have deviated from the rectitude of their original formation. They have been sullied and dishonored by the control of ungovernable SDVVLRQV EXWµUHMRLFH\HVKLQLQJZRUOGVRQKLJK¶PDQNLQGDUHnow upon the ascending scale! They are regaining in rapid progression, their station in the rank of beings. The settlement is a microcosm of the new republic, which supposedly enshrines the principles of government by non-FRHUFLYHUHDVRQLQJDQGFRQVHQW7KLVIRUPRIDVVRFLDWLRQDVLQ9DUQXP¶V 1782 oration, supersedes the politics of power and social rank: Reason and philosophy are gradually resuming their empire in the human mind; and, when these shall have become the sole directing motives, the restraints of law will cease to degrade us with humiliating distinctions; and the assaults of passion will be subdued by the gentle sway of virtuous affection. $VLQ3DLQH¶VDOOXVLRQWRWKH³ERZHUVRI3DUDGLVH´WKHUHFRYHU\RI(GHQLFSHDFHDQGKDUPRQ\ SURPLVHVWRVXSHUVHGHWKHUXOHRIODZ,QKLVRUDWLRQ¶VFRGD9DUQXP¶VVRODUPHWDSKRURQFH again connects the restoration of primitive virtue with the westward extension of the American UHSXEOLFPXFKDVLQ&UqYHFRHXU¶VLetters: Religion and government arose in those parts of the globe, where yonder glorious luminary first arose in effulgent majesty. They have followed after him in his brilliant course; nor will they cease until they shall have accomplished, in this western world, the consummation of all things. Varnum did not hesitate to use the same cosmic metaphors in non-Masonic as in Masonic settings; his world-historical narrative embraced the spiritual and the temporal, the esoteric and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 718 Ibid, 5-6. '&'! ! the exoteric. The Masonic and Biblical narratives of exile and return to Zion unite with the American national destiny in a chiliasm, a merging of temporal life into the eternal. The founding of the western town confirms the certain hope of eternal beatitude, and that it shall begin upon the earth, by an unreserved restitution to the common centre of existence²With what rapture and ecstasy, therefore, may we look forward to that all-important period, when the universal desires of mankind shall be satisfied!²when this new Jerusalem shall form one august temple, unfolding its celestial gates to every corner of the globe! ± ZKHQPLOOLRQVVKDOOIO\WRLWµDVGRYHVWRWKHLUZLQGRZV¶HOHYDWLQJWKHLUKRSHV upon the broad spreading wings of millennial happiness!²then shall the dark shades of evil be erased from the moral pictures, and the universal system appear in all its splendor!²Time itself, the aera and the grave of imperfection, shall be ingulphed in the bosom of eternity, and one blaze of glory pervade the universe.719 ,WLVGLIILFXOWWRNQRZKRZ9DUQXP¶VDXGLHQFHRIH[-officers and their wives reacted to WKH*HQHUDO¶VDSRFDO\SWLFYLVLRQQRUKRZLWDSSHDUHGWR1HZ(QJODQGUHDGHUVDIWHUWKHRUDWLRQ was printed in Newport and Worcester a few months later. If any of them had heard or read his 0DVRQLFDGGUHVVHVWKHQWKH*HQHUDO¶VILQDOUKHWRULFDOEOD]HRIJORU\VKRXOGQRWKDYHVXUSULVHG WKHP$IWHU9DUQXP¶VFRQFOXVLRQKHDQGWKHRIILFHUVRI)RUW+DUPDUUHWLUHd to a shaded clearing beside the Campus Martius for a dinner and entertainment. Having a good deal of friendly VXSSRUWHUVDQGJRRGWXUQVRIIRUWXQHWRWKDQNWKH\WRDVWHGWKH&RQJUHVV WKHQDWLRQ¶V)UHQFKDQG Dutch allies; the new Federal Constitution; General Washington; the Society of the Cincinnati; fallen patriots and heroes; Captain Pipe, the chief of the Delawares; a happy treaty with the natives; agriculture and commerce, arts and sciences; the women of the settlement; and the glorious fourth of July.720 In the millennial vision that Varnum had just spread forth, all of these !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 719 Ibid, 7-8. 720 Ibid, 11-12. '&(! ! various characters and events could unite, all of them serving as guides on the westward journey of humankind, the pilgrimage to the final Jerusalem. 9DUQXP¶VEHOLHIV\VWHPDV presented in his various public statements, can roughly be described as a Neoplatoic millennialism1RHYLGHQFHH[LVWVRIWKH*HQHUDO¶VEHORQJLQJWRDQ\ church or subscribing to any sectarian creed or ritual following his refusal to confess his sins at Harvard; Freemasonry was the sum total of his involvement in organized religion. It is not surprising, therefore, that in his most personal reflections, Varnum turned first to his Neoplatonic views to make sense of his life and eventual death. The arduous journey into the Ohio country KDGZHDNHQHGWKH*HQHUDO¶VKHDOWKDQGKHZDVRIWHQLQILUPGXULQJWKHVXPPHUDQGIDOORI ,Q'HFHPEHURIWKDW\HDU9DUQXPZDVVWUXFNE\DVHYHUHLOOQHVVDQGZURWHWRKLVZLIH³My lungs are so far affected that it is impossible for me to recover, but by a change of air and warmer climate´+HSODQQHGWRWUDYHOGRZQULYHUDQGLISRVVLEOHWRVDLOIURP1HZ2UOHDQVWR the West Indies and back to Rhode Island. Still, though his doctors gave him a decent chance of recovery9DUQXP¶VOHWWHULQWLPDWHVKLVIHDUWKDWKHZLOOQRWVXUYLYHWKHMRXUQH\DQGWKDWKLV PLVVLYH³SHUKDSV«ZLOOEHWKHODVWOHWWHU\RXZLOOUHFHLYHIURPPH´$OWKRXJK9DUQXP FDXWLRXVO\KRSHVWKDWKHZLOO³again embrace my lovely friend in this world, and that we may glide Smoothly down the tide of time, for a few years´KHSURPLVHVWKDWKHZLOO³meet my fate with humility and fortitude´6KRXOGKLVHQGDUULYHEHIRUHKHUHDFKHV5KRGH,VODQG³my last and my only reluctant thoughts, will be employed about my dearest Patty.´721 Having made these personal promises to his wife, Varnum shares the philosophical speculations to which he has turned for comfort, revealing a neo-Platonic layer to even his most !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 721 James Mitchell Varnum to Martha Child Varnum, Dec. 15, 1788, Miscellaneous Manuscripts, Folder V322, Varnum correspondence, RIHS; Varnum of New York City, 38. '&)! ! personal thoughts. ³/LIHP\GHDUHVWIULHQG´9DUQXPSURQRXnces, ³is but a bubble[;] it soon burstsDQGLVUHXQLWHGWRHWHUQLW\´([SUHVVLQJWKHP\VWLFDOGHVLUHWREHKROGOLIHIURPWKH UHPRYHGVWDQGSRLQWRIGHDWKWKH*HQHUDOREVHUYHV³Zhen we look back to the earliest recollection of our youthful hours, it seems but the last period of our rest, and we appear to emerge from a night of slumbers to lRRNIRUZDUGWRUHDOH[LVWHQFH´7KH*HQHUDOGRHVQRWNQRZ ZKDWWRH[SHFWIURPWKLVQHZVWDWHRIEHLQJDQGLWVQDWXUH³RXUJHQHUDOQRWLRQVRIUHOLJLRQFDQQRW point ouW´+HLQWXLWLYHO\EHOLHYHVLQDIXWXUHVWDWHVHQVLQJ something constantly active within us that is evidently beyond the reach of mortality; but whether it be a part of ourselves, or an emanation from the pure source of existence, and reabsorbed when death shall have finished his work, human wisdom cannot determine. 9DUQXP¶VQRWLRQRIWKHVRXODVDQ³emanation´ which must return to its source is classically neo- Platonic, harkening back to Plotinus and Eriugena. The General even entertains the notion of PHWHPSV\FKRVLVPXVLQJWKDWWKHTXHVWLRQRIZKHWKHUGHDWK³leaves us to progress infinitely, alternately elevated and depressed according to tKHSURSULHW\RIRXUFRQGXFW«philosophy hesitates to decide´722 $IWHUFRQVLGHULQJWKHPDQ\XQFHUWDLQWLHVRI³SKLORVRSK\´²by which the General seems to mean classical and late antique esotericism²Varnum admits that orthodox Christianity offers ILUPHUHPRWLRQDOFRPIRUW³&omplete consolation in a dying hour´WKH*HQHUDOFRQIHVVHVFDQ EHREWDLQHGRQO\IURP³the Gospel of Jesus Christ ± there life and immortality are brought to light.´:KLOH9DUQXPDWWHVWVWKDW³a firm, unshaken faith and confidence in this doctrine must raise us above all the doubts and fears that hang upon every other system´KHSUHVHQWVKLV embrace of Christianity as a mere psychological convenience. He does not definitely affirm the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 722 James Mitchell Varnum to Martha Child Varnum, Dec. 15, 1788, Miscellaneous Manuscripts, Folder V322, Varnum correspondence, RIHS. '&*! ! truth of Christian teachings, but hedges, maintaining WKDW³should there still be a more extensive religion beyond the vale >«@the Christian religion is by no means shaken thereby, as it is not opposed to any principle that admits the perfect benevolence of the Deity.´7KH*HQHUDO maintains his broad-minded eirenicism as he struggles with his own lack of firm Christian belief: ³0\RQO\GRXEWLVZKHWKHUWKHSXQLVKPHnts threatened in the New Testament are annexed to a state of unbelief, which may be removed hereafter, and so a restitution take place, or whether the state of the mind at death irretrievably fixes its doom forever´Still, he SUD\V³that the divine spirit will give me such assurances of an acceptance with God, through the death and sufferings of his Son as to brighten the way to immediate happiness.´723 Varnum faced death as he did life: reflectively and loquaciously. Clearly, in his December letter, Varnum places a heavy emotional burden on his wife, just before, as the General warns, the rivers will freeze over and communication between the Atlantic Coast and the Ohio will be blocked for the winter. Rather ironically considering the length of his letter, he cautions his wife WKDW³there is no advantage in too deeply antiFLSDWLQJRXULQHYLWDEOHVRUURZV´ advising her to consider the possibility of his death ³EXWDVLQWKHRU\´8QIRUWXQDWHO\WKHRU\ became fact when on January 9, 1789, General Varnum succumbed to his illness. The following day, a large funeral procession bore his body to its resting place; on March 7th, the Providence Gazette carried a report of his funeral with a large diagram of the procession, which included a gathering of private citizens, thirty Indian chiefs, the officers of Fort Harmar, civil officers, the Order of Cincinnati, and a contingent of Freemasons.724 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 723 Ibid. 724 Ibid; Providence Gazette, March 7, 1789, p. 3; Varnum of New York City, 38. '&+! ! :KLOH9DUQXP¶VGHDWKGHSULYHG)UHHPDVRQU\RIpossibly its most gifted spokesman, it also fostered the extension of the Craft into the lands beyond the Appalachians. The body of )UHHPDVRQVWKDWPDUFKHGLQWKH*HQHUDO¶VIXQHUDOSURFHVVLRQDW0DULHWWDLQ ZDVWKHILUVW known Masonic gathering in the Northwest Territory. It surely precipitated the re-opening in the Ohio Country of the American Union Lodge, which had gone dormant after the dissolution of the Continental Army in 1783. With so many New England veterans relocated to Marietta and the surrounding region, the lodge reconstituted itself in 1791 under the leadership of Rufus Putnam and soon built a fortified meeting hall on the Campus Martius. One of the principal organizers of the revived lodge was Griffin Greene, who after journeying with Varnum to the Ohio Country, served as a justice of the peace and postmaster of Marietta and who replaced the General as a director of the Ohio Company. In the later 1790s, Greene served as a lodge officer while also DWWUDFWLQJQRWLFHIRUKLVGLVFRYHU\RIYDOXDEOHVDOWPLQHV$PHULFDQ8QLRQ/RGJH¶VHDUO\ membership rolls include, in addition to Greene, such characteristic Rhode Island surnames as Burlingame and Whipple; through these men, Freemasonry in Ohio and Rhode Island remained linked, at least in memory.725 Though overshadowed on the field of battle by his friend Nathaniel Greene, James Mitchell Varnum was a man of forceful personality. An ambitious and expansive thinker, given to grandiose pronouncements, he made a deep impression on many of his hearers; according to one witness, Thomas Paine himself attested that although he had heard the most distinguished RUDWRUVLQWKH%ULWLVK3DUOLDPHQWDQGLQWKH)UHQFK&RQYHQWLRQKH³QHYHUKHDUGRQHVXSHULRULQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 725 Plumb, History of American Union Lodge, 89, 110, 153, 429-52. '&,! ! SRZHUVRIHORTXHQFHWR*HQHUDO9DUQXP´726 Elkanah Watson, a Revolutionary diplomat and speculator, recalled of the first time WKDWKHKHDUGD0DVRQLFRUDWLRQE\9DUQXP³XQWLOWKDW PRPHQW,KDGIRUPHGQRFRQFHSWLRQRIWKHSRZHUDQGFKDUPVRIRUDWRU\´727 :KDWHYHURQH¶VHVWLPDWLRQRIKLVVW\OHRQHPXVWDFNQRZOHGJHWKDWWKH%ULJDGLHU-General exemplifies the usefulness and the appeal of Masonic metaphors in the search for meaning and order. Varnum brought his Masonic beliefs to bear both on the troubled state of the American confederation in the 1780s and on his own imminent mortality. Masonic myths and symbols made sense of the experiences of life in all spheres by weighing them against anchors of stability²whether the Crown, the unity of the American officer corps, the lost Zion, RURQH¶V own marriage. 8OWLPDWHO\RQWKHSROLWLFDOSODQH9DUQXP¶VFDUHHULOOXVWUDWHVWKHOHYHOVRI esoteric meaning that could link the various events of the later eighteenth century and impose a conceptual order upon them. In his life of barely forty years, Varnum took part in most of the critical turning points in the creation of the American republic, from the imperial crisis to the settlement of the trans-Appalachian west. His various orations are at once republican and mystical, in which political events serve as gateways to spiritual redemption. Masonic myths and metaphors served to elevate certain preferred laws and policies into a quasi-religious sphere, JXDUGHGOLNHDQ³DXJXVWWHPSOH´IURPWKHGHVHFUDWLRQVRISDUWLVDQSROLWLFV 7KH*HQHUDO¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 726 Varnum of New York City, 28- :LOOLDP**RGGDUG³%LRJUDSKLFDO1RWLFHVRI(DUO\ Graduates at BrRZQ8QLYHUVLW\´American Quarterly Register 11:4, May 1839, p. 356. Thomas Paine reportedly made his declaration to Nathan F. Dixon, a Connecticut-born lawyer, when the two met at a WDYHUQLQ6WRQLQJWRQ&RQQVRPHWLPHEHIRUH9DUQXP¶VGHDWK 727 Elkanah Watson, Men and Times of the Revolution, or, Memoirs of Elkanah Watson, Winslow :DWVRQHG 1HZ ''-! ! apocalypticism enabled him to remove certain favored responses to the crises of the 1780s² judicial review, westward expansion, and federalization²from the temporal to the cosmic plane. This is not to say that Varnum himself was free of a partisan agenda; the practical politics of his final two addresses reflect the mentality of an elite of ex-officers who desired a stronger federal government as a bulwark against both lower-class agitation and national disunion. However, WKH\REVHVVLYHO\VLWXDWHWKHVHWHPSRUDOFRQFHUQVLQWRKXPDQNLQG¶VPHWDSK\VLFDOMRXUQH\ :LWKRXWDGRXEW9DUQXP¶VRUDWRU\PDGHDn impression on his audience because it appealed to a set of needs and impulses that were widely felt in the new republic. Though exceptionally prolific, Varnum was only one of many Americans who felt the need for a new Jerusalem after the end of the colonial world, and only one of many Masons who tasked themselves with constructing it. The frenzied institution-building of the 1780s was, as it turned out, the prelude to an age of consolidation, in which Masonry would play a privileged role. ''$! ! &KDSWHU ³7KH7KLUWHHQWK$UFK´²The Rhode Island Freemasons and the Constitution, 1785-1790 On July 4, 1788, several thousand Rhode Islanders celebrated on a large hilltop west of Providence. Some of them had initially gathered in the Baptist meeting house in town to hear a series of sermons and prayers before leading the immense crowd up to the wide plateau, which has ever since been known as Federal Hill. Once there, the revelers feasted on two roasted oxen, hams, wine, and punch. Colonel Tillinghast led the artillery company in firing thirteen cannon, and the organizers offered thirteen toasts, including to Congress, to George Washington, to John $GDPVDQGWR³WKHEUDYHRIILFHUVDQGVROGLHUVRIWKHODWH$PHULFDQDUP\´7KH\FORVHGZLWKD simple prayer that the 8QLWHG6WDWHVPLJKWHQMR\³IUHHGRPXQGHUDMXVWDQGHIILFLHQW JRYHUQPHQW´&RQVSLFXRXVO\DEVHQWIURPWKHWRDVWVZDVDQ\PHQWLRQRIWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQRURI the states that had ratified it. This omission was not by choice: the previous day, about one thousand armed men from the agrarian regions of the state, led by an antifederalist politician, had gathered outside of Providence and threatened to disperse the festival by force. Early on the morning of July 4th, delegates representing the town and country parties met on Federal Hill, where the federalists, led by Jabez Bowen, agreed to fire cannon only in honor of the anniversary of independence and to make no reference to the Constitution. A local civil war was averted; the newspaper report of the banquet only tactfully mentioned WKDW³no accident took place to marr WKHIHVWLYLW\´728 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 728 Providence Gazette, July 5, 1788, p.3; William R. Staples, Annals of the Town of Providence, Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. 5 (Providence: Knowles and Vose, 1843), 328-35. ''%! ! When General Varnum had set out for the Ohio country in the spring of 1788, he had left behind a state approaching the brink of civil war, as the controversies over paper money became entangled in the nationwide debate over federalization and the proposed Constitution. No state saw such passionate, well-organized, and effective opposition to the Constitution as did Rhode Island. However, the Freemasons of Providence and Newport, who had been so frequently divided over political questions, from the Ward-Wanton rivalry to the paper-currency dispute, aligned themselves unanimously in favor of the Constitution. Although the Masonic lodges adhered to their traditional non-partisan political stance, Masonic metaphors and the voices of individual Masons spoke in unison. Never before or since have the Freemasons in the state stood so solidly in favor of so unpopular a political cause. In the quest for ratification in Rhode Island, Masonic and nationalist dreams harmonized; recalling a lost age of unity, Masonic myths and symbols buttressed a moral rationale for federalization that transcended the class and regional conflicts of the time. It may be tempting to suppose that Freemasonry tipped the political balance in favor of federalization in Rhode Island, where the Constitution was ultimately ratified by a razor-thin PDUJLQ&HUWDLQO\WKHPRVWSLYRWDOLQGLYLGXDOLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VORQJVWUXJJOHRYHUUDWLILFDWLRQ Governor John Collins, was a Mason, and Collins and other Masons such as William Barton were capable of acknowledging serious concerns with the form of the Constitution while still VXSSRUWLQJUDWLILFDWLRQDVDPDWWHURISULQFLSOH,WLVFRQFHLYDEOHWKDW&ROOLQV¶H[SHULHQFHZith the Fraternity swayed his position, but this would require a depth of psychological penetration that the surviving sources cannot provide. What is more certain is that the Masons changed the tenor and basic terms of the debate in Rhode Island, removing the discussion from the plane of governmental structure to one of ''&! ! emotional loyalties. The grand feast on Federal Hill in 1788, for instance, had been proposed DQGRUFKHVWUDWHGE\-DEH]%RZHQWKHIRXQGHURIWKHUHYLYHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFH Moreover, Masonic architectural metaphors came to define the very meaning of federalization. As part of the same July 4th FHOHEUDWLRQWKHVWDWH¶VFKDSWHURIWKH6RFLHW\RIWKH&LQFLQQDWLPHW and re-elected James Mitchell Varnum as their president in absentia; the Society then retired to a tavern on Benefit Street, where the members of the order drank toasts to Congress, to George :DVKLQJWRQWRWKH.LQJRI)UDQFHDQGWR³7KH1LQH3LOODUVRIWKH)HGHUDO(GLILFH´729 The &LQFLQQDWL¶VODVWSKUDVHUHIHUUHG of course, to the new Constitution that had been ratified only two weeks earlier by New Hampshire, which, as the ninth state to approve the document, put the Constitution formally into effect. Like so many Americans who advocated for ratification against intense opposition, the Society of the Cincinnati used an architectural metaphor, likening WKHQHZXQLRQWRDQ³HGLILFH´²a tower, a temple, a fortress²WKDWZRXOGVHFXUHWKHQDWLRQ¶V independence;730 for the Cincinnati, as for their titular president, language and images drawn from Masonry gave a symbolic depth to the cause of federalization. 7KH0DVRQV¶IHGHUDOLVPZRXOGEHFUXFLDOLQ5KRGH,VODQGZKHUHWKHV\VWHPRI JRYHUQPHQWJDYHWKHORZHUFODVVHVDVWURQJHUYRLFHWKDQLQDQ\RWKHUVWDWH5KRGH,VODQG¶V government was the nearest to direct democracy that one could find on the North American FRQWLQHQWLQWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\ XQGHUWKHVWDWH¶VFKDUWHUDOOPHQPHHWLQJDYHU\ORZ property requirement could vote, and the annually elected Assembly set nearly all statewide !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 729 Providence Gazette, July 5, 1788, reprinted in John P. Kaminski et al, eds., The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, vol. 25, Ratification of the Constitution by the States: Rhode Island [2] (Madison: Wisconsin State Historical Society Press, 2012), p. 346-7. 730 For an example from a neighboring state, the Massachusetts Centinel published engravings depicting the various states as pillars supporting archways adorned with stars each time another state ratified the Constitution. See for example, Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, June 11, 1788, which shows a hand emerging from the sky and lifting up the pillar representing Virginia. '''! ! policy. The town meetings also retained important prerogatives, including the power to instruct their deputies in the Assembly.731 In Rhode Island, unlike in most of the nation, the commercial elite could not obtain ratification merely by the exercise of a franchise that they denied to the agrarian class. As the House of Assistants declared in one of its many rejections of the &RQVWLWXWLRQ³ZHDUHDKDQGIXOEXWZHKDYHEHHQDFFXVWRPHGWRDGHPRFUDWLFDOJRYHUQPHQW DQGGRQ¶WFKXVHWR SDUWZLWKRXUOLEHUWLHV´732 Rather, the town party would have to use every possible means of suasion to bring Rhode Island into the federal union. The idea of federalization gained currency in the new United States in the mid-1780s, just as many long-time Masons were attaining new prominence in Rhode Island politics as leaders of the town party. For instance, in 1784, Peleg Clarke was elected to represent Newport in the Assembly and held the VHDWIRUWKHUHVWRIWKHGHFDGH7KDW\HDU¶VHOHFWLRQZDVSDUWicularly significant in Newport, being the first one held under a new city charter that created a standing committee of aldermen to take up the legislative powers of the town meeting; the first aldermen included the long-time Masons Christopher Champlin and Francis Malbone. Although Malbone died in 1785, the Masonic presence in the Assembly and in the town governments continued to JURZ,QWKHVSULQJRIWKDW\HDU:LOOLDP%DUWRQZDVHOHFWHGDV1HZSRUW¶VLPSRVWFROOHFWRUDQG -RKQ7RSKDPMRLQHGWKDWWRZQ¶Vdelegation in the Assembly; Ebenezer Thompson was elected as president of the Providence town council and William Ladd as an Assemblyman representing the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 731 Lovejoy, 5-30; Hillman MetcDOI%LVKRS³:K\5KRGH,VODQG2SSRVHGWKH)HGHUDO &RQVWLWXWLRQ´Rhode Island History, 8:4, p. 117-18. 732 Newport Herald, Sep. 24, 1789, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:602. ''(! ! small port town of Little Compton. The following year, the Newport city auditor, George Sears, another Mason, joined the town council.733 The upsurge in Masonic participation in government in the mid-1780s was a result of the alignments of Rhode Island politics at the time. The most prominent Masons, being mostly merchants and major artisans concentrated in Providence, Newport, and surrounding smaller ports, generally opposed the emission of paper money. Their opponents, the so-FDOOHG³FRXQWU\ SDUW\´VSUDQJPRVWO\IURPWKHLQODQGDQGDJUDULDQWRZQVZKHUHIDUPHUVKDGOLWWOHVWDNHLQ overseas trade and were squeezed by taxes and debts exacerbated by deflation. While Mason- politicians such as Clarke and Champlin aligned themselves with the minority opposition to paper currency, this did not immediately alienate them from their fellow citizens regarding the question of national federalization, which Rhode Islanders still regarded as a separate issue from monetary policy. In 1786, as the states planned for a convention to consider empowering Congress to regulate trade, the Rhode Island Assembly was ambivalent and delayed before appointing Jabez Bowen and Christopher Champlin, both of them Masons, as delegates to the Convention. Champlin declined the appointment and was replaced by Samuel Ward, Jr., another Mason. Although Bowen and Ward arrived in Annapolis too late to attend the convention, they sent their report and recommendations back to Rhode Island, warning that without a concerted $PHULFDQSROLF\(XURSHDQVZHUHTXLFNO\WDNLQJRYHUWKHQDWLRQ¶VFRPPHUFH734 7KH5KRGH,VODQG$VVHPEO\¶VEULHIIOLUWDWLRQwith federalization ended after the state issued paper currency in the later months of 1786. The severe deflation of the 1780s had caused !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 733 Providence Gazette, June 8, 1782, p. 2; Newport Mercury, May 1, 1784, p. 3; Newport Mercury, June 5, 1784, p. 3; Providence Gazette, June 11, 1785, p. 3; Newport Mercury, May 7, 1785, p. 3; Newport Mercury, June 18, 1785, p. 2; Newport Mercury, June 12, 1786, p. 3. 734 Polishook, 111-12. '')! ! several states to issue paper currency, but no other state instituted severe legal-tender and penal clauses of the soUWWKDW5KRGH,VODQGGLG7KHVWDWH¶VPRQHWDU\SROLF\LQWHQGHGWRUHOLHYHWKH burden of debt and taxation upon farmers, outraged the mercantile classes not only in Rhode Island but throughout the republic. The mercantile and creditor classes throughout the country SUHVHQWHG5KRGH,VODQGDVDGHPRQVWUDWLRQRIWKH³H[FHVVRIGHPRFUDF\´WKDWKDGUHVXOWHGIURP independence and that threatened property rights or even law and order as such. A group of Connecticut federalists mocked the neighboring state in a VDWLULFDOHSLF³7KH$QDUFKLDG´DQG RWKHUFULWLFVDWWDFNHGWKHFRXQWU\SDUW\DVDSDFNRI³NQDYHVDQGIRROV´)HGHUDOL]DWLRQDSSHDOHG to the mercantile classes not only as a solution to the weakness of the national government but as a corrective to the e[FHVVHVRIVWDWHVJRQHURJXHZLWK5KRGH,VODQGVHUYLQJDVWKHIHGHUDOLVWV¶ bête noir.735 ,QUHVSRQVH5KRGH,VODQG¶VFRXQWU\SDUW\GXJLQLWVKHHOV$IWHUWKHOHDGHUVKLSRI the majority faction in the Assembly blocked federalization as a threat to RKRGH,VODQG¶VVHOI- government and to the economic interests of the agrarian majority. After the country party won another large victory in the elections of 1787, the Assembly declined to send any delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, DQGHYHQZLWKGUHZWKHVWDWH¶V representatives from Congress, supposing the Confederation to be temporarily suspended.736 James Mitchell Varnum led a group of Rhode Island federalists in writing to George Washington to apologize for their VWDWH¶VEHKDYLRUDVVXULQJ:DVKLQJWRQWKDWWKH³PRVWUHVSHFWDEOH´IDUPHUVDQGPHFKDQLFVRIWKH country party privately sympathized with the federalists. Varnum and his allies dismissed the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 735 Polishook, 164-6, 170-2, 178; Woody Holton, Unruly American and the Origins of the United States Constitution (New York: Hill and Wang, 2007): 77-81. 736 Polishook, 150-3, 184-6. ''*! ! leaders of the agrarian faction as ³DOLFHQWLRXVERG\RIPHQGHVWLWXWHRIHGXFDWLRQ, and many of WKHPYRLGRISULQFLSOH´ZKR maintained SRZHU³E\GHEDXFKLQJWKHPLQGVRIWKHFRPPRQ people, whose attention is wholly directed to the abolition of debts, public and private´737 In the fall of 1787, when Rhode Island received the report from Philadelphia of the proposed new Constitution, the voters learned that the document specifically prohibited states from printing currency. Hence, the questions of monetary policy and of federalization became inextricably linked, as a result not of country-party intransigence but of federalist disgust with paper money. When the country party declared its opposition to ratification, one federalist writer DVVHUWHGLQD3URYLGHQFHQHZVSDSHUWKDWWKHSDUW\¶V³RQO\UHDOREMHFWLRQWRWKHQHZ&RQVWLWXWLRQ [is] that it forbids the exercise of those abominable engines of wickedness, paper money and WHQGHUODZVDQGWKHUHE\GHSULYHVURJXHVRIDOOGHVFULSWLRQVRIFKHDWLQJWKHLUKRQHVWFUHGLWRUV´738 Whatever their motives, the vast majority of voters in Rhode Island rejected the Constitution as well. The Assembly refused to call a convention to consider ratification, instead referring the question to a vote of all freemen to be held at the various town meetings in March 1788. Federalists, considering this response to the Philadelphia proposal to be illegitimate and fearing a crushing defeat, boycotted the referendum. As a result, the rejection of the Constitution at the town meetings was resounding: only 238 freemen voted in favor of ratification with 2,708 opposed. The only two towns where the freemen supported the Constitution (by razor-thin margins of only three and six votes, respectively) were Bristol and Little Compton, both minor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 737 Varnum to Washington, June 18th, 1787, Updike Papers, RIHS, cited in Polishook, 189; James Mitchell Varnum to Samuel Ward, Jr., April 2, 1787, Ward Family Papers, RIHS. 738 ³3ODLQ7UXWK´3URYLGHQFHUnited States Chronicle, November 29, 1787, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 24:64-5. ''+! ! coastal ports; in Providence, the most strongly federalist town, the boycott was so complete that only a single vote was cast.739 5KRGH,VODQG¶VORQJVWDQGLQJSROLWLFDOLQVWLWXWLRQVDQGDOOLDQFHVVHWWKHSDUDPHWHUVRIWKH controversy over ratification. In the heated debate of 1788, the division between federalists and antifederalists nearly duplicated the division over monetary policy in part because Rhode ,VODQG¶VSDSHU-money laws and its antifederalism stemmed from the same source: the inland agrarian towns. Rhode Island in the 1780s comprised two distinct economies: on the one hand, the port towns on Narragansett Bay employed thousands of people in transporting and processing commodities, such as sugar and spermaceti, acquired by sea, while the farmers of the inland towns, such as Glocester, Exeter, Smithfield, and Charlestown, formed largely self-supporting communities, meeting most of their needs through local trade and barter. As Rhode Island had no lucrative cash crops, the agrarian towns traded fairly little with the ports except to borrow capital or to acquire what they considered to be luxury goods WKHIHGHUDOLVWV¶FDOOVIRUWKH promotion and protection of trade fell on deaf ears.740 The division between mercantile and agrarian Rhode Island was in fact fairly typical of American states, most of which experienced tensions between the coastal towns and the ³EDFNFRXQWU\´$JUDULDQ antifederalism nearly blocked ratification in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York. In Rhode Island, the opposition was especially sophisticated and well-organized, reaching its peak of power in 1788. Led by the Quaker Assemblymen, the country party blocked every path towards ratification. Antifederalist authors criticized the structure of the proposed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 739 Polishook, 197-9. 740 Polishook, 189-91. For the division between mercantile and agrarian sections of Rhode Island, see Daniel P. Jones, The Economic and Social Transformation of Rural Rhode Island, 1780-1850 (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992), 3-36. '',! ! federal government, which granted purportedly dangerous powers to Congress and that radically distanced political decision-making from the voters. Particularly odious to Rhode Islanders were the clauses authorizing Congress to levy direct taxes and to declare war and the lack of a mechanism for voters to instruct their representatives in Congress. Just before the town meetings of March 17DQDQRQ\PRXV³1HZSRUWPDQ´ZURWHWRWKHMercury to warn against the centralization of power, observing WKDW³we have long been contending for Independence, and QRZZHDUHLQDSDVVLRQWREHULGRILW´$OOXGLQJWR5REHUW:DOSROH¶VGRPLQDWLRQRI3DUOLDPHQW in the 1730s, it warns that a distant and unresponsive government is ripe for corruption, as wealth DQGSDWURQDJH³VRRQFKDQJHWKHFKDPSLRQIRUWKHSHRSOHWRDQDGYRFDWHIRUSRZHU´ The Newport author also demonstrates the pervasiveness of architectural metaphors in the argument RYHUIHGHUDOL]DWLRQUHPDUNLQJWKDW³the malcontents, the lovers of novelty, delight much in allegory. Should I be indulged a few words in that way, I should not compare the new Constitution to a house´741 $OWKRXJK5KRGH,VODQG¶VUHMHFWLRQRIWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQLQMarch 1788, embarrassed the VWDWH¶VIHGHUDOLVWVWKHWRZQSDUW\SUHVVHGRQ(YHU\0DVRQZKRVHYLHZVRQWKHTXHVWLRQZHUH recorded joined the federalist cause. The connections between maritime commerce, national XQLW\DQGIHGHUDOL]DWLRQFDQSDUWO\H[SODLQWKH0DVRQV¶VXSSRUWIRUWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQ WKH Masons, most of them merchants, artisans and professionals, were concentrated in and around Newport and Providence, the twin pillars of the mercantile party. The federalism of such men as Jabez Bowen, William Ellery, and the particularly aggressive town-party leader John Brown, is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 741 ³$1HZSRUW0DQ´Newport Mercury, March 17, 1788, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 24:114-18. '(-! ! attributable to class and region.742 At the same time, however, one can see a common moral vocabulary of uniW\DQGPXWXDOWUXVWXQGHUO\LQJWKHIHGHUDOLVWV¶DUJXPHQWVDQGWKHVSRNHVPHQRI this moral language were disproportionately Masons. Freemasons tended to avoid or minimize the paper-money controversy and to promote the Constitution as the embodiment of national strength and unity, just as Varnum had minimized the substantive question of paper currency in favor of political and legal theory in Trevett vs. Weeden. Most of the anonymous letters and editorials in support of the Constitution printed in Rhode Island in 1788 appeared in the United States Chronicle, a newspaper that had been inaugurated in Providence in 1784 by Bennett Wheeler, a young printer who had apprenticed ZLWK6RORPRQ6RXWKZLFN7KHSDSHU¶VWLWOHUHIOHFWV:KHHOHU¶VZLVKWRSUHVHQWLQIRUPDtion from a national rather than a parochial vantage point. In the pages of the Chronicle, the paper-money dispute faded into the background, eclipsed by the broader, abstract appeal to national unity. In April 1788, Wheeler printed his own report on the Providence town meeting that discussed the Constitution, declaring that their proceedings demonstrated that they possessed that true magnanimity of soul, unbiased by narrow local considerations, which can take a FEDERAL and comprehensive view of their political connexions and duties, as making a part of the great family of united America.743 7KHVWDWH¶VIHGHUDOLVWVEHOLHYHGWKDWDUDWLI\LQJFRQYHQWLRQZRXOGVLPLODUO\DOORZWKHGHOHJDWHV regardless of their positions on monetary policy, to embrace the wider view in which a stronger national union was purportedly necessary. On July 3, 1788, Wheeler joined the Masonic lodge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 742Wayne Tillinghast, 1797, the Year the Elephant Visited Providence (Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2010): 18; Helen Loschkey, Carter and Wilkinson, 8-9; John Brown to John Adams, Aug. 24, 1789, reprinted in Kaminksi et al, The Documentary History, 25:573. 743 Providence United States Chronicle, April 10, 1788, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 24:199. '($! ! in Providence; precisely two weeks later, the Chronicle printed an anonymous letter calling for ratification on the grounds that the fedHUDOXQLRQ³ZLOOLQSURFHVVRIWLPHSURPRWHWKH HVWDEOLVKPHQWRID1$9<´DQGDUJXLQJWKDW³there is not an harbor from one end of the FRQWLQHQWWRWKHRWKHUVROLNHO\WREHWKH>1DY\¶V@SODFHRIFRPPRQUHQGH]YRXVDV7+( +$5%2852)1(:3257´744 The debate over federalization reached a peak of intensity in the summer of 1788, after Rhode Islanders learned that New Hampshire, the ninth state, had ratified the Constitution and so prompted Congress to put the new system into effect. On June 27th, Jabez Bowen, the Worshipful Master of the Masonic lodge in Providence, chaired a town meeting to respond to the news; the townspeople resolved that the erection of the ninth pillar of the Federal structure, and the anniversary of American independence, be celebrated on Friday next, the Fourth of July; and that an entertainment be prepared on said Day, for as many of our Fellow-citizens as will honour it with their presence. +HUHWKHWRZQPHHWLQJXQGHU%RZHQ¶VJXLGDQFHLQYRNHGDQDUFKLWHFWXUDOPHWDSKRUWROLQNWKH achievement of American independence to the federal Constitution, as if one were the foundation for the other. The committee that the town appointed to plan the festivities included the Masons Jeremiah F. Jenkins, who would later serve as the Providence lodge¶VWUHDVXUHU &RORQHO'DQLHO Tillinghast, leader of the artillery company; and the Deacon of the Congregational church, James Greene, who had been a member of the lodge since its founding in 1757. John Brown and Benjamin Bourne were tasked with inviting tKHWRZQ¶VYDULRXVPLQLVWHUVWRGHOLYHUVHUPRQVIRU the occasion.745 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 744 ³3KRFLRQ´Providence United States Chronicle, July 17, 1788, reprinted in Kaminski et al, Documentary History, 25:357. 745 Providence Gazette, June 29, 1788, p. 3. '(%! ! As mentioned earlier, the festival was a partial victory for the town party, only narrowly saved from disaster after a country-party militia threatened to disperse it.746 Both the federalists and their opponents clearly recognized the propaganda value of a public celebration of the &RQVWLWXWLRQLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VFRPPHUFLDODQGSROLWLFDOFHQWHUDQGhence, when news arrived the very next QLJKWRI9LUJLQLD¶VUDWLILFDWLRQWKHIHGHUDOLVWVWRRNthe opportunity to hold a spontaneous celebration. On July 5thLQKRQRURI9LUJLQLDUDLVLQJ³WKHWHQWKSLOODULQWKHJUHDW IDEULFRIJRYHUQPHQW´&RORQHO7LOOLQJKDVWILUHGRIIWHQURXQGVRIFDQQRQ$FURZGRI townspeople, particularly students from the &ROOHJH³ZLWKRXWDQ\SUHYLRXVDUUDQJHPHQWV´ gathered on Federal Hill and marched eastward over the bridge and through the main streets of the town. They cheered before the house of the Baptist minister, Enos Hitchcock, in honor of the sermon he had given the preceding day, thus symbolically linking the celebrations of independence and of federalization.747 Though the freemen of Rhode Island averted an outbreak of violence in the summer of 1788, the ratification by New Hampshire and Virginia only further raised the material stakes of WKHGHEDWH1HZ Rhode Island was now effectively an independent state: the Assembly ceased to pray for the United States of America at the closings of its sessions and Rhode Island vessels struck the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 746 Providence Gazette, July 5, 1788, p.3; William R. Staples, Annals of the Town of Providence, Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. 5 (Providence: Knowles and Vose, 1843), 328-35. 747 Providence Gazette, July 12, 1788, p. 3. '(&! ! American flag from their masts. The most ardent country-party orators argued that Rhode Island VKRXOGHPEUDFHLWVLQGHSHQGHQFH WKH$VVHPEO\PDQ-RQDWKDQ-+D]DUGWKH³0DFKLDYHORI &KDUOHVWRZQ´urged the state to throw open its ports to duty-free trade.748 5KRGH,VODQG¶VUHFDOFLWUDQFHIXUWKHULQIODPHGWKHZLGHVSUHDGDQLPRVLW\DJDLQVWWKHVWDWH creating a sense of alarm among Rhode Island federalists. The most urgent calls for ratification came from William Ellery, the Newport merchant who had joined the Masons in Massachusetts before leading the local chapter of the Sons of Liberty and signing the Declaration of Independence. Ellery stood at the extreme of the town party: in serving as a Congressional loan officer in Newport in 1787, he refused to accept printed currency as payment from Rhode ,VODQGHUVDQGEODPHGWKHVWDWH¶VIDLOXUHWRUDWLI\WKH&RQVWLWXWLRQRQWKH³DFFXUVHGSDSHU-money V\VWHP´749 When in 1788, country-party leaderVREMHFWHGWRWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQ¶VODFNRID%LOORI Rights but refused to join the union in order to advocate for their preferred amendments, an H[DVSHUDWHG(OOHU\FDOOHGKLVKRPHVWDWH³DIRROLVKVOXW´750 As the new government began to organize that year, Ellery warned the antifederalists that Congress might impose sanctions or use military force to compel the state to ratify; most shockingly of all, Congress might simply abolish Rhode Island, partitioning its territory between neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut²a proposal that some Rhode Islanders surely regarded as a fate worse than death. As Ellery wrote to a friend in Congress regarding the FRXQWU\SDUW\¶VLQWUDQVLJHQFH³WKHRSSRVLWLRQWRWKHLUPHDVXUHVVHHPVRQO\WRKDYHKDUGHQHG their hearts, and perhaps it would require greater miracles than Moses and Aaron performed to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 748 Polishook, 193. 749 Polishook, 190. 750 William Ellery to unknown recipient, Oct. 13, 1788, miscellaneous manuscripts, Box 1, Folder 1, NHS, quoted in Polishook, 193. '('! ! FRQYLQFHWKHPRIWKHXQULJKWHRXVQHVVRIWKHLUFRQGXFW´751 In placing himself in the role of the Old-Testament prophets exhorting 3KDUDRKWRKHHG*RG¶VFRPPDQGPHQWV(OOHU\DJDin claimed the Masonic role of a mediator of divine authority in earthly politics. Other prominent Masons were more subtle and diplomatic in their efforts to move Rhode Island towards ratification. Jabez Bowen, who had spearheaded the festival of July 4, 1788, served with limited success as a negotiator and conciliator between Rhode Island and the rest of the nation. After the federal government went into operation, Bowen opened a brisk correspondence with George Washington and John Adams, seeking to persuade Congress and the President to forestall commercial sanctions on Rhode Island while the state continued to drag its feet. Bowen received strong support from his home town of Providence, but his position vis- à-vis federal officials became nearly untenable when North Carolina finally ratified the Constitution in November, 1789, leaving Rhode Island as the sole remaining holdout. In 'HFHPEHU:DVKLQJWRQZURWHLQUHVSRQVHWR%RZHQ¶VODWHVWPLVVLYHVthat he hoped that the 5KRGH,VODQG$VVHPEO\VKRXOG³consider well before it again rejects the proposition for calling a &RQYHQWLRQ´752 Fortunately, the mounting external pressure on Rhode Island coincided with a relaxation of the internal controversy over paper money. Over the course of 1789, the state paid off nearly all of its wartime debts using paper currency, thus easing many country-SDUW\GHSXWLHV¶IHDUVRI onerous taxes. In the town meetings that year, the Religious Society of Friends circulated a petition calling for the repeal of the legal-tender clause; the town of Warwick, which had !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 751 William Ellery to Benjamin Huntington, Aug. 31, 1788, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:405. 752 George Washington to Jabez Bowen, Dec. 27, 1789, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:651. '((! ! previously been a country-party stronghold, switched its position and endorsed the Quaker SURSRVDO6HHLQJDQRSSRUWXQLW\WRUHVROYHWKHVWDWH¶VPRVWGLYLVLYHLVVXH*RYHUQRU-RKQ&ROOLQV called a special session of the Assembly in October, which repealed the legal-tender clause, allowing vendors and creditors to refuse the currency or to accept it at a negotiated rate.753 Attitudes toward the Constitution softened, too, as some country-party leaders entertained the idea of ratification with heavy amendments and caveats. The United States Chronicle reported in October WKDW³WKHVHQWLPHQWVRIWKHJRRGSHRSOHRIWKLVVWDWH«ZKRKDYHEHHQRSSRVHGWRWKH &RQVWLWXWLRQDUHGDLO\DOWHULQJ´754 Governor Collins had called on the Assembly to repeal the legal-tender clause despite his own consistent support for paper money²the dramatic step was one of a long series of actions in which he used the symbolic influence of the governorship to seek unity and compromise within the state, eventually paving the way for ratification. Indeed, no one went to such great lengths in the crisis of the 1780s to reconcile Rhode Island with the rest of the nation as did John Collins. His combination of country-party convictions with a long-standing and principled support for federalization was unique, and no other politician was so well situated to usher Rhode Island into the federal union²although it cost him his career. Collins, a minor Newport merchant and captain, had been an active supporter of the Ward faction in the 1760s before, like William Ellery, joining the Sons of Liberty and eventually the Continental Congress. He was also a Mason, although it is unknown when and where he joined the Fraternity.755 While Collins !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 753 Polishook, 161-2. 754 Providence US Chronicle, Oct. 15, 1789, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:619. 755 &ROOLQVVLJQHGWKH SHWLWLRQIRUWKHORWWHU\WREXLOG0DVRQV+DOO1HZSRUWDVD³0DVRQLQ 1HZSRUW´Proceedings in Masonry, 467; his son, John A. Collins, became a Mason in 1792 and became the Senior Deacon of the Newport lodge²Vocal Companion and Masonic Register (Boston: John M. '()! ! belonged to a lower tier of the mercantile class, he deeply distrusted the merchant-magnate elite that ruled Newport: &ROOLQVZURWHWR6DPXHO:DUGLQ³their religion is trade and their god is gain, and they that expect men to sacrifice their god and their religion for the publick will FHUWDLQO\EHGLVDSSRLQWHG´756 &ROOLQV¶VNHSWLFLVPWRZDUGWKHVWDWH¶Vmercantile elite surely conditioned his response to the agrarian crisis of the 1780s, in which Rhode Island farmers fell into ever-deepening debt to merchants and financiers. Collins helped to plan the paper-PRQH\HPLVVLRQWRUHOLHYHWKHVWDWH¶V GHIODWLRQDQGZRQWKHJRYHUQRU¶VRIILFHLQRQWKHFRXQWU\-party ticket. In the spring of 1787, Collins engaged in a long standoff with the postmaster of Newport, who refused to accept paper currency as payment for letters addressed to the governor. Leading town-party merchants attacked Collins for having alienated Congress and embarrassed Rhode Island in the eyes of the other states, but the governor remained steadfast; in 1787, uQGHUWKHVORJDQ³3HUVHYHUH´KHZDV re-elected with more than two thirds of the vote.757 Still, Collins differed from other country-party leaders in that he quietly harbored hopes that the nation would form a stronger central government²and unlike other federalists in the state, his aspirations did not stem from any antipathy to paper money. In the summer of 1787, the Assembly was deeply ambivalent over whether to appoint delegates to the convention at Philadelphia, with the upper and lower houses switching positions several times. When Collins !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dunham, 1802); 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH%RRN%'HF 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK Rhode Island. 756John Collins to Samuel Ward, July 17, 1774, Gratz Collection, HSP, Box 1, Case 21, cited in Polishook, 187. 757 Polishook, 152-4, 175-8. Ironically, the letters that the postmaster refused to hand over included urgent calls for assistance from the governor of Massachusetts, thus preventing Rhode Island IURPKHOSLQJWRTXHOO6KD\V¶5HEHOOLRQ '(*! ! called for a special session of the legislature in hopes of resolving the disagreement and selecting a delegation, his country-party colleagues firmly rejected the proposal. After the Philadelphia convention returned its report that autumn, Collins asked the Assembly immediately to open a debate on the proposed Constitution; the country party deputies again refused, insisting, in a SRVVLEOHVDUGRQLFHFKRRI9DUQXP¶VDUJXPHQWEHIRUHWKH6XSHULRU&Rurt, that a change to the ³IXQGDPHQWDOODZV´RIWKHVWDWHUHTXLUHGWKHDSSURYDORIWKHWRZQPHHWLQJV$IWHUWKHIUHHPHQ likewise declined to ratify the Constitution, Collins, though disappointed, accepted the decision, writing to Congress that the referendum was based ³XSRQpure republican principles, founded XSRQWKDWEDVLVRIDOOJRYHUQPHQWVRULJLQDOO\GHULYLQJIURPWKHSHRSOHDWODUJH´758 Although he respected the rights and prerogatives of the voting majority, Collins feared 5KRGH,VODQG¶VSHUPDQHQWVHSDUDWLRQIURPWKHXQLRQ7KHJRYHUQRU¶V1HZ )OLQWZURWHWRKLPLQ0D\ WKDWEHFDXVH³DWGLIIHUHQWWLPHV\RXKDYHPHQWLRQHGWRPHWKDW \RXHDUQHVWO\KRSHG\RXUVWDWHZRXOGMRLQWKHIHGHUDOJRYHUQPHQWVRRQHURUODWHU´&ROOLQV should act right away; iILQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VYLHZWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQLVLPSHUIHFW³now is the period IRULQWURGXFLQJDPHQGPHQWV´759 As Collins surely knew, the dangers of refusal grew with each passing month: from without, Congress might place a trade embargo on Rhode Island, use armed force to compel ratification, or as Ellery had warned, partition the state; from within, the mercantile towns might secede from the state and seek to join the union separately. The Bristol jurist Benjamin Bourne proposed just such a plan to the Revolutionary naval hero Silas Talbot, and in December, 1789, the United States Chronicle H[SOLFLWO\SUHGLFWHGWKDWD³UHYROWIURPWKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 758 John Collins to the President of Congress, April 5, 1788, State papers of Rhode Island, National Archives, p. 604-10, quoted in Polishook, 200-01. 759 Royal Flint to John Collins, May 30, 1789, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:522-3. '(+! ! JRYHUQPHQWRIWKLVVWDWHZLOOWDNHSODFHE\DWOHDVWDOOWKHVHDSRUWWRZQV´LIWKHFRXQWU\SDUW\ continued to block ratification.760 In the fall of 1789, although some country-party leaders privately intimated that they had grown more amenable to federalization, the town meetings again rejected the proposal to call a ratifying convention.761 Most likely distressed by the failure of the autumn referendum but heartened by the repeal of the legal-tender clause, Collins continued the quest for ratification with undiminished optimism. He utilized the symbolic power of the governorship, issuing a proclamation which designated Thursday1RYHPEHU DV³DGD\RISXEOLF7+$1.6*,9,1*WR$OPLJKW\ *RG«IRUWKHYDULRXVPDQLIHVWDWLRQVRIDPHUFLIXO3URYLGHQFHWRWKLVVWDWHDQGWKHRWKHUVWDWHV RI$PHULFDODWHO\XQLWHGXQGHUWKHVDPHFRQIHGHUDWLRQ´7KHSURFODPDWLRQHFKRHG3UHVLGHQW WaVKLQJWRQ¶VEXWLQKLVRZQDGGHQGXP&ROOLQVDVNHGDOORIWKHSHRSOHRI5KRGH,VODQGWR DEVWDLQIURPZRUNDQGWRJDWKHULQWKHLUKRXVHVRIZRUVKLS³ZLWKXQLWHGKHDUWVDQGVXLWDEOH H[SUHVVLRQVRIQDWLRQDOJUDWLWXGH´762 &ROOLQV¶SURFODPDWLRQFOHDUO\HYRNHG lingering emotional associations with the continental unity of wartime. In January 1790, with the possibility of permanent disunion looming over Rhode Island, Collins again proposed that the Assembly call for a ratifying convention. Several bills to the effect were defeated in one or the other chamber, before finally, on January 17th, one of them passed the House of Deputies and faced a tied vote of four against four in the House of Assistants. Under the Rhode Island charter, the governor would cast the tiebreaking vote. The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 760 Providence United States Chronicle, Dec. 31, 1789, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:655; Polishook, 209-10. 761 Polishook, 203-6. 762 Governor John Collins, Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, United States Chronicle, Nov. 12, 1789, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:636-7. '(,! ! federalists were overjoyed at his decision: as the Newport Mason and former colonel Henry 6KHUEXUQHZURWHWRKLVIULHQG+HQU\.QR[WKHIROORZLQJGD\³WRWKHLPPRUWDOKRQRURI Governor Collins he gave the casting vote in favour of cDOOLQJDFRQYHQWLRQ´6KHUEXUQH SUHGLFWHGWKDW5KRGH,VODQG³E\WKHH[SLUDWLRQRIWZRPRQWKV«ZLOOZLWKKHDUWDQGKDQGMRLQWKH JHQHUDOJRYHUQPHQW´763 6KHUEXUQH¶VHQWKXVLDVPKDGJRWWHQWKHEHWWHURIKLP²the antifederalists still had serious concerns regarding the Constitution, and the process of UDWLILFDWLRQZRXOGWDNHIDUORQJHU$GGLWLRQDOO\ZKDWHYHU³LPPRUWDOKRQRU´6KHUEXUQHWKRXJKW WKDWWKHJRYHUQRUGHVHUYHGWKHWLHEUHDNLQJYRWHHQGHG&ROOLQV¶SROLWLFDOFDUHHU LQWKH elections, the country party dropped him from their ticket, and he never attempted to run for office again.764 The content of debate at the ensuing convention shows the continuing distrust of centralized power with which federalists were forced to grapple. The delegates met at the beginning of March in South Kingstown, an antifederalist town; during their six-day session, the GHOHJDWHV¶SULQFLSDOWRSLFRIFRQFHUQZDVWKHVODYHWUDGHZKLFKWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQEORFNHG Congress from prohibiting for at least twenty years. Rhode Island had banned the traffic in 1786, and many country-party delegates were Quaker abolitionists, still struggling to see the ban enforced against smugglers; the Congressional powers to raise funds and to make war also evoked opposition.765 By March 6th, a committee drew up a list of nineteen proposed amendments that Rhode Island should request before ratifying. They included an extensive bill of rights ensuring freedoms of speech, religion, and the press, as Congress had already proposed; !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 763 Henry Sherburne to Henry Knox, Jan. 18, 1790, reprinted in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:682. 764 Polishook, 212, 224. 765 Polishook, 216-17. ')-! ! structural amendments which would empower states to recall their senators, forbid Congress to maintain standing armies in peacetime, require the approval of two thirds of Congress to declare war or to borrow money, prohibit conscription except in response to invasion, require Congress to provide for the relief of the poor, and ban the slave trade immediately.766 7KHFRQYHQWLRQ¶V concerns with slavery, war, and poverty reflect Quaker influence, while more broadly, the attacks on Congressional power express a fear of what historians KDYHFDOOHGWKH³ILVFDO-military VWDWH´²the self-perpetuating, war-making, and money-making machine that developed out of the British Parliament, bureaucracy, and banks in the eighteenth century.767 The conclusion of the week-long session of debate was the ILUVWWUXHWHVWRIWKHGHOHJDWHV¶ positions on ratification. The country-party majority moved to adjourn the convention and to UHIHUWKHGHOHJDWHV¶OLVWRISURSRVHGDPHQGPHQWVWRWKHWRZQPHHWLQJV:LOOLDP%DUWRQD0DVRQ and respected Revolutionary veteran, objected, asserting that adjournment would abdicate the duty for which the convention had been gathered. Barton had warned gravely against granting Congress the power to levy direct taxes, but nevertheless he insisted that the convention vote on ratiILFDWLRQ+LVSRVLWLRQH[HPSOLILHVWKHYLHZVRIIHGHUDOLVWVZKRVKDUHGWKHLURSSRQHQWV¶ skepticism of Congressional power but still saw federalization as a matter of principle. The majority overruled him, adjourning the convention until after the coming town meetings and elections. In April, with ratification possibly hanging in the balance, a self-appointed council of ten federalists, including the Masons John Brown, Jabez Bowen, and George Gibbs, proposed a coalition of the town and country parties and a combined slate of candidates. The country party !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 766 Polishook, 217-21. 767 John Brewer, The Sinews of Power: War, Money, and the English State, 1688-1783. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989). ')$! ! rejected the olive branch, and elected their new leader, Arthur Fenner, to the governorship. Several town meetings voted to instruct their delegates to vote against ratification; the fate of federalization hinged, therefore, on a small number of country delegates that might be willing DQGDEOHWREXFNWKHLUFRQVWLWXHQWV¶ZLVKHV768 The delegates reconvened in Newport on May 24th, and after five days of debate, Jabez Bowen made a motion to vote on ratification, which Benjamin Bourne seconded; the Masons William Barton of Providence and Peleg Clarke and George Sears of Newport also voted in favor, but the decision truly hinged on the representatives of the agrarian towns. The delegates from Westerly and HopkLQWRQEUHDNLQJIURPWKHLUFRQVWLWXHQWV¶DQWLIHGHUDOLVPYRWHGLQWKH affirmative, and the motion carried by the breathtakingly narrow margin of 34 to 32. On receiving the news, the Assembly, anxious to be done with the long ordeal, immediately swore oaths of loyalty to the United States. The deputies made plans to elect members of Congress and selected William Barton to carry the news of the ratification to George Washington in New York. The inhabitants of Providence gathered to celebrate the adoption of the constitution, which, in the words of the Gazette³KDVFRPSOHWHGWKHWKLUWHHQWKDUFKRIWKHUDLV¶GHPSLUH XQLWLQJDOOWKHVWDWHVXQGHUDIUHHDQGHIILFLHQWJRYHUQPHQW´$IWHU\HDUVRIDFULPRQ\DQG uncertainty, Rhode Island integrated smoothly into the new union. Congress immediately extended the federal tariff and the census to Rhode Island and accepted the delegates that the state sent to Congress, including Benjamin Bourne as its first member of the House.769 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 768 Polishook, 221-8. 769 Polishook, 229-35; Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 25:934-5; Providence Gazette, June 5, 1790, p. 3. In addition to Bowen, Bourne, Sears, Clarke, and Barton, a delegate from Tiverton named Isaac Manchester, who would later become a Mason in 1794, voted in favor of ratification. ')%! ! The debate over federalization in Rhode Island, where the opposition to the Constitution was uniquely powerful and effective, throws into stark relief the role of the Masons in federalization. Despite their widely varying stances on local policy disputes and on the details of the Constitution, members of the Craft uniformly supported ratification. From the most fire- eating federalist, William Ellery, to the patient and conciliatory country-party statesman, John Collins, Masons of all political factions saw an intrinsic value in national unity, the completion RIZKDWWKH\FDOOHGWKH³IHGHUDOHGLILFH´:KHUHDV)UHHPDVRQU\LQ5KRGH,VODQGVXIIHUHG severely during the paper-money controversy, it recovered during the debate over the Constitution: after performing no initiations at all in 1786, the Providence lodge resumed work and took in an average of five candidates per year between 1787 and 1790. While this was a mere fraction of what the lodge had seen during the Revolution, it was enough to remain vital until the controversy was resolved. Moreover, the initiation of Bennett Wheeler on July 3, 1788, WKHGD\EHIRUH-DEH]%RZHQ¶VEDQTXHWRQ)HGHUDO+LOOVXJJHVWVWKDWVKDUHGFRPPLWPHQWWR federalism could attract new candidates into the lodges. The strong federalism of the Rhode Island Masons should not be surprising considering the level of Masonic involvement in drafting the Constitution. At least 13 of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia²one third of the total²were Masons. 770 This was a higher proportion of Masonic membership than the Continental Congress ever saw. Though the most influential thinkers at the Philadelphia Convention were not Freemasons, the most respected elder statesmen, who lent the gathering an air of legitimacy²Washington and Franklin²were Brethren. Indeed, more than the American Revolution, federalization can be !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 770 Ronald E. Heaton, Masonic Membership of the Signers of the Constitution of the United States (Silver Spring, Maryland: The Masonic Service Association, 1962). ')&! ! seen as a Masonic project. The Constitution came to represent WKH³FRPPRQFHQWHURIXQLRQ´ that Thomas Pollen had extolled forty years earlier and that American Union Lodge had fostered in the Army encampments. In addition to architectural metaphors, Hebraic allusions pervaded the debate over federalization. As we saw in the previous chapter, General Varnum, in his address at Marietta likened national disunity to the Babylonian captivity, while William Ellery invoked Moses and Aaron confronting Pharaoh. These metaphors express the anxieties of life in eighteenth-century mercantile towns²fears of rootlessness, dispersal, and exile. Federalism took hold in the same transient and mobile port towns in which Freemasonry had flourished since the 1730s because both movements addressed the same emotional longing for harmony and reunion, for the return from Babylon to Zion. Ultimately, though, it was an actual living Hebrew that would pen the most famous words WRHPHUJHIURP5KRGH,VODQG¶VVWUXJJOHRYHUUDWLILFDWLRQ7ZRSXEOLFOHWWHUVE\0RVHV6HL[DV ZRXOGSXWDFRQFOXGLQJQRWHRQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VORQJGLVSXWHVRYHUIHGHUDOL]DWLRQSUHVHQWLQJD religious understanding of the new Constitution that was both distinctly Jewish and distinctly 0DVRQLF%\ 6HL[DVDWWKHVDPHWLPHWKDWKHNHSW1HZSRUW¶V0DVRQLFORGJHDIORDWKDG assumed the OHDGHUVKLSRIWKHWRZQ¶V-HZLVKFRPPXQLW\7KLVZDVQRWDJODPRURXVSRVLWLRQ after experiencing a period of revival in the early 1780s, the Jewish group in Newport gradually GHFOLQHG7KHFRQJUHJDWLRQ¶VPRVWSURVSHURXVDQGOHDUQHGHOGHUVGLHGRIIRYHUWKHFRXUVHRIWKH 1780s, while younger Jews left for more promising locales. Lacking a rabbi or a chazzan, religious services in the synagogue fell below the standards of orthodoxy expected in other towns, and Jewish visitors ceased to join in worship.771 $VWKHV\QDJRJXH¶VVXUYLYLQJDFFRXQWV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 771 Gutstein, 199-200; 214-17; Manuel Josephson to Moses Seixas, Feb. 4, 1790, Jacques Judah Lyons Collection, P-15, Center for Jewish History, New York. ')'! ! show, the Newport congregation fell into financial as well as liturgical crisis; whereas 13 subscribers and 9 other donors had contributed to the congregational funds in 1783, only 11 subscribers and one other donor did so in 1790, leaving the congregation with insufficient funds to maintain the synagogue.772 Ultimately, only Moses Seixas showed the necessary dedication to maintain what was left RI1HZSRUW¶V-HZLVKOLIH6HL[DVKDGORQJVHUYHGDVWKHWRZQ¶VPRKHOKDYLQJOHDUQHGWKH necessary skills to perform the rite of circumcision from a friend in New York in 1772. Between 1775 and 1796, Moses circumcised 21 infant boys, and following the loss of the chazzan Isaac Touro, Seixas became the most important Jewish religious leader in the town, along with the shochet, Hillel Judah, who certified kosher foods. Seixas struggled to maintain the synagogue building, and in 1786, as the congregation verged on insolvency, he forwarded eight pounds of his own money²no mean sum in a time of deflation²to make up a budget shortfall. The IROORZLQJ\HDUKHEHFDPHWKHFRQJUHJDWLRQ¶V3arnas, or president, and although this office had customarily changed hands every year, Seixas held it for the rest of the decade.773 When Rhode Island finally ratified the Constitution in May, 1790, it was widely expected that George Washington would formally visit Rhode Island, as he had done other states after their ratifying conventions. This prospective visit was doubly significant for Moses Seixas: on the one hand, it offered an opportunity to address Washington as a Masonic brother, as King 'DYLG¶V/RGJHKDGIDLOHGWRGRLQDQGVRWREROVWHUWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VSUHVWLJH RQWKHRWKHU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 772 0RVHV6HL[DV¶DFFRXQWVIRU1HZSRUW&RQJUHJDWLRQ6HS-DFTXHV-XGDK/\RQV Collection, P-15, Center for Jewish History, New York. 7730RVHV6HL[DV¶DFFRXQWVIRU1HZSRUW&RQJUHJDWLRQ6HSJacques Judah Lyons Collection, P-15, Center for Jewish History, New York; Abraham I. Abrahams to Moses Seixas, June 1, 1772, circumcision instructions and list of circumcisions performed, Seixas Family Papers, P-60, Box 1, Folder 7, Center for Jewish History, New York. ')(! ! hand, changes in government had often proved dangerous for Jews in the past, and federalization raised ominous questions for the small Jewish group in Newport. Jewish Rhode Islanders worshipped freely and were under no obligation to support an established church, as still existed in the rest of New England, but as a general rule they could not become freemen and hence could not vote or hold office. Conversely, the federal Constitution prohibited religious tests for public office but contained no guarantees of freedom of worship. Congress had already proposed a bill of rights that would protect religious freedom in its first amendment, but as of the summer of 1790, the bill was stalled, one state short of the number required for adoption. By this time, the ELOO¶VSULQFLSDOFKDPSLRQVZHUHIHGHUDOLVWVZKRKRSHGWKDWLWZRXOGPROOLI\WKH&RQVWLWXWLRQ¶V remaining critics and prevent a second convention.774 Washington had already written letters in support of toleration for Quakers, Baptists, and Catholics, and so procuring a direct call from the President for toleration of Judaism seemed a plausible means of goading his home state of Virginia, a holdout against the bill of rights, to ratify, and thus of resolving the ambiguous position of Jews in Rhode Island. Before Congress adjourned in the summer of 1790, Moses Seixas prepared carefully for :DVKLQJWRQ¶VFRPLQJYLVLW,Q-XQHWKH-HZLVKFRQJUHJDWLRQLQ1HZ GHFRUXPDQGWR5KRGH,VODQG¶VDXWRQRP\UHMHFWHGWKHproposal, explaining that the Newport -HZVZLVKHGWR³DYRLGJLYLQJXPEUDJH´E\SUH-empting the Rhode Island Assembly in formally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 774 Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty (Oxford University Press, 2009): 70-2. '))! ! addressing the President. Seixas was resolved to address the President in due time, on behalf of his own congregation alone.775 When Washington finally made his visit, Seixas performed his dual role as a Jewish leader and a Mason. The President disembarked in Newport on the morning of August 17, 1790, along with an entourage of nine men, including Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson; over the course of the day, the townspeople feted the group of dignitaries and marched them around the town before Washington retired in the evening to the home of Henry Marchant, Rhode Island¶V newly-appointed federal judge. The following morning after breakfast, as the President stepped outside, delegates presented him with a written address from the Newport town council and another from the clergy. Moses Seixas handed him two missives²one on behalf of the Jewish congregation and one on behalf of KLQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH7KH-HZLVKDGGUHVVZDVVLJQHGE\ 6HL[DVKLPVHOIDV³:DUGHQ´RIWKHV\QDJRJXHDQGWKH0DVRQLFDGGUHVVE\6HL[DVDQG+HQU\ 6KHUEXUQHDVDXWKRUVDQGE\WKHORGJH¶VVHFUHWDU\IRUPHUDUP\FDSWDLQ:LOOLDP/LWWOHILHOG Washington and his assistants took the various addresses in hand before embarking for Providence; Washington composed replies over the next several weeks, which were printed in all of the Rhode Island newspapers.776 &RPSOH[DQGPXOWLOD\HUHG6HL[DV¶WZRDGGUHVVHVWR:DVKLQJWRQseek to reconcile former antifederalists to the Union. They muster an array of metaphors and shift among various styles DQGUHJLVWHUVWRDFKLHYHDGLVWLQFWLYHUKHWRULFDOHIIHFW7RJHWKHUZLWK:DVKLQJWRQ¶VUHSOLHVWKH\ compose a dual correspondence, carefully balancing and mediating public and private religious !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 775 Gutstein, 203-6; Letter from Moses Seixas, Newport, regarding joint letter to President Washington, July 2, 1790, Jacques Judah Lyons Collection, P-15, Center for Jewish History, New York. 776 Gutstein, 208-13; Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 26:1054-64. ')*! ! identities; the voices of the Jew and the Mason, of the exoteric and the esoteric, speak in parallel. Washington¶VFRQFLVHUHSOLHVDGRSWDplainer VW\OHWKDQ6HL[DV¶EXWWKH\FDUHIXOO\HFKRWKH wDUGHQ¶VRZQLGHDVDQGSKUDVHVEDFNWRKLPDIILUPLQJWKHLUVKDUHGEHOLHIV,WZRXOGEH impossible to analyze fully the messages exchanged between these two men in 1790, and the four letters must be read in full;777 what follows is only a brief consideration of how the letters invoke esoteric ideas and metaphors to help build a unified civic culture for the new federal state. 6HL[DV¶WZROHWWHUVVHHNWRSRUWUD\$PHULFDQIHGHUDOL]DWLRQDVWKHFUHDWLRQRIDQHZ covenant, joining God and humankind in a joint venture. In order to do so, they place :DVKLQJWRQ¶VDFFHVVLRQWRSRZHULQWRDORQJHUF\FOLFDOKXPDQKLVWRU\%RWKRIWKHPDUHGDWHG $XJXVW DQGLWLVLPSRVVLEOHWRNQRZZKLFKRQHZDVFRPSRVHGILUVWEXW:DVKLQJWRQ¶V reply to the shorter Masonic address appeared earlier, in the Newport Mercury of August 23rd, so ZHZLOOFRQVLGHUWKH0DVRQLFH[FKDQJHILUVW6HL[DV¶DQG6KHUEXUQH¶V³$GGUHVVIURPWKH 6RFLHW\RI)UHHPDVRQV´VSHDNVRQEHKDOIRI³WKH0DVWHU:DUGHQVDQG%UHWKUHQRI.LQJ 'DYLG¶V/RGJH´ ZKRKDYHVHL]HG³WKLVRSSRUWXQLW\WRJUHHW\RXDVD%URWKHUDQGWRKDLO\RX welcome to Rhode-,VODQG´$OWKRXJKWKHRFFDVLRQRI:DVKLQJWRQ¶VYLVLWWR1HZSRUWZDV singular rather than part of a recurring festival, the Masons situate the event in a longer mythic KLVWRU\FROODSVLQJWKHSDVWDQGWKHSUHVHQW ³:HH[XOWLQWKHWKRXJKWWKDWDV0DVRQU\KDVDOZD\V been patronised by the Wise, the Good, and the Great, so hath it stood, and ever will stand, as its fixtures are on the immutable pillars of Faith, HRSHDQG&KDULW\´7KHDXWKRUV¶DUFKLWHFWXUDO metaphor likens the strength of the Fraternity to that of the federal union, which its advocates had repeatedly described as a structure supported by pillars. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 777 The two pairs of letters, which appered multiple times in Rhode Island newspapers in August and September 1790, are reprinted in full in Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, vol. 25, p. 1061-4. DOOTXRWDWLRQVLQWKLVGLVFXVVLRQDUHWDNHQIURP.DPLQVNL¶VYHUVLRQRIWKHOHWWHUV ')+! ! The parallel between Masonry and the Union is also subtly underscored by repeated references to sets of three, which build a sense of order and stability around Masonry and the federal republic²two institutions striving for unity and permanence in the aftermath of revolution. As three pillars are needed to support a structure and the three patrons, Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abiff had founded the Fraternity, so the three degrees of the Craft SUHVHUYHGWKHIRXQGHUV¶TXDOLWLHVRIZLVGRPVWUHQJWKDQGEHDXW\DQGSURPRWHGWKHWKUHH cardinal virtues. 7KHSDWWHUQFRQWLQXHVLQ6HL[DV¶DQG6KHUEXUQH¶VOHWWHUDVWKHDXWKRUVDIILUP WKDWKHDYHQO\JXLGDQFH³ZLOOHYHUVTXDUHDOO\RXUWKRXJKWVZRUGVDQGDFWLRQVE\WKHHWHUQDO ODZVRIKRQRXUHTXLW\DQGWUXWK´DQGFORVHE\GHFODULQg that they salute the President, ³with WKUHHWLPHVWKUHH´7KLVVDOXWDWLRQUHFDOOV0DVRQLFWRDVWVDOOXGHVWRWKHRSHQLQJRID0DVWHU¶V Lodge as recorded in some eighteenth-century exposures,778 and at the same time invokes the three branches of the federal government and the nine states required to form a federal union according to the Constitution. Its phrasing also evokes the thrice-repeated greetings that are customary in Jewish ceremonies honoring the new moon, which Seixas himself would have led six days earlier, on August 11, 1790. The permanence and stability that the American Masons and the federalists sought derived, according to Seixas and Sherburne, from God himself through the medium of George Washington. The 1790 address continues the Masonic quest to transfer the divine mandate of kingship to new, republican institutions: WDVKLQJWRQZRXOGJRYHUQDFFRUGLQJWR³WKHZLVGRP DQGJUDFHZLWKZKLFKKHDYHQKDVHQGRZHG\RX´DQGWKH%UHWKUHQFRQJUDWXODWH:DVKLQJWRQXSRQ ³ILOOLQJWKHSUHVLGHQWLDOFKDLUZLWKWKHDSSODXVHRIDQXPHURXVDQGHQOLJKWHQHGSHRSOH´PXFKDV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 778 see for example, Thomas Wilson, Solomon in All His Glory: or, the Master-Mason (London: Robinson and Roberts, 1768), 27, 51. '),! ! a newly-crowned king, including Solomon himself, would assume his throne. The salutation of :DVKLQJWRQZLWK³WKUHHWLPHVWKUHH´DOVROLQNVWKHQHZ3UHVLGHQWWR%LEOLFDONLQJVKLS considering that the traditional Jewish consecration of the new moon requires, in addition to threefold greetings, a thrice-repeated verse announcing WKDW³David, King of Israel, is alive and HQGXULQJ´ WKHPRRQDFFRUGLQJWR-HZLVKFRPPHQWDWRUVWRRNRQLWVSHUPDQHQWIRUPDVD substitute for the Temple after the loss of the ancient Judaic kingdom.779 Most significantly, the Newport Masons invoke a Neoplatonic understanding of PDJLVWHULDOZLVGRPFHOHEUDWLQJWKH³KRQRXUGRQHWKHEURWKHUKRRGE\\RXUPDQ\H[HPSODU\ virtues and emanations of goodness proceeding from a heart worthy of possessing the ancient P\VWHULHVRIRXUFUDIW´$OFKHPLFDODQGDVWURORJLFDOSKLORVRSK\UHJDUGVWKHKHDUWDVD microcosm of the sun; as light and heat emanate from the center of the solar system, so words and actions emanate from the heart of the wise magus. In the Neoplatonic scheme of correspondences between the heavens and the earth, both the heart and the sun are images of God, transmitting his creative, life-JLYLQJIRUFHWRWKHORZHUUHDOPV6HL[DV¶DQG6KHUEXUQH¶V connection of the chair with the heart as symbols of divine authority echoes the ideas inscribed in colonial American furniture. The chair carved for the alchemical physician John Winthrop, Jr. in Connecticut around 1660 shows three concentric circles surrounding a flower figure, probably UHSUHVHQWLQJWKHHDUWKRUELWLQJWKHVXQLQWKHSRVLWLRQRIWKHVLWWHU¶VKHDUW WKHFKDLULQGLFDWHVWKDW the physician serves as a transmitter of the esoteric mysteries entrusted to him by God. Similarly, the elabRUDWHORGJH0DVWHU¶VFKDLUFDUYHGLQ:LOOLDPVEXUJDQGSUHVHQWHGWRD1RUWK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 779 Macy Nulman, The Enclyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 1993), 101-2. '*-! ! &DUROLQDORGJHLQSODFHVD%LEOHDQGDEOD]LQJVWDUEHKLQGWKH0DVWHU¶VKHDUW780 As He did all possessors of the divine mysteries, God would animate Washington through the nexus of his KHDUWDQG³HQFRPSDVV>KLP@ZLWKKLVKRO\SURWHFWLRQ´ :DVKLQJWRQ¶VUHVSRQVHWRWKH6HL[DVDQG6KHUEXUQHOHWWHULVPRUHUHVHUYHGLQLWVZRUGLQJ but not in its embrace of Freemasonry. The President expresses no offense at the egalitarian style of Masonic address, but rDWKHUDIWHUDFFHSWLQJWKH0DVRQV¶³IODWWHULQJH[SUHVVLRQVRI UHJDUG´ZLWK³JUDWHIXOVLQFHULW\´WKH3UHVLGHQWUH-affirms his loyalty to the Craft: 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 to be considered by them a deserving Brother. 7KHOHWWHU¶VDOOXVLRQWR³SULYDWHYLUWXHDQGSXEOLFSURVSHULW\´ is a clear statement of the dual role of Masonry in the eighteenth century, which claimed both personal and civic importance. :DVKLQJWRQ¶VUHIHUHQFHWRKLPVHOIDVD³%URWKHU´LVDVWULNLQJH[WHQVLRQRISDWURQDJHWRWKH Fraternity²and more specifically, in reference to a Jewish merchant, it promotes an attitude of interreligious unity in the new republic. The President most likely saw his Masonic FRUUHVSRQGHQFHZLWK.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHDVSUHIDFLQJKLVUHSO\WRWKHOHWWHUIURPWKH-HZLVK congregation, which the Newport Herald subsequently printed on September 9th. The neo-3ODWRQLVPRIWKHWZR0DVRQLFOHWWHUVJLYHVZD\LQ6HL[DV¶³$GGUHVVRIWKH 1HZSRUW+HEUHZ&RQJUHJDWLRQ´WRDVRDULQJIOLJKWLQWR-HZLVK%LEOLFDOP\WK7KHPXFKORQJHU letter is more explicit in casting Washington in the role of a divinely anointed king. After ZHOFRPLQJ:DVKLQJWRQRQEHKDOIRIWKH³FKLOGUHQRIWKHVWRFNRI$EUDKDP´6HL[DVGHFODUHV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 780 Neil Kamil, Fortress of the Soul, 242- *UDKDP+RRG³6WDWH'LJQLW\$XWKRULW\ )RXU Williamsburg Chairs Are Distinctive Expressions of ColoQLDO6RSKLVWLFDWLRQDQG&XOWXUH´Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Spring 2003, '*$! ! With pleasure we reflect on those days ² those days of difficulty, and danger, when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, ² shielded Your head in the day of battle: ² and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit, who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States. 0RUHWKDQPHUHO\DIILUPLQJ:DVKLQJWRQ¶VGLYLQHIDYRUWKHFRPSDULVRQVWR'DYLGDQG'DQLHO point to the particulaUTXDOLWLHVWKDWVXLWWKHIRUPHUJHQHUDOWRSROLWLFDOOHDGHUVKLS/LNH'DYLG¶V :DVKLQJWRQ¶VYLFWRU\LQEDWWOHGHPRQVWUDWHVWKHGLYLQHVDQFWLRQHQDEOLQJKLPWRUXOH7KH prophet Daniel, in contrast, gained authority in Babylon not through military victory but through HVRWHULFLQVLJKWLQWHUSUHWLQJWKHNLQJ¶VGUHDPVDQGODWHUGHOLYHULQJDSRFDO\SWLFYLVLRQV6HL[DV¶ UHIHUHQFHWR'DQLHOSUREDEO\DOOXGHVWR:DVKLQJWRQ¶V0DVRQLFPHPEHUVKLSZKLFKJDYHKLPWKH ³VHFRQGVLJKW´QHHGHGWRSUHSDUHKLVIHOORZ-citizens for the millennium. 6HL[DV¶OHWWHULQLWVVW\OHDQGDOOXVLRQVXQLWHVDQFLHQWP\WKZLWKSUHVHQW-day American IHGHUDOL]DWLRQWKXVUHWUDFLQJWKHF\FOLFDOFRXUVHRIKLVWRU\$IWHULQYRNLQJ*RG¶VLQYROYHPHQWLQ Biblical politics, the address celebrates the emergence of the American Jews into a peaceable, tolerant commonwealth: Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People ² a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance ² but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: ² deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine. [This] we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good. $VLQ9DUQXP¶VRUDWion, the creation of the American republic is a work of both God and the people in tandem. In this religious-humanistic scheme, the American republic is a covenanted people, its governors deriving their legitimacy from above and below at once. Seixas '*%! ! must have found the parallels between ancient Judaic experience and the creation of a new $PHULFDQJRYHUQPHQWWREHSDUWLFXODUO\QDWXUDODWWKLVWLPHRI\HDUDVWKH-HZLVKJURXS¶V traditional weekly Torah readings worked their way through the Book of Deuteronomy. Just WKUHHGD\VEHIRUHWKHGHOLYHU\RI6HL[DV¶OHWWHUWKH-HZVZRXOGKDYHUHDGWKH3DUVKDW6KRIWLP dealing with the establishment of Jewish government in Zion, which opens with Deuteronomy ³You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your cities that the Lord, your God, is giving you, for your tribes.´7KHQLJKWEHIRUHKHUHFHLYHG6HL[DV¶OHWWHU :DVKLQJWRQKDGORGJHGLQWKHKRPHRI1HZSRUW¶VQHZO\DSSRLQWHGIHGHUDOMXGJH In his final paragraph, Seixas draws together the principal themes of his address² :DVKLQJWRQ¶VGLYLQHHOHFWLRQKLVPDJLVWHULDOZLVGRPDQGWKHVDQFWLW\RIMXVWJRYHUQPHQW Concluding his encomium to the American Constitutional system, the Parnas invokes Biblical metaphors bearing on the esoteric quest for immortality: For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of Men ² beseeching him, that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised Land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life: ² And, when, like Joshua full of days and full of honour, you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality. 2IFRXUVHPXFKRIWKHHPRWLRQDOSRZHURI6HL[DV¶OHWWHUVSULQJVIURPKLVFDVWLQJRI Washington, a gentile hero, in Jewish roles. This crossing of sectarian boundaries is a corollary to the non-FRQIHVVLRQDO0DVRQLFODQJXDJHKHDUGLQWKHDGGUHVVIURP.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH 1RQHWKHOHVVWKH-HZLVKDQGWKH0DVRQLFUHJLVWHUVFRPELQHVHDPOHVVO\LQ6HL[DV¶ZLVKIRU eternal life for Washington. Seixas imagLQHVWKH3UHVLGHQWHQWHULQJ³WKH+HDYHQO\3DUDGLVH´ evoking the Kabbalistic belief in a return to Eden and the innocence of Adam before the Fall. '*&! ! 7KH³ZDWHURIOLIH´WKDW:DVKLQJWRQZLOOGULQNFDUULHVPDQ\PHDQLQJVVHHPLQJWRUHIHUWRWKH river of immortality mentioned in the books of Genesis and Revelations; to the elixir of life, the great objective of alchemy; and to the Fountain of Youth, which legend located in America. Finally, the Tree of Immortality can be understood to name the Tree of Life at the center of the Garden of Eden as well as the Kabbalistic diagram of the ten emanations of God that compose the cosmos. Behind both of these loom ancient Middle Eastern and Indo-European myths of the ³ZRUOGWUHH´FRQQHFWLQJWKHHDUWKWRWKHKHDYHQV781 DHVSLWHLWVLQKHUHQWSDWKRV6HL[DV¶DOOXVLRQ WR:DVKLQJWRQ¶VHYHQWXDOGHDWKH[SUHVVHVDQRSWLPLVWLFXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIPRUWDOLW\ZKHUHLQD successful political life ends not with mere relief from labor, but with the attainment of divine knowledge and of communion with the eternal. :DVKLQJWRQUHVSRQGHGWR6HL[DV¶V-HZLVKOHWWHULQPDLQO\VHFXODUODQJXDJHEXWFDUHIXOO\ repeated certain words and phrases back to his correspondent that would demonstrate his HQGRUVHPHQWRI6HL[DV¶YLVLRQ,QKLVUHSO\WKH3UHsident thanks the Newport Jews for their ³H[SUHVVLRQVRIDIIHFWLRQDQGHVWHHP´DQGIRUWKH³the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens´:DVKLQJWRQ¶VPHPRU\RIWKH³GD\VRIGDQJHUDQG GLIILFXOW\´WRZKLFK6HL[DV DOOXGHG³is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security´7KHVDFULILFHRIORFDOULJKWV involved in federalization is a reasonable price to pay for the defense of independence; indeed, FRQVLGHULQJWKHDGYDQWDJHVWKDWWKH$PHULFDQSHRSOHQRZHQMR\³we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and happy people´7KHQHZIHGHUDO republic should embody the tolerant spirit of the American citizenry, who have !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *+$!Hil Davidson, The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe (Routledge, 1993). '*'! ! given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. This paragraph gives to Seixas and his coreligionists outright political victory. It was :DVKLQJWRQ¶VVWURQJHVWVWDWHPHQWLQVXSSRUWRIUHOLJLRXVIUHHGRPWR date, and one of the most powerful of the eighteenth century, all the more remarkable for the fact that it was addressed to a FRQJUHJDWLRQRI-HZV,URQLFDOO\WKHPRVWIDPRXVSKUDVHRI:DVKLQJWRQ¶VOHWWHU²³WRELJRWU\QR sanction, to persecution no assisWDQFH´²ZDVDQHFKRRI6HL[DV¶ZRUGVZKLFKWKH3UHVLGHQW merely repeated with approval. The natural-ULJKWVODQJXDJHRI:DVKLQJWRQ¶VUHSO\LVHQWLUHO\FRPSDWLEOHZLWK%LEOLFDO DOOXVLRQVDQGHVRWHULFXQGHUWRQHVDVGHPRQVWUDWHGLQWKH3UHVLGHQW¶VILQDOSDUDgraph. After DJDLQWKDQNLQJ6HL[DVIRUKLVIODWWHULQJZRUGVDQG³ZLVKHVIRUP\IHOLFLW\´:DVKLQJWRQPLUURUV 6HL[DV¶FORVLQJZLWKKLVRZQEHQHGLFWLRQRQWKH$PHULFDQ-HZV May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy. :DVKLQJWRQ¶VPHQWLRQRIHDFKPDQ¶V³YLQHDQGILJWUHH´LVDTXRWDWLRQIURPWKHSURSKHW0LFDK symbolizing his vision of universal peace. Most literate Americans would have easily recognized the reference²in 1769, the merchant David Chesebrough of Newport wrote acerbically to his friend, Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, WKDW³at the present '*(! ! time we sit under our o[wn] vine and figtree and no Red Coats to make us afraid´782²but the FKRLFHRIDOOXVLRQDOVRVXEWO\HFKRHV6HL[DV¶UHIHUHQFHWRWKHWUHHRILPPRUWDOLW\,QFRQWUDVWWKH 3UHVLGHQW¶VKRSHWKDWWKHGHLW\VKRXOG³VFDWWHUOLJKWDQGQRWGDUNQHVVLQRXUSDWK´WKRXJK UHPLQLVFHQWRI*RG¶VSURPLVHVLQ,VDLDh 42:16, is idiosyncratic, capturing a peculiar sense of the partnership between man and God: the individual may freely walk upon his own path, but his progress will depend also on his ability to receive divine guidance. Civic liberty complements divine providence. *HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQ¶VOHWWHUWR6HL[DVDQGWKH1HZSRUWFRQJUHJDWLRQLVMXVWLILDEO\IDPRXV as a milestone in American Jewish history. Nevertheless, the understanding of the letter as an index of Jewish emancipation tends to obscure its multiple levels of meaning. In fact, the letter demonstrates the importance of esoteric symbolism in building the civic culture of the federal UHSXEOLF7DNHQWRJHWKHUZLWK6HL[DV¶WZRDGGUHVVHVLWIRUPVRQHSDUWRIDPXOWLOD\HUHG exchange between two Freemasons, both of whom were familiar with a vast body of myths, symbols, and images carrying multiple referents. The two authors show no discomfort in blending Biblical, astrological, and natural-rights discourses; the play of revealed and hidden meanings, as in SDPXHO.LQJ¶VSULQWIXUWKHUVWKHWZRPHQ¶VUKHWRULFDOJRDORIUHFRQFLOLQJD formerly anti-federalist state to the union. The Seixas-Washington correspondence presents the federal republic as a covenanted people, empowering the President and lesser magistrates to enact the divine and popular will. More broadly, the architectural metaphors so frequently invoked by Masons in the 1780s KHOSWRH[SODLQIHGHUDOL]DWLRQDVWKHFUHDWLRQRIDVWUXFWXUH³WKHJUHDWIDEULFRIJRYHUQPHQW´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 782 David Chesebrough to Thomas Hutchinson, 1769, quoted in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 156, July 2002; p. 229-30. '*)! ! within which citizens would pursue virtuous ends. Today, Americans have mostly forgotten the controversy that raged over the Constitution, instead regarding the document as sacrosanct. This process of sacralization began during the ratification debate itself; where a divine aura had once rested on the Crown, it gradually moved to the Constitution, the presidency, the courts, and paradoxically, the policy of religious freedom itself. Although it may be too much to claim that the federal Constitution would not have been adopted without the influence of the Masons, one must conclude that without the Masonic voice in post-Revolutionary society, such a controversial document would never have come to be regarded with sacerdotal reverence. '**! ! &KDSWHU ³7KH2QO\8QLYHUVDO0RQDUFK\´²Freemasonry in the Federal Heyday, 1790- 1799 The seven years following the Peace of Paris were, as the two preceding chapters have shown, a time of grave uncertainty for Rhode Island Masonry. The flow of new initiates into the lodges slowed and fluctuated, constrained by the political controversies that engulfed the state, while older, experienced Masons who had joined in colonial times, such as Nathaniel Mumford and Joseph Brown, died off. Most of those who had joined during the halcyon days of the Revolutionary War do not appear to have remained active in Masonic affairs, while a promising QHZ5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQ'U7KRPDV7UXPDQGLHGVXGGHQO\RID³UXSWXULQJDQGEXUVWLQJRI EORRGYHVVHOV´LQDJHGRQO\783 The existing leadership cadre centering on Moses Seixas of Newport and Jabez Bowen of Providence remained fixed in place as no one emerged to replace them. The Rhode Island Brethren published only one oration in this period, the fairly unremarkable effort by Thomas Fitch Oliver of Providence in 1784. By 1790, it seems that each lodge had a little over one hundred members, although only a few dozen frequently attended meetings and even the largest Masonic celebrations in the state gathered barely more than fifty Brethren.784 However, while Masonry struggled against decline within Rhode Island, it continued to burgeon in the wider Atlantic world, reaching new ports and spreading inland, from Canada to /LVERQWRWKH&DSH&RORQ\7KH5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQV¶LQWHUQDOVWUXJJOHVGLGQRWLVRODWHWKHP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 783 Providence Gazette, Aug. 12, 1786, p. 3. 784 These estimates are extrapolated from the Special Return for Newport and Providence, King 'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-1790, the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island beginning in 1791, and the Providence Gazette UHSRUWRQ7KRPDV)LWFK2OLYHU¶VRUDWLRQ-DQS '*+! ! from this expanding Masonic network²on the contrary, commerce, newspapers, and books produced by the growing print trade exposed Rhode Islanders ever more frequently to information and ideas about Masonry. In 1784, the Providence Gazette reported among its international news that, from a late regular computation of all the lodges of Free-Masonry, 1247 have been reckoned in Europe, 187 in America, 76 in Asia, 13 in Africa, which makes up the sum of 1523 in the world, and allowing but 30 members of each lodge, the amount will produce 45,690 Masons.785 It is impossible to vouch for the accuracy of the tabulations in this brief, unsourced report, but the undeniable growth of Masonry around the globe in the 1780s raised pressing questions for the American Brethren. Masonic success forced them to consider what it meant to be a Mason in the newly independent United States, and in Rhode Island it stimulated an urgent desire to integrate fully into the wider Masonic world. These tensions would only momentarily be resolved with ratification of the Constitution in 1790 and with the creation of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island in 1791, which would usher in unprecedented growth, confidence and influence for Masonry in the federal era. The 1790s saw the fulfillment of a long struggle for consolidation, unity and permanence²challenged only by the shockwaves of the French Revolution. Although we cannot know precisely what Rhode Island merchants learned and encountered on their overseas journeys, maritime trade remained an important medium in the VSUHDGDQGH[FKDQJHRI0DVRQLFNQRZOHGJH$OWKRXJK1HZSRUW¶VFRPPHUFHGLPLQLVKHGLQ YROXPHDIWHUWKH3HDFHRI3DULVWKLVVKRXOGQRWEHWDNHQWRLPSO\WKDWWKHWRZQ¶VPHUFKDQWV ceased to journey and trade in distant lands. On the contUDU\1HZSRUWHUV¶FRPPHUFLDOKRUL]RQV only broadened in order to make up for the interruption of trade with the British West Indies. In !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 785 Providence Gazette, Jan. 17, 1784, p. 2. '*,! ! 1784, Christopher Champlin advertised for sale at his store Chinese tea, Swedish iron, Russian sail-FORWKDQG³DVPDOO DVVRUWPHQWRI(QJOLVKJRRGV´786 The following spring, George Gibbs offered a similar range of commodities in addition to Lisbon wines.787 This commerce brought back to Newport not only material goods but ideas and information. In 1785, the shopkeeper Jacob Richardson advertised, along with several religious books and a new history of the American Revolution, copies of Ahiman Rezon, a guidebook published by the Ancient Grand /RGJHRI(QJODQG³DVDKHOSWRDOOWKDWDUHRUZRXOGEHIUHHDQGDFFHSWHGPDVRQV´788 Apart IURPDIHZDQQRXQFHPHQWVSODFHGE\RIILFHUVRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHWKLVDGYHUWLVHPHQWIRU Ahiman Rezon was the first mention of Freemasonry in the Newport Mercury since 1774, and it reflects the growing availability of information about the Craft both to Brethren and to the wider public. In 1786, the Mercury SXEOLVKHGDQ³2GHIRUWKH)HVWLYDORI6DLQW-RKQWKH%DSWLVW´WDNHQ from a Philadelphia paper, celebrating WKDW³the lodge which arose under holy Saint John, / new luster receives under great :DVKLQJWRQ´789 The following year came a report on the initiation of the Prince of Wales at a lodge in Westminster, attended by an impressive assortment of Dukes.790 Intriguing as these occasional reports in the Mercury may have been, they were paltry compared to the steady stream of Masonic news that appeared in the Providence Gazette. The QRUWKHUQWRZQ¶VSDSHUDWWKLVWLPHZDVSXEOLVKHGE\-RKQ&DUWHUDVREHUDQGKDUGZRUNLQJ printer. Carter had been born in Philadelphia in 1745; after his father died at sea, he apprenticed for a time with Benjamin Franklin. In 1767, he moved to Providence and took over publication !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 786 Newport Mercury, Oct. 8, 1784, p. 3. 787 Newport Mercury, April 23, 1785, p. 4. 788 Newport Mercury, Feb. 5, 1785, p. 4. 789 Newport Mercury, Aug. 21, 1786, p. 3. 790 Newport Mercury, April 28, 1787, p. 1 '+-! ! of the Gazette from Sarah Goddard, as well as her large workshop on Meeting Street at the sign RI6KDNHVSHDUH¶V+HDG+HZDVUHOLJLRXVDQGPoralistic, one of his first publications in 3URYLGHQFHEHLQJ$QWKRQ\%HQH]HW¶VDWWDFNRQVODYHU\DQGDOFRKRO,QKHEHFDPHWKH WRZQ¶VSRVWPDVWHUDQGLQWKHFRORQ\¶VRIILFLDOSULQWHU WKRXJKKHZDVDVWURQJ:KLJKLV reporting during the Revolution was usually measured rather than inflammatory. He joined the newly re-opened Masonic lodge on December 21, 1778, and the following June, he advertised copies of $&KRLFH6HOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV DQGRI*HQHUDO9DUQXP¶VUHFHQWRUDWLRQ791 &DUWHU¶VSULQting of the songbook and oration in 1779 began a long and prolific career in Masonic publications. In addition, from 1780 onwards, the Gazette printed frequent reports of Masonic events in Rhode Island, in Europe, and around the Atlantic rim. On July 8th of that year, Carter reported on the massive ceremony in Stockholm, attended by the King, that installed the new Grand Master of the Masons in Sweden.792 On January 3, 1782, the paper carried a report on the %RVWRQ0DVRQV¶REVHUYDQFHRI6DLQW-RKQWKH(YDQJHOLVW¶V'D\DW7ULQLW\&KXUFKDQGRQ0DUFK 20, 1784, an account of the installation of Robert R. Livingston as Grand Master of New York.793 Between the latter date and the end of 1796, the Gazette reported on Masonic topics at least thirty more times. These notices often included accounts of meetings, processions, and orations within Rhode Island or in other American states; advertisements for Ahiman Rezon and other Masonic books; and descriptions of lavish Masonic ceremonies in Britain and Continental Europe, sometimes attended by hundreds of Masons, which surely inspired envy among the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 791 +HOHQ0/RVFKNH\³&DUWHUDQG:LONLQVRQ 5KRGH,VODQG¶V)LUVW3XEOLshing House, 1793- ´ MA Thesis, Brown University, 1966, p. 1-9. 792 Providence Gazette, July 8, 1780, p. 2. 793 Providence Gazette, January 8, 1782, p. 3; March 20, 1784, p. 3. '+$! ! Providence Brethren. In 1786, he reprinted an oration that a German Count gave at the initiation of his son in Brunswick, Lower Saxony,794 and in 1790, he printed George WaVKLQJWRQ¶V 0DVRQLFFRUUHVSRQGHQFHZLWK0RVHV6HL[DVRQWKHSDSHU¶VIURQWSDJH795 In his reports on notable deaths, Carter often referred to the Masonic membership of the GHFHDVHGDQGWRWKH0DVRQV¶SDUWLFLSDWLRQLQWKHIXQHUDOUHLQIRUFLQJWKHLPSRUWDQFHof Freemasonry as a response to mortality. In 1786, after the death of Thomas Truman, he cited the GRFWRU¶V0DVRQLFRUDWLRQDVHYLGHQFHWKDWKLV³knowledge in general literature and history was very considerable´$IHZPRQWKVODWHUKHQRWHGWKHGHDWKRf Joseph Webb, Grand Master of Ancient Masons of Massachusetts, and on March 7, 1789, he printed a diagram of the funeral procession for James Mitchell Varnum at Marietta, including a large bloc of Freemasons. In 1790, Carter reported on the funeral of General Israel Putnam in Brooklyn, wherein the Masons SHUIRUPHG³WKHLUDFFXVWRPHGDQFLHQWFHUHPRQLHV´DWWKHJUDYH0RVWUHPDUNDEO\RQ-XO\ 1789, he reported on the funeral in Providence of the 46-year-ROGWDQQHU/HYL+DOODWWHQGHG³by the right worshLSIXO0DVWHUWKHRWKHURIILFHUVDQG%UHWKUHQRI6W-RKQ¶V/RGJHLQWKH habiliments of their Order²the Pall being supported by Brothers Joseph Russell, Jonathan Jenkins, Ebenezer Thompson, John Brown, Simeon Thayer, and William Barton´/HYL+DOOKDG served as the lieutenant-colonel of the Providence train of artillery, alongside the fellow Masons 'DQLHO7LOOLQJKDVWDVFRORQHODQG*HUVKRP-RQHVDVFDSWDLQDQGKHKDGWDNHQSDUWLQWKHXQLW¶V celebration of the ratification of the Constitution by MassachXVHWWV+DOO¶VIXQHUDODQGWKH account of it printed on July 4th underscored the sense of loyalty uniting Masons and federalists; !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 794 Providence Gazette, April 1, 1786, p. 2. 795 Providence Gazette, Sept. 18, 1790, p. 1. '+%! ! a few months later, William Barton, who had previously attended Masonic meetings in Newport, affiliated with the Providence lodge.796 The wide range of Masonic news printed in the Gazette in the 1780s surely became DYDLODEOHWR&DUWHUWKURXJK3URYLGHQFH¶VH[SDQGLQJFRPPHUFLDOQHWZRUNZKLFKQRZRXWSDFHG WKDWRI1HZSRUW3DUWLFXODUO\DIWHU5KRGH,VODQG¶VSURKLELWLRQRIWKHVODYH trade in 1787, Providence merchants reached ever more aggressively into new markets. The Revolution had HIIHFWLYHO\IUHHG$PHULFDQPHUFKDQWVIURPWKH%ULWLVK(DVW,QGLD&RPSDQ\¶VPRQRSRO\RQWUDGH with Asia, and American ships began venturing into the Indian Ocean. Although Robert Morris of Philadelphia outfitted the first American voyage to China in 1784, Providence soon became a principal center of the China trade in the new republic. In December 1787, John Brown outfitted a voyage of the General Washington IURP3URYLGHQFHWR&DQWRQ&KLQD¶VSULQFLSDOSRUWIRU external trade; Captain Jonathan Donnison, who had been a Mason since 1779, took a total of ten months to reach China by way of Madeira, Madras, and Pondicherry, carrying iron, tar, ginseng, wine, and rum. When the ship finally returned to Providence in July 1789 after a total of nineteen months, it unloaded porcelain goods, teas, silks, and lacquerware. The profit on the YHQWXUHZDVPRGHVWGXHWRWKHOHQJWKRIWKHYR\DJHDQGWKHYHVVHO¶VVPDOOsize, prompting John Brown to dredge the area of Providence Harbor near Fox Point to accommodate larger ocean- going ships and to commission the enormous President WashingtonWKH³EHVWVKLSHYHUEXLOWLQ 1HZ(QJODQG´LQ 2WKHU3URYLGHQFHPHUFKDQWVVoon followed suit, leading to the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 796 Providence Gazette, Aug. 12, 1786, p. 3; Jan. 7, 1786, p. 3; May 5, 1787, p. 3; March 7, 1789, p. 3; July 4, 1789, p. 3; May 3, 1788, p. 3; June 12, 1790, p.2; Special Return for Providence. '+&! ! LQFHSWLRQRIZKDWKLVWRULDQVKDYHFDOOHG5KRGH,VODQG¶V³DJHRI&KLQDWUDGH´ EHWZHHQDQG 1828, an average of three vessels a year left Providence for Canton.797 At the same time that merchant-Masons such as Brown and Donnison extended their trade to the far eastern horizons of the known world, other Providence Masons turned inward, helping to organize and develop industries within the town. In February, 1789, several dozen artisans in Providence formed an Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, appointing William Barton as their chairman and Bennett Wheeler as their first clerk. Their stated purposes ZHUH³the promotion of home manufactures, the cementing of the mechanic interests, and raising a fund to support thHGLVWUHVVHG´ The Association wrote to their counterparts in Boston and RWKHU$PHULFDQFLWLHVKRSLQJWRMRLQWKHPLQD³EDQGRIEURWKHUV´DQGLQVLVWLQJWKDWWKH\ZHUH ³QRWLQSULQFLSOHVHSDUDWHGIURPWKH8QLRQ´EXWORRNHGIRUZDUGWRMRLQLQJDJRYHUQPHQW³under which we have every reason to expect the manufactures, as well as the agriculture and commerce of the United States will receive every encouragement´)RULWVILUVWWKUHH\HDUVPRVWRIWKH practical work of the Association²drafting a constitution, procuring a charter from the Assembly, communicating with similar bodies in other states, and conducting a survey of craftsmen in Providence²was carried out by a small cadre of artisans, most of them Freemasons, including the printer Bennett Wheeler, the tailor Daniel Stillwell, the pewtersmith Gershom Jones, the leatherdresser Nathan Fisher, the clockmaker Caleb Wheaton, and the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 797 (GZDUG6DQGHUVRQ³5KRGH,VODQG0HUFKDQWVLQWKH&KLQD7UDGH´LQ/LQGD/RWULGJH/HYLQ ed., Federal Rhode Island: The Age of the China Trade, 1790-1820 (Providence: RIHS, 1978), p. 44-7; Providence Institution for Savings, Ships and Shipmasters of Old Providence: A Brief Account of Some of the Famous Merchants, Sea Captains, and Ships of the Past (Providence: Providence Institution for Savings, 1919), p. 20-1. '+'! ! silversmith John Gibbs.798 The dominance of Masons within the Association reflects both the continuing Masonic impulse towards institutional organization and the increasing infiltration of DUWLVDQVLQWR6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDIWHUWKHZDUDV3URYLGHQFHHYROYHGLQWRDSURWR-industrial city. By 1790, the Rhode Island Masons were at a crossroads. All of the aforementioned patterns of the 1780s²WKHH[SDQVLRQRI5KRGH,VODQG¶VRYHUVHDVWUDGHWKHJURZWKDQG organization of the manufacturing sector, and the increasing awareness of the global Masonic network²LQWHQVLILHGWKH0DVRQV¶GHVLUHWRLQWHJUDWHIXOO\LQWRWKH0DVRQLFZRUOGEH\RQGWhe VWDWH¶VVKRUHV1HYHUEHIRUHFRXOGPHPEHUVKLSLQWKH)UDWHUQLW\KDYHRIIHUHGVXFKWUHPHQGRXV advantages in the conduct of trade and social networking across borders. Every port at which the General Washington is known to have called on its long journey (Madeira, Pondicherry, Madras, Canton, and Saint Eustatius) housed a Masonic lodge, as did every city, from Boston to &KDUOHVWRQWRZKLFKWKH0HFKDQLFV¶$VVRFLDWLRQDGGUHVVHGLWVPLVVLYHV Most significantly, the very legitimacy of the lodges in Newport and in Providence was open to doubt. Falling into a gap in Masonic jurisdictions, the two lodges could not point to any governing body to vouch for their regularity or to manage the possible creation of new lodges. In 1787ZKHQWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI9LUJLQLDZURWHWRWKH1HZSRUW0DVRQVWRLQTXLUH³XSRQZKDW JURXQGDQ\*UDQG/RGJHZKLFKPD\EHZLWKLQWKHVWDWHLVHVWDEOLVKHG´WKH1HZSRUW%UHWKUHQ admitted that none such existed and proceeded to detail the complicated background of Masonry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 798 Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers Records, Feb. 27, 1789 through October 10, 1791, RIHS. '+(! ! in the state.799 The Providence lodge had received its original charter from the Modern Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and Jabez Bowen revived the lodge in 1778 with a warrant from the same institution, which most American Masons no longer recognized as KROGLQJDQ\DXWKRULW\7KHSRVLWLRQRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHZDVHYHQPRUHWHQXRXVVHHLQJDV how Hays had claimed the authority to open the lodge in Rhode Island on the basis of a warrant originally issued to him in New York. The two lodges had no permanent, formal relationship with one another, and they most likely practiced different forms of the Masonic rituals, seeing as KRZ.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHDWWKHLUILUVWPHHWLQJLQKDGODEHOHG-RKQ+DQG\DQG'DQLHO Box, both of whom had pUHYLRXVO\EHHQLQLWLDWHGLQ3URYLGHQFHDV³0RGHUQ´0DVRQVDQGUH- initiated them in the Ancient manner. When the Newport and Providence Brethren could not agree with one another on the fundamental criteria of Masonic regularity, they had little hope of easy acceptance in the wider sphere outside of the state; when Jabez Bowen issued a certificate LQDWWHVWLQJWR6DPXHO6QRZ¶VDWWDLQPHQWRIWKHWKUHHGHJUHHVRI&UDIW0DVRQU\LWLV unclear whether Masons in far-flung ports would have taken the document seriously.800 The most obvious answer to the questions of Masonic organization and legitimacy had already been put forward in several other states: the creation of new American Grand Lodges. In states that already had Provincial Grand Lodges before the Revolution²ie, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania²the process was fairly simple: the existing bodies merely asserted their independence of the mother Grand Lodges in London and claimed supreme authority over Masonry in their respective states. This process was completed first in Pennsylvania, where the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 799 Moses Seixas, Henry Dayton, and Henry Goodwin to the Grand Lodge of Virginia, December, 1787, reproduced in Rugg, 47. 800 Masonic certificate, Aug. 24, 1780, RIHS Manuscripts, vol. 14, p. 337, RIHS. '+)! ! Ancient Provincial Grand Lodge declared itself independent in 1786. Modern Masonry was extinct in the state by this time, thus leaving the authority of the independent Grand Lodge uncontested. The Mercury UHSRUWHGWKH3HQQV\OYDQLD0DVRQV¶KRSHWKDW³fine spun chords of ORYHDQGV\PSDWK\´ZRXOGFRQWLQXHWRFRQQHFWWKHPWRWKHLU%UHWKUHQLQ%ULWDLQGHVSLWHWKHLU VHSDUDWLRQ WKH\LQYLWHGWKH%ULWLVK0DVRQVWR³finish the beauties of so well ordered a dome in this new empire, and make this favourite land what we really wish, the distinguished residence, the last best retreat of heaven-born Masonry.´801 In states that had no existing Grand Lodges or where rival Modern and Ancient bodies competed for members, the consolidation of authority was more complicated. Only Virginia managed to create an independent Grand Lodge during the Revolution, in 1778. In New York, the Ancient Masons formed a Provincial Grand Lodge in 1781-2, while the city was still under British occupation; this body then declared its independence in 1787. Between December 1786 and the end of 1789, six other states from Connecticut to Georgia formed new Grand Lodges, in a process that paralleled the consolidation of political power under the federal Constitution. In Massachusetts, however, separate Modern and Ancient bodies clung to their competing jurisdictions until they finally merged in 1792. In most of these states, Masons managed to smooth over conflicts and rivalries between Moderns and Ancients for the sake of regional unity.802 In addition, the Brethren of American Union Lodge had floated the idea of an American national Grand Lodge as early as 1779, but the proposal failed due to the 0DVVDFKXVHWWV%UHWKUHQ¶VMHDORXV\RIWKHLUDXWRQomy. The notion of a Grand Lodge of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 801 Newport Mercury, October 16, 1786, p. 2. 802 Mackey, History of Freemasonry, vol. 5, p. 1394-1441; vol. 6, p. 1443-86; Newport Mercury, July 4, 1789, p. 2; Proceedings in Masonry, p. 348-9, 381-2. '+*! ! United States resurfaced repeatedly, even as late as 1802, but never materialized.803 Independent state Grand Lodges became the accepted form of Masonic governance in the United States. 5KRGH,VODQG¶VUDWLILFDWLRQRIWKH&RQVWLWXWLRQLQ0D\ DQGWKH3UHVLGHQW¶VYLVLWWR the state in August surely added further inducement for the Masons to bolster their legitimacy by IRUPLQJWKHLURZQ*UDQG/RGJH7KH3URYLGHQFH%UHWKUHQ¶VVNHSWLFLVPWRZDUGVWKHOHJLWLPDF\ of KiQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHPD\KDYHKLQGHUHGFRQVHQVXVDQGFRRSHUDWLRQEXWWKHWKRUQLHVWTXHVWLRQ facing the Brethren was the forms of the rituals that the prospective governing body would adopt. It is not certain what ritual forms the Providence lodge used in the later 1780s, but it most likely FRQWLQXHGWRDGKHUHWR0RGHUQFXVWRPV KRZHYHUWKH$QFLHQWIRUPVHPSOR\HGLQ.LQJ'DYLG¶V Lodge, were widely available in the pamphlet Jachin and Boaz, which had circulated in Rhode Island since shortly after its first publication in 1762, and in the handbook Ahiman Rezon.804 1RQHWKHOHVVZLWKLQDIHZPRQWKVRI3UHVLGHQW:DVKLQJWRQ¶VYLVLWWKH1HZSRUW0DVRQV devised a scheme to sidestep these obstacles. In Masonic governance, older lodges can claim precedence, and hence superior authority, in questions of Masonic ritual. (To this day, the oldest surviving Masonic lodges in Scotland dispute which among them holds precedence.) King 'DYLG¶V/RGJHZLWKLWV FKDUWHUIURP1HZ Providence Lodge on these terms. Therefore, on September 20, 1790, some Newport Brethren SURSRVHGWRWXUQWKHLUUHGHQWLVPRIWKHVXUYLYLQJ%UHWKUHQRIWKHROG6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHWRWKHLU advantage. They gathered eleven of the members of the older lodge and persuaded them to UHYLYHLWRQFHDJDLQVRWKDW.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHFRXOGGLVVROYHDQGPHUJHLWVHQWLUHPHPEHUVKLS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 803 Charles Sumner Plumb, The History of American Union Lodge No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio, 1776to 1933 (Marietta, Ohio: American Union Lodge, 1934), p. 60-1, 68; Herbert Leyland, Thomas Smith Webb, 114-15. 804Newport Mercury, Sep. 7, 1762, p. 4; Providence Gazette, Dec. 11, 1784, p. 3; Providence Gazette, Nov. 10, 1787, p. 3; Providence Gazette, Dec. 1, 1787, p. 3; '++! ! DQGLWVIXQGVLQWRWKHROGHUERG\,WLVQRWNQRZQSUHFLVHO\ZKRWKHVHROGHU6DLQW-RKQ¶V Brethren were, but they surely included Samuel Brenton, who had penned the 1785 letter to Washington.805 3HOHJ&ODUNHEULHIO\WRRNXSOHDGHUVKLSRIWKHUHYLYHG6DLQW-RKQ¶VXQWLOWKH Masons carried out their legalistic maneuver on October 19, 1790. The Secretary of the amalgamated lodge copied over into the new log book the names of all 108 Brethren who had MRLQHG.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHRYHUWKHSUHFHGLQJWHQ\HDUV1DWXUDOO\0RVHV6HL[DVVRRQ reclaimed his position as Worshipful Master. 7KHHQWLUH³UHYLYDO´SURFHVVZDVDPHUHIRUPDOLW\HQDEOLQJWKHNewport Brethren to claim precedence as the oldest lodge in Rhode Island, dating to the 1749 charter from Boston.806 6WLOOVRPH1HZSRUW0DVRQVHYLGHQWO\ZHUHLQDZLVWIXOPRRGDWWKHFORVLQJRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V insisting that the log book record that during the existence of this lodge discord never showed its glimpse within its pales, but that all was peace, friendship, and love, which belonging they wish may pervade and attend them, not only into the lodge in which they have consolidated themselves, but in all their social enjoyments, and that in due time and when properly clothed they may be translated to the Heavenly Grand Lodge where resideth the Sovereign Architect of the Universe.807 :LWK1HZSRUW¶VSUHFHGHQFHILUPO\HVWDEOLVKHGWKHWZRORGJHVHQJDJHGLQa series of negotiations over the formation of a Grand Lodge. The process of founding the Grand Lodge involved a cautious cooperation both between Newport and Providence and between the colonial and Revolutionary generations of Masons. The two lodges appointed delegations to hammer out DQDJUHHPHQWZKLFK6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWUDWLILHGLQMarch 1791, followed by Saint !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 805 %UHQWRQ¶VQDPHappeared LQDOLVWRIPHPEHUVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWVXEPLWWHGWR the new Grand Lodge in June 1791, Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, vol. 1, 11-12. 806 Rugg, 52-4, 785. 807 .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRNTXRWHGLQ5XJJ-4. '+,! ! -RKQ¶VRI3URYLGHQFHLQ$SULO7KHFKDUWHUIRUWKHQHZERG\VWUXFNDILQHEDODQFHEHWZHHQWKH two lodges, mandating that the Grand Lodge alternate its annual meetings between Newport and Providence and that half of the Grand Officers hail from the southern part of the state and half IURPWKHQRUWKHUQSDUW7KHDJUHHPHQWDWOHDVWV\PEROLFDOO\UHFRJQL]HG1HZSRUW¶VSUHFHGHQFH giving the lodge in the southern town the right to select the first Grand Master, who would serve for a term of two years, while Providence would choose his successor. In accordance with the agreement, the Newporters elected the 60-year-old merchant Christopher Champlin as Grand Master and Peleg Clarke as Senior Grand Warden, showing a deference to the older mercantile FODVVLQ1HZSRUW¶VOHDGHUVKLSZKLOHWKH5HYROXWLRQDU\YHWHUDQV-RKQ+DQG\DQG-DEH]&KDPSOLQ became Grand Secretary and Grand Marshall, respectively. The Providence Brethren chose Jabez Bowen as Deputy Grand Master, Daniel Tillinghast as Junior Grand Warden, and Ebenezer Thompson as Junior Grand Deacon. The Providence delegation showed a curious admixture of older merchant-magnates with younger artisans, with John Brown and Gershom Jones both appointed as honorary delegates from the northern town.808 On June 27, 1791, the newly-formed Grand Lodge of Rhode Island convened for the first WLPHLQ1HZSRUW7KH%UHWKUHQKHOGD-RKQWKH%DSWLVW¶V'D\IHDVt in the State House, where Moses Seixas, as Master of the more senior lodge, installed the Grand Officers. Seeing as how %RZHQEHFDPHWKHVWDWH¶V'HSXW\*UDQG0DVWHU'DQLHO6WLOOZHOOUHSODFHGKLPDV:RUVKLSIXO Master of the Providence lodge. The gathering then processed to Trinity Church, to hear an oration by the Episcopal rector, William Smith, a Scottish-born minister who had served Saint 3DXO¶V&KXUFKLQ1DUUDJDQVHWWIRUILYH\HDUVEHIRUHPRYLQJWR1HZSRUWLQ 6PLWKDWWKLV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 808 Rugg, 54-6; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, vol. 1, 1790-1820 (Providence: T. S. Hammond, 1888), p. 5-8. The charter defined the southern part of Rhode Island as Newport, Bristol, and Washington Counties and the northern part as Providence and Kent Counties. ',-! ! time was not a Mason (although he would later join the Newport lodge in 1796), so the Brethren extended him a special invitation to dine with them that afternoon and asked for a copy of his oration for the press. Finally, the Rhode Island Masons appointed Benjamin Bourne as their delegate to an upcoming convention of American Grand Masters.809 As part of the formation of the Grand Lodge, each of the two constituent lodges submitted lists of their members as of June 1791; these lists offer a snapshot of the Masonic community in Rhode Island as it prepared to emerge on the world stage. Firstly, the Newport %UHWKUHQFRPSULVHGDSHFXOLDUDFFXPXODWLRQRIVWUDWDIURPWKHYDULRXVSHULRGVRIWKHORGJHV¶V history. The list of 113 names begins with the Worshipful Master, Moses Seixas; the Senior Warden, John Breese, a former British officer who had married a Newporter in 1778 and remained in the town after the British withdrawal; and the Junior Warden, the distiller and former Loyalist Robert N. Auchmuty. Following them are at least 22 Brethren who had joined in the colonial era, including John Mawdsley and the Jewish shopkeeper Jacob Isaacs, who had recently invented a new method of purifying seawater. Most of the rest of the list comprised younger merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans who had joined in the 1780s; one of the few worthy of note was John L. Boss, who would go on to become Junior Grand Deacon and the cashier of the Bank of Rhode Island. The list was surely an overstatement, inflated by the names of men who had long since departed from Newport, such as Edward Cole, who had resettled in Nova Scotia, and at least five French officers who had joined the lodge in 1780-1. More than the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 809 Rugg, 55-6, 68-9; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, 8-11. ',$! ! actual level of Masonic participation in Newport, the list probably represents the wider network of living Masons with whom the lodge preferred to maintain at least symbolic ties.810 On the other hand, the list of 122 Masons in Providence may come somewhat closer to representing the actual makeup of the northern lodge, seeing as how it includes fewer colonial 0DVRQV'DQLHO6WLOOZHOOOHDGVWKHOLVWDV:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHUZLWK-RKQ%URZQ¶VVRQ-in-law and business partner John Francis as Senior Warden and the furniture-maker John Carlile as Junior Warden. The merchant Jeremiah F. Jenkins was the Treasurer, an office which he would retain for more than a decade, and the printer Bennett Wheeler was the Secretary. William Barton LPPHGLDWHO\IROORZVWKHRIILFHUVRQWKHORGJH¶VOLVWUHIOHFWLQJKLVSUHVWLJHLQ3URYLGHQFHVRFLHW\ and after him come the seven other surviving members of the lodge who had joined before the Revolution. Alongside the assortment of minor merchants and artisans who had joined after 1778 were the Revolutionary veterans Simeon Thayer, Dr. Peter Turner, Thomas Coles, and the sea-captain Jonathan Donnison.811 In his oration at the first meeting of the Grand Lodge, William Smith took up the task of presenting a set of values that could unite this peculiar assemblage of men. He took as his theme the Christian humanist sentiment of charity. Exceptionally erudite, the address marshals page XSRQSDJHRI%LEOLFDOFLWDWLRQVWRFHOHEUDWHPDQ¶VFDSDFLW\WRHQDFW*RG¶VKHDYHQO\GHVLJQVRQ earth. The opening of the oration posits a parallel between charity and the divine spirit of wisdom that KDGH[LVWHGVLQFHEHIRUHWKH&UHDWLRQFLWLQJ6RORPRQ¶VZRUGVLQ3URYHUEV Thence, the minister launches with gusto into a phantasmagoria of architectural metaphors, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 810 Rugg, 66; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, 11-12; Kaminski et al, The Documentary History, 26:1060. 811 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, 12-13; Providence Gazette, Jan. 5, 1788, p. 3, Aug. 6, 1796, p. 3; Vocal Companion and Masonic Register. ',%! ! likening the creation of the Earth, the growth of a universal Christian church, the establishment of a peaceable earthly commonwealth, and the cultivation of individual virtue to the act of temple-EXLOGLQJ&KDULW\LQKLVYLHZLVWKHPHDQVE\ZKLFKPHQ³FR-operat[e] with the Sovereign Architect, in his grand and immutable design of buildLQJXSKLVFKLOGUHQDVµOLYLQJ VWRQHV¶LQWRRQHJORULRXVIDEULFRQHKRO\DQGVSLULWXDOWHPSOHWRKLPVHOI´3UREDEO\WKLQNLQJRI 6HL[DV¶OHWWHUWR:DVKLQJWRQ6PLWKLQYRNHV'DQLHOSUD\LQJIURP%DE\ORQWRZDUGV-HUXVDOHPDV DPHWDSKRUIRUKLVDXGLHQFH¶VRZQSUD\HUVIRU³WKHXQLRQDQGFRPPXQLRQRIWKHQHZ-HUXVDOHP FLW\RIWKHJUHDWNLQJ´7KHPLQLVWHUDGGUHVVHVWKHSUHVHQFHRI6HL[DVDQGRWKHU1HZSRUW-HZVLQ their midst more directly in remarking that Masonry builds with timber from the forest of the Jewish and gentile world---with stones and other materials from Judea and the remotest isles of the Earth; sending her messengers day by day to request the King of the Jews and King of the Gentiles, again to unite in building up the families of their respective people, into one holy temple to Jehovah, that the Lord God may dwell among them, in Glory everlasting. ,QDORQJIRRWQRWH6PLWKFLWHVWKHSURSKHW$PRVWRDUJXHWKDWWKH³NLQJRIWKH-HZV´ZDVD PHVVLDQLFNLQJZKRLV\HWWRFRPHDQGZKRZLOODFKLHYH³the union of Jew and gentile, in the KRXVHRIWKHLUKHDYHQO\IDWKHUWKHGD\RIWKH0HVVLDK´7KHPLQLVWHUPDLQWDLQVDPELJXLW\DVWR whether this messianic king is Christ; the more fundamental point that he stresses is that the brotherhood of Jews and gentiles in Masonry represents a step toward the millennium. Smith, like so many Masonic orators, printers, and gravestone-carvers of his age, saw Jewish inclusion in Masonry as an index not merely of ecumenical toleration, but of messianic hope.812 FurthermoUHWKH5HYHUHQG:LOOLDP6PLWK¶VRUDWLRQGHPRQVWUDWHVWKHFRQWLQXLQJ entanglement of Masonry, Scotland, Jacobitism, and Anglicanism. His sentiments reflect the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 812 William Smith, $'LVFRXUVH'HOLYHUHG%HIRUHWKH*UDQG/RGJH>«@RQWKHth of June, 1791 (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1791) (Evans 23777), 6, 9-10, 15-16. ',&! ! rising confidence of Masonry in Rhode Island as well as that of its sister-temple, the Episcopal ChuUFKWKHUHLQFDUQDWLRQRI$QJOLFDQ&KXUFKLQ$PHULFD/LNHWKHVWDWH¶V0DVRQLFORGJHVWKH Anglican churches in Providence and Narragansett had closed during the Revolution as their rectors refused to renounce their prayers for the King. Following the war, parishioners in Rhode Island and throughout the republic reorganized, culminating in the formation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1789. In 1790, William Smith of Newport; the Episcopal minister of Providence, Moses Badger; and five laymen representing various other towns met to establish the Episcopal diocese of Rhode Island. They appointed as their bishop Samuel Seabury, who had been bishop of the diocese of Connecticut since its formation in 1783 and who had received his ordination at the hands of Nonjuring Anglican bishops in Aberdeen, Scotland. Seabury was also a Mason, having given an oration before the Grand Lodge of New York in 1782.813 Likewise, the Reverend Moses Badger of Providence was a Mason by the time he died in 1792, as was WLOOLDP6PLWK¶V/R\DOLVWSUHGHFHVVRULQ1DUUDJDQVHWW6DPXHO)D\HUZHDWKHU814 The consecration of the Grand Lodge represented, on one level, a further development in the High- Church Anglican quest to restore the earthly Temple.815 After 1791, the Grand Lodge PHWHYHU\\HDURQRUQHDU6DLQW-RKQWKH%DSWLVW¶V'D\ alternating between the State Houses in Providence and Newport. Each year, both the Mercury !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 813 7KH(SLVFRSDO'LRFHVHRI5KRGH,VODQG³$%ULHI+LVWRU\RIWKH(SLVFRSDO&KXUFKLQ5KRGH ,VODQG´ KWWS ZZZHSLVFRSDOULRUJ:KR:H$UH+LVWRU\WDELG'HIDXOWDVS[!DFFHVVHG)HE 2014; Wilkins Updike, History of the Narragansett Church (Boston: Merrymount Press, 1907): 358-63; William Jones Seabury, Memoir of Samuel Seabury, New York: Edwin S. Gorham, 1908. 814 ³7KH%UHWKUHQRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDUH5HTXHVWHG«´ 3URYLGHQFH %HQQHWW:KHHOHU Providence Gazette, July 4, 1772, p. 3. 815 The overlap between Masonry and the Episcopal church in Rhode Island remained strong WKURXJKWKH V LQ WKHFRPPLWWHHRIVL[GHOHJDWHVUHSUHVHQWLQJ1HZSRUWDWWKHVWDWH¶V(SLVFRSDO convention included four Masons²Christopher Champlin, Robert N. Auchmuty, George Gibbs, and John Handy²all of whom had served at some point as lodge officers. Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity, p. 219. ','! ! and the Gazette printed short announcements preceding the conventions and afterwards carried reports naming the newly-HOHFWHG*UDQG2IILFHUVDQGGHVFULELQJWKHERG\¶VGLJQLILHGDQGIHVWLYH proceedings. The operation of the Grand Lodge served to trumpet the Masonic membership of VRPHRIWKHVWDWH¶VPRVWUHVSHFWHGPHQ2Q-XO\ WKHMercury carried a report from Providence on the meeting of the Grand Lodge, attended by the Grand Officers, the officers of WKHWZRFRQVWLWXHQWORGJHVDQG³DQXPEHURIYLVLWLQJZRUWK\%UHWKUHQ´$WWKH)LUVW%DSWLVW Meeting House, the attendees heard a prayer by the Baptist minister Mr. Maxcy and an oration E\WKH(SLVFRSDOUHFWRU³WKH5HY%URWKHU%DGJHU´ 7KRXJKWKH0DVRQVUHSRUWHGO\DVNHG Badger for a copy of his address, either it was never published or no copies of it survive.) The convention was also entertained by FKRLUVRIVLQJHUV³IURPDOOWKHVRFLHWLHVLQWRZQ´ZKLFK HDUQHGWKHDSSODXVH³RIDQXPHURXVDQGUHVSHFWDEOHDXGLHQFH´816 The subsequent reports from the meetings of the Grand Lodge show the Brethren building upon their existing customs in order to integrate themselves into the public and civic life of Rhode Island. On July 9, 1793, the Mercury reported that the Grand Lodge, in its recent procession through Newport, had included as honored guests not only the local clergy, but also the judges of the federal circuit court that was then in session in the town. At Trinity, the Reverend William Smith gave an oration followed by a concert by the Saint Caecilia Society. After these performances, the Masons circulated a collection to purchase firewood to distribute to the poor of the town in winter²a very scarce commodity in Newport, especially after the %ULWLVKRFFXSDWLRQ7KHPHHWLQJWKHQFORVHG³Karmony, sociability, and pleasure, having marked the convivial day²VDFUHGWRIULHQGVKLSDQGFKDULW\´817 The following year, the Grand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 816 Newport Mercury, July 2, 1792, p. 3. 817 Newport Mercury, July 9, 1793, p. 2. ',(! ! /RGJHPHWLQ3URYLGHQFHDQGSURFHHGHGWR³WKHPHHWLQJKRXVHZHVWRIWKHULYHU´²presumably the new Beneficent Congregational Church²and heard a sermon by the young Episcopal minister Abraham Lynsen Clarke, who had replaced Moses Badger DVWKHUHFWRURI6DLQW-RKQ¶V Church and who had just joined the Masonic lodge on June 19th. The Masons again heard a FKRUDOFRQFHUWDQGPDGHDFROOHFWLRQRIFKDULW\EHIRUH³Xpwards of 100 Brethren of this town² and different parts of the state, and some from other states´818 The results of the annual Grand Lodge elections, recorded in their proceedings and in Rhode Island newspapers, show an ethic of deference rather than of democracy. Almost every Grand office remained in the same hands from year to year until a vacancy opened due to death or retirement. Masons attained and held these positions according to their age, social status, and seniority in the Craft. Although the Providence and Newport lodges had agreed to alternate their selections of Grand Masters every two years, the first two men to fill that office remained in place for longer: Christopher Champlin served for three years, until he was replaced in 1794 by Jabez Bowen, who held the office for five years. Both of these men were wealthy merchants and statesmen who had joined the Fraternity before the Revolution, as were Peleg Clarke, Daniel Tillinghast, and George Sears, who served for long periods of the 1790s as Grand Wardens. Ephraim Bowen, Jr. and John Handy, who served as Grand Treasurer and Grand Secretary, respectively, were prominent Revolutionary veterans, with Bowen co-owning a large distillery.819 The almost unbreakable lock that prominent and prosperous men held on the Grand offices was demonstrated most vividly in 1799, when the Grand Master Jabez Bowen retired at !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 818 Newport Mercury, July 2, 1791, p. 3. 819 Rugg, 748-52; Distillery Excise Tax records, vol. 1, 1791-5, p. 18, RIHS. ',)! ! age 60. The highest-ranking Grand Officers advanced upward in their offices as if in a queue: the Deputy Grand Master, Peleg Clarke, replaced Bowen, while the Senior Grand Warden, Revolutionary veteran Christopher Olney, replaced Clarke as Deputy Grand Master. George Sears advanced from Junior Grand Warden to Senior Grand Warden, with Ephraim Bowen, Jr. taking his former place. John L. Boss advanced from Junior Grand Deacon to Senior Grand Deacon, replaced by the former Grand Sword Bearer, Gershom Jones. The Grand Treasuruer, Joseph Tillinghast; the Grand Secretary, John Handy; the Marshall, Jabez Champlin; and the Chaplain, Abraham Lynsen Clarke all remained in place.820 In short, although the Masons went through the motions of elections in order to confer legitimacy on their leadership, they betrayed no sign of politicking, platforms, or party organization. Lodge politics were apparently much the same: since the revolution of 1753, the Rhode Island Masons has usually deferred to the mercantile leadership cadre within their respective lodges, re-electing officers for years or even decades. +LVWRULDQ0DUJDUHW-DFREKDVFDOOHG0DVRQLFORGJHV³VFKRROVRIJRYHUQDQFH´RIWKH eighteenth century²but this can be taken as true only in a purely formalistic sense. The records of the Masons from this era betray not an iota of the populist majority rule or agenda-based coalition-building that one commonly associates with modern democracy. In fact, the Masons forbade it: in 1796, the Jamaican Mason Abraham Alvarenga lodged a protest at the meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Jamaica against the return of officers from Union Lodge, seeing as how KHFRQVLGHUHGLW³LOOHJDODQGXQFRQVWLWXWLRQDOWKHFDQYDVVLQJIRUYRWHVDWDQ\0DVRQLc HOHFWLRQ´ The Grand Lodge unanimously agreed with Alvarenga, rejecting the slate of officers, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 820 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, p. 44-9. ',*! ! calling for a new election in Union Lodge, and resolving that thenceforth any candidate who canvassed for votes would be disqualified.821 The deference seen in Grand Lodge elections in Rhode Island should not be surprising, FRQVLGHULQJWKDWWKHERG\¶VSULQFLSDOSXUSRVHZDVQRWRQHRIGHPRFUDWLFJRYHUQDQFHEXWRQHRI legitimation. Firstly, the Grand Lodge had to standardize the rituals used in Rhode Island in order to maintain their regularity in the eyes of the wider Masonic world. As mentioned earlier, the handbook Ahiman Rezon helped to promote the Ancient customs in Rhode Island, as did the many social links between the Rhode Island Masons and Ancient Masons in Massachusetts.822 There is no record of how the new Grand officers in Rhode Island reconciled the differences in practice between the Providence and Newport lodges, but the acknowledged precedence of the Newport lodge probably insured that the settlement favored the Ancient forms of the rituals. Shortly after the Grand Lodge formed, it re-confirmed the legitimacy of the lodges in Newport DQG3URYLGHQFHE\JUDQWLQJHDFKRIWKHPDQHZFKDUWHU WKH*UDQG/RGJHFKDUWHUIRU6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge of Newport, granted on April 26, 1793, attested to the regularity of all its proceedings.823 This process²whereby the Grand Lodge vouched for the legitimacy of the same lodges that had constituted it²appears absurdly circular, but it underscores the fact that the audience for whom the lodges had to prove their legitimacy was not local Brethren but Masons outside the state. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 821 $QQXDO5HWXUQVRI$UWLOOHU\/RGJH-DPDLFD³$WDJUDQGORGJHKHOGDWWKH8QLRQ/RGJH5RRP QR´-XO\ 619/xiia, LMF-UGLE. 822 Providence Gazette, March 12, 1787, p. 3. 823 0DVRQLFFKDUWHUIRU6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQRRI1HSZRUW5KRGH,VODQG$SULO 6DLQW -RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, ',+! ! ! Q,"5$%&$-2,$P("*3$I%3),$%&$12%3,$4+5"*30$"+$+,,*$%*$ĐŚĂƌƚĞƌĨŽƌ^ĂŝŶƚ:ŽŚŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞ%&$',@#%(-0$12%3,$4+5"*30$ ϭϳϵϯ͕^ĂŝŶƚ:ŽŚŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞŶŽ͘ϭ͕WŽƌƚƐŵŽƵ-20$148$$92,$+,"5$%&$-2,$!%3,(*+$P("*3$I%3),$%&$Z*)5"*3$:+$+=(G%=*-,3$ C/$-2,$3%B,$>"((/:*)$-2,$%5:B,$C("*>2$"*3$&5"*?,3$C/$=*:3,*-:&:,3$>(,"-=(,+0$#%++:C5/$@/B,(*+8$$4G"),$H%=(-,+/$ ŽĨ^ĂŝŶƚ:ŽŚŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞ͕ŶŽ͘ϭ͕WŽƌƚƐŵŽƵƚŚ͕Z/͘ Just as importantly, the GraQG/RGJHFRXOGVHUYHWRPDLQWDLQ0DVRQLF³KDUPRQ\´LQWKH state, which in practice meant the suppression of conflict and the maintenance of social GHIHUHQFH,Q 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHUHIHUUHGWRWKH*UDQG2IILFHUVDGLVSXWH between two BrHWKUHQRYHUSRVLWLRQVLQWKHWRZQ¶VPLOLWLD2QHRIWKHGLVSXWDQWV-RVHSK$OOHQ had early in his life been an apprentice to Nathaniel Mumford in Newport before joining the Kentish Guards in 1774; after the war, he served in the Providence militia under its captain, Daniel Stillwell, and became Junior Deacon of the Providence lodge by 1791.824 In 1793, when Allen stood to be promoted in the militia, Bennett Wheeler, the printer of the United States Chronicle, objected, possibly on the basis of his own higher social standing in the town and his close relationship with Stillwell, who was his colleague in the Manufacturers Association. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 824 Indenture, July 7, 1756, Vault A, Box 5, Folder 2, Brenton Family Papers, NHS; Lists of PHPEHUVRIWKH.HQWLVK*DXUGVDQGXQGDWHG&RORQLDO0LOLWLD&ROOHFWLRQ5,+6 ³5HWXUQRIDUPV DQGDFFRXWUHPHQWVLQ&DSW'6WLOOZHOODQG&RO$WWZHOO¶V5HJLPHQW´-1791, Stillwell Papers, RIHS; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, p. 12-13. ',,! ! %RWK$OOHQDQG:KHHOHUZURWHOHWWHUVFRQWDLQLQJ³PXFKZDUPWKDQGWHPSHU´WR-DEH] Bowen and to two other Grand officers in Providence, who responded with a carefully-worded letter to Daniel Stillwell, probably intended to be read aloud to the lodge. In the letter, while the Grand officers agreed with Wheeler WKDW³WKHWLPHZDVQRWDUULYHGIRUEURWKHU$OOHQ¶V SURPRWLRQ´WKH\DGmonished WKHSULQWHUIRUWDNLQJ³too much of the Burthen of the Business on himself´7KHDXWKRUVGRXEWed that either disputant has said anything to cause a permanent rift ³between gentlemen, much more between Masons and brethren of the same Lodge´DQGWhey exhorted $OOHQDQG:KHHOHUWR³bury WKHPHPRU\RIWKHWUDQVDFWLRQV>«@in the depth of the sea´$VSLULWRIIRUJLYHQHVVWKHDXWKRUVSURPLVHd³will create Joy in the Lodge and they themselves will again taste how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity´ WKH\FORVHd by warning WKDW³if we have not a suitable portion of this temper we are neither Masons nor Christians´825 While Daniel Stillwell preserved this particular letter from the Grand officers in his own papers, there is no way of knowing how many other disputes the Grand Lodge may have resolved in writing or by word of mouth. The conflict between Joseph Allen and Bennett Wheeler illustrates how the increasingly hierarchical organization of Masonry could serve to maintain cohesion and to reinforce the norms of social deference. Finally, the Grand Lodge tremendously increased the prominence and visibility of Masonry in Rhode Island society. Carter continued to carry many reports of Masonic events throughout the country, and both he and Bennett Wheeler printed new Masonic publications sanctioned by the Grand Lodge. Most importantly, in the later months of 1791, Wheeler compiled and published 7KH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 825 -DEH]%RZHQ'DQLHO7LOOLQJKDVWDQG(EHQH]HU7KRPSVRQ³7R6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH 3URYLGHQFH´0D\ 6WLOOZHOO3DSHUV5,+6 (--! ! Young Brethren. Dedicated to Christopher Champlin and Jabez Bowen, the pamphlet begins with a long admonition to Masons to maintain the good reputation of the Fraternity, full of 0DVRQLFFOLFKpVVXFKDV³LQDOO\RXUSULYDWHFRQQHFWLRQVUHPHPEHU\RXUWKRXJKWVDUHH[SRsed, to the all-VHHLQJH\HRIWKH*UHDW$UFKLWHFWRIWKH8QLYHUVH´826 Following the charges are 23 Masonic songs collected from various sources. Though hardly original and heavy with SODWLWXGHV:KHHOHU¶VMonitor represents an early effort by an American Mason to delineate 0DVRQLFVWDQGDUGVRIEHKDYLRUDQGWRPDQDJHWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VLPDJH The Providence printing industry became a crucial vehicle for Masonic propaganda. In addition to the Monitor, Bennett :KHHOHUSXEOLVKHGWKH5HYHUHQG:LOOLDP6PLWK¶VRUation at the opening of the Grand Lodge in 1791; three years later, John Carter, in partnership with the ERRNVHOOHUDQGIHOORZ0DVRQ:LOOLDP:LONLQVRQSXEOLVKHG$EUDKDP/\QVHQ&ODUNH¶VDGGUHVV before the Grand Lodge meeting of 1794.827 Most intriguingly, in 1796, the Providence Masons commissioned Wheeler to print announcements of a performance by a traveling theatrical troupe of the play, The Jew, or, the Benevolent HebrewIROORZHGE\³$(XORJ\RQ0DVRQU\E\ Brother Harper in the Character of a Master MaVRQ´828 7KRXJK+DUSHU¶VHXORJ\GRHVQRW VXUYLYHWKHSOD\SHQQHGLQ/RQGRQLQ DQGEDVHGRQ*RWWKROG/HVVLQJ¶VNathan the Wise, advocates for toleration of Judaism.829 The advertisement for this performance demonstrates the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 826 Bennett Wheeler, 7KH (-$! ! 0DVRQV¶ZLOOLQJQHVVWRPRELlize both printing and the previously taboo medium of theater to promote Masonry and openly to espouse the cause of religious toleration. 2XWVLGHRIWKH3URYLGHQFHSUHVVHVVLJQVRI0DVRQU\¶VLQFUHDVLQJSURPLQHQFHZHUH ubiquitous in the 1790s. The Newport and Providence lodges acquired civil charters from the 5KRGH,VODQG$VVHPEO\GXULQJLWVDXWXPQVHVVLRQLQ FRQILUPLQJWKHORGJHRIILFHUV¶ULJKWV WRPDQDJHPRQH\DQGSURSHUW\LQWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VQDPH830 In Newport, the printer of the Mercury, the non-Mason Solomon Southwick, took much greater notice of the Fraternity after the opening of the Grand Lodge. After appearing in the Mercury only a few times in the later VWKH&UDIWEHFDPHDIUHTXHQWVXEMHFWRIOHWWHUVDQGQHZVLWHPVLQ6RXWKZLFN¶VSDSer in the 1790s. In addition to regular reports on the meetings and activities of the Grand Lodge, 6RXWKZLFNWRRNXS&DUWHU¶VKDELWRIQRWLQJ0DVRQLFIXQHUDOULWHV831 ,Q WKHSDSHU¶VIURQW page featured a long report on the Masonic cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Capitol building in the new federal city, in which George Washington, in his regalia as Worshipful Master of the $OH[DQGULD/RGJHDQRLQWHGWKHEXLOGLQJ¶VIRXQGDWLRQVZLWKFRUQZLQHDQGRLO832 Beyond their intrinsic value as advertisements for Masonry, the mentions of the Craft in Rhode Island newspapers suggest the even greater importance of public demonstrations in VKDSLQJWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VLPDJH/LNHWKHSHUIRUPDQFHRIThe Jew, the many Grand Lodge meetings, orations, funeral processions, and cornerstone-layings in Federal Rhode Island were WKHDWULFDOGUDPDVWKDWVHUYHGWRDFWRXWWKH0DVRQV¶UROHLQWKHZRUOGIRUWKHPVHOYHVDQGIRUWKH wider public. The printed words taken from these occasions are only fragments of the complete !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 830 5XJJ ³7KH&KDUWHUDQG%\H-/DZVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHNo. 1, Newport, Rhode-,VODQG´ (Newport: Nathaniel Dearborn, 1808): 3-5. 831 Newport Mercury, Sep. 2, 1794, p. 5. 832 Newport Mercury, Oct. 15, 1793, p. 1. (-%! ! ritual performances, the full power of which they cannot capture. It was through these performances that the Masons re-affirmed in the new republican era their role as bearers of the special divine favor that had once belonged to kings. At the opening of the Grand Lodge in 1HZSRUWLQ WKH0DVRQV¶JUHDWHVWGHPRQVWUDWLRQRIXQLW\DQGFRKHVLRQXSWRWKDWWLPHWKH Brethren held a dinner in the State House, the building that symbolized the civic order in Rhode Island; afterward, they held a long, carefully pODQQHGVHULHVRIWRDVWVWR³WKHLPPRUWDOPHPRU\ RI-RKQWKH%DSWLVW´WR³DOONLQJVSULQFHVDQGVWDWHVZKRDUHHQFRXUDJHUVRIWKHUR\DODUW´WR the United States, to Washington, and to various symbols of the Craft. Near the end of the series, the BreWKUHQWRDVWHG³0D\XQLYHUVDO0DVRQU\EHWKHRQO\XQLYHUVDOPRQDUFK\´833 This pithy slogan, first coined in Britain and repeated in an American state house, captures a longing for a universal order, hopelessly out of reach since the days of Charlemagne or even of Alexander, but that could be momentarily re-HQDFWHGLQWKH0DVRQV¶SXEOLFGLVSOD\V 7KH0DVRQV¶JUHDWHUYLVLELOLW\DQGDVWXWHVHOI-presentation succeeded in attracting new blood, including many ambitious young men. These new Masons, together with the aforementioned John L. Boss and John Carlile, helped to form a generation of Masonic leaders that would rise to power at the turn of the nineteenth century. The Providence lodge, after initiating only three to nine candidates per year between 1787 and 1791, took in eighteen in 1792. Among them were the silversmith Ezekiel Burr, one of the leaders of the Manufacturers Association; the bookseller and librarian William Wilkinson, who soon after formed a publishing firm with John Carter; and the young merchant Amos Maine Atwell. In Newport, the increase was smaller but still significant²from seven initiations in 1791 to thirteen in 1792. The candidates that entered the lodge in the southern town included two young merchants whose !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 833 Providence Gazette, July 2, 1791, p. 3. (-&! ! fathers had been Masons in the colonial era: John A. Collins, the son of Governor John Collins, and Saunders Malbone, the younger son of the distiller Francis Malbone. Soon after them, in October 1792, came Sheftall Sheftall, a Jewish merchant and Revolutionary veteran who had been a prisoner of the British for two years, as well as the young merchant Stephen A. Cahoone. The candidates in Newport were increasingly drawn from among the sons of former Masons; this pattern would culminate with the initiation in 1795 of William Hunter, the son of the late Dr. William Hunter, who had graduated from the College of Rhode Island in 1791, gone to Britain to study medicine but shifted to law, and returned to Rhode Island and passed the bar in the same year that he joined the Newport lodge.834 7KH*UDQG/RGJH¶VWRDVWWR³XQLYHUVDO0DVRQU\´DV³WKHRQO\XQLYHUVDOPRQDUFK\´DQG the ensuing rise in initiations represent a brief moment of confidence in the early 1790s. By the end of 1792, George Washington presided over a broadly popular administration, American crafts and commerce were flourishing, and American lodges had put aside their differences to form a national network of Grand Lodges. As the higher-degree Masons of Pennsylvania declared in a letter congratulating Washington on his re-eOHFWLRQ³the Temple of Liberty hath been reared in the West²exhibiting to the nations of the Earth, a model of Beauty, Order, and Harmony´ WKHLUH[DPSOHZDVHYLGHQWO\ZRUWK\RIWKHLPLWDWLRQRIWKHLU%UHWKUHQLQ(XURSH many of whom looked to American independence and federalization as models of reform. The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 834 Hunter family, Genealogical Notes, Box 101, Folder 5, NHS; Dr. William Hunter, Inventory of personal estate, Feb. 7, 1777, Box 90, Folder 9, NHS; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress³+XQWHU:LOOLDP -1849), (-'! ! pride that the Pennsylvania Brethren expressed was surely intelligible to Rhode Islanders, who would have read the triumphant address when it was reprinted in the Newport Mercury.835 The Masonic rhetoric of the late 1780s and early 1790s largely sounds the familiar themes of contemporary republicanism, including social harmony, beneficence, and the promotion of public prosperity. This rhetoric cannot be taken at face value, given that it represents MasRQV¶GHOLEHUDWHHIIRUWVWRFXUDWHWKHLUSXEOLFLPDJH7KH0DVRQVLQWKLVSHULRG walked a fine line: private clubs and fraternal societies were treated with suspicion, if not outright hostility, in the post-Revolutionary period, the aforementioned controversy over the Cincinnati being a case in point. As historian Johann Neem points out, the United States before ZDVKDUGO\D³QDWLRQRIMRLQHUV´7RFTXHYLOOH¶VODWHUREVHUYDWLRQVQRWZLWKVWDQGLQJ UDWKHU the Revolutionary generation imagined the state as representing an organically unified and unmediated public, and were wary even of permitting the existence of civil associations.836 The Federal-HUD0DVRQVFRQWLQXHGWRIDFHVXVSLFLRQVWKDWWKH\UHSUHVHQWHGDFRUUXSW³FRPELQDWLRQ´ undermining the organic unity of society, and so continually proclaimed their natural alignment with the interests of society at large. The seemingly harmonious and stable trans-Atlantic world in which Rhode Island Freemasonry flourished in the early 1790s would soon be shaken by a political earthquake in 1793-4, potentially as destructive as that of the 1760s; by 1795, however, a semblance of stability would return, allowing the Masons to resume their obsessive involvement in civic institution-building. The Masons had long been involved in local organization, and projects !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 835 Newport Mercury, Jan. 21, 1792, p. 3. 836 Johann Neem, Creating a Nation of Joiners (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008): 1-32. (-(! ! begun in the colonial era came to fruition in the 1790s. Most notably, certain Masons had a longstanding interest in the creation of banks and other lending institutions. As historian Carl Wennerlind has pointed out, the development of a credit economy in seventeenth-century Britain took up the traditional role of alchemy by turning base materials (i.e., paper) into gold (i.e., money), and many observers at that time associated the two pursuits.837 Hence, it should not be surprising that many of the port-town merchants and lenders who organized banks and other credit institutions in North America were Freemasons. As early as 1740, the merchant-Mason Thomas Oxnard, who would later become Provincial Grand Master of Massachusetts and grant WKHILUVWFKDUWHUWR6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWWRRNSDUWLQDVFKHPHWRFUHDWHDVLOYHUEDQN in Boston that would issue paper bills and so provide stability against fluctuations in the money supply; also among the EDQN¶VRULJinal backers were at least three fellow Freemasons.838 Though the 1740 silver scheme failed amidst political wrangling, Masons continued to lead the quest for a bank in North America. In December, 1783, a group of Boston merchants and professionals, including the Mason and lawyer John Lowell, wrote to Thomas Willing in Philadelphia to inquire about the process of creating a bank, and Willing advised them to conceal WKH³P\VWHU\´RIWKHEDQNLQJEXVLQHVVIURPWKHH\HVRIWKHSXEOLF7KHJURXSSURFXUHGDFKDUter IURPWKH0DVVDFKXVHWWV$VVHPEO\RQWKHJURXQGVWKDWDEDQNZRXOGHVWDEOLVK%RVWRQ¶VILQDQFLDO independence from London, and put the institution into operation in1784. Its first depositor and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 837 Carl Wennerlind, Casualties of Credit: The English Financial Revolution, 1620-1720 (Harvard University PrHVV 3DUW,³$OFKHP\DQG&UHGLW´ 838 Indenture for a Silver Bank in Massachusetts, 1740, Mss. Large, 1740 August 2, MHS; Thomas Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts-Bay, vol. 2, p. 298-304, (-)! ! one of its first brokers was Moses Michael Hays, who also in the same year joined with Paul 5HYHUHDQGVHYHUDORWKHUVWRIRXQG%RVWRQ¶V0XWXDO)LUH,QVXUDQFH&RPSDQ\ +D\VDQG-RKQ Lowell, a founder of the Bank, would later serve together on the committee to unite the two Masonic Grand Lodges in Massachusetts in 1791-2.)839 In Rhode Island as well, the Masons dominated the movement to form domestic banks. )ROORZLQJWKH%ULWLVKZLWKGUDZDOIURP1HZSRUW.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLWVHOIDFWHGDVDOHQGLQJ institution: in July 1781, the officers of the lodge made a loan of 133 silver dollars to the merchant Jonathan Weeden.840 The first proper bank in the state formed in Providence in 1791, the same year as the birth of the Grand Lodge; among its founding directors was Jabez Bowen, and its first president was John Brown, who hoped that Congress would adopt it as a branch of +DPLOWRQ¶VQDWLRQDOEDQN841 Not to be left in the dust by their Providence competitors, the merchants of Newport organized the Bank of Rhode Island in 1795. Its founding president was Christopher Champlin, who had just stepped down the previous year as Masonic Grand Master, and several of its early directors, including Peleg Clarke, George Gibbs, and George Champlin, ZHUH0DVRQV7KHEDQN¶VILUVWFDVKLHUZDV0RVHV6HL[DV LQWKLVTXDVL-public position, Seixas, despite his exclusion from electoral politics, gained prominence in Newport society.842 George !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 839 N.S.B. Gras, The Massachusetts First National Bank of Boston, 1784-1934 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1937), 11, 14, 25, 57; Proceedings in Masonry, 49, 223; Ellen Smith, ³6WUDQJHUVDQG6RMRXUQHUV 7KH-HZVRI&RORQLDO%RVWRQ´LQ-RQDWKDQ6DUQDHWDO., eds., The Jews of Boston (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1995), 33-5. 840 Contract, July 14, 1781, Box 52, Folder 8, ³0DVRQLF/RGJHSLHFHV´1+6 841 Providence Gazette, Oct. 8, 1791, p. 2, Oct. 29, 1791, p. 3; John Brown to Benjamin Bourne, Nov. 18, 1791, Benjamin Bourne Papers, 1791, RIHS. 842 Rugg, 270-1, 276; Newport Mercury, Jan. 6, 1801, p. 3. (-*! ! *LEEV&KDQQLQJD\RXQJFKLOGDWWKHWLPHRIWKHEDQN¶VIRUPDWLRQODWHUUHFRXQWHGKLV acquaintance with Mr. Moses Seixas, cashier of the bank of Rhode Island, whose family occupied the bank building on the South side of the parade. He and his son Benjamin, who was the teller, were of stature short. One set of the bank keys at the close of bank hours, was regularly left at our store for safe keeping by the teller. On the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday), I was expected to take the keys to the bank, when a Christian officer would be in attendance; for this service I always received some token, usually in the shape of Passover bread and bonbons resembling ears, in memory of those cropped from Haman, when hung for his intended cruelty to Mordecai.843 7KH\RXQJ&KDQQLQJ¶VPHPRULHVRImatzah and hamantaschen, the traditional pastry of Purim, constitute a rare first-person account of the cultural exchange between Jews and gentiles in eighteenth-century Newport. The creation of interreligious institutions such as the Bank of Rhode Island, facilitated by Masonic fraternal ties, enabled the integration of Jews into post- Revolutionary society. Seixas himself became the face of 1HZSRUW¶VVPDOOVXUYLYLQJ-HZLVK group, of the bank, and of Masonry at once. Whereas anti-Semites would later theorize shadowy conspiracies of bankers, Jews, and Masons²all of whom did, in fact, frequently overlap²the Bank of Rhode Island appeared to contemporaries as a symbol of the Federal era, in which the polyglot colonial world seemed to coalesce into a cohesive network of republican institutions. The newly-created banks in Rhode Island helped to back mercantile ventures, particularly 3URYLGHQFH¶V&hina trade, which reached its peak in the 1790s. Masons continued to outfit and man voyages to Canton, as John Brown and Jonathan Donnison had done in 1787. Samuel Snow, a Revolutionary veteran who had served briefly as Grand Secretary of Rhode Island in 1791, became a pivotal figure in the China trade. Western merchants were not permitted to WUDYHOIUHHO\LQ&KLQDDQGVRFRQGXFWHGWUDGHLQ³KRQJV´RUODUJHFXVWRPV-houses outside the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 843 George Gibbs Channing, Early Recollections of Newport, 199-202, quoted in Gutstein, 133-4. (-+! ! ports; in 1798, Snow became the first American to settle in China, taking up residence at Canton DQGVHUYLQJDVWKH8QLWHG6WDWHV¶FRQVXOIRUIRXU\HDUV844 Also in the later 1790s, the young merchant George Gibbs, Jr. of Newport traveled beyond Canton to Nanking and Macao, buying tea and other goods before returning to Newport and joining the Masonic lodge in 1799.845 By the mid-1790s, Chinese craftsmen had begun catering to the special demands of Western merchant-Masons by producing porcelain dishware with Masonic designs. On June 20, 1795, the Providence shopkeeper John LipSLWWZDVDGYHUWLVLQJ³&KLQDLQWHDVHWWV´DQGRWKHUIRUPV LQFOXGLQJ³0DVRQLFERZOVDQGPXJV´846 The vessels that Lippitt advertised at his shop may have been fairly crude, but other surviving specimens from the period show a degree of artistic sophistication. The Masonic dishware that merchants imported to Rhode Island suggest that the Masons who took part in the China trade understood their voyages to the Far East through the lens of Masonic lore, which WHDFKHVWKH%UHWKUHQWRWUDYHOWRWKHHDVW³LQVHDUFKRIPRUHOLJKW´RUVDFUHGNQRZOHGJH847 Two SRUFHODLQSXQFKERZOVHDFKRIWKHPDERXWWZHOYHLQFKHVZLGHRZQHGE\6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR 1 and Washington Lodge no. 3, are today held at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Cranston, Rhode Island. Each of them bears a similar design, with four celestial bodies²sun, moon, Pleiades, and storm-clouds²surrounding a central scene of a checkerboard floor and twin pillars supporting orbs. On the outside of the bowls are images of working tools, beehives, and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 844 6DQGHUVRQ³5KRGH,VODQG0HUFKDQWVLQWKH&KLQD7UDGH´ (GZLQ+6QRZDescendants of William Snow (Providence: Snow and Farnham, 1908). 845 Receipts, letters of introduction, and other papers, Gibbs Manusccripts, Vault A, Box 27, Folder 2A, NHS. 846 Providence Gazette, June 20, 1795, p. 4. 847David Bernard, Light on Masonry (Utica: William Williams,1829), p. 54; Jachin and Boaz, 1762, p. 37-8. (-,! ! other symbols of industry. The stylistic similarities, particularly in the design of the anthropomorphized moon, suggest that the bowls were produced in the same workshop, most likely in Canton. 9@%$B:,@+$%&$"$H2:*,+,XG"3,$#%(>,5":*$#=*>2$C%@50$>"8$67LNX6ϴϬϬ͕ďĞůŽŶŐŝŶŐƚŽ^ĂŝŶƚ:ŽŚŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞŶŽ͘60$ A%(-+G%=-20$148$$4G"),$C/$#,(G:++:%*$%&$Q>%--:+2$1:-,$!"+%*:>$H,*-,(0$H("*+-%*0$148 ! ($-! ! ! 9@%$B:,@+$%&$"$H2:*,+,XG"3,$#%(>,5":*$#=*>2$C%@50$>"8$67LNX6WOO0$C,5%*):*)$-%$D"+2:*)-%*$I%3),$*%8$^0$ D"((,*0$148$$4G"),$C/$#,(G:++:%*$%&$Q>%--:+2$1:-,$!"+%*:>$H,*-,(0$H("*+-%*0$148$ $ 7KHFHOHVWLDOERGLHVDURXQGWKHERZOV¶LQWHULRUDQGWKHVWDUVRQWKHULPRIWKHNewport bowl allude to the art of navigation, by which the merchant-Masons reached China. The Pleiades in particular are crucial to navigation, and in Greek mythology represent the seven daughters of the ($$! ! sea-nymph Pleione, protectress of sailing.848 They are also nursemaids of the wine-god, Bacchus, and as Masonic revelers drank punch from the bowls (growing progressively more intoxicated), the lowering liquid would reveal the twin pillars and checkerboard floor at the ERZOV¶FHQWHUUHSUHVHQWLQJDWRQFHWKHHQWUDQFHZD\WR6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHDQGWKHDOWDURIWKH 0DVRQLFORGJHWKHV\PEROLF³(DVW´7KXVWKHMRXUQH\LQWRGUunkenness re-enacted at once the nautical journey to the Orient and the quest for sacred knowledge, punctuated by the rising sun. The storm-clouds seen on both bowls allude to the Great Flood and to Noah, famous both for his Ark and for his drunkenness, further uniting nautical, Masonic, and Bacchanalian symbolism.849 The repeating symbols seen on Chinese-made Masonic dishware also illustrate the mystical and apocalyptic meanings that Freemasons attached to their voyages to the Far East. Most importantly, the Pleiades, in addition to their nautical and bacchanalian symbolism in Classical mythology, appear in the Old Testament as symbols of divine power. They take on an apocalyptic significance in Revelations 1.16, wherein a messiah figure appears with seven stars in his right hand and a face glowing like the sun. The seven stars correspond to the seven churches and to the seven seals and seven vials that will open the final judgment. Ezra Stiles probably had these apocalyptic associations of the sun and of the Pleiades in mind in 1769, when he observed the transit of Venus in Newport; on June 4, 1769, the day after the transit, Stiles SUHDFKHGRQ-RE³&DQVWWKRXELQGXSWKHVZHHWLQIOXHQFHRIWKH3OHLDGHV"´DQGRQ5RPDQV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 848 6WHSKHQ-*LEVRQ³3OHLDGHV0\WKRORJ\´$UHFLER2EVHUYDWRU\3XEOLF2XWUHDFKDQG9LVLWRUV Center, ($%! ! ³6RWKHQHDFKRIXVZLOOJLYHDQDFFRXQWRIRXUVHOYHVWR*RG´850 In an oration before 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHLQ%HQMDPLQ*OHDVRQDVWXGHQWDWWKH&ROOHJHRI5KRGH Island, argued that the primitive rituals of the Druids underlay the practices of the Episcopal CKXUFKGHFODULQJWKDWWKHDQFLHQWSULHVWVKHOGYLJLOVZKHQ³WKH3OHLDGHVLQWKHHDVWHUQ KHPLVSKHUHDGYDQFHGWRWKHLU]HQLWK´851 From the end of the eighteenth century onward, clusters of seven stars became commonplace in American Masonic iconography; in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society is a Chinese-made pitcher from the same period as the two punch bowls, decorated in the same style albeit in a somewhat cruder hand; the pitcher leaves out the stormclouds with their Noahide associations but prominently displays the seven- star constellation on its lid. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 850 Dexter, ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, vol. 1, p. 13. 851 Benjamin Gleason, An Address on the Anniversary of St. John the Baptist (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1802), 13. ($&! ! H2:*,+,XG"3,$#%(>,5":*$#:->2,(0$>"8$67LNX6WOO0$@2:>2$%*>,$C,5%*),3$-%$"$*:*,-,,*-2X>,*-=(/$G"/%($%&$ A(%B:3,*>,0$92%G"+$;8$_%/5,8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$12%3,$4+5"*3$T:+-%(:>"5$Q%>:,-/8$ The Masonic porcelain of the 1790s represents an optimistic moment of both Masonic and commercial success²which would not go unchallenged. Seeing as how Masonic myth looks constantly back to a lost age of unity, it was perhaps poetic justice that the period of relative success and stability that the Masons attained in Federal Rhode Island would be repeatedly shattered. Only amidst a serious challenge to their purported self-image²and possibly even to their existence²would the Masons define explicitly and precisely their role in the new republic. ($'! ! &KDSWHU ³3ORWVDQG&RQVSLUDFLHV´²The C risis of the French Revolution The growth and confidence of Masonry in Rhode Island after 1791 was brief. Almost immediately on the heels of the creation of the Grand Lodge would come a series of setbacks that would force the Masons to defend their niche in American society, and in doing so, to construct a new sacred symbolic realm for the republic. In 1793, just two years after the formation of the Grand Lodge, Masonic expansion faltered: initiations and affiliations in Providence fell from eighteen in 1792 to eight in 1793, and in Newport from thirteen to only five. Though the new Masons entering the lodges in 1793 included a few prominent men, such as the Reverend Abraham Lynsen Clarke, a chill had suddenly set in. The same international growth of Masonry that had spurred on the creation of the Grand Lodge once again pulled the Craft into controversy. Clues as to the reasons for the cloud of controversy and uncertainty that settled over Masonry after 1792 can be gleaned from the Newport Mercury. The first mention of Masonry in VRXWKHUQ(XURSHDSSHDUHGLQ6RXWKZLFN¶VSDSHURQ$SULO WZRZHHNVDIWHUWKHLQLWLDO report of an earthquake in Lisbon. Whereas the initial report had surveyed the physical devastation of the Lisbon quake, the second message printed in the Mercury described its psychic toll, alleging that the disaster has revived all the superstition of the priests and populace, and their zeal to appease the wrath of Heaven, by the sacrifice of a few Hereticks. The Frenchmen among them have been exposed to every species of indignity, and some of them very narrowly escaped with their lives.²The Clergy got information of a lodge of free Masons, and, after diligent VHDUFKGLVFRYHUHGWKHPHPEHUV« They are all natives, and the greater part of them soldiers and men of rank. This may probably save them from the flames; for if they are given up to the inquisition, they will ($(! ! certainly be burnt for the good of their souls, to appease the Divinity, quiet the minds of the people, and inspire them with a proper sense of religion.852 This melodramatic report falls into the long tradition of Protestant propaganda depicting the Catholic Church as superstitious, repressive, and terroristic. However, in a reflection of the new FRQGLWLRQVRIWKH VLWHPSKDVL]HVWKH&KXUFK¶VSHUVHFXWLRQRI)UHHPDVRQU\FDVWLQJWKH Fraternity as an alternative, non-FOHULFDOHOLWHFRPSULVLQJ³VROGLHUVDQGPHQRIUDQN´%\ placing the Brethren in parallel with the French expatriates, the report associates the Masons with the constitutional and anti-clerical reforms that were sweeping France as the first phase of the French Revolution unfolded. The 1792 report reflects the growing American awareness of Masonry on the European Continent, where the Craft increasingly butted heads with Catholic absolutist states. From that year onward, the fortunes of Masonry in Rhode Island and throughout the federal republic would depend largely on how Americans perceived the turmoil in Catholic Europe²with Portugal serving as the first case in point. Although it is doubtful that events in Lisbon in 1792 truly unfolded as the Mercury claimed, it is true that over the course of the eighteenth century, the Portuguese Inquisition gradually shifted its baleful attention from crypto-Judaism to Masonry. In 1743, the Holy Office had detained the Swiss-born diamond-cutter John Coustos and tortured him to obtain the secrets of the Craft. Coustos himself was released and emigrated to Britain while three of his Portuguese Brethren were hanged. In 1748, he published a pamphlet, The Unparalleled Sufferings of John Coustos, which helped to establish the Masons as fellow- martyrs of the Inquisition in the eyes of Protestants, Jews, and freethinkers. Following the great /LVERQHDUWKTXDNHRI3RUWXJDO¶V6HFUHWDU\RI6WDWHWKH0DUTXHVGH3RPEDOZKRKDG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 852 Newport Mercury, April 16, 1792, p. 1. ($)! ! himself become a Mason during his travels in Austria or Britain, seized control of the Kingdom; he subsequently reined in the Inquisition and halted the persecution of Masonry. Most of 3RPEDO¶VUHIRUPVZHUHUHYHUVHGKRZHYHUDIWHUKLVGHDWKLQDQGWKH,QTXLVLWLRQGLGLQIDFW arrest several prominent Masons, including the secretary of the navy, in 1791.853 Portugal was by this time a well-known battleground between the Catholic clergy and the Masons, who came to symbolize the secular and reformist vanguard. Masons in Newport would have been especially sensitive to this development, given that Lisbon was one of their most important trading partners. Most of the American public could sympathize with the Masons in Catholic Europe and the anti-clerical cause that they embodied there so long as the French Revolution remained moderate. As late as the spring of 1792, the French reformers could pass as the philosophical heirs of the American patriots, with the Marquis de Lafayette personally linking the two movements. This sympathetic relationship was thrown into doubt when in the summer of 1792, war broke out between France and Austria and the events of the Revolution spiraled out of the control of the moderate elite. The Paris Commune arrested the King and massacred other prisoners as the Legislative Assembly dissolved and Lafayette fled the country; in January 1793, the new National Convention, at the urging of Robespierre, guillotined the former King. Later that year, as the Reign of Terror took hold and as churches were rededicated to cults of reason or ³7KH6XSUHPH%HLQJ´$PHULFDQVZHUHGUDZQLQWRWKH)UHQFKdrama by the intrigues of Citizen Genet. The notion that the Masons had somehow orchestrated the Revolution gained traction: the Inquisitorial view of Masonry as a conspiracy against religion and the state suddenly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 853 ,UPDR$0*RQFDOYHV³%UHYH+LVWRULDOGD0DFRQDULDHP3RUWXJDO´WUDQVE\'RQ)DOFoner, Pietre-Stones: Review of Freemasonry, ($*! ! appealed to new audiences, and it did not help matters that Robespierre and many of his close allies were in fact Freemasons. As Gordon Wood has argued, eighteenth-century observers could not conceive of sudden upheavals resulting from impersonal social forces, and so turned to conspiratorial thinking in order to restore a sense of order and intentionality to world events.854 The Masons, already associated with secrecy and with secular reform, came under dangerous suspicion. The new attack on Masonry as an atheistic or anarchist conspiracy spread quickly, largely by word of mouth, appearing only occasionally in print. On July 23, 1793, the Mercury published its first anti-Masonic letter, albeit a relatively measured one. The anonymous extract cautions those ministers who recommend Freemasonry in their professional character, warning that the pulpit does not seem a proper venue from which to promote a secretive fraternity. Probably thinking of William Smith, Moses Badger, and other Episcopal divines, the letter challenges the Masons to explain how the Craft could improve upon the Christian doctrines or make a Christian a better man than he already is²and if Masonic secrets are capable of such improvement, then why would the Brethren monopolize and conceal them?855 Although it avoids the elaborate conspiratorial thinking that had begun to issue from Europe, the anonymous OHWWHUUHSUHVHQWVDQHDUO\FKDOOHQJHWRWKH0DVRQV¶SUHWHQVLRQVDQGWKHLUDVVRFLDWLRQZLWK Christianity. The Masons responded to the concerns raised in the letter as diplomatically as possible. They continued to rely on Protestant ministers as their representatives, and as late as the autumn !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 854 *RUGRQ6:RRG³&RQVSLUDF\DQGWKH3DUDQRLG6W\OH &DXVDOLW\DQG'HFHLWLQWKH(LJKWHHQWK &HQWXU\´LQ-R\FH$SSOHE\HWDl, eds., Knowledge and Postmodernism in Historical Perspective (New York: Routledge, 1996), 94-104. 855 Newport Mercury, July 23, 1793, p. 3. ($+! ! of 1793, some Brethren still appealed to the old sympathy for the Masons as victims of Catholic persecution. On September 17th, the Newport Mercury printed an anonymous letter arguing that, ³no society on earth can boast that antiquity, and uncorrupted purity, which alone belongs to )UHH0DVRQU\´ WKH³PDQQHUV´³RSHUDWLRQV´DQG³XVDJHV´RIWKH&UDIWFRXOGERDVWPRUHWKDQ five thousand years of SUHFHGHQW7KHDXWKRU³.´VSHFLILFDOO\FRXQWHUVWKHQRWLRQRI0DVRQU\ as anti-religious, insisting WKDW³its principles enjoin a more vigilant discharge of the duty we RZHRXUFUHDWRU´3RVVLEO\DOOXGLQJWRWKHZLGHVSUHDGUHYXOVLRQWRZDUGVWKH5HLJQ of Terror, the OHWWHUDVVHUWVWKDWDOWKRXJKWKHUHDUHHYLO0DVRQVWKH)UDWHUQLW\FDQH[SHOWKHP³6WLOO´. ODPHQWV³there are not wanting characters who affect to despise and deride the institution´7KH letter cites as an example the director of the Academy of Sciences in Munich, who in 1786 GHPDQGHGWKDWDOOWKHLQVWLWXWLRQ¶VPHPEHUVZLWKGUDZIURP0DVRQU\Despite this directive³WKH FHOHEUDWHG0UGH%RUQRI9LHQQD´UHIXVHGLQVWHDGUHVLJQLQJKLVPHPEHUVKLSLQWKH$FDGHP\ This loyal Mason²the naturalist and mineralogist Ignaz Von Born²later became the :RUVKLSIXO0DVWHURI9LHQQD¶V7UXH&RQFRUG/RGJHDQGKHOSHGWRVXVWDLQWKH)UDWHUQLW\LQ Austria under persecution by the government of Leopold II; some observers have posited that von Born served as a model for the wise sun-SULHVW6DUDVWURLQ0R]DUW¶V RSHUDThe Magic Flute.856 5KRGH,VODQG¶VLQFUHDVLQJDZDUHQHVVRI&RQWLQHQWDO(XURSHDQHYHQWVDIWHU ZDV accompanied by a rising note of defensiveness in Masonic writings²particularly with regard to the notion that the Masons were irreligious. Most significantly, in his oration before the Grand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 856 Newport Mercury6HS S 5DFKHO&RZJLOO³1HZ/LJKWDQGWKH0DQRI0LJKW Revisiting Early Interpretations of Die Zauberflote´LQ5DFKHO&RZJLOOHWDOHGVArt and Ideology in European Opera (Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 2010), p. 205n; Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart: A Documentary Biography (Stanford University Press, 1965), p. 231, 244-5, 285-91. ($,! ! /RGJHLQ WKH5HYHUHQG$EUDKDP/\QVHQ&ODUNHDYRZVWKDW0DVRQU\³RSHQVKHUDUPVWR the followers of all systems of religion; the Mahometan, the Jew and the Christian, meet under KHUSURWHFWLRQ´ ZKHUH&KULVWLDQ0DVRQVGLVSOD\D%LEOHLQWKHORGJHPHHWLQJVWKH0XVOLP %UHWKUHQPD\VXEVWLWXWHD.RUDQ1RQHWKHOHVV0DVRQU\XQLYHUVDOO\HPEUDFHV³WKHUHOLJLRQRI nature as the ground-work of her faith.´6LPLODUH[SUHVVLRQVRIHLUHQLFLVPFRXOGEHIRXQGLQ earlier Masonic writings, but Clarke is compelled in his 1794 oration to declare explicitly that, ³DQDWKHLVWFDQILQGQRDGPLVVLRQZLWKLQWKHZDOOVRIDORGJH´2QWKHFRQWUDU\DOO0DVRQVPXVW ³DGRUe the Great Architect of the universe; acknowledge the immortality of the soul, and look IRUZDUGWRDIXWXUHVWDWHRIUHWULEXWLRQ´7KHPLQLVWHUH[WROVWKH&UDIW¶VDELOLW\WRFXOWLYDWH FRPSDVVLRQPRGHUDWLRQDQGDPLDELOLW\ ³VXFKDV\VWHP´&ODUNHPXVHV ³RQHZRXOGVXSSRVH ZRXOGEHHQWLUHO\IUHHIURPHQHPLHV´\HWPDQ\KDYHDWWDFNHGWKH&UDIWespecially for its VHFUHF\7RWKHVHFULWLFV&ODUNHSRLQWVRXWWKDWWKDWWKH%LEOHUHFRUGV³6RORPRQWKHPDVWHU- builder of the temple, confining the secrets of hLVDUWWRKLVRZQRUGHU´DQGWKDW&KULVWKLPVHOI ³ZDVJXLOW\RIWKHVDPHLPSURSULHW\´LQWKDWKHHQWUXVWHGVHFUHWWHDFKLQJVWRKLVGLVFLSOHV )LQDOO\&ODUNHDGPLWVWKDWVRPH0DVRQVKDYH³GHYLDWHGIURPWKHSULQFLSOHV´RIWKH&UDIWEXW counters WKDW³eveU\VRFLHW\RQHDUWKLVFRPSRVHGRILPSHUIHFWEHLQJV>«@OLDEOHWRHUUDQGIDOO DZD\´ LQGHHG³WKHVDPHDUJXPHQWKROGVHTXDOO\JRRGDJDLQVW&KULVWLDQLW\LWVHOI´857 The defense that the misdeeds of some Masons should not impeach the Fraternity as a whole aSSHDUHGUHSHDWHGO\WKURXJKWKH V$QDUJXPHQWYHU\VLPLODUWR&ODUNH¶VKDGDOUHDG\ appeared in verse form in Newport in 1793, when a British Mason named Thomas W. Moore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 857 Abraham Lynsen Clarke, A Discourse, Delivered at Providence, Before the Grand Lodge. Providence: Carter and Wilkinson, 1794. (26772) (%-! ! ZDVDSSRLQWHGWRVHUYHDVWKH.LQJ¶V9LFH-Consul in Newport;858 on October 3rd of that year, the 0DVRQVKHOGDEHQHILWQLJKWIRU0RRUHDWWKHWRZQ¶VWKHDWHUGXULQJZKLFKWKH9LFH-Consul VSRUWLQJO\WRRNWKHVWDJHDQGGHOLYHUHGD³(XORJ\RQ0DVRQU\´,QOLJKWEXWHOHJDQWYHUVH Moore announced himself as a Mason and denied any shame or embarrassment at the name. 0DVRQU\KLVSRHPGHFODUHVLVIDUIURPDQDUFKLVWEXWWHDFKHVPHQWREH³]HDORXVIRURXU FRXQWU\¶VFDXVHWUXHWRLWVULJKWVDQGIDLWKIXOWRLWVODZV´$0DVRQPXVWPHHWWKHZRUOG³XSRQ WKHVTXDUH´DEMXULQJJRVVLSDQGSUDFWLFLng philanthropy towards the poor and hungry. The Craft ³URRWVRXWQDUURZQRWLRQVIURPWKHPLQG´DQGDOORZVIRUPHULWRFUDF\ZKHUH ³on a pleasing level all appear, and only merit is distinguished there´)LQDOO\KHEHJVWKDWLIVRPH0DVRQVDFW atrociousl\³FHQVXUHWKHPHQ²but blame not Masonry; we do not blame, when Christians go DVWUD\WKHOLJKWWKDWFDPHIURPKHDYHQWRVKRZWKHLUZD\´859 Two weeks later, Moore affiliated with the Newport lodge; his poem and his patronage surely helped to shore up the 0DVRQV¶VRFLDOVWDQGLQJDWDFUXFLDOWLPH3HUKDSVQRWFRLQFLGHQWDOO\WKHQXPEHURIQHZ candidates in Newport increased to nine in 1794 and to thirteen in 1795. %\WKHPLGGOHRIWKH VWKH0DVRQV¶VWUDWHJLHVRIGHIHQVHZHUHVXFFHHGLQJDWOHDVW for some audiences. In Providence, the number of initiates increased in 1794 to twenty-four, the largest crop that the lodge had gathered since the Peace of Paris, and in 1795, it stabilized to an ample seventeen. In February of the latter year, several months after the Thermidorean reaction KDGHQGHG)UDQFH¶V5HLJQRI7HUURUWKHProvidence Gazette printed an anonymous letter GHIHQGLQJWKH0DVRQV,WZDVKHDGHGE\WKHYHUVHIURP/XNH³2IDEUDPEOHEXVKGRPHQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 858 Edward Field, ed., State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the end of the Century: A History, vol. 1 (Boston: The Mason Publishing Company, 1902), p. 283-4 859 Newport Mercury, Oct. 15, 1793, p. 4. (%$! ! gather grapes? Is not every tree known by itVIUXLWV"´7KHOHWWHU²whose author may or may not be a Mason²argues WKDW³the repeated instances in which the Free-Masons in this town have manifested their charity to the poor, must convince every unprejudiced mind that their society is founded on princLSOHVRIJHQXLQHLPSDUWLDOEHQHYROHQFH´&RPSDULQJWKH0DVRQVWRWKH³OLOLHV RIWKHILHOG´WKHFRUUHVSRQGHQWFUHGLWVWKH%UHWKUHQZLWKDVSLULWXDOFURZQDQGVFHSWHUPRUH majestic than those of earthly kings. Whereas in the 1760s, charitable acts had protected theatrical players from censure, so the same strategies in the 1790s purportedly elevated the Masons to the level of Solomon.860 With time, Masonry and its critics reached a provisional truce. In March 1795 the Newport Mercury printed on its front page an address on the topic of Masonry given by the influential Congregational minister Charles Backus in Litchfield, Connecticut. The sermon FDUHIXOO\GLVWLQJXLVKHVEHWZHHQSULQFLSOHVDQGPHQUHFRJQL]LQJWKHYDOLGLW\RIWKH0DVRQV¶ point that the misdeeds of individuals should not be held against the institution; still, Backus cautions that Masonry can easily fall into disrepute from which Christianity is immune. He warns the Masons not to become like the Jesuits, who are reviled in much of the Christian world for perverting the faith, and predicts that Masonry, if not carefully governed, may go the same ZD\DVWKHFOHULFDOLQIOXHQFHWKHDULVWRFUDF\DQG³WKH'HPRFUDWLFDOFOXEV´861 The last phrase refers, of course, to the social-political clubs that had organized in most American states in the early 1790s in imitation of the French Jacobins. (None appeared in Rhode Island, possibly because the state already enjoyed a wide franchise and popular political participation.) The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 860 Providence Gazette, Feb. 21, 1795. 861 Newport Mercury, March 17, 1795 p. 1; Wilson and Fiske, eds., $SSOHWRQ¶V&\FORSDGLDRI American Biography, vol. 1, p. 129. (%%! ! clubs, like the Society of the Cincinnati, adapted Masonic institutional forms to a more immediate political agenda, and so attracted controversy; unlike the Cincinnati, they could not fall back on a non-political justification for their existence and so collapsed in 1794 under withHULQJFULWLFLVPIURP*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQ%DFNXV¶PHDVXUHGZDUQLQJVLQ UHIOHFWD cautious acceptance of Masonry in American society on the condition that it occupy a strictly non-political niche. The agreement that Backus proposed would hold for only about four years. In the mid- to-late 1790s, the Fraternity enjoyed a brief respite from controversy as the less radical Directory came to power in France; the number of new initiations peaked in Newport in 1796 with twenty- two new Masons, and in Providence in 1797 with thirty-four. The temporary calm that permitted this growth soon shattered: in 1797, the French Jesuit Augustin Barruel revived and synthesized the conspiratorial explanation of the French Revolution; his writings in turn inspired a Scottish physicist at the University of Edinburgh, John Robison, to publish his incendiary pamphlet, Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free-Masons, Illuminati and Reading Societies. BDUUXHO¶VDQG5RELVRQ¶V FRQWHQWLRQWKDWWKH0DVRQV¶VPDOOUDGLFDORIIVKRRWWKH,OOXPLQDWLKDGLQILOWUDWHGDQG commandeered the Fraternity served to link Masonry to both the violence and the religious skepticism of the French Revolution. The two pamphleteers sparked an international furor, OHDGLQJVRPH$PHULFDQVWRTXHVWLRQ*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQ¶V0DVRQLFDIILOLDWLRQ,Q$XJXVW a concerned Maryland minister sent the former president a copy of Proofs of a Conspiracy; in response, Washington distanced himself from the Fraternity, denying that he had been in a lodge ³PRUHWKDQRQFHRUWZLFHZLWKLQWKHODVWWKLUW\\HDUV´+HDIILUPHGWKDW³the Doctrines of the ,OOXPLQDWLDQGWKHSULQFLSOHVRI-DFRELQLVP´KDGLQGHHGUHDFKHGWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVEXWGHQLHG (%&! ! ³that the Lodges of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter´5DWKHU:DVKLQJWRQEODPHG the infection of the American body politic on the short-liveG³'HPRFUDWLF6RFLHWLHV´862 ! 7KHVHQVDWLRQRYHU5RELVRQ¶VFRQVSLUDF\WKHRU\ZDVHVSHFLDOO\LOO-timed for the American Masons, seeing as how it coincided with the opening of armed conflict with France. In the summer of 1798, in response to French predation on British traffic with the Americas, 3UHVLGHQW$GDPVDQGKLV)HGHUDOLVWVXSSRUWHUVUHVFLQGHGWKH8QLWHG6WDWHV¶WUHDWLHVZLWKWKHLU former ally, dispatched the small navy to seize French privateers, and passed the Alien and Sedition acts to silence FrenFKV\PSDWKL]HUV,Q5KRGH,VODQGWKH³4XDVL-:DU´VWRNHGIHDUVWKDW American radicals might support a sea-borne French attack on the United States; Illuminism and religious skepticism were more threatening than ever. For example, at the commencement of the College of Rhode Island on September 5, 1798, the Congregational seminarian Otis Thompson GHOLYHUHG³$Q2UDWLRQ8UJLQJWKH1HFHVVLW\RI5HOLJLRQDVWKH2QO\3HUPDQHQW%DVLVRI&LYLO *RYHUQPHQW´LQZKLFKKHZDUQHGKLVIHOORZVWXGHQWVWKDW³our libertiHVDUHLQMHRSDUG\´:KLOH acknowledging that religion, used as an instrument of state, has led to centuries of war and repression, the speech laments WKDW³FHUWDLQPRGHUQSROLWLFLDQV´KDYHRYHUUHDFWHGDQGJRVRIDU DVWR³EDQLVKHYHU\UHOLJLRXVFRQVLGHration from their political creed, [and] pronounce religion LWVHOIDQLPSRVLWLRQDPHUHDUWLILFH´,QWKHDEVHQFHRIUHOLJLRQKHZDUQVWKHVWDWHLVVXEMHFWWR the jealousies and passions of both the ruler and the ruled; that a republican society cannot function without religious faith is demonstrated by the example of France, where one can see !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 862 George Washington to the Rev. Mr. Snyder, Sep. 25, 1798, reprinted in Julius Sachse, ed., :DVKLQJWRQ¶V0DVRQLF&RUUHVSRQGHQFH (Lancaster: Press of the New Era, 1915), 124-5; George :DVKLQJWRQWRWKH5HY¶G0U6Q\GHU2FW UHSULQWHGLQ-ulius Sachse, :DVKLQJWRQ¶V0DVRQLF Correspondence (Lancaster: Press of the New Era, 1915), p. 131-2. (%'! ! the genuine product of atheism: virtue driven into exile: the laws of God and the rights of human nature insulted and trampled upon. Behold the bloody massacres! «7KHEORRG-thirsty cannibals, after having spread desolation through RQHFRQWLQHQWH[WHQGWKHLUGHSUHGDWLRQVWRWKHUHPRWHVWFRUQHUVRIWKHZRUOG« A detestable junto of desperadoes, under the appellation of Illuminati, engendered in Germany, and hurried on by the prince of darkness, have laid a plot, deep and malignant beyond description, for the total destruction of all government and UHOLJLRQLQWKHXQLYHUVH«7KHIDLUIDEULFRIPRUDOLW\WRWWHUVRQLWVTXDNLQJ foundations: infidelity, with the rapidity of a torrent, threatens to deluge the world.863 The valedictorian seeks to account for the French and Haitian Revolutions and the American controversy over the Alien and Sedition Acts by combining the impersonal, natural metaphors of floods and earthquakHVZLWK5RELVRQ¶VFRQVSLUDFLVP7KHVROXWLRQWRWKHFULVLV7KRPSVRQ SURSRVHVWRKLVIHOORZVHPLQDULDQVLVWR³RSSRVHDEDUULHUWRWKHSURJUHVVRILQILGHOLW\´LQWKH IRUPRIRUWKRGR[UHOLJLRQPDUU\LQJWKH$PHULFDQUHSXEOLFWRWKH3URWHVWDQWIDLWK ³7KXV shall RXU&RQVWLWXWLRQXQPRYHGE\WKHFRQYXOVLRQVRIHPSLUHVVXUYLYHWKHGHSUHGDWLRQVRIDJHV´ 7KRXJKLWGRHVQRWQDPHWKH)UDWHUQLW\GLUHFWO\7KRPSVRQ¶VRUDWLRQUHIOHFWVWKH atmosphere of terror and distrust within which the Rhode Island Masons had to operate at the end of the 1790s. The suspicion could even penetrate within the Masonic sanctum: Dr. Benjamin W. Case of South Kingstown, who joined the Newport lodge in 1796, soon became disenchanted with Masonry when he obtained a book called Abbe Barruel [sic] upon the Illuminati of France, and 5REHUWVRQ¶V>VLF@SURRIVRIWKHFRQVSLUDF\LQ)UDQFH DQGDIWHUUHDGLQJWKRVH works in conversation with the Masons at Newport, I told them, that I considered illuminatism to be masonry; but they denied it, or would not acknowledge it; and I from that time or near that time, for eight years I refused to visit the lodges, except on funeral occasions.864 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 863 2WLV7KRPSVRQ³$Q2UDWLRQ8UJLQJWKH1HFHVVLW\RI5HOLJLRQ´ (Providence: Carter and Wilkinson, 1798), 7. 864 Testimony of Benjamin W. Case, in Report of the Committee Appointed by the General Assembly of the State of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, to Investigate the Charges in Circulation Again Freemasonry and Masons in Said State (Providence: William Marshall, 1832): 76. (%(! ! Politically vocal Masons responded to the counter-revolutionary fears of the late 1790s by proclaiming their lR\DOW\WRWKH$PHULFDQ&RQVWLWXWLRQDORUGHU5KRGH,VODQG¶VQHZVSDSHUV devoted a great deal of space to printing the words of Masons in various states who sought to defend their Fraternity. In 1798 and 1799, the Providence Gazette printed letters that the Grand Lodges of Maryland and Vermont, respectively, had submitted to John Adams along with the 3UHVLGHQW¶VUHSOLHV7KH0DVRQLFDGGUHVVIURP0DU\ODQGLQVLVWVWKDW³in the state, a mason is to behave as a SHDFHDEOHDQGGXWLIXOVXEMHFW´ WKH*UDQG/RGJHGHFULHV³the virulent and mercenary YRLFHRISDUW\´WKDWVHHNVWR³represent our institution as inimical to the security not only of regular government, but even of divine religion´7KRXJKDGPLWWHGO\SXVKLQJWKHOLPLWVRIQRQ- partisanship, the Maryland Masons pledge their support for Adams in the event of open war with )UDQFH ³though we may view war as full of horrors, yet an age of warfare does not appear so horrid as one moment of peace purchased by the surrender of independence.²We only await the signal.´7KH9HUPRQWHUVVLPLODUO\GHFU\WKH³MHDORXV\«LQGXVWULRXVO\SURSDJDWHGDJDLQVWRXU IUDWHUQLW\´DQGSOHGJHVXSSRUWIRU$GDPVDQGWKH$PHULFDQVWDWH WKH\EHWUD\VRPHRIWKHLU Federalist sympathies when they celebrate the fact that the President has ³GHIHDWHGWKHVHGLWLRXV PDFKLQDWLRQVRI\RXUHQHPLHV´ $GDPVUHSOLHGWRWKH9HUPRQW0DVRQVZLWKJUDWLWXGHEXW ZDUQHGWKDWLI0DVRQLFVHFUHF\³can be applied to set aside the ordinary maxims of the society, and introduce politics and disobedience to government«VXFKVFLHQFH«may be perverted to all the ill purposes which have been suspected´865 Ultimately, the crisis of the French Revolution forced the Masons to delineate their role in the political order more precisely. On March 5, 1799, the Newport Mercury printed on its !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 865 Providence Gazette, August 18, 1798, p. 1; Feb. 2, 1799, p. 1. (%)! ! front page a charge delivered at a recent lodge meeting by the Grand Master of South Carolina, WKHMXGJH-RKQ)DXFKHUDXG*ULPNH7KHMXGJHODPHQWVWKDWPDQ\PHPEHUVRIWKHSXEOLF³KDYH been induced, from the slanderous attack made on the lodges of Free Masons, generally throughout the world, to believe that our principles are dangerous, and our conduct almost FULPLQDO´$VLIKHZHUHUHVSRQGLQJGLUHFWO\WR7KRPSVRQ¶VFRPPHQFHPHQWDGGUHVVWKH*UDQG 0DVWHULQVLVWV³WKDWZHKDYHQHYHUHQGHavoured to sap and undermine the foundation of our VRFLHW\ZKLFKLVUHOLJLRQ´EXWUDWKHUDIILUPWKHH[LVWHQFHRIWKHGHLW\DQGRIWKHDIWHUOLIH1RU KDYHWKH0DVRQVHYHU³DWWHPSWHGWRH[FLWHQDWLRQDJDLQVWQDWLRQQRUWKURXJKVHGLWLRXVPRWLYHV diffused LQWRWKHPLQGVRIRXUIHOORZFUHDWXUHVVXVSLFLRQVGLVKRQRXUDEOHWRWKHLUUXOHUV´)DU IURPWU\LQJWRUHQGHUWKH$PHULFDQUHSXEOLF³HDVLHUSUH\WRDIRUHLJQSHRSOH´WKH0DVRQV VWHDGIDVWO\XSKROGWKHSURSHUDXWKRULW\RI³DJRYHUQPHQWRIRXURZQFKRLFHKRZever disputable some of its acts may prove in the opinion of some of the most virtuous men in the United 6WDWHV´866 Here, the Grand Master carefully hedges regarding his loyalties towards the Federalist or Jeffersonian parties and his views on the controversial policies of the Adams administration, while accepting unequivocally the legitimacy of American independence and of the Constitution, both of which had been in dispute over the previous twenty-five years. *ULPNH¶VVSHHFKLOOXVWUDWHVKRZWKH$PHULFDQMasons, during the French revolution, rushed to define the boundary between partisan politics and the sphere of civic loyalties. The affairs of the former are temporal and divisive; those of the latter, sacred and immutable. The orator reminds his audienFHWKDW0DVRQV³DUHERXQGQRWWRGLVFXVVVXEMHFWVRIUHOLJLRQRUSROLWLFV LQRXUORGJHV´DQGSRVLWVWZRUHDVRQVIRUWKLVSURKLELWLRQ WKDWVXFKWRSLFV³PLJKWLQWURGXFH LPSURSHUKHDWVLQWRWKHERVRPVRIWKHEUHWKUHQDQGGLVSODFHWKDWKHDYHQO\KDUPRQ\´WKDW should !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 866 Newport Mercury, March 5, 1799, p. 1. (%*! ! VXEVLVWLQWKHORGJHV DQGWKDW0DVRQLFVHFUHF\³PLJKWEHPDGHDFRYHUIRUWKHYLOHVW SURSRVLWLRQVDQGIRUWKHPRVWWUHDVRQDEOHDQGLUUHOLJLRXVWUDQVDFWLRQV´7KXVWKHRUDWRUDUJXHV WKDWWKHWDERRDJDLQVW³UHOLJLRQDQGSROLWLFV´LQWKHORGJHVSUevents precisely the sort of conspiracy that Robison imagines, while he conveniently defines the two terms as whatever topics might lead Masons to disagree with one another. The South Carolinian asserts that the $PHULFDQ)UDWHUQLW\LQFXOFDWHVVXEPLVVLRQ³to the laws and the constituted administrators of our FRXQWU\´ZKLOHLQPDWWHUVRIUHOLJLRQWKH+RO\%LEOH³FRQWDLQVWKRVHUHYHUHQWDQGUHOLJLRXV WUXWKVE\ZKLFKRXUIDLWKLVUXOHGDQGJRYHUQHG´:LWKDSURSHUFRPPLWPHQWWRWKHVHSROLWLFDO and religious OR\DOWLHVKHFRQFOXGHV³WKHWKUHHSLOODUVRIRXUWHPSOHZLOOUHPDLQXQUHSURDFKHG DQGXQLPSDLUHG´7KXVWKHRUDWRUVHOHFWLYHO\FRPPLWVWKH)UDWHUQLW\WRWKRVHV\PEROVDQG VHQWLPHQWVWKDWZLOOPDLQWDLQWKH&UDIW¶VVWDELOLW\DQGSURWHFWLWIURPVXVSLFLRQ. In so defending its own role and image in American society, Masonry served to construct a sphere of sacrosanct loyalties and values immune to political contestation; in the guise of disinterested arbiters, Masons conferred legitimacy upon those practices and institutions that commanded their own approval. Still, the continuing tumults in Catholic Europe afforded the Masons little breathing room. For instance, The United Irishmen, a radical fraternity inspired both by Masonry and by the French Revolution, so frightened the British Parliament that in 1799 it prohibited all secret societies and gatherings; on July 16th of that year, the Mercury reported WKDW³the meeting of Masonic lodges of England and Scotland, are prohibited by law, throughout Great-BrLWDLQ´7KH (%+! ! ban, though hardly enforceable, illustrated the wide counter-revolutionary net that threatened to ensnare the Fraternity, even in its original homeland.867 Despite counter-revolutionary alarms, the Masons in Rhode Island doggedly continued to gather and speak in public and strove to counter the anti-Masonic wave; disavowal of radical Continental Masonry became the primary mission of all public Masonic utterances. On September 23, 1799, the Grand Officers and Masonic delegates from around the state gathered in South Kingstown to consecrate a new lodge; the Reverend Abraham Lynsen Clarke delivered an RUDWLRQRQWKHYHUVHIURP0DWWKHZ³/HW\RXUOLJKWVRVKLQHEHIRUHPHQWKDWWKH\PD\VHH\RXU JRRGZRUNV´7KHPLQLVWHUGLVDYRZHGWKH³VRQVRIGDUNQHVV´ZKR³LQVRPHSDUWVRI(XURSH have endeavoured to engraft the scion of faction and the thistle of licentiousness, upon the YHQHUDEOHWUHHRI0DVRQU\´ZKLOHUHMHFWLQJ%DUUXHO¶VDQG5RELVRQ¶VDWWHPSWVWRILQG³GHHSODLG SORWV´DQGXQUDYHO³P\VWHULRXVFRQVSLUDF\V´DWWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VFRUH6RRQHQRXJK&ODUNH DVVXUHGKLVDXGLHQFHWKHZRUOGZLOOVHH³WKDWDQFLHQW0DVRQU\LVWRWDOO\VHSDUDWHDQGZLOOEHDW HWHUQDOHQPLW\ZLWKWKHLPPRUDOLWLHVSORWVDQGFRQVSLUDFLHV´RIWKH,OOXPLQDWLDQGRWKHUDVVRUWHd UDGLFDOV³'U:HLVKDXSW%DURQ.QLJJHDQGWKHZKROHWULEHRIPRGHUQ'HLVWV$WKHLVWVDQG 3KLORVRSKLVWV´,QWKHORQJVHULHVRIWRDVWVWKDWIROORZHGWKHFHUHPRQ\WKH0DVRQVSUD\HG³PD\ the scales fall from the eyes of those, who believe Masonry to be a combination to overthrow UHOLJLRQDQGJRYHUQPHQW´,Q)HEUXDU\WKHPHUFKDQW$PRV0DLQH$WZHOODGGUHVVHGKLV lodge in Providence, taking the opportunity to attack those Masons who have lost their religious faith. In a veiled reference to the IllXPLQDWLKHDVNHG³$UHVXFKWKHChildren of Light? No, my !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 867 Newport Mercury-XO\ S $QGUHZ3UHVFRWW³7KH8QODZIXO6RFLHWLHV$FWRI ´)LUVWSXEOLVKHGLQ0'-6FDQODQHGThe Social Impact of Freemasonry on the Modern Western World, The Canonbury Papers I (London: Canonbury Masonic Research Centre, 2002), pp. 116- 134, Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry, (%,! ! brethren, they are sons of, and heirs to, that darkness, of which their own hearts are proper emblems²IDOOHQOLNH/XFLIHUQHYHUWRULVHDJDLQ´868 As in 1795-WKH0DVRQV¶VHOI-defense met with a degree of success. The Providence lodge, for its part, initiated an average of 19 new members per year between 1798 and 1802. Additionally, the effects of the Quasi-War with France redounded to the benefit of the Newport lodge: earlier in the decade, the federal government had sought to fortify Newport against possible attack and, as Bennett Wheeler had predicted, selected the southern town as a base for the new Navy. Over the course of the 1790s, several Masons, including William Ellery and Archibald Crary, were involved in fortifying Newport and preparing it to house land and naval troops.869 Ironically, the same fear of the French menace that aroused suspicion against the Masons also led to federal policies that exposed more potential candidates to the Craft. During the Quasi-War, federal patronage and the gathering of young men in Newport enabled the lodge in the southern town to swell its ranks as never before: sixteen men joined the lodge in 1798, an unprecedented thirty-one in 1799, and twenty in 1800. On October 8, 1799, the tailor and Revolutionary veteran William Tew proposed three candidates for initiation, among them Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, a twenty-year-old Maryland-born sailor who had only barely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 868 Newport Mercury, Oct. 8, 1799, p. 3; Amos Maine Atwell, An Address Delivered Before Mount-Vernon Lodge (Providence: John Carter, 1800), p. 10; Abraham Lynsen Clarke, The Secrets of Masonry Illustrated and Explained (Providence: Wheeler, 1799):13. 869 Alexander Hamilton to William Ellery, Aug. 21, 1794, in Harold C. Syrett, ed. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, 27 Vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961-87, reproduced in Papers of the War Department, (&-! ! survived a duel earlier that year in deIHQVHRIWKH1DY\¶VKRQRU6LQFH'HFDWXU¶VVKLSZDVGXHWR WUDQVSRUWWKHJRYHUQPHQW¶VQHZO\-appointed envoys to France, the Brethren agreed to confer the ILUVWWZRGHJUHHVRQ'HFDWXULPPHGLDWHO\ WZRGD\VODWHUWKH\UDLVHGKLPWRWKH0DVWHU¶V degree.870 TKHORGJH¶VDFFRPPRGDWLRQRI'HFDWXUH[HPSOLILHVWKHIOH[LEOHSUDFWLFHVWKDWZRXOG allow for an increasingly close marriage between Masonry and the American Navy. /HVVWKDQDPRQWKDIWHU'HFDWXU¶VLQLWLDWLRQLQWKH1HZSRUWORGJH*HQHUDO1DSROHRQ Bonaparte RYHUWKUHZWKH)UHQFK'LUHFWRU\LQDFRXSG¶pWDW7KRXJK5KRGH,VODQGHUVFRXOG KDUGO\KDYHNQRZQLWDWWKHWLPH%RQDSDUWH¶VVHL]XUHRISRZHUZRXOGUHDOLJQ)UHQFKSROLWLFV calming the instability that had plagued the 1790s. Hostilities between French and American vessels ended in the autumn of 1800, shortly before Thomas Jefferson won the presidential election and peaceably assumed power the following spring. As the United States and France H[SHULHQFHGDUDSSURFKHPHQW1HZSRUW¶VLPSRUWDQFHDVDPLOLWDU\ base diminished. Signaling a stabilization from the heady days of the later 1790s, ten new Masons joined the Newport lodge in 1801 and sixteen in 1802. In the latter year, the Grand Master of Rhode Island, Christopher Olney, retired, allowing the Newport Brethren to elect their own Worshipful Master, Moses Seixas, to replace him; Seixas retained both offices for the remainder of his life.871 A truce settled over Masonic affairs in Rhode Island after 1800. The convention of the Grand Lodge in Newport on June 21, 1802, in which Moses Seixas at last assumed the highest Masonic office, laid out the terms on which the Masons of Rhode Island attained a measure of the permanence and stability that they had so long sought: the Fraternity appeared as a practical, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 870 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN% -2FW DQG2FW 6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge no. 1, Portsmouth, RI; Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, Life of Stephen Decatur (Boston: Little and Brown, 1846), 39-40. 871 Rugg, 276, 785-6. (&$! ! moralizing institution that would support the new national order. The Brethren gathered and SURFHVVHGWR7ULQLW\&KXUFKZKHUHWKH\KHDUGGLYLQHVHUYLFHVDQGD³SHUWLQHQWRUDWLRQ´E\WKH 28-year-old lawyer and Assemblyman, William Hunter. Long and ambitiRXV+XQWHU¶VRUDWLRQ addresses the situation that the Masons faced in the aftermath of the French Revolution with an unusual frankness. Hunter begins the address by insisting that the occasion not devolve into ZKDWPXVWDSSHDUWRPDQ\DV³LGOHSRPSDQGXQPHDQLQJFHUHPRQ\´+HTXLFNO\FRQIURQWVWKH QRWLRQWKDWWKHWUDGLWLRQVRIWKH&UDIWDUHPHUHIDEULFDWLRQV ³,I0DVRQU\EHDIDEOH´KH PDLQWDLQV³IURPWKDWDVIURPDQ\IDEOHDPRUDOPD\EHGHGXFHG,ILWEHGHOXVLYHLWPXVWDW least be acknowledged DVXFFHVVIXOILFWLRQ´0DVRQU\¶VPDJQHWLFDSSHDOVXJJHVWHGE\LWVZLGH SRSXODULW\DQGE\LWVVXUYLYDODJDLQVW³WKHEORZVRIWLPHDQGWKHVKRFNVRIUHYROXWLRQV´LVVXHV QRWIURPWKHOLWHUDOWUXWKRILWVWHDFKLQJVEXWUDWKHUIURPLWV³V\VWHPRIPRUDOLW\ in some LQVWDQFHVSHFXOLDU«DQGLQDOOLQQRFHQWDQGEHQHILFLDO´872 +XQWHUVHHNVWRDFFRXQWIRU0DVRQU\¶VHODERUDWHP\WKVDQGULWXDOVWKURXJKWKH elaboration of yet another myth: he theorizes WKDW³some venerable sage, or holy seer, in early antiquity´ZLtnessing the beauty, order, and stability of nature, in contrast with the violence and GLVRUGHURIKXPDQDIIDLUVVRXJKWRXWDV\VWHPRIPRUDOLW\WKDWZRXOGLPLWDWHQDWXUH¶VKDUPRQ\ ³He discovered´+XQWHUSRVLWVLQDJHVWXUHUHPLQLVFHQWRI5DPVD\¶VTravels of Cyrus, ³LQ all the systems of morals and religion, some main principles, as permanentXQLIRUPDQGXQLYHUVDO´ +XQWHU¶VXQQDPHGVHHNHUUHMHFWHG6WRLFSKLORVRSK\IRULWVDXVWHUHSHVVLPLVPDQG(SLFXUHDQLVP for its self-centeredness; he hoped, rather, to ³exercise and meliorate the heart, by the cultivation of the virtues of benevolence, of divine charity, of friendshiSRIGLVLQWHUHVWHGJRRGQHVV´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 872 HunteU¶VRUDWLRQZDVQHYHUSXEOLVKHGEXWDW\SHVFULSWFRS\EDVHGRQWKHRUDWRU¶VPDQXVFULSW VXUYLYHVLQWKHFROOHFWLRQVRIWKH1HZSRUW+LVWRULFDO6RFLHW\9DXOW$%R[)ROGHUODEHOHG³0HPRLUV RI7KRPDV'XQQ´1+6 (&%! ! Recognizing WKDW³PDQ¶VWUXHVWKDSSLQHVVZDVLQWHOOHFWXDO´WKH0DVRQLFIRXQGHUWRRNXS³WKH charms RIOLWHUDWXUH´³WKHSOHDVXUHVRILPDJLQDWLRQ´DQG³WKHEHDXWLHVRIQDWXUH´DVWRROVLQKLV TXHVWIRUPRUDOLPSURYHPHQW³+HZDVRIFRXUVHD3RHW´+XQWHUFRQFOXGHV²³KHFRXOG LQIODPHWKHSDVVLRQV KHFRXOGDVVXDJHWKHP´ 1RPDWWHUWKDW+XQWHU¶VVXSSRsed founder never existed, and that Masonry accrued and developed its beliefs and practices over centuries; the quest that the Newport lawyer attributes to KLVLPDJLQDU\SRHWVHUYHVWRXQLI\WKH³SRPSRIFHUHPRQ\´RI0DVRQU\LQDVLQJOHLQVWUXPHQWDO scheme. At a time when politicians and Naval officers were filling the ranks of Newport 0DVRQU\+XQWHUHQGHDYRUHGWRWXUQWKHWDEOHVRQWKHFULWLFVZKRTXHVWLRQHG0DVRQU\¶V connections to the military and to political power. The Fraternity is uniquely suited to cultivate WKHFLYLFYLUWXHV LWJLYHVSHUPDQHQWIRUPWR³WKHhighest of human pleasures; the pleasures of disinterestedness´+HUH+XQWHUPHUJHV0DVRQLFPRUDOSODWLWXGHVRUGLQDULO\DSSOLHGWRWKH closed circle of Brethren, with the language of civic UHSXEOLFDQLVP7KHLPDJLQDU\IRXQGHU¶V TXHVWUHDFKHVLWVIXOILOOPHQWLQWKHVWXG\RIDUFKLWHFWXUH³QRWRQO\WKHPRVWXVHIXOEXWWKHPRVW GLJQLILHG´RIGLVFLSOLQHV ³WKH$UFKLWHFW´+XQWHUDVVHUWVLQDSRVVLEOHDOOXVLRQWRKLVRZQ political ambitions, ³is necessarily connected with the great men of the State. The fabricator of QDWLRQDOZRUNVKHLVDOOLHGWRQDWLRQDOJORU\´ Having established the civic function of Masonry, Hunter seeks to account for its SHUVHFXWLRQ³6XSHUVWLWLRQ´WKHODZ\HUGHFries, enthroned in the inquisitions of Portugal and Spain, has deemed us worthy of the honors of an auto-da-fe; and even in the present day, Barruel, a French Jesuit, has denounced us as conspirators against government; as sticklers, for the stupid theory of unqualified Equality; as ardent asserters of the cold and senseless doctrine of atheism. And even Robinson [sic], a Scotch Professor, a scholar of elegant literature, has in the furor of antirevolutionary Eloquence, undeservedly impeached us. (&&! ! This unIRXQGHGVODQGHUVWHPVLQ+XQWHU¶VYLHZIURPWZRPLVDSSUHKHQVLRQV)LUVWWKH0DVRQV¶ ³LQYLRODEOHVHFUHF\«!has perplexed the wise, puzzled the profound and tortured the jealous´ $OWKRXJKWKH³FDYLOHU´SRUWUD\V0DVRQLFVHFUHF\DVFRQVSLUDWRULDOLWLVQothing of the kind: whereas conspirators must keep their secrets within strictly limited confines, Masonry thrives on its own extension, constantly welcoming new candidates. The maintenance of Masonic secrets VHUYHVPHUHO\DVDWHVWRIFKDUDFWHUZKLFK³shews the firmness of our virtue; it is a trial of our moral strength´ The second misapprehension, and the one with which Hunter is more urgently concerned, LVWKDWZKLFKDFFXVHVWKH0DVRQVRISURSDJDWLQJ³DGHOXVLYHDQGGDQJHURXVV\VWHPRIHTXDOLW\´ In fact, the equality in which the Masons believe is limited and qualified, depending on the VSHFLDOFRQGLWLRQVRI0DVRQLFEURWKHUKRRG³&HUWDLQO\´+XQWHUFRQFHGHV³DVPHQDQGDV brothers we are placed on a level; no dignity of station; no preeminence of opulence, can make us forget we are brothers of the most humble and distressed.´7KLVHTXDOLW\LVQRWDEVROXWH KRZHYHU HYHQWKH0DVRQV³have orders, ranks and gradation; we stand according to merit, and we know nothing is more unequal than merit´'UDZing an analogy between Masonic degrees and hierarchies in labor, Hunter points out WKDW³the apprentice is not entitled to the pay of the PDVWHU´1RQHWKHOHVVWKH³VXERUGLQDWHZRUNPDQ«PD\DVFHQGDVKLJKDVKHSOHDVHVWKHODGGHU of eminence, and as he aGYDQFHVLQVNLOOKHDGYDQFHVLQKRQRU´0DVRQU\UH-creates the SXUSRUWHGPHULWRFUDF\RIHFRQRPLFOLIHDQGUDWLILHVLWWKURXJKULWXDOGLVSOD\ ³WKHMHZHOJOLWWHUV RQO\RQWKHEUHDVWRIKLPZKRLVHQWLWOHGWRZHDULW´7KH0DVRQV¶PHULWRFUDWLFHWKLFMRLQV together with loyalty to the Constitutional state in a sphere beyond the reach of so-called ³SROLWLFV´² (&'! ! With affairs of government, as Masons we do not interfere. The dissonance of party politics does not disturb the harmony of our association. Without attempting to control opinion or abridge free agency, we inculcate submission to the laws, and a reciprocatioQRIDOOHJLDQFHIRUSURWHFWLRQ« We are not then, conspirators, for the subversion of government, and the destruction of society. On the contrary, our institution is an attempt, practically, to exemplify the strength of Union. Masonic and constitutional unity existed in symbiotic parallel; whatever thoughts of a world- turned-upside-down the Masonic ethic of equality may have called forth in the eighteenth FHQWXU\VXFKQRWLRQVKDGEHHQWKRURXJKO\GLVDYRZHGE\FHQWXU\¶VHQG Finally, Hunter must dissociate the Rhode Island Masons from the alleged atheism of WKHLU&RQWLQHQWDO%UHWKUHQ³VRFRQILGHQWO\XUJHGE\%DUUXHODQG5RELQVRQ>VLF@´7KH Assemblyman argues that religious faith is inseparable from Masonry. Here, he is on delicate JURXQGVHHLQJDVKRZWKH*UDQG/RGJHKDVMXVWLQVWDOOHGLWVILUVW-HZLVK*UDQG0DVWHU³I will not say there is anything in Masonry, that obliges Christian faith´Ke confesses tactfully; ³but a FRUUHVSRQGHQFHRIVHQWLPHQW«may induce it. They, certainly in their essence and spirit, are not opposite, [and] there can never be any conflict between them´6WLOOWKHRUDWRUZLWKFDUHIXO nuance, admits WKDW³though there is an agreement there is not an identity. Our institution includes mankind. Our lodge shelters under its roRIDOOWKHQDWLRQVRIWKHHDUWK´ DVLIDGGUHVVLQJ 6HL[DVGLUHFWO\KHGHFODUHV³Ze love our brother though his faith be dissimilar´+XQWHUFlaims, HUURQHRXVO\WKDWWKHSKLORVRSKHU-RKQ/RFNH³Whe ardent friend of freedom and truth, the vindicator of religious toleration´ZDVD0DVRQ,QFRQFOXVLRQ+XQWHUGLVDYRZVWKHSXUSRUWHGO\ radical Masons of Catholic Europe, declaring WKDW³their defence is no more incumbent on us than the defence of Judas was incumbent on the true apostles´ +XQWHU¶VRUDWLRQSUHVHQWVWKH0DVRQVDVWKH\ZLVKHGWREHVHHQDWWKHWXUQRIWKH nineteenth century: multi-religious, but not irreligious; meritocratic, but not democratic; (&(! ! VHFUHWLYHEXWQRWFRQVSLUDWRULDO7KH%UHWKUHQZHUHLQ+XQWHU¶VYLVLRQIUDWHUQDOO\FRKHVLYHDQG devoutly Constitutionalist, while the myths and rituals of the Craft were internally coherent; the Fraternity must not only survive political attacks, but serve as a pillar of stability and SHUPDQHQFHLQWKHERG\SROLWLF+XQWHUVWUDWHJLFDOO\VDFULILFHVWKHEHOLHILQWKH0DVRQLFP\WKV¶ literal truth in order to defend their moral utility²and what is more, he does so explicitly as a response to the doubts and suspicions directed against the Masons in the 1790s. The mistaken present-GD\SHUFHSWLRQRI)UHHPDVRQU\DVD³VHFXODU´PRYHPHQWVWHPVIURPVWDWHPHQWVVXFKDV +XQWHU¶VZKLFKDUHVWUDWHJLFTXDOLILHGDQGGHIHQVLYHDSSHDULQJPDLQO\LQUHVSonse to the crisis of the French Revolution. +XQWHU¶VRUDWLRQVWULYHVWRSODFH0DVRQU\RQDVHFXUHIRRWLQJLQ$PHULFDQVRFLHW\,QVR doing, it proposes a compact between the Masons and the American public, placing the Constitution, religious toleration, and meritocracy into the sphere of sacred, eternal values. It HQGVHFKRLQJ6HL[DV¶0DVRQLFOHWWHUWR*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQE\SURSRVLQJWKDW³as the generous glass, with three times three, will circulate, let our hearts expand, with three times ten thousand sensationVRIPXWXDOIULHQGVKLS´$IWHUUHWLULQJWRWKH6WDWH+RXVHWKH0DVRQVJDYHWRDVWVWR WKH8QLRQWR5KRGH,VODQGWRDOOQDWLRQVDQGDOO0DVRQLFORGJHV³URXQGWKHJOREH´WRUHOLJLRQ commerce, government, the militia, and the Army and Navy. 5DWLI\LQJ+XQWHU¶VSROLWLFDO VHQWLPHQWVWKHFHOHEUDQWVGHFODUHG³DV0DVRQVZHDUHHTXDO²but let us remember that JRYHUQPHQWFDQQRWEHVXSSRUWHGZLWKRXWODZVPDJLVWUDWHVDQGREHGLHQFH´7KH%UHWKUHQ sealed their conservative sentiments with a royal meWDSKRUUHSHDWLQJWKHSUD\HU³PD\XQLYHUVDO (&)! ! 0DVRQU\EHWKHRQO\XQLYHUVDOPRQDUFK\´DQGDGGLQJ³PD\LWVFKDLQOLQNDOOPDQNLQGLQWKH ERQGVRIIULHQGVKLS´873 7RPDQ\RIKLV%UHWKUHQLQWKHDXGLHQFH:LOOLDP+XQWHU¶VRUDWLRQPXVWKDYHDSSHDUHG the perfect triumph of Masonic sincerity over the calumnies of the age. In the words of his DGPLUHUVWKHDGGUHVVZDVFOHDUKDUPRQLRXVDQG³enriched with iPDJHVDQGPHWDSKRUV´ZKLOH ³SROLWLFVRIFRXUVHLQD0DVRQLFGLVFRXUVHZDVRPLWWHG´+RZHYHUZKHQDFRPPLWtee of Brethren asked Hunter to lend them a copy for the press, the Assemblyman unexpectedly refused. Despairing WKDW³it would be unfair to describe its content only from memory´WKH Masons and the printers of the Mercury reported only a few words of praise, noting in particular WKHVSHHFK¶VQRYHOW\ ³LWZDVDVXEMHFWRQZKLFKRULJLQDOLW\ZDVKDUGO\WREHH[SHFWHGDQG\HW WKLVRUDWLRQDERXQGHGZLWKLW´874 +XQWHU¶VDGGUHVVUHPDLQVXQSXEOLVKHGWRWKLVGD\'LGWKH young lawyer truly worry, as he claimedWKDWKLV³IHHEOHHIIRUWV´ZRXOGQRWVDWLVI\KLVIHOORZ 0DVRQV¶H[DFWLQJVWDQGDUGV"2UZDVKHDSSUHKHQVLYHWKDWKLVZRUGVKDGVWUD\HGWRRIDULQWRWKH realm of politics, and might jeopardize his own ambitions toward higher office? Whatever his motives, Hunter betrayed a shadow of doubt; his unexplained demurral suggests that for all of its JURZWKLQQXPEHUVDQGLQSUHVWLJH0DVRQU\¶VUROHLQWKHQHZUHSXEOLFZDVQRWFRQFOXVLYHO\ resolved; the Masonic edifice still rested on uncertain ground. ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 873 Newport Mercury, June 22, 1802, p. 3. 874 Newport Mercury, June 29, 1802, p. 3. (&*! ! Chapter 16: The Expansion of Masonry, 1796-1802 As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Reverend Abraham Lynsen Clarke delivered an ambitious 6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\ oration in 1799, in which he sought to place as much distance as possible between Freemasonry and the ³LPPRUDOLWLHVSORWVDQGFRQVSLUDFLHV´RIWKH³'HLVWV $VWKHLVWVDQG3KLORVRSKLVWV´WKDWKDGXSHQGHGWKHUHOLJLRXVDQGSROLWLFDORUGHURI&RQWLQHQWDO Europe.875 Accusations of sedition and conspiracy hounded the Masons throughout the later 1790s, and Clarke was compelled to counter them; it is therefore strange and ironic that Mr. Clarke delivered his words at the consecration of a new lodge in the town of South Kingstown, the first to appear in southwestern Rhode Island. What is more, this was just one of a wave of new lodges and other Masonic bodies that formed in Rhode Island beginning in 1796. Masonry was expanding rapidly at the very time that it was facing unprecendented suspicion and hostility. This strange disjuncture may be attributable in part to the double-edged nature of controversy: rumor and attacks may serve to draw attention to secretive associations and bolster their taboo appeal as much as to suppress them. However, the fluctuations in the numbers of initiations in Newport and Providence in the 1790s suggest that the scandal of the French Revolution did in fact present an obstacle to Masonic recruitment. Rather, the sudden explosion of Masonry in the later 1790s, in the midst of controversy, must be understood in light of demographics and social geography. After 1790, the population of young men in Rhode Island was quickly relocating to new smaller urban centers, of which Masonry was uniquely prepared to take advantage; while !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 875 Abraham Lynsen Clarke, The Secrets of Masonry Illustrated and Explained (Providence: Wheeler, 1799): 13. (&+! ! the French Revolution might have helped to stem the growth of Masonry momentarily, the tide could not be held back. For fifteen years after the Battle of Yorktown, the Fraternity had slowly grown in Newport and Providence, even as it struggled to define itself in the new republic; in the very next year, Masonry began a sudden and rapid expansion both within Providence and throughout the state beyond the two original lodges. Between 1796 and 1800, Rhode Island saw the foundation of seven new Masonic bodies²six lodges and a Grand Royal Arch Chapter. Three of these new bodies formed in Providence and four in towns that had never hosted a Masonic lodge before, namely, Warren, Westerly, Bristol, and Chepachet. The expansion of Masonry at the end of the eighteenth century was, as we will see, geographic, social, and spiritual, involving the spread of the Craft to new populations as well as the deeper embrace of higher-degree mysticism. It is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that according to the federal census, WKHVWDWH¶VRYHUDOO population barely changed, from 68,825 in the federal census of 1790 to 69,122 in 1800, an increase of less than 0.5%. The Masonic expansion of the later 1790s depended not on SRSXODWLRQJURZWKEXWRQFKDQJLQJSDWWHUQVRIDVVRFLDWLRQ$V5KRGH,VODQG¶VPDULWLPH economy shifted towards inland development and proto-industrialization, the Fraternity appealed to new constituencies that had hardly existed in the colonial age. Greater numbers of young townsmen sought and gained access to the Masonic sanctum, including to the increasingly coveted higher degrees. These trends would come to be embodied most fully by one man² Thomas Smith Webb²whose activities in Rhode Island had profound effects on American Masonry. Just as importantly, the tremendous expansion of Masonry in Rhode Island at the end of the eighteenth century, as in Jamaica in the 1770s, allowed for a new social stratification among (&,! ! Masons. The Masons were always heterogeneous, resisting simple social or economic JHQHUDOL]DWLRQVEXWLQWKHODWHU)HGHUDOHUDD%URWKHU¶VVRFial status could find expression in the particular Masonic bodies he joined and the offices he held. Seeing as how at least one new Masonic body formed in Rhode Island in each year from 1796 through 1800, it is wisest for us to proceed chronologically. A consideration of each new lodge or body as it appeared will reveal the overlapping social networks through which Masonry spread and embedded itself in the new republic. 7KHILUVW0DVRQLFORGJHLQ5KRGH,VODQGRXWVLGHRIWKHVWDWH¶VWZRSULQFLSDOWRZQVZDs founded in 1796 in Warren, a minor port on the northeastern corner of Narragansett Bay. :DUUHQKDGVXUYLYHGKHDY\%ULWLVKUDLGVLQDQGDVRI ZDVWKHVWDWH¶VVL[WKVPDOOHVW town with only 1,122 residents.876 Nonetheless, over the course of the 1790s, Warren became a FHQWHURIWKHUHJLRQ¶VPRVWLPSRUWDQWLQGXVWU\ VKLSEXLOGLQJ)RUGHFDGHV3DZWXFNHW manufacturers had been harnessing water power to process lumber and iron into materials for shipbuilders in nearby towns; after the Revolution, Warren, located on a deep but narrow channel, became known for producing particularly fast ships.877 :DUUHQ¶VVKLSEXLOGLQJDQG PDULWLPHWUDGHSURVSHUHGRXWRIDOOSURSRUWLRQWRWKHWRZQ¶VVPDOOVL]HDWWUDFWLQJDPL[WXUHRI merchants, sailors, and craftsmen similar to that found in Providence and Newport; by 1800, its !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 876 1790 United States Census, cited in Kaminski et al, eds., The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, 24:321. 877 3DXO5LYDUG³7KH%LUWKRIWKH7H[WLOH,QGXVWU\´LQ/LQGD/RWULGJH/HYLQHGFederal Rhode Island: The Age of China Trade, 1790-1820 (Providence: RIHS, 1978), 75- +RZDUG.'H:ROI³7KH History of Washington Lodge, No. 3, F and AM, 1796- ´/LEUDU\RIWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI5KRGH Island, p. 9-10. ('-! ! population had increased to 1,473.878 0RUHRYHUWKHWRZQZDVSROLWLFDOO\DOLJQHGZLWKWKHVWDWH¶V larger ports: in 1798, when the Federalist John Brown defeated Thomas Tillinghast for Rhode ,VODQG¶s sole seat in the House, Warren joined Newport, Bristol, Smithfield, and the near- unanimous Providence in supporting Brown, while the agrarian towns preferred Tillinghast.879 Masonry took hold in Warren even as the town remained much smaller than Newport or Providence had been at the middle of the eighteenth century. Surely Warren residents were aware of the Craft long before they organized a lodge: in December, 1782, a Warren resident named Shubael Burr offered a reward for the return of a French-made gold watch inscribed with &KLQHVHFKDUDFWHUVDQGD³WURSK\RI0DVRQU\´ZKLFKKHKDGORVWVRPHZKHUHEHWZHHQKLVKRPH and Bristol Ferry.880 Over the course of the 1790s, several men from Warren joined the Fraternity in Newport, beginning with Charles Wheaton, a merchant and ropemaker, in 1792. Wheaton was followed by at least ten others over the next four years, most of whom were in their late twenties and early thirties. Five candidates from Warren joined in rapid succession in the first week of November, 1795, suggesting a coordinated action.881 Seven months later, on June 22, 1796, anticipating the Grand Lodge meeting in Providence, seven Masons in Warren gathered at the home of the Revolutionary veteran, Major Benjamin Cole. Choosing Charles Wheaton, the most senior Mason among them, as moderator and the printer and surveyor Nathaniel Phillips as clerk, they drew up a letter inquiring whether the Grand Officers might !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 878 1800 United States Census, cited in Josiah B. Tustin, A Discourse Delivered at the Dedication of the New Church Edifice of the Baptist Church and Society In Warren (Providence: MH Brown, 1845), 106. 879 Providence Gazette, Sep. 1, 1798, p. 3. 880 Providence Gazette, Dec. 7, 1782, p. 3. 881 Special Return for Newport. ('$! ! JUDQWWKHPDFKDUWHUXQGHUWKHQDPHRI³:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJH´ ILYHRWKHU0DVRQVVRRQVLJQHGWKH petition as well.882 In this way, the formation of a lodge in Warren echoed that which took place in Providence in the 1750s, with residents of the smaller town undergoing the Masonic rites in Newport, returning home, organizing, and then appealing to a Grand Lodge for the legitimation of a charter. On June 27, 1796, three days after the Grand Lodge convention in Providence, the Brethren in Warren received a reply stating that the Grand Officers would indeed grant them a charter if they made a more formal application. Rather than acting immediately on this offer, the Masons delayed drafting their application, seeing as how so many of the Brethren from Warren were at sea. Nonetheless, they assigned the innkeeper Ebenezer Cole to acquire jewels, candlesticks, and implements for the lodge, and in the meantime, young merchants and seamen from Warren continued to join the Craft in Newport, including the captain of the Hercules, Jesse Baker, Jr.ZKRVHPRWKHU¶VGLVWLQFWLYHJUDYHVWRQHZHH[DPLQHGLQ&KDSWer 11. A year and a half later, in February, 1798, a committee in Warren consisting of Charles Wheaton, Nathaniel Phillips, and the 34-year-old shipbuilder Sylvester Child wrote up a set of by-laws and a formal request for a charter, which they received on March 19th. The document gave them the title of ³:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJH´SODFHGWKHPWKLUGLQWKHKLHUDUFK\RISUHFHGHQFHLQWKHVWDWHDQGJDYH them Masonic jurisdiction over the towns of Warren and Bristol. One week later, they initiated their first candidate, Thomas Kinnicutt, and passed and raised two other members.883 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 882 DeWolf, 5, 7. 883 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 29-32; DeWolf, 5-8; Special Return for Warren. ('%! ! In June 1798, the lodge in Warren made its first-ever return to the Grand Lodge, reporting its slate of officers and the degrees they had conferred. Charles Wheaton, not surprisingly, was Worshipful Master, with the otherwise obscure Joseph Adams and William Carr (probably older merchants) beside him as wardens. Jesse Baker was Senior Deacon, Ebenezer Cole was Treasurer, and Nathaniel Phillips, Secretary. Since receiving its charter in March, the lodge had initiated fourteen men, in addition to admitting as members five Masons who had already been initiated elsewhere. 884 This initial growth (nineteen new members) equaled that seen in the Newport lodge over its entire first two years of existence in the early 1750s. The rapid growth continued with twenty-six new initiates in 1799 and nineteen in 1800.885 Of the fifty-eight members that signed the by-laws of Washington Lodge no. 3 in its first four years, twenty-one (36% of them) identified themselves as captains. Certainly, the same advantages in social networking and surrogate kinship that attached to Masonic membership in other maritime ports applied equally in Warren; Captain Stephen Martin of Warren later claimed that when his ship and crew were taken by pirates, his life was spared because of his Master 0DVRQ¶VGHJUHH886 Additionally, the other thirty-seven early Brethren surely included shipbuilders and other craftsmen, aside from the aforementioned printer and innkeeper. Easy access to the skills and materials related to the shipbuilding trade allowed Washington Lodge to build its own hall far earlier than its predecessors in Newport or Providence could have imagined such a feat. Some time in 1798, Sylvester Child purchased the remains of several frigates that the British had jettisoned in Newport Harbor. Child towed what !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 884 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, 39-43. 885 Special Return for Warren. 886 DeWolf, 8. ('&! ! remained of the water-logged hulls to his ship-yard at the foot of Baker Street in Warren, where oak beams from one of the hulls were salvaged for use as the roof-beams of a Masonic Hall that the new lodge erected nearby.887 The Hall, which still stands today on Baker Street, is an elegant Federal-style structure, probably built and decorated by the same craftsmen that constructed VKLSVDORQJWKHVKRUHVRI:DUUHQ¶VKDUERU6RPHRIWKHORGJH¶VRULJLQDOIXUQLVKLQJVLQFOXGLQJ WKHRIILFHUV¶VLPSOHZRRGHQULWXDOLPSOHPHQWVDQGZLQGVRUFKDLUVUHIOHFWLQJWKHUHVWUDLQHGQHR- Roman styles of the time, are preserved inside. ! !"+%*:>$T"550$D"((,*0$140$C=:5-$67LWXL0$2%G,$%&$D"+2:*)-%*$I%3),$*%8$^8$$;*$,5,)"*-$J,3,("5X+-/5,$C=:53:*)$@:-2$ G%3:55:%*$G%=53:*)+0$<=%:*+0$"*3$#,3:G,*-,3$3%%(@"/+8$$'%-,$-2,$%>=5=+$@:*3%@$:*$-2,$=##,($(:)2-0$ (,G:*:+>,*-$%&$"$+":5:*)$+2:#8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 887 DeWolf, 8, 16-17. During the restoration of the building in 1914, the rib-cuts on the beams could be seen clearly. (''! ! $ I%3),$1%%G$%&$!"+%*:>$T"550$2%G,$%&$D"+2:*)-%*$I%3),0$*%8$^0$D"((,*0$140$+2%@:*)$B"=5-,3$>,:5:*)8$$92,$*,%X Z)/#-:"*$G=("5+$@,(,$"33,3$&%55%@:*)$"$(,*%B"-:%*$:*$6L6K8$$;$2%(:`%*-"5$>%(3$>%**,>-+$-2,$'%(-2$"*3$Q%=-2$ @"55+$-%$#(,B,*-$-2,G$&(%G$C%@:*)$%=-@"(3$%B,($-:G,8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8$ ('(! ! $ a*,$%&$-2,$-2(,,$ŽƌŝŐŝŶĂůůŽĚŐĞŽĨĨŝĐĞƌƐ͛ǁŝŶĚƐŽƌĐŚĂŝƌƐ͕ĐĂ͘ϭϳϵϲXL0$D"+2:*)-%*$I%3),$*%8$^0$D"((,*0$148$$A2%-%$ C/$-2,$"=-2%(8$ (')! ! $ 4*-,(:%($3%%(@"/$:*$!"+%*:>$T"550$2%G,$%&$D"+2:*)-%*$I%3),0$*%8$^0$D"((,*$140$67LWXL0$@:-2$,5"C%("-,5/$>"(B,3$ +#5:-$#,3:G,*-$"*3$=*=+="5$:*B,(-,3$+<="(,X"*3X>%G#"++$?*%>?,(8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8$ The possession of their own lodge hall, built expressly for Masonic purposes, gave Washington Lodge a unique prestige in the state as well as the practical flexibility of access to their own indoor space. These advantages enabled the Warren Masons to perform more degree rituals in the late 1790s than any Rhode Island lodge ever had before. At the Grand Lodge convention at Newport in June 1799, Washington Lodge no. 3 reported that over the preceding twelve months it had conferred a staggering total of sixty-two Masonic degrees in Warren, compared to only forty-one conferred in Newport and forty in Providence. Among those initiated were several men from the neighboring towns of Bristol and Barrington, including Carlo ('*! ! Mauran, son of the Provençal-born captain and privateer Joseph Carlo Mauran. New Masons in Warren often advanced through the Craft degrees with great rapidity: sixteen new Masons in Warren had taken all three degrees within the twelve-month period between June 1798 and June 1799.888 7KH:DUUHQ0DVRQV¶UHPDUNDEOHDFFRPSOLVKPHQWDQGWKHSUHVWLJHWKDWLWHQJHQGHUHG were soon ratified in a public ritual. In September 1799, the Grand Master, Peleg Clarke, issued a call for all Masonic officers in Rhode Island to gather on October 3rd in Warren, where they ZRXOG³FRQVWLWXWHDQGFRQVHFUDWH´WKHQHZORGJHDQGIRUPDOO\LQVWDOOLWVRIILFHUV2QWKH DSSRLQWHGGD\WKH*UDQG/RGJHFRQYHQHGDVSHFLDOPHHWLQJDW0DVRQV¶+DOOZKLFKLQFOXGHG officers and members of all the lodges then existing in the state. The Brethren processed, with DFFRPSDQ\LQJPXVLFWRWKH%DSWLVWFKXUFKZKHUH³DYHU\ODUJHDVVHPEO\RIODGLHVDQG JHQWOHPHQDQGXSZDUGVRIRQHKXQGUHGDQGVHYHQW\RIWKH&UDIW´ZLWQHVVHGWKHLQVWDOODtion ceremonies and heard an oration by the Grand Chaplain, the Rev. Abraham Lynsen Clarke of Providence. After the ceremony, Moses Seixas rose and made a motion that the Grand Lodge meet at Warren every three years in rotation with Newport and Providence, beginning in 1801. This motion was tabled until the next Grand Lodge meeting, and the Masons adjourned with a VWDWHPHQWRI³JRRGZLOOWRDOOPDQNLQG´889 $OWKRXJKLQLWLDOO\WDEOHG6HL[DV¶VSURSRVDOHYLGHQWO\JDLQHGDSSURYDO LQJune 1801, the Grand MastHU&KULVWRSKHU2OQH\FDOOHGIRUWKH*UDQG/RGJHWRPHHWRQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\DWWKH lodge room in Warren. Once again, the Masons gathered at Masons Hall before processing to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 888 Proceedings of the GL of RI, p. 44-9. 889 Newport Mercury, Sep. 24, 1799, p. 1; Newport Mercury, Oct. 8, 1799, p. 3; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, p. 51-2. ('+! ! the Baptist church to hear an oration by Rev. Mr. Clarke; this time, they were led in their procession by the tyler of Washington Lodge, with drawn sword, followed by the two deacons with white wands. However, at this Grand Lodge convention, Warren reported that it had conferred only twelve degrees over the preceding year, vastly diminished from the sixty-two that it had reported in 1799. (The Grand Lodge evidently did not receive a return from Warren in 1800 due to a logistical complication.) This diminution was due not only to the saturation of :DUUHQ¶VVPDOOSRSXODWLRQEXWDOVRWR the recent opening of another lodge in neighboring %ULVWROZKLFKGLYHUWHGPXFKRI:DUUHQ¶VVWUHDPRIFDQGLGDWHV1RQHWKHOHVV:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJH no. 3 had already built a strong foundation, with a committed leadership corps and an impressive home. Among the men initiated in Warren at the end of the eighteenth century were Sylvester Child and the politician Seth Peck, both of whom would serve in later years as Grand Masters of the state. In 1802, the Warren Brethren reported conferring a respectable total of twenty-four degrees upon ten candidates, and the lodge remained a pillar of Masonry in Rhode Island thereafter; it has continued to meet in its original building for more than two hundred years since.890 The remarkable success of Masonry in Warren despiWHWKHWRZQ¶VVPDOOVL]HFDQEHEHWWHU understood through a comparison with Newport. As noted in Chapter 9.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQ the early 1780s benefited from the variety of merchants and artisans that brought useful skills and social connections to the lodge; Brethren supplied all of the basic necessities for meetings and rituals, from housing to furniture to aprons. By the mid- VWKH%UHWKUHQ¶VRFFXSDWLRQDO VNLOOVDQGFRQQHFWLRQVVWLOOZRUNHGWRWKHORGJH¶VDGYDQWDJHEXWRQDGLPLQLVKHGVFDOH,n 1795- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 890 Newport Mercury, June 9, 1801, p. 3; Newport Mercury, June 16, 1801, p. 1; Newport Mercury, June 30, 1801, p. 2; Providence Gazette, July 4, 1801, p. 3; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, p. 53, 59-65, 71-8; DeWolf, 8-10; Rugg, 306. (',! ! 6, the lodge paid Brother James Tew for lodging in his boarding-KRXVH 6WSHKHQ&DKRRQH³IRU SDLQWLQJ>D@FDUSHW´SUHVXPDEO\DULWXDOWUHVWOHERDUG DQG3KLOLS5RELQVRQIRUD³JUHDWFRDWIRU >WKH@W\OHU´ ,QDGGLWLRQWKHFDUSHQWHU5REHUW/DZWRQZho had made a coffin for John Mawdsley, joined the lodge in 1798.) However, the treasurer was obliged to pay a non-Mason for spermaceti candles, and there is no record of the lodge acquiring new dishware, furniture, or jewels in this period. In addition to the expenditures on ritual objects, the Newport lodge made FKDULWDEOHSD\PHQWVWR³%URWKHU+RSNLQVLQJDRO´WR³%URWKHU&DUU\GLVWUHVVHG´ SUHVXPDEO\ referring to the Revolutionary veteran Archibald Crary), and to a schoolmaster for the education ³RIRQHRIWKHZLGRZ&DKRRQH¶VFKLOGUHQ´SUHVXPDEO\WKDWRI%URWKHU&KDUOHV&DKRRQHZKR had died in 1792 at age 40. All in all, the Newport lodge landed slightly in deficit, having expended 128 dollars while bringing in only 126²and much of that revenue derived from conferring the Craft degrees upon Brethren from Warren.891 ,QFRQWUDVWWR1HZSRUW:DUUHQ¶VPDULWLPHWUDGHDQGLWVVKLSEXLOGLQJLQGXVWU\DWWUDFWHGD population of young men with growing wealth, social connections, and skills in woodworking, metalwoUNLQJDQGRWKHUFUDIWV$V1HZSRUW¶VFRPPHUFHVWDJQDWHGLQWKH VVNLOOHGDUWLVDQV whose great value to Masonry had been under-recognized by the mercantile elite, largely relocated to other ports, where new industries generated demand for their laboU 1HZSRUW¶VORVV ZDV:DUUHQ¶VJDLQ7KHIRUPDWLRQRI:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJHLVHPEOHPDWLFERWKRIWKHQRUWKZDUG VKLIWLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶VFRPPHUFLDODFWLYLW\DQGLWVUHRULHQWDWLRQIURPPDULWLPHWUDGHWRZDUGV manufacturing. Masons who recognized the great and increasing value of the artisanal classes to 0DVRQU\ODLGWKHJURXQGZRUNIRUWKHIXWXUHRI³WKH&UDIW´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 891 ³6W-RKQ¶V/RGJH1LQDFFRXQWFXUUHQWZLWK:7HZ7UHDVXUHU´ -6DLQW-RKQ¶V Lodge no. 1, Portsmouth, RI. ((-! ! The same social and economic shifts that brought Masonry to Warren were also at work on a larger scale in Providence. Between 1790 and 1800, the northerQWRZQ¶VSRSXODWLRQJUHZ from 6,380 to 7,614, for the first time surpassing that of Newport. While the China trade helped WRPDNHXSIRUWKHFRQVWULFWLRQRI5KRGH,VODQG¶VFRPPHUFHZLWKWKH:HVW,QGLHVDQG%ULWDLQ many Providence merchants sought to preserve their capital through investment in shipyards, distilleries, foundries, candleworks, cotton mills, and other small industrial ventures. Although -RKQ%URZQ¶VSURSRVDOWRGLJDFDQDOQRUWKZDUGIURP3URYLGHQFHLQWRWKHKHDUWRI1HZ(QJODQG fell flat, Providence nonetheless became a significant center for the production and shipment of manufactured goods.892 As we have already seen in Chapter 12, the rise of the Mechanics and Manufacturers Association after 1789 reflects the close connection between Masonry and the rising manufacturing class. In particular, many merchant-Masons took advantage of their West Indian connections to move into the distilling industry; nine of the twenty-four distilleries in Rhode Island in the 1790s were owned by Masons.893 The growth and proto-industrialization of Providence corresponded to the expansion of Masonry on several fronts simultaneously. The growing Masonic presence in the town was manifested most visibly in the creation of three new Masonic bodies between 1797 and 1799, though each of these institutions had roots stretching back earlier in the century. The most unusual of the new bodies founded in Providence in the 1790s does not appear in official histories of Masonry in the state, because it belonged to a separate and distinct branch of the Craft which the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island did not recognize as legitimate. This body was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 892 Withey, 98-102, 11 3DXO5LYDUG³7KH%LUWKRIWKH7H[WLOH,QGXVWU\´LQ/LQGD/RWULGJH Levin, ed., Federal Rhode Island: The Age of China Trade, 1790-1820 (Providence: RIHS, 1978), 75-8. 893 Distillery Excise Tax Records, volumes 1 and 2, RIHS. (($! ! Hiram Lodge no. 3, a lodge of African-American Masons that formed in Providence in 1797. The third black Masonic lodge to be founded in America, Hiram Lodge clearly grew out of the overlapping networks of Masons and black benevolent societies in eighteenth-century New England² although, as we will see, the precise relationship between these two movements is ambiguous. Afro-American or ³3ULQFH+DOO´0DVRQU\ZKLFKLVWRGD\DSDUWLFXODUO\VWURQJEUDQFKRI the Craft, had its origins in the Revolutionary period. In the British colonies, free black men, particularly mariners, may sometimes have obtained initiation into Masonry, but most Masonic lodges refused to admit black men as Brothers. This situation came to a head in 1775, during the British occupation of Boston. In March of that year, a group of fifteen free black men, led by the leather-dresser and former slave Prince Hall, underwent initiation in a regimental lodge attached to an Irish infantry unit. After the British withdrew from Boston one year later, the black Masons found themselves generally snubbed by the white Brethren in Boston; therefore, Prince Hall organized his own, ³$IULFDQ´ORGJH%\ WKH0RGHUQV3URYLQFLDO*UDQG/RGJHRI Massachusetts granted to Hall and his Brethren permission to hold Masonic meetings and processions but not to initiate members. Only after they turned for help to the Moderns Grand Lodge of (QJODQGLQGLGWKH\SURFXUHDIRUPDOFKDUWHUDV³$IULFDQ/RGJHQR ´894 Prince Hall himself, a tireless organizer and advocate for black Bostonians, became the fulcrum of black political as well as Masonic activity in the northern United States. His lodge was composed mainly of mariners and minor artisans, whose livelihoods were threatened not only by the vicissitudes of maritime trade but also by the frequent threat of kidnapping and re- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 894 Peter P. Hinks and StDQOH\.DQWURZLW]³,QWURGXFWLRQ 7KH5HYROXWLRQLQ)UHHPDVRQU\´LQAll Men Free and Brethren, p. 1-3. ((%! ! enslavement. In the 1780s and 1790s, Hall spearheaded a series of petitions to the Massachusetts assembly calling for the abolition of the slave trade, prosecution of kidnappings and violence against black citizens, access to public schools for black children, and other-civil rights causes; many of his fellow signers were Masons. He met and corresponded with the leaders of free black benevolent organizations in other cities, particularly Newport and Philadelphia, which advocated for the same causes in addition to supporting evangelical Christian missions and experiments in emigration to Africa. 895 It is unclear whether Hall used his contacts with free black organizations outside of Boston to spread Freemasonry among African-Americans. In 1789, the nailmaker Henry Stewart, a member of the Free African Society of Philadelphia, traveled through New England to visit similar organizations of freemen in Newport and Boston. Prince Hall met with Stewart and VHQWKLPEDFNWR1HZSRUWDQG3KLODGHOSKLDZLWKDOHWWHUSUDLVLQJWKHHIIRUWVRIEODFNFLWL]HQV³to promote the interest and good of our dear brethren that stand in so much need´ KHIXUWKHU intimated WKDW³your brother Stewart will inform you by word of mouth of some proposals we made to him, which I do not care to write at this time´,WVHHPVSRVVLEOHEXWIDUIURPFHUtain that +DOO¶VXQZULWWHQSODQVLQYROYHGWKHH[WHQVLRQRI)UHHPDVRQU\DVDPHDQVRIIRVWHULQJFRKHVLRQ DPRQJEODFNPHQ5HJDUGOHVVRI3ULQFH+DOO¶VLQWHQGHGPHDQLQJHLJKW\HDUVODWHULQ D group of eleven black Masons in Philadelphia, most of whom had been initiated in Europe or at sea, petitioned Prince Hall for a charter, thus founding the second black lodge in America.896 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 895 Hinks and Kantrowitz, 3-7; Charles Wesley, Prince Hall: Life and Legacy (Washington, DC: The United States Supreme Council, 1977): 124-6; Chernoh SesD\³(PDQFLSDWLRQDQGWKH6RFLDO Origins of Black Freemasonry, 1775-´LQ Hinks and Kantrowitz, eds., All Men Free and Brethren, p. 25, 29-32; Floyd Miller, The Search for a Black Nationality (U. of Illinois Press, 1975): 3-5. 896 -XOLH:LQFK³$/DWH7KLQJ,*XHVV´LQAll Men Free and Brethren, p. 68-71; Prince Hall to WKH³$IULFDQ6RFLHW\´6HS UHSULQWHGLQ:LOOLDP5RELQVRQHGThe Proceedings of the Free ((&! ! Providence, due to its proximity to Boston and its sizable African-American population, quickly became involved in Prince Hall¶VEODFN0DVRQLFHQWHUSULVH&RORQLDO5KRGH,VODQGKDG been home to several thousand slaves, but after the state adopted a gradual emancipation law in 1784, their numbers dwindled. As of 1790, 948 slaves remained in the state, of whom 223 were located in Newport and 48 in Providence. The growing free black communities in Rhode Island organized the African Union Society in Newport in 1780 and a parallel but independent organization in Providence in 1789. 897 Some free black residents of Providence, possibly traveling to Boston on business, were attracted to the African Lodge. In 1792, Prince Hall gave a FKDUJHWRKLVORGJHLQZKLFKKHDGGUHVVHG³\RXP\GHDUEUHWKUHQRI3URYLGHQFHZKRDUHDWD distance from, and cannot attend the lodge but seldom; yet I hope you will endeavour to FRPPXQLFDWHWRXVE\OHWWHUVRI\RXUZHOIDUH«:HWKDQN\RXIRU\RXUDWWHQGDQFHZLWKXVWKLV GD\DQGZLVK\RXDVDIHUHWXUQ´898 The identities of these early Providence Brethren who IUHTXHQWHG3ULQFH+DOO¶VORGJHLQWKHHDUO\90s and the dates of their initiations are unknown. Precisely five years after he delivered this charge, on June 25, 1797, Prince Hall granted the charter for Hiram Lodge no. 3 to a group of nine Masons in Providence. Later chroniclers assert that this circle of nine Brethren had been initiated in African Lodge or in foreign lodges, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! African Union Society and the African Benevolent Society, Newport, Rhode Island, 1780-1824 (Providence: Urban League of Rhode Island, 1975), p. 25-6; Charles Wesley, Prince Hall: Life and Legacy, 126-7. As Winch points out, the twentieth-century chronicler William Grimshaw was so convinced of the notion that Prince Hall deputed Henry Stewart to spread Freemasonry that in his Official History of Freemasonry Among the Colored People in North America, he mistakenly inserted the word ³0DVRQLF´EHIRUH³SURSRVDOV´LQKLVTXRWDWLRQRI+DOO¶VOHWWHU 897 Miller, The Search for a Black Nationality, 8-14; 1790 federal census, cited in Kaminski at al, eds, 24:321. 898 3ULQFH+DOO³$&KDUJH'HOLYHUHGWRWKH%UHWKUHQRIWKH$IULFDQ/RGJHRQWKHth of June, DWWKH+DOORI%URWKHU:LOOLDP6PLWKLQ&KDUOHVWRZQ´ %RVWRQ &RUQKLOO STXRted in Charles Wesley, Prince Hall: Life and Legacy, 124. (('! ! but since the internal records of Hiram Lodge are lost, their precise identities cannot be known. $FOXHWRWKHORGJH¶VHDUO\PDNHXSLVSURYLGHGE\DOHWWHUWKDW3ULQFH+DOOsent to the Grand Lodge of England in 1798, which includes a return of all the candidates that African Lodge had LQLWLDWHGIURP WRWKDWWLPH +DOOODEHOVIRXURIWKHLQLWLDWHVDVPHQ³RI3URYLGHQFH´QDPHO\ William Power, George Hill, Fortan Trustan, and Prince Right.899 This group of mostly obscure men probably composed part of the original core membership of Hiram Lodge. The surviving records from eighteenth-century Rhode Island can tell us nothing of any certainty about three of these four black Masons from Providence. Many free people of color OLYHGDVVHUYDQWVRUDSSUHQWLFHVLQRWKHUSHRSOH¶VKRXVHKROGVDQGVRGRQRWDSSHDUGLUHFWO\LQ tax, voting, or census records. The one exception to the general oblivion into which Rhode ,VODQG¶VHDUO\EODFN0DVRQVKDYHIDOOHQLV3ULQFH5LJKW6XUYLYLQJUHFRUGV5LJKW¶VUHPDUNDEOH subsequent career, and the research of Jeffrey Croteau of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library have saved this Craftsman from obscurity. He was born around 1773, and in his early life was known as Prince G. Right²his first name being a common one among slaves. In 1799, he was working as a hairdresser in Providence; he placed an advertisement in the Gazette ERDVWLQJRIKLVNQRZOHGJHRI³WKHODWHVWIDVKLRQDEOHDOWHUDWLRQVDW/RQGRQDQG3DULV´DQG expressing confidence WKDW³the enlightened citizens of Providence will not slight his offered H[HUWLRQVEHFDXVHSURIIHUHGE\RQHRIVDEOHKXH´7KHIROORZLQJ\HDUKHZDVOLVWHGDVWKHKHDG of a household of eight persons of color in Warren. By this time, Right was a Mason; Prince Hall and the other officers of African Lodge issued him a Master Mason certificate at some point in the 1790s (the last numeral of the date being unclear). In addition, Right had adopted the first !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 899 Wesley, 126; William Grimsahw, Official History of Freemasonry Among the Colored People of North America (Negro Universities Press, 1903), p. 122-3; Prince Hall to William White, Grand Secretary of the Moderns Grand Lodge, May 24, 1798, HC 28/A/12, LMF-UGLE. (((! ! namH³5LFKDUG´DSSHDULQJRQWKHFHUWLILFDWHDV³5LFKDUG3*:ULJKW´WKHQDPHE\ZKLFKKH would be known for the rest of his life.900 Right, like Prince Hall, was an active abolitionist. He named his son born in 1797 Theodore Sedgwick Wright, in honor of an abolitionist judge in Massachusetts. Some time between 1800 and 1810, Right and his family moved to Schenectady, New York, where he and later Theodore joined predominately white Masonic lodges. Richard became an abolitionist speaker and organizer, and 7KHRGRUHIROORZHGLQKLVIDWKHU¶VIRRWVWHSVEHFRPLQJLQD founding member of the American Anti-6ODYHU\6RFLHW\DQGVHUYLQJIRUDWLPHRQWKH6RFLHW\¶V executive board along with William Lloyd Garrison.901 Although very little can be said of Richard P. *:ULJKW¶V0DVRQLFDFWLYLWLHVLQ5KRGH,VODQGKLVFDUHHULOOXVWUDWHVWKHFORVH connections among black benevolent organizations, Freemasonry, and abolitionism at the end of the eighteenth century. The long battles over slavery and racism in Rhode Island form the context and prehistory to the formation of Hiram Lodge, which cannot be explored fully here, but must be examined more carefully in Section 5. The lodge itself, now defunct, continued to function at least until the beginning of the twentieth century. At the same time that African-Americans men were organizing Hiram Lodge, many ZKLWH0DVRQVZHUHDGGLQJWRWKHVL]HDQGYLWDOLW\RI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFH2QO\VL[ PRQWKVDIWHUWKHIRXQGDWLRQRI+LUDP/RGJH6DLQW-RKQ¶VUHDFKHGDPLOHVWone: the lodge constructed its own meeting-place. On December 27, 1797, the Brethren consecrated the third !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 900 1800 federal census of Rhode Island, p. 33; Providence Gazette, August 3, 1799, p. 1; Jeffrey &URWHDX³%ODFN$EROLWLRQLVWVLQ:KLWH/RGJHV 5LFKDUG3*:ULJKWDQG7KHRGRUH6HGJZLFN:ULJKW´ Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on the History of Freemasonry, Alexandria, Virginia, May 27-9, 2011, (()! ! storey that they had added onto the old Market House as a Masonic Hall. The new Hall had taken a little more than one year to construct at a cost of 1,000 dollars.902 Its completion reflects QRWRQO\WKHJURZLQJVL]HDQGZHDOWKRIWKH)UDWHUQLW\LQ3URYLGHQFHEXWDOVRWKH%UHWKUHQ¶V confidence in their permanent place in Rhode Island society. In the ensuing years, the Hall would house both Saint JohQ¶V/RGJHDQGQHZKLJKHU-degree bodies. ! DĂƌŬĞƚ,ŽƵƐĞ͕WƌŽǀŝĚĞŶĐĞ͕ĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞĚŝŶϭϳϳϳ͕ŽƌŝŐŝŶĂůůLJĚĞƐŝŐŶĞĚďLJ:ŽƐĞƉŚƌŽǁŶ͘/Ŷϭϳϵϳ͕^ĂŝŶƚ:ŽŚŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞ %&$A(%B:3,*>,$"33,3$-2,$=##,(G%+-$+-%(,/$-%$=+,$"+$"$!"+%*:>$2"558$$92,$5%3),$G,-$2,(,$=*-:5$6WN^8$$92,$%>=5=+$ +,,*$:*$-2,$=##,($(:)2-$&%(G,(5/$2,53$"$+-":*,3X)5"++$@:*3%@$@:-2$!"+%*:>$-@:*$#:55"(+8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 902 Rugg, 71-2; Henry Greene Jackson, ((*! ! The popularity of Masonry at the end of the eighteenth century consisted not only in large QXPEHUVRILQLWLDWHVEXWDOVRLQLWVPHPEHUV¶ increasing enthusiasm for Masonic myths and rituals, which many of them expressed in a desire to attain the higher degrees. Interest in the higher degrees in Rhode Island had been gradually building since the early 1780s, when Newport served as a base for the Rite of Perfection. Later in the decade, the Masons in the southern town began to venture beyond the familiar twenty-five degrees of the Rite of Perfection: in 1787, a committee of Newport Masons, writing to the Grand Lodge of Virginia, declared thaW³several of our members are dignified with the higher orders of Masonry, and we, the under-writers, have attained from the 16th to the 29th GHJUHHRILWV6XEOLPLW\´903 The additional degrees that some of the Newport Brethren took probably included Templar and other chivalric degrees that had been circulating in Europe and North America since the 1760s, inspired by the legends of Crusading orders. Nonetheless, while most Brethren lacked the time and inclination to undergo all of the dozens of degrees of the Rite of Perfection, the most popular and widespread higher degree remained the Royal Arch. This degree was often conferred alone in ordinary Craft lodges throughout North America from the 1760s onward; sometimes it was accompanied by an assortment of other degrees somewhat similar to those that open the Rite of Perfection. In the 1790s, small circles of Masons, particularly in New York and Boston, began to organize separate 5R\DO$UFK³FKDSWHUV´VSHFLILFDOO\LQWHQGHGWRFRQIHUDVHWRIIRXURIWKHVHKigher degrees culminating in the Royal Arch.904 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 903 Moses Seixas, Henry Dayton, and Henry Goodwin to the Grand Lodge of Virginia, December, 1787, reproduced in Rugg, 48. 904 Rugg, 174-8. ((+! ! In 1793, a small gathering of committed Masons in Providence sought to organize their own Royal Arch chapter. The main instigators seem to have been the Worshipful Master of 6DLQW-RKQ¶V'DQLHO6WLOOZHOODQd the merchant Jonathan Donnison, who were evidently close friends. (In 1795, Donnison bet Daniel Stillwell that he could sail from Rhode Island to Suriname and back within a month and a half; if he failed to return within the allotted time, he would owe Stillwell a beaver hat.) In October 1793, Stillwell traveled to New York and visited the Royal Arch Chapter there in order to procure a charter for a similar chapter in Providence. The New Yorkers granted the charter a month later, at which time a group of higher-degree Masons from Newport, including Moses Seixas, Peleg Clarke, and the British vice-consul Thomas W. Moore, all of whom had attained at least the degree of Knight of the Sun, journeyed to Providence to assist their Brethren in forming the new body.905 The Royal Arch chapter, though seated in Providence, was truly a partnership of Brethren IURPERWKRIWKHVWDWH¶VSULQFLSDOWRZQV'DQLHO6WLOOZHOOVHUYHGDVLWVILUVWOHDGHURU³+LJK 3ULHVW´7KRPDV:0RRUHDVKLVGHSXW\RU³.LQJ´DQG-RQDWKDn Donnison as the third officer, RU³6FULEH´ 3HOHJ&ODUNHODWHUVHUYHGDVDORGJHRIILFHUDVZHOO$WLWVLQLWLDOPHHWLQJWKH FKDSWHUFRQIHUUHGWKH5R\DO$UFKDQGWKHWKUHHRWKHUDVVRFLDWHG³FDSLWXODU´GHJUHHVXSRQWKH merchants Jeremiah F. Jenkins, Samuel Snow, and John Francis, the furniture-maker John Carlile, and the printers Bennett Wheeler and William Wilkinson. Though it met only four times a year and admitted only Master Masons over the age of twenty-five, the chapter received an ample stream of candidates through the rest of the decade. Its members quickly came to include a few of the more prominent older Masons in the state, such as Ephraim Bowen, Jr. and the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 905 Daniel Stillwell, memorandum, Dec. 14, 1795, Stillwell Papers, RIHS; Rugg, 176-80; Report of the Committee Appointed, Appendix, p. 95-6, 131-2. ((,! ! Grand Treasurer, Joseph Tillinghast, as well as respectable artisans and professionals, e.g., the pewtersmith Gershom Jones, the lawyer Samuel Eddy, the leather-dresser Nathan Fisher, and the silversmith Ezekiel Burr. In 1796, the Rev. Abraham Lynsen Clarke joined the chapter, and the following year he replaced Stillwell as High Priest.906 Up to this time, the Royal Arch and the related capitular and Templar degrees floated freely through North America with no standard forms or sequence; questions of proper ritual practice and chapter governance were managed at the local level. This situation began to change in January 1798, when delegates from around New York and New England met at Hartford to lay the groundwork for the formation of the first General Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch; Rhode Island was represented at the meeting by Peleg Clarke, William Wilkinson, and Samuel Snow. The spearhead of the Hartford meeting was Thomas Smith Webb, an enthusiastic young Mason living in Albany, New York. Born in 1771 to a lower-middle-class family in Boston, Webb had studied music and the paper-making trade. He was initiated in 1790 in a lodge in Keene, New Hampshire, where he was struggling to make a living. Three years later, he relocated to Albany, where he succeeded in the wallpaper manufacturing business and joined the WRZQ¶V0DVRQLFORGJH,Q :HEEVHUYHGRQWKHFRPPLWWHHWR³LQVWUXFW´QHZLQLWLDWHVLQWKH symbolic meanings of the various degree rituals and led a petition to found a Royal Arch chapter in Albany, where he soon became the mastermind of the expansion of the higher degrees in America.907 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 906 Rugg 178-83. 907Herbert Leyland, Thomas Smith Webb: Freemason, Musician, Entrepreneur, 8-68; Proceedings of the M. E. Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Rhode Island, from its organization, March 12, 1798, to September 14th, 1858, inclusive (Central Falls: E. L. Freemason and Co., Book and Job Printers, Union Block, 1880), 3-4. ()-! ! ,Q 7KRPDV6PLWK:HEE¶VDQQXVPLUDELOLVWKHDPELWLRXV\RXQJ0DVRQWRRNVHYHUDO actions to regularize the Royal Arch and related degrees in North America. He successfully procured a charter and founded Temple Chapter in Albany, which would practice the capitular degrees in a consistent sequence, with the Royal Arch placed seventh in the succession. Soon afterward he published the first edition of his long handbook, the )UHHPDVRQ¶V0RQLWRURU Illustrations of Masonry, which laid out the capitular degrees as they were practiced in Albany, gave commentaries on their moral and symbolic meanings, and described several further higher degrees involving the Crusader legends. Finally, he convened an informal meeting in Boston which planned the larger affair in Hartford, where delegates from around the Northeast agreed to form a General Grand Chapter and state-level Deputy Grand Chapters to govern the capitular degrees and standardize them into a consistent regional system.908 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 908 Leyland, 66-85. ()$! ! ! 92%G"+$QG:-2$D,CC8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$-2,$I:C("(/$"*3$!=+,=G$%&$J(,,G"+%*(/$"-$-2,$Y*:-,3$P("*3$I%3),$%&$ Z*)5"*38 $V:HEE¶VSURMHFWJDLQHGWUDFWLRQLWVEDVHRIDFWLYLW\PRYHGIURP$OEDQ\WR3URYLGHQFH The Providence Royal Arch Chapter, being the only one in Rhode Island, formed from among its own members a state Deputy Grand Chapter in March 17 7KHERG\¶VILUVW*UDQG+LJK3ULHVW was the merchant Seth Wheaton, and the publishers William Wilkinson and Bennett Wheeler drew up the by-laws. Since the Hartford meeting had left many of the details of ritual and governance unresolved, twelve delegates from around the region convened again in Providence in January 1799. Webb traveled through snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures to attend the meeting in the Providence Masonic HaOO8QGHU:HEE¶VJXLGDQFHWKHFRQYHQWLRQDGRSWHGD new constitution for the General Grand Chapter, drawing sharper distinctions between the duties of Craft lodges and those of higher-degree chapters. Webb was elected as General Grand Scribe ()%! ! of the new national governing body and Abraham Lynsen Clarke became the General Grand Chaplain. Probably impressed by the growing numbers and enthusiasm of the Rhode Island Masons, Webb made plans to move to Providence within the year; by October 1799, he and his family were living in a house on the western side of Providence and Webb had opened a shop nearby selling books, paper, and musical instruments.909 :HEE¶VULVHWRSRZHULQ5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQU\ZDVDWULXPSKRI0DVRQLFNQRZOHGJHDQG enthusiasm over social status. Despite his position as a young artisan of comparatively modest means, his unrivalled devotion to Masonic ritual allowed him to bypass the queue of social deference. Soon after relocating to Rhode Island, Webb received a special invitation to join the Deputy Grand Chapter in the state. Moses Seixas was elected as Grand High Priest of that body in March 1799, but he often failed to journey to Providence for meetings, and Webb began filling in for him as early as December, 1799, showing his acknowledged eminence and expertise in the higher degrees. In February, 1801, Webb was elected as High Priest of the Providence Royal Arch Chapter, while Seixas often recommended candidates for the capitular degrees from Newport and harbored hopes of forming another chapter in the southern town. Meanwhile, over the course of 1800 and 1801, Webb frequently attended Craft lodges in Providence in order to LQVWUXFWKLVIHOORZ0DVRQV³LQKLVPRGHRIOHFWXULQJ´RUH[SOLFDWLQJWKHYDULRXVGHJUHHV2Q November 28, 1800, WeEEIRUPDOO\DIILOLDWHGZLWK6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHDQGVRRQ EHJDQKROGLQJFODVVHVHYHU\6DWXUGD\QLJKWWRKHOSWKH%UHWKUHQRI6DLQW-RKQ¶VWREHFRPH ³EULJKW´RUZHOO-versed and word-perfect in Masonic rituals. Though he was ineligible to vote, he attended the 1802 Grand Lodge meeting in Newport and oversaw a re-GUDIWLQJRIWKDWERG\¶V constitution which, among other changes, allowed any Brother who had served as a lodge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 909 Rugg, 184-5; Proceedings of the M. E. Royal Arch Chapter, 3-7; Leyland, 86-109. ()&! ! officer, even outside of Rhode Island, to become a Grand Officer; Webb was immediately elected as Junior Grand Warden.910 Though Webb lectured only within the closed confines of Masonic meetings, his disciples occasionally gave a more public voice to his belief system. By the time he was elected as Junior Grand Warden, Webb repoUWHGO\KDGD³IDYRULWHSXSLO´²a Boston-born student at the College of Rhode Island named Benjamin Gleason. Webb had proposed the young Gleason for PHPEHUVKLSLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDQGLQJune 1DWWKHORGJH¶VUHTXHVW*OHDVRQGHOLYHUHG an oration in ZKLFKKHXUJHGWKH0DVRQVWRIXUWKHUH[FDYDWHDQGDSSURSULDWHWKH³V\PEROV HPEOHPVDQGKLHURJO\SKLFV´RIWKH&UDIWIURPLWVDQFLHQWIRUHEHDUVZKLFKLQFOXGHGQRWRQO\ 6RORPRQEXWWKH'UXLGV3\WKDJRUDV-RKQWKH%DSWLVWDQGRWKHUV WKHVHV\PEROVZRXOG³point RXWWKHSDWKRIUHFWLWXGHWRHUULQJPDQ´+LVRUDWLRQXUJHVWKH0DVRQVWRVHDUFK³WKHUHPRWHDQG REVFXUHJORRPRIXQGLVWLQJXLVKHGDJHV>«@H[SORULQJWKHPDQ\YROXPHVRIRULHQWDO hieroglyphics, and investigating the first principles of simple nature´*OHDVRQFDOOVWKLVSURFHVV ³VFLHQWLILFUHVHDUFK´DQGFOHDUO\DOOXGLQJWR:HEEGHFODUHVWKDW³in this present society, in this YHU\SODFHLVDQLQGLYLGXDO«ZKRVHXQUHPLWWLQJH[HUFLVHVKDYHHQWLWOHGKLPWRRXUKLJKHVW UHVSHFW«:KDW/\FXUJXVZDVDPong the Spartans, as it respected general improvement, so has RXUZRUWK\%URWKHUEHHQDPRQJ0DVRQVDVLWUHVSHFWVRXUVFLHQWLILFDGYDQFHPHQW´911 Like :LOOLDP+XQWHU¶VDGGUHVVGHOLYHUHGLQ1HZSRUWMXVWWKUHHGD\VHDUOLHU*OHDVRQ¶VRUDWLRQ accounts for Masonic myths and symbols as instruments of moral instruction, but where Hunter imagines a single point of origin, Gleason sees the field of Masonic inquiry and exploration as !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 910 Rugg, 185-6; Leyland, 110-16; Proceedings of the M. E. Grand Royal Arch Chapter, 7-19; John Carlile to Moses Seixas, July 7, 1802, and Thomas Smith Webb and William Wilkinson, committee, to Moses Seixas, July 22, 1802, VaXOW$%R[)ROGHU³6HL[DV0RVHV 0DVRQLF ´1+6 911 Leyland, 112; Benjamin Gleason, An Address in Commemoration of the Anniversary of Saint John the Baptist (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1802), 5, 7, 12. ()'! ! embracing all of antiquity and primitive nature; and whereas Hunter seeks to manage the 0DVRQV¶RXWZDUGDSSHDUDQFHLQFLYLOVRFLHW\*OHDVRQFHOHEUDWHVWKHLUWXUQLQZDUGWRZDUGVD deeper encounter with their own myths and symbols. 7KHFXOPLQDWLRQRI:HEE¶V³VFLHQWLILF´SURMHFWLQ5KRGH,VODQGFDPHMXVWWZRPRQWKV DIWHU*OHDVRQ¶VDGGUHss. While Webb and his allies had completed a system of laws and institutions to govern the Royal Arch and capitular degrees, several other degrees of Masonic ³NQLJKWKRRG´²those of the Red Cross, the Order of Malta, and the Templar Order²continued to float freely through the country, conferred by temporary or short-lived groups of knights FDOOHG³HQFDPSPHQWV´6HYHUDO0DVRQVLQ3URYLGHQFHDOUHDG\KHOGWKH7HPSODUGHJUHHE\ In March 1:HEE¶VIULHQGLQ%RVWRQ+HQU\)RZOHIRUPHGDFRXQFLOWRJRYern the degree of WKH5HG&URVVEHFDXVHDJURXSRIURJXH0DVRQVLQ%RVWRQKDGEHHQVWHDOLQJWKHLUORGJH¶VMHZHOV and charter and conferring degrees of knighthood clandestinely. Spurred on by this incident, on the evening of August 23, 1802, Webb gathered six Templar Masons in the lodge room in 3URYLGHQFHZKHUHWKH\IRXQGHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V(QFDPSPHQWRI.QLJKWV7HPSODU WKHQHZERG\ would regularize and govern the Red Cross, Malta, and Templar degrees in Rhode Island and bar them to all but Royal Arch Masons. Webb, Samuel Snow, and Jeremiah F. Jenkins obtained furniture and implements and wrote the by-laws for the new encampment. Over the next week, Nathan Fisher, William Wilkinson, Ephraim Bowen, Jr., and John Carlile attained the Templar degree and joined WKHFRPPDQGHU\ZKLOH:HEE:LONLQVRQDQG&DUOLOHHPHUJHGDVWKHERG\¶V main leaders.912 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 912 Rugg, 217-36; Leyland, 122-7; History of Saint Johns Commandery, Number one-- Knights Templars, Providence, Rhode Island-- From 1802 to 1952 3URYLGHQFH 3ULQWHU¶V6HUYLFHDQG6XSSO\ 1952), 1-3. ()(! ! 7KHFRQVROLGDWLRQRIWKHNQLJKWKRRGGHJUHHVLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V(QFDPSPHQWFRPSOHWHGWKH creation of a Masonic alternate universe in the higher degrees. The capitular degrees and those RINQLJKWKRRGWRJHWKHUIRUPWKHEDVLVRIZKDWLVQRZFDOOHGWKH³ Supreme Council in Charleston around the same time). As if Craft Masonry were not cryptic enough, the byzantine jargon and elaborate titles of the higher degrees can often appear mind- boggling or meaningless to outsiders. In fact, the underlying patterns are simpler than they might appear: both the York Rite and the Scottish Rite present a series of legends dealing with the aftermath of the destruction of the Temple, the Babylonian captivity, and the return to Jerusalem; hinge on the Royal Arch degree; and culminate in a final set of degrees inspired by the Knights Templar. The higher-degree systems formalize a grand narrative of history uniting the ancient, the medieval, and the present-day, into which the individual Mason can integrate his own life. In practical terms, the alternate world of the higher degrees opened an avenue to Masonic advancement for men of middling or modest social status. In addition to Webb himself (a bookbinder and paper-PDNHU PDQ\RI5KRGH,VODQG¶VOHDGLQJKLJKHU-degree Masons, including the tailor Daniel Stillwell, the leather-dresser Nathan Fisher, the furniture-maker John Carlile, and the printers Bennett Wheeler and William Wilkinson, were artisans. The higher degrees allowed these Masons to distinguish themselves by their enthusiasm for the Craft and to attain positions of power and prestige in the higher-degree bodies that lay beyond their reach in the Grand Lodge. It is not surprising, therefore, that opposition to these degrees sometimes appeared from the highest-ranking officers of Craft Masonry. The planter John Faucheraud Grimke, Grand Master of South Carolina, in his 1799 oration to the Grand Lodge in Charleston, sternly ())! ! UHPLQGVKLV%UHWKUHQ³WKDWWKHUHDUHEXWWKUHHJUDGHVLQRXUV\VWHPRI0DVRQU\DQGWKDWDOORWKHU VWHSVDIWHUWKHPDVWHU¶VGHJUHHDUHLQQRYDWLRQV«,WLVWKHUHIRUHRXUGXW\QRWWROLVWHQWRWKHVH GHYLDWLRQVQRUDGRSWWKHVHQRYHOVXSHUVWUXFWXUHV´913 Despite these condemnations, the genie was out of the bottle, and with it were released some of the class and political tensions of Federal America. The expanding higher degrees provided a sacred space that could acknowledge the existence of partisan politics while V\PEROLFDOO\ULVLQJDERYHWKHP7KRPDV6PLWK:HEE¶VELRJUDSKHUK\SRWKHVL]HVWKDWSDUWRI what attracted the paper-maker to Providence was its social dynamism, with a growing manufacturing sector, considerable religious diversity, and true political competition between Federalists and Jeffersonians²in contrast to the rest of New England, where an alliance between Congregational clergymen and Federalist lawyers dominated civic culture, quashing anything that smacked of the French Revolution. While it may be impossible to know if such cultural- SROLWLFDOIDFWRUVDIIHFWHG:HEE¶VGHFLVLRQLWLVZRUWKQRWLQJWKDWWKHVWULFWGUHVVFRGHLQVWLWXted in 6DLQW-RKQ¶V(QFDPSPHQWLQPDQGDWLQJWKHXVHRIFHUWDLQULWXDOJDUPHQWVDQGLPSOHPHQWV allowed the knights to wear either breeches (the customary legwear of Federalists) or pantaloons (the preferred legwear of Jeffersonians, reminiscent of the Jacobins).914 The same success of Freemasonry among the manufacturing and artisanal classes that spurred on the growth of the higher degrees also led to the creation of a second Craft lodge in Providence. On January 28, 1799, a group of twelve younger MaVRQVIURP6DLQW-RKQ¶VDOORI whom had joined the lodge between 1792 and 1798, met in the Council Chamber in the Providence State House and made plans to form a separate lodge of their own. On February !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 913 Newport Mercury, March 5, 1799, p. 1. 914 Leyland, 100-101, 128. ()*! ! 22nd²:DVKLQJWRQ¶VELUWKGD\²they petitioned the Grand Master for a charter, which they UHFHLYHGXQGHUWKHQDPHRI³0RXQW9HUQRQ/RGJHQR´915 The creation of Mount Vernon Lodge for the first time presented men in Providence with a choice of more than one lodge to join, allowing for a new level of social sorting in the Craft. The twelve founding Brethren of Mount Vernon Lodge sprang mostly from the artisanal class: among them, Stephen Abbott was the owner of a large tannery; William Billings was a pewtersmith who had most likely apprenticed with Gershom Jones; Samuel Thurber, Jr. was a paper-maker; Howell Williams was a leather-dresser; Peter Grinnell was a house-painter; and the occupation of Jabez Gorham is unknown, but he was a member of the Mechanics and Manufacturers Association and most likely a silversmith, seeing as how his son of the same name became a silversmith and a founder of the Gorham silver manufacturing company. Three other founders²Michael Anthony, Joseph Crandall, and Christopher Godfrey²were minor sea- captains who regularly sailed packet-boats between Providence and Newport. Of these, the eldest and most prosperous was Anthony, a Revolutionary veteran who had served in Samuel Ward, Jr.¶VFRPSDQ\DORQJZLWK:LOOLDP:LONLQVRQ7KHPRVWVHQLRU0DVRQDQGWKHRQO\ known merchant among the founders was Amos Maine Atwell, who had graduated from the College of Rhode Island with honors in 1788 and who trafficked in European, Chinese, and West ,QGLDQJRRGV$WZHOOEHFDPHWKHORGJH¶VILUVW:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHUZLWK6DPXHO7KXUEHUDQG Stephen Abbott beside him as wardens. 916 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 915 William Evans Handy, The Story of Mount Vernon Lodge, 11-18. 916 Providence Gazette, May 23, 1795, p. 3; May 6, 1797, p. 1; July 1, 1797, p. 4; April 29, 1798, p. 3; Nov. 9, 1799, p. 1; May 29, 1802, p. 3; April 1, 1809, p. 3; Wayne G. Tillinghast, 1797: The Year the Elephant Visited Providence (Providence: Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2010), p. 26-7; Providence Town Tax, 1799, Providence Census Collection, Subgroup 10, Box 3, Folder 16, RIHS; 5LFKDUG/H%DURQ%RZHQ³:LOOLDP%LOOLQJV 3URYLGHQFH3HZWHUHUDQG%UDVV)RXQGHU´Pewter ()+! ! 8QGHU$WZHOO¶VOHDGHUVKLSWKHQHZORGJHH[SHULHQFHGERWKWKHDGYDQWDJHVDQGWKH drawbacks of its heavily artisanal makeup. Mount Vernon acquired new members largely WKURXJKFUDIWQHWZRUNV WKHORGJH¶VW\OHU+RZHOO:LOOLDPVSURSRVHGWKHORGJH¶VILUVWFDQGLGDWH the fellow leather-dresser Isaac Bullard, who was subsequently initiated on March 19, 1799. Twelve other initiates joined the lodge over the course of that year. In July, the lodge sustained its first loss when Joseph CUDQGDOOVXFFXPEHGWR³DVKRUWEXWSDLQIXOGLVRUGHU´DWWKHDJHRI the Mount Vernon Brethren interred Crandall in Masonic form. In February, 1800, Atwell boasted that the lodge had thirty-one members and had paid off the expenses of its jewels and furniture with 170 dollars left over. However, it took in only eight more candidates over the course of 1800, most of them drawn from modest backgrounds, such as William Church, listed DVD³KX[WHU´LQWKHWRZQWD[OLVW6DLQW-RKQ¶VRIIHUHGWKHQHZORGJHWKe use of its throne and platform, which presumably the Mount Vernon Brethren could not procure for themselves, but the lodge soon began to struggle financially anyway. Less than four months after its founding, WKHORGJHPDGHLWVILUVWGLVEXUVHPHQWIRU³DQHFHVVLWRXVFDVH´DQGLQSDLGIRUWKHUHSDLURI ³DQHOHJDQWODQWHUQ´2Q6HSWHPEHUILIWHHQ%UHWKUHQDJUHHGWRORDQWKHORGJHDWRWDORI 95 dollars without interest on the condition that it be repaid within a year; the loan apparently sustained the lodge through the ensuing ten months, during which time it initiated only four candidates.917 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! &ROOHFWRU¶V&OXERI$PHULFD%XOOHWLQ, 1985, p. 34-46; Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers records, 1789- 0VV5,+6 &KULVWRSKHU*UHHQHDQG6DPXHO:DUG-U³$OLVWRI WKHPHQ¶VQDPHVLQ/W&RO:DUG¶V&RPSDQ\1RY´1RYSD\UROOER[IROGHU Revolutionary War Papers, RIHS; Providence Marine Society Records, Ledger, 1798-1812, RIHS; John Pitman, Address to the Alumni Assoc. of Brown University, (Providence: B. Cranston and Company, 1843), p. 21, 24. 917William Evans Handy, 14-20; Providence 1799 Town Tax, RIHS; Special return for Mount Vernon Lodge; Providence Gazette, July 13, 1799, p. 3; Loan agreement, Sep. 4, 1800, Thomas Sessions (),! ! Although 1801 was a particularly bleak year for Mount Vernon Lodge, seeing only six initiations in total, the struggling Brethren soon gained traction from two sources. Firstly, the lodge received a great boost in prestige in July, 1801, with the initiation of the highly respected Rev. Stephen Gano, the minister of the First Baptist Church, who had delivered a sermon at the meeting of the Grand Lodge in Providence the preceding year. In 1802, the number of initiations at Mount Vernon leapt to twenty-one, and the lodge was able to repay most of the cash that it had borrowed from its members. Secondly, the lodge began to benefit from its connections to the growing insurance industry. In January 1800, the lodge had bought ten shares in the newly- founded Washington Insurance Company, which soon proved to be profitable; somewhere DURXQGWKHVDPHWLPHWKHORGJH¶V:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU$PRV0DLQH$WZHOOEHFDPHWKHpresident of the rival Providence Insurance Company, to which position he was re-elected in January 1802. Meetings of Mount Vernon Lodge were now growing larger, sometimes seeing as many as thirty attendees, and the Brethren began to consider obtaining a SHUPDQHQWKRPH'HVSLWH$WZHOO¶V OR\DOWLHVWKHORGJHYRWHGWROHDVHWKHWKLUGIORRURIWKH:DVKLQJWRQ,QVXUDQFH&RPSDQ\¶VQHZ building, which they formally consecrated, accompanied by the officers of the Grand Lodge, on January 4, 1803. Mount Vernon Lodge continued to meet there for the next twenty years.918 The early trials of Mount Vernon Lodge represent the process of specialization among Masonic lodges in a period of urban growth. Once the Masonic population in Providence had grown large enough to support more than one lodge, a group of Brethren who had little chance of DWWDLQLQJRIILFHLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHKLYHGRII%\0RXQW9HUQRQFDUYHGRXWDQLFKHIRU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! family papers, Box 1, Folder 18, Mount Vernon Lodge Accounts, RIHS; Amos Maine Atwell, An Address Delivered Before Mount Vernon Lodge (Providence: John Carter, 1800), p. 7. 918 Special Return for Mount Vernon Lodge; Rugg, 364-5; Receipt, February 19, 1802, Thomas Sessions family papers, Box 1, Folder 18, Mount Vernon Lodge Accounts, RIHS; Providence Gazette, Jan. 9, 1802, p. 3; William Evans Handy, 18-22. (*-! ! LWVHOIDVWKHWRZQ¶VSUHIHUUHGORGJHIRUPLGGOH-status artisans. The wealth of the members of 6DLQW-RKQ¶VDQG0RXQW9HUQRQFDQEHFRPSDUHGE\PHDQVRI3URYLGHQFH¶V 7RZQ7D[ List, in which town officials assessed the real and personal property of all adult men. In that year, the town assessed the property of fifty-nine members of Saint -RKQ¶V/RGJHFKDUJLQJWKHP a mean of $20.25. This average is rather skewed by the inclusion of John Brown, by far the richest person in Providence, who paid a whopping $396.00; with Brown excluded, the Saint -RKQ¶V%UHWKUHQZKRRZQHGWD[DEOHSURSHUW\SDid a mean of $13.77. Of those fifty-nine Brethren, eleven had left in January to form Mount Vernon Lodge; they paid an average of only $7.97. (The town did not assess Joseph Crandall, probably because he was already deceased.) Moreover, the marked diffeUHQFHLQZHDOWKEHWZHHQWKH0DVRQVZKRUHPDLQHGLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V and those who joined Mount Vernon cannot be attributed merely to the Mount Vernon %UHWKUHQ¶V\RXWKIRUWKHGLVFUHSDQF\FRQWLQXHGamong the new candidates who joined the two lodges after Mount 9HUQRQ¶VIRXQGLQJ7KHPHQZKRZRXOGMRLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRYHUWKH next five years (1799 through 1803) paid a mean of $9.68 in 1799, while those who would join Mount Vernon Lodge in the same period paid only $5.04. Mount Vernon Lodge served a lower sWUDWXPRI3URYLGHQFHVRFLHW\WKDQ6DLQW-RKQ¶VZDVZLOOLQJRUDEOHWRDFFRPPRGDWH919 The formation of Mount Vernon Lodge reflects the nuanced social meanings of Masonry in growing towns and cities; it marked the first time in Rhode Island that two lodges coexisted in the same town, drawing on the same pool of potential candidates, thus allowing the Masons to admit many new members while maintaining social distinctions. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Providence Masons could demonstrate their social status not only by their !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 919 Providence Town Tax, 1799, Providence Census Collection, Subgroup 10, Box 3, Folder 16, RIHS. (*$! ! membership in the Fraternity but by their membership in a particular lodge; differentiation became more precise. The growth of the Craft in Providence in 1799 echoes that which occurred in Kingston, Jamaica in the early 1770s, where Beaufort Lodge, led by artisans, and Union Lodge, led by Jewish Masons, hived off from the older and more exclusive Mother Lodge. When the growth of Masonry outstripped overall population growth, the spawning of new lodges allowed the Masonic population to diversify and to stratify at once. Scholars who characterize )UHHPDVRQU\DV³HJDOLWDULDQ´RYHUORRNWKHKLHUDUFKLHVRIVRFLDOVWDWXVDPRQJORGJHVWKURXJK which Masons to this day subtly re-create the social distinctions of society at large. The eventual success of Mount Vernon Lodge provides a striking contrast to Washington Lodge no. 5, which was formally chartered in the same year. The last three lodges founded in Rhode Island at the end of the eighteenth century formed outside of Providence, and their widely YDU\LQJOHYHOVRIVXFFHVVZHUHLQODUJHSDUWDIXQFWLRQRIWKHVWDWH¶VJHRJUDSK\:DVKLQJWRQ Lodge no. 5 had its beginnings in an informal meeting of Masons on February 12, 1798, at the home of Rowse Babcock in Westerly, the town at the far southwestern corner of Rhode Island, where Brethren would face the longest journey to Newport. (Perhaps the inauspicious number of DWWHQGHHVSUHVDJHGWKHORGJH¶VIXWXUHWULEXODWLRQV 7KLVJURXSUHVROYHGWRDVNWKH*UDQG/RGJH for a charter under the WLWOHRI³:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJH´FKRVHLWVSURYLVLRQDORIILFHUVDQGPDGH plans for a second meeting, which took place on March 8th at a private home in Richmond. At the convention of The Grand Lodge in June 1798, the Grand officers received the petition from Washington County; apparently unfamiliar with the authors and their Masonic credentials, the Grand Officers exercised caution, authorizing the Grand Master to grant them a dispensation on the condition that the leaders of the group visit the lodges in Newport, Providence, or Warren, (*%! ! ³DQGIURPWKHPSURGXF>H@DFHUWLILFDWHRIEHLQJUHJXODU0DVRQV´920 The Brethren of Washington County evidently satisfied this requirement, and on June 24, 1799, the Grand Lodge JUDQWHGWKHPDFKDUWHUDV³:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJHQR´ WKHLUVHFUHWDU\5RZVH%DEFRFNUHSRUWHG that they had already conferred Masonic degrees upon twenty-two men.921 The gatherings of Masons in Westerly and Richmond represent the first efforts toward Masonic organization in Washington County, which is co-extensive with the southwestern part RI5KRGH,VODQGWUDGLWLRQDOO\FDOOHGWKH³1DUUDJDQVHWW&RXQWU\´7KHIRUPDWLRQRID0DVRQLF lodge in the Narragansett Country must have seemed at the time to be natural or even inevitable, while with the benefit of hindsight, it appears ill-conceived or at best ill-timed. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the Narragansett Country was wealthy and stratified, with many large estates using slave labor to raise cattle, food crops, and tobacco; the region served as the hinterland for Newport in addition to supplying salt beef and hides for export. As of 1780, South .LQJVWRZQZDV5KRGH,VODQG¶VZHDOWKLHVWWRZQSD\LQJPRUHJURVVWD[HVWKDQ1HZSRUWRU Providence, and even as late as 1790, the town had 175 slaves, the second largest number in the state after Newport. (The third largest count was 96 in North Kingstown.) Large landowning families LQWKH1DUUDJDQVHWW&RXQWU\VXFKDVWKH*DUGLQHU¶VWKH+D]DUG¶VDQGWKH%DEFRFN¶V educated their children in private libraries with the goal of cultivating gentility rather than professional skills.922 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 920 Albert F. Ellsworth, Historical Address, in One Hundredth Anniversary of Washington Lodge, No. 5, A.F and A. M. (Providence: Snow and Farnum, 1898), 22-3; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, 40. 921 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, p. 44-9. 922 1790 US Census, reproduced in Kaminski et al, 24:321; Thomas Hazard, Recollections of Olden Times (Newport: John P. Sanborn, 1879), 16-18. (*&! ! ,QWKHODWHUVVHYHUDOIRUFHVDOLJQHGWRXQGRWKH1DUUDJDQVHWW&RXQWU\¶VSURVSHULW\ Landowners in the region customarily divided their property among their heirs, gradually breaking up large estates. The agricultural land probably suffered from soil depletion, for which WREDFFRLVQRWRULRXV7KH%ULWLVKRFFXSDWLRQRI1HZSRUWFXWRIIWKHUHJLRQ¶VH[SRUWPDUNHWVDQG the war came to threaten slavery in Rhode Island when the Assembly enabled Christopher Greene to raise a black regiment in 1778; six delegates from the Narragansett Country lodged a SURWHVWDJDLQVWWKHUHVROXWLRQDUJXLQJWKDWWKHDFWLRQZRXOG³JLYHRFFDVLRQWRRXUHQHPLHVWR suspect that we are not able to proFXUHRXURZQSHRSOHWRRSSRVHWKHPLQWKHILHOG´$IWHUWKH war, the region partially recovered, and was a bastion of the country party in the disputes over SDSHUPRQH\+RZHYHU5KRGH,VODQG¶VJUDGXDOHPDQFLSDWLRQODZHQDFWHGLQHQVXUHGWKH eventXDOHQGRIVODYHODERUDQGZLWKLWWKH1DUUDJDQVHWW&RXQWU\¶VHFRQRPLFLPSRUWDQFH %HWZHHQ DQG:DVKLQJWRQ&RXQW\¶VSRSXODWLRQGHFOLQHGIURPWRPRVW OLNHO\GXHWRHPLJUDWLRQWR5KRGH,VODQG¶VJURZLQJWRZQV LWUHDFKHGDIXUWKHUlow of only 14,962 by 1810.923 In its colonial heyday, the Narragansett Country was closely linked to Newport, and Saint -RKQ¶V/RGJHKDGPDQ\WLHVWRWKHWRZQVZHVWRI1DUUDJDQVHWW%D\,Q7KRPDV0RIILWWLQ partnership with Edward Cole, built his snuff mill in the woods of North Kingstown. Nathaniel 0XPIRUG¶VIDWKHUZDVIURP6RXWK.LQJVWRZQZKHUH*HRUJH*DUGQHUDOVRRZQHGDODUJHWUDFWRI land, and Christopher Champlin himself was born in Charlestown. The merchants Samuel Brenton, Nathan Bull, and John Dockray were married to women from North or South Kingstown, and both Brenton and Bull fled to the Narragansett Country during the Revolution. As mentioned in Chapter 8WKH5HY6DPXHO)D\HUZHDWKHUWKH$QJOLFDQPLQLVWHURI6DLQW3DXO¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 923 Hazard, 16-19; Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 8, p. 361. (*'! ! Church in Narragansett in the early 1770s, was a Freemason and gave a Masonic oration in %RVWRQLQ DOWKRXJKWKHUHLVQRHYLGHQFHWKDWKHDIILOLDWHGZLWK6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI Newport, probably due to his loyalty to the Ancient Rite). After the war, the Revolutionary veteran and Assemblyman, Capt. John Gardiner, who owned a five-hundred-acre farm in South .LQJVWRZQMRLQHG.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH-RKQ¶VVRQ5REHUW&*DUGLQHUVHUYHGDVWKH86 Consul to Sweden before he died at sea in 1804; his gravestone in North Kingstown bore a Masonic square and compass.924 Men like Brenton, Fayerweather, and Gardiner probably helped to plant the seeds of Masonry among their friends and relations in the Narragansett Country, leading eventually to the gathering of thirteen men in Westerly in 1798. The early development of Washington Lodge no. 5 became entrapped in a paradox of social geography. The event was on the one hand quite typical, in that a group of men who were already Masons organized themselves locally and reached inward for the legitimation of a charter. On the other hand, unlike the founders of the lodges previously formed in Providence and Warren, none of the first organizers in Washington County had been initiated in the nearby lodges from whose leaders they requested a charter. Their relationship to the lodge in Newport was distant and tenuous, prompting the Grand Lodge to stipulate that they verify their Masonic ³UHJXODULW\´EHIRUHWKH\UHFHLYHDZDUUDQW0RUHLPSRUWDQWO\ZKLOHWKHZHDOWKDQGZLGHWUDGH network of the Narragansett Country enabled Masonry to spread into the region, the area !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 924JR Cole, History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island (New York: W. W. Preston and co., 1889), 395, 535; James Gregory Mumford, Mumford Memoirs, (Boston: Merrymount Press, 1900), 69; Newport Mercury, October 26, 1772; Robert E. Swisher, The Newport, RI Ancestors of Nathan Bull III, 1986, p. 29-32, NHS; Arnold, Ed., Vital Records of Rhode Island, vol. 7, p. 204; Chester F. Brenton, Descendants of William Brenton, Governor of Rhode Island, 24-7, NHS; Providence Gazette, July 4, 1772, p. 3; Lillian May and Charles Morris Gardner, Gardiner History and Genealogy, (Erie, 1907), 110-11; James M. Arnold, Inscriptions on the Grave-Stones in the Old Churchyard of St. Paul's Narragansett North Kingstown, Rhode Island (Boston: privately printed, 1916), (*(! ! remained entirely rural and decentralized, its social geography still based upon the country estate and the manor house. The area had no central gathering place with a large concentration of young men, as northern Rhode Island had in Providence and Warren. Washington Lodge no. 5 reportedly met for its first several years in private homes in various locations throughout the Narragansett Country, including Westerly, Hopkinton, and South Kingstown.925 While the significant number of initiations in 1798-9 indicates a strong interest in Masonry in the region, the population of potential Masonic candidates in the Narragansett Country was both widely dispersed and dwindling. Overlooking the problematic conditions of social life in the Narragansett Country, the Grand Officers saw the new lodge as a natural extension of the growth of Masonry in Rhode Island. On September 21, 1799, the Gazette ran an announcement by the Grand Master, Peleg Clarke, calling for the Masonic officers of the state to gather in South Kingstown to consecrate the new lodge and install its officers. On the 23rd, the Brethren held a procession to the State House in that town and heard an oration by Abraham Lynsen Clarke. The oration largely served as a defense of the use of encoded signs and symbols as a means of conveying divine truth; he FLWHV(]HNLHO¶VYLVLRQRIWKHIRXUFUHDWXUHVDVDQH[DPSOHRI*RGGHSLFWHGWKURXJK³DQ hieroglyphical or emblematical repreVHQWDWLRQ´)LQDOO\QRWLQJWKHDVSHUVLRQVWKDWKDGEHHQFDVW on Masonry due to the French Revolution, Clarke closes with a resolution to defend the Craft DQGWR³HUDGLFDWHWKHGDUNQHVVWKDWVXUURXQGVWKHWHPSOHRIYLUWXH´3HUWLQHQWWRWKHSROLWLFDO sitXDWLRQRIWKHWLPHDQGZRYHQWRJHWKHUZLWKWKHPHWDSKRUVRIOLJKWDQGGDUNQHVV&ODUNH¶V eloquent address makes no reference to the peculiar circumstances of a lodge opening in the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 925 Albert F. Ellsworth, Historical Address, in One Hundredth Anniversary of Washington Lodge, No. 5, A.F and A. M. (Providence: Snow and Farnum, 1898), 23-4. (*)! ! VWDWH¶VVRXWKHUQKLQWHUODQG7KH*UDQG2IILFHUVDIWHUZDUGUHWLUHGWRGLQQHr, ³GHOLJKWHGZLWKWKH UDSLGLQFUHDVHRI0DVRQU\LQWKLV6WDWHDQGZLWKWKHSOHDVDQWODERXUVRIWKHGD\´ 926 1RQHWKHOHVV:DVKLQJWRQ&RXQW\¶VSUREOHPDWLFFRQGLWLRQVZRXOGPDNHWKHPVHOYHVIHOW in the Grand Lodge soon enough. As the new lodge continued to meet at various sites, it struggled to extend its membership and to maintain organizational cohesion. In 1800, the Grand Lodge confirmed that Washington Lodge had the right to meet anywhere in Washington County, seeing as how the charter had been unclear RQWKLVSRLQW7KHVHFUHWDU\UHSRUWHGWKDWWKHORGJH¶V slate of officers remained unchanged and that they had initiated a modest but respectable total of eleven candidates. The following year, the lodge met in Wickford, a village in North Kingstown, in order to settle a dispute between Brethren, and at its June 1801 meeting, the Grand Lodge received no communication and no monetary contribution from Washington County. In 1802, WKH*UDQG/RGJHUHFHLYHG³Qo return from Washington Lodge No. 5 except a partial one to Oct. 29, 1801´ZKLFKUHSRUWHGDOLVWRIHLJKWHHQQHZPHPEHUV7KHORGJHKDGLQLWLDOO\VSUXQJIURP the landowning class, and it evidently extended beyond that original base only very slowly: the ORGJH¶VILUVWWKLUW\-three members clustered around major landholding families, with several +D]DUG¶VDQG*DUGLQHU¶VDQGQRIHZHUWKDQVL[PHQQDPHG%DEFRFNZKLOHLQFRQWUDVWWKHJURXS of eighteen men listed in the 1802 return included only a single Hazard.927 In the early nineteenth century, Washington Lodge no. 5 became²and remains² !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 926 Providence Gazette, Sep. 21, 1799, p. 1; Abraham Lynsen Clarke, The Secrets of Masonry Illustrated and Explained, in a Discourse Preached at South-Kingstown, Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1799; Newport Mercury, Oct. 8, 1799, p. 3; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, p. 50-1. 927 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, p. 53- $OEHUW)(OOVZRUWK³+LVWRULFDO$GGUHVV´LQ One Hundredth Anniversary of Washington Lodge, No. 5, A.F and A. M (Providence: Snow and Farnum, 1898), 24-5. (**! ! something of a mystery. No representatives from Washington County appeared at the consecration of another lodge in Bristol in the autumn of 1802; in June 1803, the Grand Lodge received a sizable monetary contribution of eight dollars from Washington Lodge, no. 5, DOWKRXJKLWVDQQXDOUHWXUQUHSRUWHGRQO\VL[LQLWLDWLRQV7KLVSDUDGR[PD\UHIOHFWWKHORGJH¶V basic predicament: while its members possessed wealth, they did not have the organizational cohesion or easy sources of candidates that they needed in order to grow as an institution. Strangely, just before they made their return to the Grand Lodge, on June 8, 1803, the Brethren UHSRUWHGO\YRWHG³to investigate the records and to destroy all superfluous and useless papers´ 7KHUHFRUGVRIWKHORGJH¶VDFWLYLWLHVWKDWVXUYLYHGLQWRWKHODWHUQLQHWHHQWKFHQWXU\ZHUH truncated, with some meetings omitted entirely. Could this purging of the records have related to the dispute that the Brethren attempted to resolve at Wickford in 1801? Or does it merely reflect an exhaustion with the bureaucratic minutiae of running a lodge? Regardless of the exact reasons, the Grand Lodge received no more returns from Washington County at all until 1808.928 Where Mount Vernon Lodge sprang from the lower stratum of the urban Masonic population and struggled for a time with a lack of money, Washington Lodge no. 5 sprang from the upper stratum of a rural society and quickly came to struggle with a lack of candidates. While both lodges faced barriers and limitations, the benefit of hindsight reveals that time was on the side of Mount Vernon Lodge. Masonry flourished only where young men concentrated around new sources of commercial wealth. This pattern would hold true in different ways for the last two lodges founded in Rhode Island at the end of the eighteenth century, in Bristol and in Chepachet²each one an old town that received new economic life in the Federal era. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 928 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, 79-80, 81-9, 90-6; Ellsworth, 25-6. (*+! ! On June 18, 1800, fifteen Masons in the town of Bristol, a minor port on the eastern side of Narragansett Bay, drafted a petition for a charter. Their acknowledged leader, the 44-year-old Nathaniel Waldron, had been made a Mason in Newport in 1793, and most of them had been initiated in neighboring Warren during the bonanza of Masonic degree rituals in that town over the previous three years. Thus, the Bristol lodge can be regarded as a daughter of Washington /RGJHLQ:DUUHQDQGDJUDQGGDXJKWHURI6DLQW-RKQ¶VRI1HZSRUW$ZHHNODWHUWKH*UDQG Lodge granted the group in Bristol DSURYLVLRQDOGLVSHQVDWLRQXQGHUWKHWLWOHRI³6DLQW$OEDQ¶V /RGJH´LQKRQRURIDOHJHQGDU\SDWURQRIWKHPDVRQ¶VFUDIW7KH%UHWKUHQPHWDJDLQDWWKH6WDWH House chambers in Bristol in August, 1800. The meeting drew fourteen attendees, led by Waldron as Worshipful Master, Captain Abner Mosher as Senior Warden, and the furniture- maker Joseph Rawson, who had originally been initiated in Providence, as Junior Warden; they hosted a distinguished visitor in the person of the Rev. Abraham Lynsen Clarke. The Brethren HOHFWHGWKHORGJH¶VYDULRXVPLQRURIILFHUVDQGDSSRLQWHGDFRPPLWWHHWRGUDIWDVHWRIE\-laws. 929 Bristol at the end of the eighteenth century was a growing minor port, only slightly larger than Warren; between 1790 and 1800, its population grew from 1,406 to 1,678. Whereas Warren was wedded to the shipbuilding industry, Bristol housed a distillery and increasing maritime trade. Most importantly, after Rhode Island prohibited the slave trade in 1787, the commerce gradually migrated from Newport to Bristol, where enforcement of the ban was practically non- existent. Slaving voyages created demand for a wide variety of skills and brought unprecedented wealth to the town. Among the petitioners for a charter in Bristol was the 22-year-old George !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 929 5REHUW$0DF&DXJKH\³7KH+LVWRU\RI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH´LQSaint Alban¶V/RGJH1R F. and A. M., Bristol, Rhode Island: Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800- 1950, Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, p. 5-6; Special Return for Newport; Special Return for Warren; RIVR, vol. 6, p. 109; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, p. 33-6, 39-43, 53-8; Saint $OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHQR%ULVWRO5, (*,! ! DeWolf, a scion of the mercantile family that became the principal managers of the slave trade in 1RUWK$PHULFDDIWHU *HRUJH¶VJUDQGIDWKHU0DUN$QWKRQ\'H:ROIKDGJURZQXSLQ Guadeloupe and migrated to Bristol around 1760, establishing early trade connections between the latter town and the West Indies. Although George DeWolf attended Masonic meetings only RFFDVLRQDOO\KLVPHPEHUVKLSLQWKHORGJHXQGHUVFRUHV%ULVWRO¶VGHSHQGHQFHRQ$IULFDQDQG West Indian trade, in which the town largely supplanted Newport between 1790 and 1810.930 'HVSLWHIUHTXHQWORVVHVDQGVHWEDFNVWKHUHJLRQ¶VSURVSHULW\EXR\HG6DLQW$OEDQ¶V Lodge. The new lodge, under its dispensation, met at the State House every two weeks and began performing initiations in November, 1800. Seven candidates were initiated in the last two months of that year, and attendance at the lodge began to swell, with at least fifteen members and three or four visitors at every meeting. In May, 1801, Brother Benjamin Smith was accidentally killed by the explosion of a carriage gun; his funeral drew a massive assemblage of Masons from around the region, including at least twenty-seven from the Bristol lodge, twenty-two from the Warren lodge, six from the Eastern Star Lodge in nearby Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and five from other lodges; a recognition of loss occasioned a show of strength. Shortly after, on June 3, 1801, the Worshipful Master, Nathaniel Waldron, informed the lodge that he was leaving Bristol. The wardens and secretary composed a letter of fDUHZHOOWKDQNLQJ:DOGURQIRU³your Real and VWULFWDWWHQWLRQIRU>WKHORGJH¶V@ prosperity and promotion, while under your Government´2Q June 10th, the Brethren asked the prominent jurist and politician, Benjamin Bourne, to take :DOGURQ¶VSODFHEXWKHGHFOLQHGDQGVRWKH:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU¶VFKDLUZHQWWRWKHORGJH¶V Junior Warden, the furniture-maker Joseph Rawson. Two weeks later, the Grand Lodge meeting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 930 Wilfrid Harold Munro, The History of Bristol, R. I., 186, 322-3; Rev. Calbraith B. Perry, DD, &KDUOHV'¶:ROIRI*uadeloupe, (New York: TA Wright, 1902), 121-3; Arnold, ed., Vital Records of RI, vol. 6, p. 72. (+-! ! DW:DUUHQUHQHZHGWKH%ULVWRO0DVRQV¶GLVSHQVDWLRQIRUDQRWKHU\HDU$WWHQGDQFHDWPHHWLQJVRI SDLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHUHPDLQHGVWURQJDQGE\WKHHQGRIDWOHDVWILIW\PHQKDGWDNHQWKH first degree in Bristol.931 ! H2,((/X@%%3$3(%#X&(%*-$3,+?0$67LOXϭϴϬϬ͕ƉŽƐƐŝďůLJďLJ:ŽƐĞƉŚZĂǁƐŽŶ͘ZĂǁƐŽŶ͕ǁŚŽũŽŝŶĞĚ^ĂŝŶƚ:ŽŚŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞŽĨ A(%B:3,*>,$:*$67LS$C,&%(,$ďĞĐŽŵŝŶŐĂĨŽƵŶĚŝŶŐŵĞŵďĞƌŽĨ^ĂŝŶƚůďĂŶ͛Ɛ>ŽĚŐĞŽĨƌŝƐƚŽů͕ŵĂLJŚĂǀĞŵĂĚĞƚŚŝƐ 3,+?$&%($-2,$Q,>(,-"(/$%&$"$!"+%*:>$5%3),8$$4G"),$H%=(-,+/$%&$-2,$Q>%--:+2$1:-,$!"+%*:>$!=+,=G$"*3$I:C("(/8$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 931 McCaughey, 6- 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN Special Return for Bristol; Abner Mosher, Joseph Rawson, and Daniel Bradford, Jr., to Nathaniel Waldron, June 8, 1801, Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, vol. 1, p. 59-65. (+$! ! $ H2,((/X@%%3$3(%#X&(%*-$3,+?0$67LOX6WOO0$#%++:C5/$C/$R%+,#2$1"@+%*$\3,-":5]8$$92,$5%>?:*)$#(%+#,>-$3%%($ ,*>5%+:*)$"$>%G#"(-G,*-$@:-2:*$-2,$3,+?$+2%@+$"$-"#,(,3$#:55"($+=##%(-:*)$"*$%(C$,GC5"`%*,3$@:-2$"$+<="(,$ "*3$>%G#"++8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$-2,$Q>%--:+2$1:-,$!"+%*:>$!=+,=G$"*3$I:C("(/8 Masonic membership offered a useful and supportive social network for transient mariners, and as in Newport, the Brethren did their best to accommodate their needs. On October 14, 1801, Abner Mosher proposed Capt. John Russell as a candidate, and asked that he be balloted and initiated rLJKWDZD\³DVKHLVJRLQJWRVHD´ WKHORGJHDJUHHGVHHLQJDVKRZWKH FDVHZDVDQ³LPPHUJHQF\´6WLOOZKLOH6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHEHQHILWHGIURPWKHODUJHQXPEHURI mariners who passed through Bristol, it also suffered the drawbacks of frequent absence and early death. It is not clear why the lodge passed over their Senior Warden, Captain Abner 0RVKHUIRUWKH0DVWHU¶VFKDLULQIDYRURI-RVHSK5DZVRQEXWLWPD\KDYHUHODWHGWR0RVKHU¶V maritime occupation. The triangle trade in Rhode Island, especially after the Haitian Revolution, (+%! ! turned towards markets in Cuba and South Carolina; Masonic membership surely helped to establish contacts with potential trading partners in those regions. In October, 1802, the lodge initiated a young farmer-turned-merchant named Bateman Munro, who years later attested that Masonry was of little use to him as a farmer, but of great use at sea and in trade, where it facilitated the smuggling of goods in Spanish territories, especially Havana. The same commerce, however, made many of these mariners unreliable leaders and supporters of Saint $OEDQ¶V/RGJH²Abner Mosher, for his part, soon left Bristol for New Orleans, where he died in 1815.932 'HVSLWHWKHGUDZEDFNVRILWVODUJHO\PDULWLPHPHPEHUVKLS6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHDFKLHYHG VWUHQJWKDQGVWDELOLW\XQGHU5DZVRQ¶VOHDGHUVKLS2Q2FWREHUWKH*UDQG/RGJHOHGE\ WKHQHZ*UDQG0DVWHU0RVHV6HL[DVFRQYHQHGLQ%ULVWROWRFRQVHFUDWH6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHDQG install its officers. The Grand Officers and representatives from four of the five other lodges in the state processed to the Congregational Church and heard an oration by the Rev. Samuel :DWVRQRI%DUULQJWRQDPHPEHURI:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJHQR,QWKHORGJH¶VUXVKRI initiations abated, and activity shifted towards performing second- and third-degree rituals; settling into a pattern of stability, the lodge began meeting only once a month. In January of that year, the lodge ordered the Treasurer to obtain a second ledger in order to begin double-entry bookkeeping; they may have taken this step in anticipation of raising money to procure a permanent meeting-place. Some time in 1803, the Brethren resolved to build a schoolhouse with a second floor that could serve as a Masonic Hall; the lodge and the town would split the $1,400 cost of construction. The building must have existed in a rudimentary form by December 27, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 932 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN 3URFHHGLQJVRIWKH*UDQG/RGJHRI5,S-9; Report of the Committee Appointed, Appendix, 92-3; Index of deaths, 1660-1902, p. 148, Bristol Town Hall, Bristol, RI. (+&! ! RQZKLFKGDWHWKHORGJHKHOGD6DLQW-RKQ¶V'D\SURFHVVLRQ³WRWKHQHZ+DOO´,QJune 1804, the Grand Lodge voted that they should hold their nH[WPHHWLQJDW%ULVWRO³LIWKHLUORGJHEH ILQLVKHG´7KH*UDQG2IILFHUVZHUHQRWGLVDSSRLQWHGVLQFHWKHEXLOGLQJZDVIRUPDOO\FRPSOHWHG and dedicated to Masonic use on June 24, 1805.933 -XVWDIHZPRQWKVDIWHU6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHLQ%ULVWROFRQVHFUDWHGLWs own building, the last Masonic body formed in eighteenth-century Rhode Island to obtain a charter²Friendship Lodge no. 7²did the same. The widely varying levels of success among the new lodges in Rhode Island raised troubling questions for Friendship Lodge, which began from an informal gathering of nine Masons at a tavern in Chepachet, a village in northwestern Rhode Island, on March 13, 1800. At that time, it could hardly have been clear whether a lodge would fare any better in the rural interior of northern Rhode Island than in the Narragansett Country. The leader of the meeting in Chepachet was the 45-year-old Dr. Joseph Bowen, the son of Dr. Benjamin Bowen and a second cousin of Jabez Bowen. Joseph had served as a naval surgeon in the Revolution and joined the Masonic lodge in Providence in 1780. In 1782, he was captured and held on the British prison ship the Jersey; following his release, Joseph married and resettled in &KHSDFKHWZKHUHKHRSHQHGDQDSRWKHFDU\VKRS8QGHU%RZHQ¶VOHDGHUVKLSWKH Masons organized themselves in Chepachet and sent Elijah Armstrong as a delegate to the meeting of the Grand Lodge at Newport in June 1800, where he delivered a return listing their members and officers and reporting that they had already conferred thirteen Masonic degrees since March. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 933 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, 79-80, 81-9, 90-6; McCaughey, 8-9; Saint $OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN (+'! ! 7KH*UDQG2IILFHUVDFNQRZOHGJHGWKHLUUHTXHVWIRUDFKDUWHUEXW³upon mature consideration the business was referred to the next meeting of this lodge´934 7KH*UDQGRIILFHUV¶ZDULQHVVWRZDUGWKH&KHSDFKHW0DVRQV¶UHTXHVWIor a charter in 1800 set the tone for the next five years. During its first half-decade, Friendship Lodge would struggle both with the difficulty of organizing and sustaining a lodge in a small rural town and with the deep skepticism of the Grand Lodge. This uphill battle should not have been surprising, FRQVLGHULQJWKDW)ULHQGVKLSZDV5KRGH,VODQG¶VILUVWVR-FDOOHG³IUHVKZDWHUORGJH´IRXQGHGLQDQ LQODQGDUHD,WLVGLIILFXOWWRJDXJH&KHSDFKHW¶VVL]HDWWKHWLPHVLQFHLWZDVRQO\DVPDOO roadside village in the much larger township of Glocester. The population of Glocester as of 1790 was 4,025, making it the fourth largest town in the state, but this population was dispersed over a large rural area that housed more sheep and cattle than people.935 Friendship Lodge came into being at the very inflection point of a profound change in northwestern Rhode Island. Over the course of the 1790s, the residents of Glocester and neighboring towns, almost all of them small farmers, fought against commercial innovations such as watermills and turnpikes, which would cut through the land and waterways off of which they subsisted, add to their tax burden, and impose tolls on local travel. The area remained agrarian, and as of 1800, the population of Glocester was basically unchanged at 4,009. The village of Chepachet, however, took advantage of its position at the intersection of roads !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 934-DPHV9*UHHQKDOJK³+LVWRULFDO$GGUHVV´LQOne Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800- 1950, Friendship Lodge No. 7, Free and Accepted Masons, Chepachet, Rhode Island, Library of the *UDQG/RGJHRI5KRGH,VODQG -RVHSK%RZHQ¶VSHWLWLRQWR5REHUW'LJE\0D\%RZHQIDPLO\ 3DSHUV)ROGHU5,+6 %HQMDPLQ%RZHQ¶V/DVW:LOO1782, Bowen Family Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, 5,+6 ³%RZHQ*HQHDORJ\DQG9LWDO5HFRUGV´%RZHQ)DPLO\3DSHUV%R[)ROGHU5,+6 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, p. 53-8. 935 Greenhalgh; Welcome Arnold Greene, The Providence Plantations for Two Hundred and Fifty Years (Providence: Reid, 1886), p. 99. (+(! ! connecting Providence to the interior of New England. By 1800, Chepachet housed a hat factory and a tannery; a grist mill, a saw mill, and an oil mill followed soon after. In this period, a minor local elite composed of millers, shopkeepers, and large farmers in Glocester began to advocate for precisely the sort of commercial projects that the majority of freemen had long opposed. This commercially-oriented elite included several founding or early members of the Chepachet lodge, such as the large farmers Thomas and Solomon Owen, who supplied pork and beef to Providence, the Revolutionary veteran Daniel Tourtellot, the town moderator Elijah Armstrong, DQGWKHEDQNFDVKLHU0RZU\6PLWK7KHFRQIOLFWRYHU*ORFHVWHU¶VGHYHORSPHQWFDPHWRDKHDG in June 1804, when the town meeting narrowly voted to approve a new toll-funded turnpike connecting Providence to Chepachet; key supporters included Solomon Owen, serving at the time as a deputy in the Assembly, and Elijah Armstrong.936 While only a minority of the founding members of the Chepachet lodge were part of this politically influential elite, others were more modest businessmen, such as the hotelkeepers &\UXV&RRNDQG$QDQ(YDQV7KH\ZRUNHGWRZDUGVWKHWRZQ¶VLQVWLWXWLRQDOLPSURYHPHQWLQOHVV controversial ways: for example, nine of the petitioners for the charter of the Union Library Company in Glocester in 1794 later joined the Masonic lodge within its first two years, and -RVHSK%RZHQDQG6RORPRQ2ZHQZHUHDPRQJWKHOLEUDU\¶VIRXQGLQJGLUHFWRUV7KHVHPHQ brought the same organizing impulses to Friendship Lodge, which, like the turnpike, offered an avenue of communication with allies and potential business partners in Providence. By the end !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 936 Daniel P. Jones, The Economic and Social Transformation of Rural Rhode Island, (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992), p. 9-10, 37-62, 64-78; Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, Historical and Architectural Resources of Glocester, Rhode Island: A Prelimiary Report (Providence: State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 1980), p. 7-8, (+)! ! of 1803, the lodge had initiated at least 68 men and conferred the second and third degrees on most of them. As of 1804, the lodge reportedly had 31 active members in addition to the five lodge officers.937 ! !"+%*:>$-(,+-5,C%"(3$C,5%*):*)$-%$J(:,*3+2:#$I%3),$*%8$70$H2,#">2,-0$140$+,,*$%*$-2,$@,+-,(*$@"55$%&$!"+%*:>$ ,Ăůů͘dŚĞďĂĐŬŽĨƚŚĞƚƌĞƐƚůĞďŽĂƌĚŝƐůĂďĞůĞĚ͞WĂŝŶƚĞĚďLJdŚŽƐ͘zŽƵŶŐ͕WƌŽǀŝĚĞŶĐĞ͕ϭϴϬϬ͘͟dŚŽŵĂƐzŽƵŶŐ;ϭϳϲϱX 6WU6]$@"+$#(:G"(:5/$"$#%(-(":-$#":*-,(8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 937 Elizabeth A. Perry, A Brief History of the Town of Glocester (Providence: Providence Press Co., 1886): 76, 94-5; Special Return for Chepachet; Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, p. 59-65, 95-6. (+*! ! Between 1800 and 1805, the Chepachet Masons embarked on a campaign to persuade the Grand Lodge to grant them a charter. Every single year in that period, the Brethren in Chepachet made the largest monetary contribution to the Grand Lodge funds of any lodge in the state, beginning with an extraordinary 22 dollars in 1801; they were tied only by Mount Vernon Lodge in 1802 with 16 dollars apiece. Friendship Lodge consistently reported impressive numbers of degrees conferred, beginning with 54 in its first year of operation. Nonetheless, the Grand Lodge remained wary, probably cognizant of the continuing disaster that was Washington Lodge no. 5. In 1801 and 1802, the Grand Officers agreed only to extend their dispensation for one year at a WLPH,QWKH*UDQG/RGJHSHUKDSVVNHSWLFDORI)ULHQGVKLS¶VODUJHQXPEHUVRIGHJUHH ULWXDOVDSSRLQWHGDFRPPLWWHHWRJRWR*ORFHVWHU³H[DPLQHLQWRWKHSURFHHGLQJVRIVDLGORGJH´ and report back to the next Grand Lodge meeting, at which time the Deputy Grand Master might extend their dispensation for another year. Evidently the committee found the Chepachet records satisfactory, for the lodge continued to operate under its dispensation until 1806.938 As the Grand Officers probably suspected, the main dilemma facing a new, rural lodge was the procurement of a meeting place. During its first five years, the lodge met in various KRPHVDQGWDYHUQVDURXQG&KHSDFKHWLQFOXGLQJ%URWKHU&\UXV&RRN¶VKRWHO,QJanuary 1802, a committee repoUWHGWKDWEHFDXVHWKHORGJHZDV³REOLJHGWRDGMRXUQIURPRQHSODFHWRDQRWKHU´ OHDGLQJWR³LOO-FRQVHTXHQFHVIRUWKHORGJH«a number of the brethren [are] very desirous of having a building erected for the benefit of the lodge and for the good of masonry in establishing peace and harmony among the brethren´%URWKHU-RVHSK:LOOPDUWKGRQDWHGDSORWRIODQG beside the main road in Chepachet on which to build a Hall, on the condition that he be able to XVHWKHEXLOGLQJ¶VORZHUIORRUZKLOHWKH0DVRQVXVHGWKHXSSHUIORRU7KHORGJH¶VIXQGVDWWKH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 938 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of RI, p. 59-65, 71-8, 81-9, 90-6. (++! ! time, at less than 400 dollars, were inadequate, so the Treasurer took subscriptions while others donated labor. The structure must have existed in unfinished form in December, 1802, when the Brethren marched from CyUXV&RRNH¶VKRWHO³WRWKHQHZ+DOO´6WLOOWKHEXLOGLQJZDVQRWILWIRU use and funds were running out. In 1804, Willmarth apparently transferred his ownership of the VWUXFWXUH¶VORZHUIORRUWRWKHQHZO\-IRUPHG)DUPHU¶V([FKDQJH%DQNZKRVHIRXQGLQJGLUectors included five Masons.939 $IHZFRPPLWWHG%UHWKUHQDQGDVWUDQJHVWURNHRIOXFNUHVROYHGWKH&KHSDFKHW0DVRQV¶ IUXVWUDWLQJVLWXDWLRQ,QWKH)DUPHU¶V([FKDQJH%DQNRSHQHGRSHUDWLRQVRQWKHJURXQG floor of the new edifice, using a dry well in the floor as a vault, while the Masonic lodge room upstairs remained unfinished. Finally, in the spring of 1805, an exasperated Anan Evans, worried that the lodge might lose the upper floor of the building to the bank and their dispensation to the unsympathetic Grand Lodge, dragged Solomon Smith with him to 3URYLGHQFHZKHUHWKHWZR%UHWKUHQYLHZHGWKHORGJHURRPVDQGIXUQLWXUHRI6DLQW-RKQ¶VDQG Mount Vernon. The pair took measurements and created similar furnishings in Chepachet; Evans acquired Masonic wallpaper from Thomas Smith Webb and painting services from Peter Grinnell, who created surfaces mimicking mahogany and marble. Finally, in October, 1805, the Grand Lodge consecrated the new lodge Hall, and soon afterward granted Friendship a permanent chaUWHU$WWKHVDPHWLPHWKH)DUPHU¶V([FKDQJH%DQNKDGEHHQUHFNOHVVO\DQG incompetently issuing bills of exchange far beyond its assets. Rather than going bankrupt, it was bought up by a crooked Boston speculator, who continued to inflate and oversell the enterprise until the bubble suddenly burst in 1809. The cashier, Andrew Colwell, was arrested after trying !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 939 Greenhalgh; Perry, Brief History of the Town of Glocester, 49- ³&RS\RI$JUHHPHQW0DGH %HWZHHQ-RVHSK:LOOPDUWKDQG)ULHQGVKLS/RGJHIRUWKH(UHFWLRQRIWKLV0DVRQLF%XLOGLQJ´ typescript, Friendship Lodge, no. 7, Chepachet, RI. (+,! ! to flee the state. Though many Glocester residents lost assets in the first bank collapse in the United States, the Masons gained control over the entire building, where they have continued to meet for more than two centuries since.940 $ J,3,("5X+-/5,$3%%(@"/$@:-2$&"*-":5$@:*3%@0$!"+%*:>$T"550$H2,#">2,-0$140$+,,*$"-$,B,*:*)8$$A2%-%$C/$-2,$"=-2%(8$ The creation and fortuitous success of Friendship Lodge in Chepachet was a crucial PLOHVWRQHIRU0DVRQU\LQ5KRGH,VODQG1RWRQO\ZDV)ULHQGVKLSWKHVWDWH¶VILUVW³IUHVKZDWHU ORGJH´EXWPRUHWKDQDQ\SUHYLRXVORGJHLQ5KRGH,VODQG)ULHQGVKLSWRRNRQDUHFRJQL]DEOH class and political character within its local context: the lodge helped to institutionalize an entrepreneurial, pro-development rural elite. At the end of the eighteenth century, the transient commercial world of the Atlantic port towns was extending inland, following the rivers, roads, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 940 Greenhalgh; Jones, Economic and Social Transformation, 81-3. The role of Andrew Dexter in the fall of WKH)DUPHU¶V([FKDQJH%DQNLVH[DPLQHGLQGHWDLOLQ-DQH.DPHQVN\The Exchange Artist: A Tale of High-)O\LQJ6SHFXODWLRQDQG$PHULFD¶V)LUVW%DQNLQJ&ROODSVH (New York: Viking, 2008), p. 129-64. (,-! ! and eYHQWXDOO\WXUQSLNHVWKDWFKDQQHOHGJRRGVDQGSHRSOHLQWRWKHFRQWLQHQW¶VLQWHULRU0DVRQLF lodges sprang up along these avenues, led by men who embraced the market-driven traffic as an opportunity to gain wealth. The rural lodges would later multiply through the nineteenth century, building innumerable Masonic temples along the routes of canals and railways²most of which, unlike the small Federal-style building in Chepachet, today are given over to non- Masonic uses or stand abandoned. As we have seen in the preceding pages, during the last half-decade of the eighteenth century, Masonry in Rhode Island expanded in almost every conceivable direction: upward into the new systems of higher degrees, downward into the manufacturing class and the Afro- American population, eastward into the minor port towns, and westward into the agrarian interior. Each new Masonic institution, though far from homogeneous in its makeup, took its vitality and its distinctive character from a particular demographic group that embraced the Craft with new vigor. The expansion of Masonry in the Federal era was not a planned process: it sprang from the local self-organization of Masons acting without initial support from the existing institutions. The Federal age confirms the pattern seen in the Atlantic ports earlier in the century, according to which Masons carried the Craft into new, peripheral realms before reaching inward for legitimation. The Grand Lodge of Rhode Island did not direct this process, but merely managed and dispensed the limited commodity of Masonic legitimacy, as embodied most explicitly in the form of a charter, and so facilitated the integration of new lodges into an international Masonic network. After granting charters freely in the 1790s, the Grand Officers became more wary and conservative after 1800, but in either case, the Grand Lodge acted mainly as a retroactive rubber stamp to local initiative. (,$! ! It is difficult to imagine how the older, longstanding Masons of Rhode Island could have regarded the sudden expansion of the Craft in the late 1790s²but an opportunity to take stock of Freemasonry in the state arrived shortly after the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 6HSWHPEHUWKHRIILFHUVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWUHFHLYHGDOHWWHUIURPWZo 0DVRQVLQ%RVWRQZKRKDG³XQGHUWDNHQWKHSXEOLFDWLRQRIDZRUN´ZKLFKWKH\KRSHGWKDWWKH 1HZSRUW%UHWKUHQZRXOGVXSSRUW,QDGGLWLRQWRSDWURQDJHWKH\DVNHGIRU³WKHQDPHVRI\RXU officers, and the number of members of which your lodge consisted at the commencement of the present century´²presumably the beginning of 1801.941 The prospective work in question was the Vocal Companion and Masonic Register, a book of old and new Masonic songs that Robinson and Dunham of Boston published in the later months of 1802. Appended to the VRQJERRNLVDFDWDORJRI³DOOWKH0DVRQLFORGJHVLQWKHVL[QRUWKHUQVWDWHV´QDPHO\ Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, each one listed in the order of its seniority within the state, along with the names of its officers, its number of members, and its number of subscribers to the Vocal Companion.942 Evidently, the SXEOLVKHUV¶UHTXHVWKDGFLUFXODWHGWKURXJK5KRGH,VODQGVLQFHDOOVHYHQORGJHVRSHUDWLQJXQGHU charters from the Grand Lodge appeared in the final work. The Vocal Companion and Masonic Register provides a snapshot of Rhode Island Freemasonry as it wished to see itself at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Beginning the OLVWRI5KRGH,VODQGORGJHVLV6DLQW-RKQ¶VRI1HZSort. The Newport lodge had evidently pared back its over-LQIODWHGOLVWIURP FODLPLQJLQVWHDGDPRUHUHDOLVWLFPHPEHUV6DLQW-RKQ¶V !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 941 Robinson and Dunham to the Worshipful Master, Wardens, anG0HPEHUVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V /RGJH1HZSRUW6HSW6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, 942 John Moseley Dunham, ed., The Vocal Companion and Masonic Register (Boston: Dunham, 1802) (S2166), title page. (,%! ! of Providence, under their new Worshipful Master, the furniture-maker John Carlisle, claimed an astronomical 160 members. While the lodge had grown tremendously during the 1790s, the count exceeds the number that could reasonably attend a lodge meeting, and surely includes men who rarely took part in Masonry. Washington Lodge in Warren claimed 66 members, Mount Vernon Lodge 35, Washington Lodge in Washington County 60 (far beyond the numbers UHSRUWHGLQWKHLUUHWXUQVWRWKH*UDQG/RGJH 6W$OEDQ¶V/RGJHDQG)ULHQGVKLS/RGJH The numbers for the last two lodges were already outdated, of course, seeing as how they had barely been formed at the beginning of 1801 and continued to grow in the ensuing years. This fact is especially glaring in Bristol, where the 24 subscribers to the book outnumbered the ORGJH¶VPHPEHUVKLSUHSRUWLQWKHVocal Companion. Still, every lodge in the state other than 6DLQW-RKQ¶VRI3URYLGHQFHDQG:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJHQRVKRZHGVWURQJVXSSRUWIRUWKHVocal Companion, subscribing for a number of copies greater than one third of their reported number of members.943 Holding its own in the Masonic register alongside the Craft in New England and New York, Rhode Island Masonry cut a respectable figure. By 1802, none could deny that the state ZDVIXOO\DSDUWRIWKHH[SDQGLQJ0DVRQLFZRUOGSDUWLFXODUO\DV7KRPDV6PLWK:HEE¶V influence rapidly spread. The lodges in the state claimed a total of 424 members (or about 0.6% RIWKHVWDWH¶VHQWLUHSRSXODWLRQ DQXPEHUWKDWZRXOGKDYHEHHQXQLPDJLQDEOHLQ OHWDORQH LQWKHFRORQLDOHUD:KLOHWKH0DVRQV¶UHSRUWVZHUHLQVRPHFDVHVLQIODWHGthey omitted Hiram Lodge, the various Masons in the state that might not yet have affiliated with any lodge, and the scores of new Masons that had been initiated in 1801-2. Furthermore, The Vocal Companion formed one part of an effort to present an integrated regional view of Masonry in the new !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 943 Ibid, 48-52. (,&! ! UHSXEOLFIROORZLQJVRRQDIWHU:HEE¶VRUJDQL]DWLRQRIWKH*HQHUDO*UDQG&KDSWHUDQGFRLQFLGLQJ with a renewed attempt to form a national Grand Lodge in 1802. Though this latest effort at institutional fusion failed, Masonry was firmly planted on the national landscape, and the strong 5KRGH,VODQGSUHVHQFHLQ5RELQVRQ¶VDQG'XQKDP¶VERRNFRUURERUDWHGWKHZRUGVRIDVRQJIRU the dedication of new Masonic buildings²³IURPGHHSIRXQGDWLRQVSURXGHVWVWUXFWXUHVULVH´944 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 944 'DQLHO7XUQHU³2GHIRUWKH'HGLFDWLRQRID0DVRQLF+DOO´LQ'XQKDPHGThe Vocal Companion and Masonic Register (Boston: Dunham, 1802) (S2166), p. 100. (,'! ! Chapter ³$'RXEOH3RUWLRQRI+LV6SLULW´²The Masonic Apotheosis, 1799-1800 On December 27, 1799, the members of Washington Lodge no. 3 assembled in their lodge room and prepared for the election of new officers²a familiar routine for Saint John the EYDQJHOLVW¶V'D\7KH:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU&KDUOHV:KHDWRQWRRNKLVSODFHLQWKHV\PEROLF ³HDVW´WKH6HQLRU:DUGHQWRRNKLVVWDWLRQLQWKHZHVWDQGWKH-XQLRU:DUGHQLQWKHVRXWK7KH secretary, Nathaniel Phillips, took up his pen as the lodge opened business under the signs of the Master Mason degree. Just then, a loud knock was heard at the lodge-room door. Wheaton instructed the Junior Deacon to ascertain who sought to enter the Masonic sanctum, and he reported that a messenger from the Grand Lodge demanded admittance. After entering, the PHVVHQJHUDSSURDFKHGWKHDOWDUVDOXWHG:KHDWRQWXUQHGWRWKH%UHWKUHQDQGGHFODUHG³The most Worshipful Grand Master regrets to announce on December 14th last, the death of our Most Illustrious Brother George Washington, and directs that all Masonic lodges, within the Grand Jurisdiction of Rhode Island, drape their Great Lights´6RPH%UHWKUHQKDGVXUHO\DOUeady heard the unconfirmed reports, but nonetheless, a long period of silence followed. Finally, Wheaton rHVSRQGHG³$PHQ´DQGWKHJDWKHUHG0DVRQVPXWWHUHG³VRPRWHLWEH´945 *HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQ¶VGHDWKRQ'HFHPEHU DWWKHDJHRIVSUXQJDJUHDW emotional trap that the previous twenty-five years had set for the American people. It would be difficult to overstate the deep and passionate attachment that most Americans felt by the end of the eighteenth century for General Washington, whom they saw as both the savior and the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 945 +RZDUG.'H:ROI´7KH+LVWRU\RI:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJH1R)DQG$0 - ´S Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. (,(! ! symbol of the republic. As news of the GHQHUDO¶VSDVVLQJPDGHLWVZD\XSDQGdown the Atlantic coast, whole towns fell into spasms of public bereavement, in which citizens struggled to represent themselves as a cohesive commonwealth in the absence of their leader. None could miss the grief sweeping through the nation; as a Masonic RUDWRULQ6DLQW'RPLQJXHSXWLW³D mournful cry resounds thro thHFRQWLQHQWDQGHYHQUHDFKHVXV´946 This grief was particularly intense on the part of the Masons, who regarded the General both as a Brother and as a protector against the attacks and rumors spawned by the French Revolution²it is no accident that all of the last three lodges that the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island chartered before 1800 took their names from Washington himself or from his estate. The Freemasons took the opportunity of WashingtoQ¶VGHDWK to demonstrate their grief for their deceased Brother, and so to link themselves in the public mind to the highest ideals of the new republic. At the same time, through esoteric lore and symbols, they placed their present emotional and political dilemma into the continuing quest for immortality. For instance, the members of American Union Lodge in Ohio, on hearing the news, immediately agreed to wear mourning garb for six months. They wrote to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania that though WashingWRQKDGQHYHUYHQWXUHGWR0DULHWWD³the happy effect of his Masonic virtues« have reached West. They have extended to every extreme of the United States, and like the sun at high meridian they have charmed, enlightened and animated not only America but the whole civilized world´7KH2KLR%UHWKUHQFRQVROHGWKHPVHOYHVWKDW:DVKLQJWRQLQGHDWKZRXOG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 946 Newport Mercury0DUFKS7KHRUDWLRQGHOLYHUHGE\D³%URWKHU&ROOLQ´DWWKH Lodge de la Vérité at Cap François, was brought to Newport by Captain Perry of the frigate General Greene. (,)! ! VHUYHDV³a guardian angel to attend the Brotherhood, to give timely notice of approaching danger, to inspire us with spiritual wisdom´947 The doleful news first reached Newport on the morning of December 21, 1799.948 On the 23rd, the Grand Master Peleg Clarke dispatched private messages to the five lodges under his jurisdiction, and publicly LQVWUXFWHGDOO0DVRQVLQWKHVWDWH³WRZHDUDEODFNVFDUIRQWKHOHIt arm, IRUQLQHGD\VDVDWRNHQRIUHJUHWIRUWKHORVVRIRXULOOXVWULRXV%URWKHU´949 In Newport, absorbed in the quasi-war with FranceWKH0DVRQV¶UHVSRQVHZDVcomparatively understated. In early January, Newport held a mourning procession and shut down business in the town; a selection of townspeople, including the Revolutionary veterans Archibald Crary and Henry Sherburne, carried a bier representing the deceased General.950 Some time shortly thereafter, the Masons, together with the Newport Guards, sponsored a HXORJ\DW7ULQLW\E\WKDWFKXUFK¶V\RXQJ rector, Theodore Dehon. Dehon, a non-Mason, made the pious and patriotic argument that Washington stood not only alongside but above the generals of antiquity, showing the Christian and domestic virtues that had been lacking in the heroes of old. As the rector declared, 5RPH¶VIRXQGHUZDVLJQREOH²The Medes owed their empire to a monster.²But the man who, animated by the generous thoughts of extending the dominion of liberty, and giving a distinct field WRWKHH[HUWLRQVRIKLVFRXQWU\PHQ«ZKR regardless of personal emolument, seeks only to be loved by them as their affectionate civil father, such a man must be considered, as raised up by heaven in a favoured land.951 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 947 American Union Lodge to Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, April 7, 1800, reproduced in Charles Sumner Plumb, The History of American Union Lodge no. 1 (Marietta, Ohio: American Union Lodge, 1934), p. 133-5. 948 Newport Mercury, 24 Dec., 1799, p. 3. 949 Providence Gazette, 28 Dec. 1799, p. 3. 950 Newport Mercury, Jan. 7, 1800, p. 3. 951 Theodore Dehon, A Discourse, Occasioned by the Death of General Washington (Newport: Barber, 1800), 9. (,*! ! +HUH'HKRQ¶VDGGUHVVSRLQWVGLVFUHHWO\WRZDUGWKHDQFLOODU\EHQHILWRIWKHUHSXEOLF¶VPRXUQLQJ for Washington²WKDWLQUDLVLQJWKHLUPHWDSKRULFDO³IDWKHU´WRWKHOHYHORIOHJHQGWKH\DOVR raised themselves to an exalted position in history. Whereas the Newport lodge offered a fairly pious DQGVREHUUHFRJQLWLRQRI:DVKLQJWRQ¶V passing, the Masonic response in Providence, politically confident and flourishing from the China trade, was extravagant. As the Gazette reported on January 4, 1800, a committee of leading Providence citizens assembled to plan a mourning procession that would include UHSUHVHQWDWLYHVRIWKHWRZQ¶VYDULRXVPLOLWLDXQLWVSXEOLFRIILFLDOVWKH³$VVRFLDWLRQRI 0HFKDQLFVDQG0DQXIDFWXUHUV0DULQH6RFLHW\6RFLHW\RIWKH&LQFLQQDWL0DVRQLF6RFLHWLHV´ and the clergy.952 On the following Tuesday, January 7th, each of these groups contributed their dignitaries and emblems of grief, as a selection of pallbearers carried a bier and deposited it at the Episcopal church, thus completing the pantomime of a funeral for a man who had already EHHQLQWHUUHGZHHNVHDUOLHU :DVKLQJWRQ¶VRQHERG\ZDVQRWHQRXJKLWVHHPVIRUWKHYDULRXV segments of the American public to partake in bidding farewell to the General.) In the procession, the Marine Society stood out notably, carrying with them a model ship with its flag at half-mast. None, however, outdid the Masons. According to the Gazette of January 11th, the Brothers of Mount-9HUQRQ/RGJH6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDQGWKH5R\DO$UFK&KDSWHUDSSHDUHG each member wearing his jewels; emblems and standards bore the badges of sorrow appropriate to the Craft. To the memory of their beloved brother, Grand Master of the United States, was exhibited a striking and affecting emblem of his dissolution. Four children, sons of a Mason, dressed in white surplices, with white helmet caps and plumes, the initials G. W. in front, bore a small Bier, covered with a white pall, edged with black, on which was placed an Urn, covered and festooned in black, with waving black plumes on the top. On the pedestal wDVLQVFULEHG³Sacred to the memory of our Beloved Brother, George !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 952 Providence Gazette, Jan. 4, 1800, p. 3. (,+! ! Washington´2YHULWZDVH[WHQGHGDKDQGVRPHDUFKZLWKWKLVLQVFULSWLRQLQ IURQW ³Holiness to the Lord,´RQWKHUHYHUVH³Temple of Virtue, Seat of Masonry´7KHDUFKZDVVXSSRUWHGE\Wwo Knights Templars, and preceded by WKHVWDQGDUGRIWKDWRUGHU« At the end of the procession, the citizens crowded into the Baptist Meetinghouse, which was covered in black crepe and urns, to hear an oration by a prominent Federalist politician.953 ! ."**,(0$"C%=-$K$&,,-$C/$S$&,,-0$>"((:,3$C/$A(%B:3,*>,$!"+%*+$:*$-2,$G%=(*:*)$#(%>,++:%*$&%($P,%(),$ D"+2:*)-%*0$R"*="(/$70$6WOO8$$92,$>(%++$+,,*$:*$-2,$5%@,($(:)2-$>(=+2:*)$"$+,(#,*-$,B%?,+$-2,$,G#,(%($ ŽŶƐƚĂŶƚŝŶĞ͛ƐǀŝƐŝŽŶŽĨĂĐƌŽƐƐǁŝƚŚƚŚĞǁŽƌĚƐ͕*%(/$,(#*0%$(1*%,+#͕͞ƵŶĚĞƌƚŚŝƐƐŝŐŶLJŽƵǁŝůůĐŽŶƋƵĞƌ͘͟/ŵĂŐĞďLJ #,(G:++:%*$%&$-2,$Q>%--:+2$1:-,$!"+%*:>$H,*-,(0$H("*+-%*0$18$48 As much as the Providence Masons strove to VWDQGRXWLQWKHWRZQ¶VFROOHFWLYHGLVSOD\RI grief on January 7th, they also set aside another day more than a month later to demonstrate their bereavement in a separate and distinct ceremony. The young Mount Vernon Lodge took pride of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 953 Providence Gazette, Jan. 11, 1800, p. 3. (,,! ! SODFHLQWKLVFHUHPRQ\KDYLQJWDNHQLWVQDPHIURPWKH*HQHUDO¶VHVWDWHDQGKDYLQJUHVROYHGDW its founding that it should elect and install its officers each year on February 22nd, the GHQHUDO¶V birthday. On that day in 1800, Mount-Vernon Lodge led a Masonic memorial ceremony, which began with the Mount-Vernon Brethren meeting in the morning at the State House and electing WKHLURIILFHUVLQVKRUWRUGHU$URXQGR¶FORFNWKH\EHJDQDSURFHVVLRQWRWKH(SLVFRSDO FKXUFKDFFRPSDQLHGE\PHPEHUVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHDQGWKH5R\DO$UFK&KDSWHU954 As in January, two Masons carried a large arch, joined this time by three Brothers with a 9-foot obelisk. In the Episcopal church, they heard a public eulogy delivered by the rector, Abraham Lynsen Clarke, who was also the High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter. After this address, they returned to the Council Chamber and, behind closed doors, heard a second eulogy by Amos Maine Atwell, who had just been re-elected as Worshipful Master of Mount-Vernon Lodge. The two Masonic eulogies of February 22, 1800 sound slightly different themes, appropriate to their respective settings²&ODUNH¶VLQSXEOLFLQD&KULVWLDQFKXUFKDQG$WZHOO¶V EHIRUHDFORVHG0DVRQLFDXGLHQFH%RWKRUDWRUVRIIHUSDHDQVWR:DVKLQJWRQ¶VH[HPSODU\ FKDUDFWHUEXWZKHUHDV&ODUNHSDLQWVDEURDGSLFWXUHRI:DVKLQJWRQ¶VFLYLFYLUWXHV$WZHOO itemizes the specifically Masonic virtues that the GHQHUDOHPERGLHGLQFOXGLQJ³)DLWK+RSH EURWKHUO\/RYH5HOLHIDQG7UXWK´955 Reaching the climax of the address, Atwell is careful to emphasize the final quality of character, which must be considered as the essential key-stone that connects and secures the whole edifice. Secrecy, although it has been the cause of reproach, and even persecution against the Craft, still has been esteemed among the chief of virtues, in ancient, as well as in modern times. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 954 Providence Gazette, March 1, 1800, p. 3. 955 Atwell, An Address Delivered Before Mount Vernon Lodge (Providence: John Carter, 1800), p. 11. )--! ! Atwell goes on to point to the ancient mystery cults as demonstrations of the value of secrecy, FLWLQJ³WKH(J\SWLDQJRG+DUSRFUDWHVWKHEUD]HQWRQJXHOHVVVWDWXHRIWKH$WKHQLDQV>DQG@WKH 5RPDQJRGGHVV$QJHURQD´DVHPEOHPVRIWKLVSUHFLRXVYLUWXH,QILQH1HR-Platonic form, he UHIHUVWR³RXUFHOHEUDWHGEURWKHU3\WKDJRUDV´ZKR³ERXQGKLVGLVFLSOHVE\VROHPQRDWKWR SUHVHUYHKLVZLVHDQGVFLHQWLILFP\VWHULHVIURPWKRVHZKRZHUHXQZRUWK\WRUHFHLYHWKHP´ )LQDOO\KHH[KRUWVKLVIHOORZ0DVRQVWR³OHWQRWKUHDWQRtemptation, wrest from our bosoms the VHFUHWVQRUHYHQWKHFRPPRQWUDQVDFWLRQVRIRXUPHHWLQJV´956 Atwell aimed his oration at a dual audience. On the one hand, all of his immediate hearers were fellow Masons. His references to the pre-Socratics and the mystery cults and his exhortation to secrecy are typical of the long tradition of Masonic charges, handbooks, and ritual oaths. At the same time, Atwell surely expected that his oration would soon be published for a general audience, which it was within WKH\HDU7RWKHRXWVLGHSXEOLF$WZHOO¶VHVRWHULF references may have appeared rather bizarre, but also intriguing. While he refers enticingly to WKH6RFLHW\¶VVHFUHWVKHLVDSSURSULDWHO\FDUHIXOQRWWRUHYHDOWKHLUFRQWHQW7KHDUURJDQFHRIKLV insisWHQFHRQJXDUGLQJWKHVHFUHWVDJDLQVWWKRVHZKRZHUH³XQZRUWK\WRUHFHLYHWKHP´VXUHO\ H[FLWHGUHVHQWPHQWEXWDOVRFXULRVLW\7KURXJKDOODJHVWKH0DVRQV¶VHFUHF\KDVEHHQDGRXEOH- edged sword. ,QFRQWUDVWWR$WZHOO¶Vexplicitly Masonic and esoteric rhetoric$EUDKDP&ODUNH¶V address at the Episcopal church may appear to be a fairly straightforward, conventional eulogy. In fact, it shows a careful balance of esoteric and exoteric messages, suited, OLNH$WZHOO¶V address, to a complex audience. After opening with a verse from Second Kings, Clarke likens !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 956 Atwell, 13. )-$! ! the mourning nation to a family bereft of its father. Much like Dehon in Newport, Clarke compares Washington favorably to Alexander, Caesar, and all the rulers of the ancient world who conquered by fear and force.957 :DVKLQJWRQ¶V&KULVWLDQSLHW\VHOI-sacrifice, and restraint are reflected in the GHQHUDO¶VDFWLRQVDVZHOODVKLVZRUGVZKLFK&ODUNHTXRWHVOLEHUDOO\ 5HJDUGLQJ:DVKLQJWRQ¶VIDUHZHOODGGUHVVRI &ODUNHFRPPHQWV³¶WLVLQGHHGOLNHWKH mDQWOHRI(OLMDKDOHJDF\LQYDOXDEOHDQGUHPDLQVWRLQIXVHLQWRRXUVRXOVµDGRXEOHSRUWLRQRI KLVVSLULW¶´958 In this comment, Clarke alludes to the chapter of Second Kings from which he KDGGUDZQWKHHSLJUDSKRIKLVVHUPRQ ³$QGKHFULHGP\)DWKHUP\Father, the Chariot of Israel DQGWKH+RUVHPDQWKHUHRI DQGKHVDZKLPQRPRUH´7KHVH%LEOLFDOYHUVHVUHIHUWRWKHVFHQHRI (OLVKDJULHYLQJDIWHUWKHSURSKHW(OLMDK¶VGLVDSSHDUDQFHDQGHYRNHWKHVHQVHRIEHUHDYHPHQW after being abandoned by a teacher and protector. &ODUNH¶VUHIHUHQFHWR(OLVKDFOXWFKLQJ(OLMDK¶VPDQWOHWDNHVRQFRPSOH[UHVRQDQFHVZKHQ RQHFRQVLGHUVWKHPXOWLSOHOD\HUVRIWKHVHUPRQ¶VDXGLHQFH$SURSKHW¶VPDQWOHLVWDNHQWR UHSUHVHQWKLVGLYLQHIDYRUDQGSURSKHWLFDXWKRULW\ (OLVKD¶VVeizure of the mantle left behind by Elijah therefore represents both his grief and his determination to succeed Elijah and to continue his prophetic endeavor. In this way, Clarke implies that Americans, represented by this gathering of Rhode Islanders, muVWQRZWDNHXSDQGFRQWLQXHWKHGHFHDVHGJHQHUDO¶VOHJDF\$W WKHVDPHWLPHKRZHYHU&ODUNH¶VRUDWLRQZDVRSHQO\VSRQVRUHGE\WKHWRZQ¶V0DVRQV WKH DPELJXLW\RIWKHILUVWSHUVRQSOXUDOLQ&ODUNH¶VUHIHUHQFHWR³RXUVRXOV´ DQGWKURXJKRXWKLV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 957 Abraham Lynsen Clarke, A Discourse, Occasioned by the Death of General George Washington (Providence: John Carter, 1800): 7. 958 Clarke, 20. )-%! ! sermon) allRZVIRUWKHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQWKDW:DVKLQJWRQ¶VPDQWOHUHVWVPRUHVSHFLILFDOO\XSRQWKH 0DVRQVZKRVHVSHFLDONQRZOHGJHHQDEOHVWKHPWRDFWDV:DVKLQJWRQ¶VVXFFHVVRUV The importance of this GRXEOHUHVRQDQFHLQ&ODUNH¶VRUDWLRQ comes into clearer relief as one considers WKHDPELJXRXVUROHRIGHDWKLQKLV%LEOLFDOPHWDSKRU2QWKHRQHKDQG&ODUNH¶V HSLJUDSKLVVLPLODUWR'HKRQ¶VZKLFKWKH1HZSRUWUHFWRUGUHZIURP6HFRQG6DPXHO ³.QRZ\H QRWWKDWWKHUHLVDSULQFHDQGDJUHDWPDQIDOOHQLQ,VUDHO´2QWKHRther hand, Clarke chooses as a metaphor a Biblical passage which conspicuously does not involve death²for Elijah, according to Second Kings, ascends to Heaven in a fiery chariot, making him one of two Biblical figures (the other being Enoch) who do not suffer death, but rather are assumed bodily into the divine world. Since the later Middle Ages, millennialists and occultists had often paired Enoch and (OLMDKDVLQVWDQFHVRIZLVHPHQRU³DGHSWV´ZKRRYHUFDPHGHDWKWKURXJKNQRZOHGJHDQGIDLWK The sixteenth-century alchemical physician Paracelsus, drawing on this tradition, predicted that (OLMDKZRXOGRQHGD\UHWXUQLQWKHIRUPRI³(OLDV$UWLVWD´DQGUHYHDOWKHKLGGHQWUXWKVRIWKH natural world. The veneration of Enoch and Elijah, with messianic overtones and the promise of immortality, became a staple of seventeenth-century alchemical philosophy.959 In the alchemical SDUDEOH³+HUPHV%LUG´UHSULQWHGE\WKH%ULWLVKDOFKHPLVWDQG)UHHPDVRQ(OLDV$VKPROHLQ 1652, the eponymous bird offers the secrets of immorWDOLW\GHFODULQJ³:LWKEnnock and Ely KDWKEHP\VHUYLV´960 (The enigmatic Hermes Bird would often reappear in alchemical and HVRWHULFDUWLQFOXGLQJDV3DSDJHQRLQ0R]DUW¶V0DVRQLFRSHUDThe Magic Flute.) Finally, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 959 Walter 3DJHO³7KH3DUDFHOVLDQ(OLDV$UWLVWDDQGWKH$OFKHPLFDO7UDGLWLRQ´LQReligion and Neoplatonism in Renaissance Medicine. London: Variorum Reprints, 1985. 960 Ashmole,Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, p. 220. )-&! ! Clarke drives home the alchemical significance of his eulogy by declaring that his audience VKRXOGUHFHLYH³DGRXEOHSRUWLRQRIKLV>(OLMDK¶V:DVKLQJWRQ¶V@VSLULW´7KH³VSLULW´LQWKLV Biblical verse can be understood as an animating breath or as a drink; alchemists had sometimes identifiHG(OLMDK¶VVSLULWZLWKWKHHOL[LURILPPRUWDOLW\ZKLFKKHSDVVHVRQWRKLVGLVFLSOH 7KXVZKLOH&ODUNH¶VRUDWLRQLQ3URYLGHQFHDQG'HKRQ¶VLQ1HZSRUWPD\DSSHDU superficially similar, their attitudes towards death are in fact profoundly opposite. In a prayer WKDWSUHFHGHGWKH1HZSRUWFHUHPRQ\'HKRQZDUQVKLVDXGLHQFHQRWWRWUXVWLQ³WKHEHVWVRQVRI PHQIRUWKHEUHDWKJRHWKIRUWKRIWKHLUQRVWULOVDQGDOOWKHLUWKRXJKWVSHULVK´ LWLVIRROLVKWRUHO\ RQPHUHPRUWDOVZKR³WKRXJKWKH\EHFDOOHGJRGVWKH\GLHOLNHPHQ´961 The central messages RI'HKRQ¶VHXORJ\DUHIDLWKLQ*RGDQGUHVLJQDWLRQWRKXPDQPRUWDOLW\%\FRQWUDVW&ODUNH FHOHEUDWHV:DVKLQJWRQ¶VDOPRVWVXSHUKXPDQTXDOLWLHVLQVLVWVRQWKHFRQWLQXDWLRQRIKLVOHJDF\ and links Washington to the esoteric tradition of immortality descending from Enoch and Elijah. Washington will live on through his fame and glory, entering into the succession of adepts who have defeated death through wisdom and discipline. In short, he died like a god. The HVRWHULFUHVRQDQFHVRI&ODUNH¶VDGGUHVVZRXOGSUREDEO\KDYHEHHQFOHDUWRPRVWRI the Masons in his audience ± at the very least, to Thomas Smith Webb. Masonic lore and ritual make frequent reference to alchemy, of whom Elijah is the mythic founder, and while Elijah does not appear directly in the Masonic degree rituals, the traditional Masonic epithet for Hiram $ELII³WKHZLGRZ¶VVRQ´DOOXGHVWRWKHWDOHRI(OMDKUHYLYLQJDZLGRZ¶VGHDGFKLOGWROGLQ .LQJV,QDGGLWLRQ(OLMDK¶V forerunner, Enoch, plays an important role in both Craft and higher-degree Masonic myth7KHVHFRQGHGLWLRQRI$QGHUVRQ¶VConstitutions, printed in 1738, DVVHUWVWKDW(QRFKZKR³GLHGQRWEXWZDVWUDQVODWHGDOLYH6RXODQG%RG\LQWR+HDYHQ´ZDV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 961 Dehon, 18. )-'! ! one of the early teachers of Masonry. According to this myth, Enoch, anticipating the Great Flood, engraved the secrets of Masonry for posterity on two stone tablets, thus bestowing his own immortality upon the Craft.962 The Royal Arch degree, which was popular in Rhode Island by 1799 and of which Clarke was an initiate, centers on an elaborate legend according to which Enoch built an underground vault to preserve his two pillars, along with the ineffable name of God on a golden plate.963 7KRPDV6PLWK:HEE¶V)UHHPDVRQ¶V0RQLWRU, first published in Albany in 1797 before Webb relocated to Providence in 1799, gives a detailed version of the Enochian legend.964 :DVKLQJWRQ¶VGHDWKUHSUHVHQWVDWXUQLQJ-point in the continuing Masonic romance with immortality. The Masons had long claimed tKDWWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VOHJHQGDU\IRXQGHU+LUDP$ELII WKHGHVLJQHURI6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHKDGFDUULHGZLWKKLPDVHFUHWSDVVZRUGZLWKVXSHUQDWXUDO powers. Lower-level workers demanded this word, murdered Hiram, and buried him in a shallow grave. Other Masons later located and exhumed his body, which they reburied. The VXJJHVWLRQRIWKLVOHJHQGLVWKDWWKH0DVRQLF)UDWHUQLW\E\SDVVLQJRQ+LUDP¶VZRUGDQGOHJDF\ have in fact resurrected the architect from the grave. In the later eighteenth century, the political disjuncture of the Revolution prompted American Masons to cast one of their own Brothers as a unifying figure and a present-day embodiment of Hiram: when the Grand Master of Ancient Masons in 0DVVDFKXVHWWV-RHVSHK:DUUHQGLHGDW%UHHG¶V+LOOKHwas buried in a crude mass grave. Local Masons later exhumed and reburied his body; his Masonic eulogist explicitly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 962 $QGHUVRQ¶V&RQVWLWXWLRQV, 2nd ed., 1738, p. 3. 963 Mackey, History of Freemasonry, vol. 2, p. 397-404. 964 Thomas Smith Webb, 7KH)UHHPDVRQ¶V0RQLWRURU,OOXVWUDWLRQVRI0DVRQU\ LQWZRSDUWV (Webb: Albany, 1797), p. 251-7. )-(! ! compared him to the legendary Hiram.965 While Warren fulfilled the role of Hiram Abiff, the republic lacked its own Solomon, a divinely-appointed leader uniting Masonry with the state. Washington, in death, filled this void. In the mass grief of 1799 and 1800, as mock funeral processions crisscrossed American towns, Washington could finally take up his destined role as the American Solomon, ZLWKKLV IDUHZHOODGGUHVVFDVWDVWKHNLQJ¶V³VSLULWXDOZLVGRP´ Like the Hiram of legend, Washington would live on through the Masons, the special and unique bearers of his legacy. As Enoch engraved the ineffable name on a golden plate, so Clarke SUD\VWKDW:DVKLQJWRQ¶V³H[DOWHGYLUWXHVEHGesignated in characters of gold´; as a fellow 0DVRQLFHXORJLVWLQ6DLQW'RPLQJXHGHFODUHG:DVKLQJWRQ¶VPHPRU\³ZLOOOLYHFRHTXDOZLWK HWHUQLW\´966 The relationship was reciprocal, in that the general would also lend his fame and prestige to the Fraternity. In a closing section of his eulogy, Clarke turns to his fellow Masons, VD\LQJ³>S@HUPLWPHQRZWRDVN\RXUDWWHQWLRQDIHZPRPHQWVORQJHUZKLOH,DGGUHVVWKH members of the society, by whose request this dLVFRXUVHKDVEHHQGHOLYHUHG´+HHQFRXUDJHVKLV %UHWKUHQWRH[XOW³LQWKHWKRXJKWWKDW:DVKLQJWRQOLYHGDQGGLHGD0DVRQ´DQGWULXPSKDQWO\ declares, let the tongue of slander be hushed to silence. The political fanatic shall no longer dare to reprobate our inviolable secrecy as dangerous to the liberties and inconsistent with the prosperity of our country; neither shall the superstitious ELJRWJXLGHGE\DQXQHQOLJKWHQHG]HDODVSHUVHRXURUGHU«7RVLOHQFHFDOXPQLHV like these, we need only say, that WKHµILUVWRIPHQ, first of heroes, and first of VWDWHVPHQ¶SUHVLGHGLQRXUORGJHV.967 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 965 3HUH]0RUWRQ³$Q2UDWLRQGHOLYHUHGDWWKH.LQJ¶V&KDSHOLQ%RVWRQ$SULO´HWF UHSULQWHGLQ:HOOV>³$%RVWRQLDQ´@Biographical Sketch of General Joseph Warren (Boston, 1857), p. 76. 966 Clarke, 25; Newport Mercury, March 11, 1800, p. 1. 967 Clarke, 24. )-)! ! &ODUNH¶VDSRVWURSKHWRWKH0DVRQVLVRIFRXUVHRQO\UKHWRULFDOVLQFHWKLVILQDOVHJPHQWRIKLV eulogy is the most pointedly aimed at non-Masons. Here, Clarke holds up :DVKLQJWRQ¶V reputation as a shield protecting the Fraternity from the attacks of earthly politics. As Masonry guarantees the everlasting glory of Washington, so Washington protects the eternal safety of Masonry. The Fraternity stands as an earthly temple, immune to the vicissitudes of politics, ZKLOHWKHGHDGKHURWDNHVKLVSODFHLQWKH³FHOHVWLDOWHPSOHWREHDGRUQHGZLWKMHZHOVEHDXWLILHG ZLWKLPPRUWDOLW\´968 In this eternal communion of dead hero and living Fraternity, the two will SDUWDNHRI(OLMDK¶s spirit, and together fulfill the alchemical quest. $$ ^ĞǁŝŶŐƐĂŵƉůĞƌ͕WƌŽǀŝĚĞŶĐĞ͕ϭϴϬϬ;ĚĞƚĂŝůͿ͘dŚĞĐĞŶƚƌĂůƐĐĞŶĞƐŚŽǁƐĂƚŽŵďǁŝƚŚtĂƐŚŝŶŐƚŽŶ͛ƐŝŶŝƚŝĂůƐ +=##%(-:*)$"*$=(*$@:-2$"$!"+%*:>$,GC5,G$"*3$"$3%B,0$(,#(,+,*-:*)$#,">,0$-2,$T%5/$Q#:(:-0$"*3$-2,$'%"2:3,$ >%B,*"*-8$$aB,($-2,$+>,*,$"(>2,+$"$@:55%@$-(,,0$(,#(,+,*-:*)$G%=(*:*)$"+$@,55$"+$(,),*,("-:%*$"*3$:GG%(-"5:-/8$$ dŚĞƐĂŵƉůĞƌ͕ƉƌŽďĂďůLJƐĞǁŶďLJĂLJŽƵŶŐǁŽŵĂŶ͕ƌĞĨůĞĐƚƐƚŚĞDĂƐŽŶƐ͛ƐƵĐĐĞƐƐŝŶĂƐƐŽĐŝĂƚŝŶŐƚŚĞ&ƌĂƚĞƌŶŝƚLJǁŝƚŚ tĂƐŚŝŶŐƚŽŶ͛ƐŝŵŵŽƌƚĂůůĞŐĂĐLJ8$$4G"),$>%=(-,+/$%&$12%3,$4+5"*3$T:+-%(:>"5$Q%>:,-/8 The death of George Washington, more than any previous event, put the role of Masonry in North American society to the test. In memorializing Washington, as General, as statesman, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 968 Clarke, 26. )-*! ! and as Brother, the Masons dramatized their simultaneously civic and non-political persona. 6HHNLQJWRWDNHXSWKH*HQHUDO¶VPDQWOHWKH\FDVWWKHLUUHODWLRQVKLSWR:DVKLQJWRQDVERWK patriotic and religious, belonging to a sacred realm beyond earthly politics. The collective mourning of 1800 came closer than any other single occasion could to completing the Masonic project that James Mitchell Varnum and his cohorts had initiated in the 1770s with the death of Joseph Warren. Through the last quarter of the eighteenth century, American Masons strove to transfer the sanctity associated with kingship onto new, republican practices and institutions² the Continental officer corps, the judiciary, westward expansion, religious toleration, and the Constitution. They consecrated a sphere of civic loyalties from which issued a divine, non- political sovereignty. Now, at the close of the century, Washington himself ascended bodily, like Enoch and Eiljah, into that eternal sphere, the realm beyond human corruption. The image of WashingtRQLQWKHQLQHWHHQWKFHQWXU\VXJJHVWVWKDWWKH0DVRQV¶SURMHFW DFKLHYHGDWOHDVWDSDUWLDOVXFFHVV7ZR\HDUVDIWHU&ODUNH¶VDQG$WZHOO¶VHXORJLHVWKHNewport Mercury ran an advertisement for a large portrait of Washington, which, though still unfinished, was available for viewing at the house of Dr. Charles Bartlett, a Newport native who had recently returned from several years in the West Indies. In the painting, the General is seated in his handsomely furnished parlor, holding a Bible and a pen, while RYHUWKH*HQHUDO¶VNQHHLV GUDSHGDEDQQHUGHFODULQJ³UHOLJLRQLVWKHWUXHDQGRQO\VWDEOHIRXQGDWLRQRIKXPDQ JRYHUQPHQW´6HHQWKURXJKWKHZLQGRZEHKLQGKLPLVDVFHQHRI0RXQW6LQDLZLWKDVSULQJ feeding palm and olive trees. On the wall over the GHQHUDO¶VULJKWVKRXOGHULVDVTXDUHDQG FRPSDVVMHZHO³GHVLJQDWLQJWKHUHFWLWXGHRIKLVFKDUDFWHUDQGFRQGXFWWKURXJKOLIH´969 Though !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 969 Newport Mercury, July 1, 1800, p. 4; Feb. 2, 1802, p. 3; George Champlin Mason, Reminiscences of Newport, p. 291-3. )-+! ! it was only one of countless Masonic portraits of Washington that Americans would produce in WKH\HDUVDIWHUWKH*HQHUDO¶s death, this lost painting combined as bluntly as possible the themes that the Rhode Island Masons strove to attach to the Craft: Washington, moral probity, prosperity, religion, and the Covenant. General Washington now inhabited the realm of myth, in which time and space collapse, and where symbolic figures encounter one another in an eternally recurring present, as God and his people eternally renew their Covenant. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Masonic vision of the American Solomon unfolded itself before the eyes of the public²DOWKRXJKLWUHPDLQHGOLNH'RFWRU%DUWOHWW¶VSDLQWLQJWKDWVWURYHWRFDSWXUHLW unfinished. )-,! ! SE C T I O N V: GU A RDIN G T H E G A T ES²T H E L I M I TS O F M ASO NI C BR O T H E R H O O D )$-! ! Chapter 18: The Freemasons and the Slave T rade, Slavery, and Racism 2QWKHHYHQLQJRI-XQHDWWKH.LQJ¶V$UPV7DYHUQLQ1HZSRUW'DYLG 'RXJODVV¶DFWLQJWURXSHVWDJHGDVHULHVRI³PRUDOGLDORJXHV´WDNHQIURP6KDNHVSHDUH¶VOthello. Prior to the performance, the troupe circulated a playbill aGYHUWLVLQJWKHGUDPDDVDOHVVRQLQ³WKH HYLOHIIHFWVRIMHDORXV\DQGRWKHUEDGSDVVLRQV´DQGH[SODLQLQJWKHGLGDFWLFVLJQLILFDQFHRIHDFK RIWKHGUDPD¶VFKDUDFWHUV2ZHQ0RUULVDQDFWRUZKRVSHFLDOL]HGLQGHSLFWLRQVRIROGPHQ ZRXOGSOD\WKHSDUWRI³the father of Desdemona, who is not cruel or covetous, but is foolish enough to dislike the noble Moor, his son-in-law, because his face is not white, forgetting that we all spring from one root.´7KHDGYHUWLVHPHQWGLGQRWPLQFHZRUGV ³6XFKSUHMXGLFHV´Lt DGPRQLVKHG³DUHYHU\QXPHURXVDQGYHU\ZURQJ´7KHELOOFORVHGZLWKDUK\PHHQFDSVXODWLQJ WKHGLDORJXH¶VILQDOOHVVRQ Fathers beware what sense and love ye lack, µ7LVFULPHQRWFRORUPDNHVWKHEHLQJEODFN970 Though it makes a familiar, even hackneyed, play on the literal and figurative meanings of the FRORUEODFNWKHYHUVLFOHFRXOGQRWKDYHSOHDVHGWKHHDUVRIDOOPHPEHUVRIWKHGLDORJXH¶V 1HZSRUWDXGLHQFH%\WKHWLPHRIWKH'RXJODVVWURXSH¶VSHUIRUPDQFH1HZSRUWZDVWKH principal center of the VODYHWUDGHLQ1RUWK$PHULFDZLWKWKHWRZQ¶VPRVWSRZHUIXOPHUFKDQWV obtaining unprecedented wealth by moving thousands of African bodies each year into the slave PDUNHWVRIWKH1HZ:RUOG'HVSLWHZKDWHYHUGLVFRPIRUWWKH'RXJODVVWURXSH¶VUHDGLQJRI Othello may have caused, the Newport lodge initiated Owen Morris three months later, in September 1761, making the actor a lodge Brother of several slaving merchants, captains, and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 970 ³$1HZSRUW3OD\-ELOO´-XQHTXRWHGLQ6HLOKDPHU-4. )$$! ! mariners. The slave-trading Masons of Newport, like all of their colleagues in the African trade, used violent force and threats, whether in person or at a distance, to move their captives to market; in 1765, one of them, Captain Thomas Rogers, was obliged to kill twelve slaves in order to suppress a rebellion aboard a slaving brig named²as if to add insult to injury²the Othello.971 7KHLURQ\RIWKHQDPHRI7KRPDV5RJHUV¶VKLSOLNHWKDWRI$QQ)UDQNOLQ¶VSULQWLQJRI Masonry Dissected, points to a crisis in Masonic universalism in the eighteenth century. Before WKHULVHRI³VFLHQWLILF´UDFLVPLQWKHPLG-V(XURSHDQV¶DQG(XUR-$PHULFDQV¶YLHZVRI Africans were a welter of confusion and contradictions, with the defenders and the critics of the Atlantic slave trade scrambling to situate darker-skinned peoples in their account of the world;972 LQYRFDWLRQVRI6KDNHVSHDUH¶VPRRUZKRLVDWRQFHQREOHVNLOOIXODQGYLROHQWFRXOGVHUYHWR UHFRJQL]H$IULFDQV¶KXPDQLW\DVZHOODVWRMXVWLI\WKHLUVXEMXJDWLRQDVXQFLYLOL]HGEUXWHV:KDW is more, in the middle of the eighteenth century, one could accept the humanity of African and American Indian people while also accepting slavery as a matter of law and custom. The ideas DQGSUDFWLFHVRI0DVRQU\ZKLFKFODLPHGLQ7KRPDV3ROOHQ¶VZRUGVWRFDUHIRU³DOOPDQNLQG´ DQGWR³RSHQZLGHLWVDUPVWRHYHU\QDWLRQXQGHUKHDYHQ´973 offered a potential response to the racism employed to justify African slavery. Hence, it threatened to disturb accepted social and legal customs, if and when it combined with the Whig crusade for personal liberty. However, unlike the question of women in Masonry, which the Masons themselves addressed openly on many occasions, the problem of racism and the moral status of darker- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 971 Newport Mercury, November 18, 1765, p. 3; Jay Coughtry, The Notorious Triangle: Rhode Island and the African Slave Trade (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981), p. 151, 156-8. 972 John Wood Sweet, Bodies Politic: Negotating Race in the American North (Johns Hopkins U. Press, 2003). 973 Pollen, 8, 15. )$%! ! skinned peoples hardly appears at all in the Masonic literature of the eighteenth century. Masons qua Masons never took a public stand in the debates over slavery and racism; while some Brethren spoke out forcefully for or against the slave trade, the Fraternity as an institution carefully avoided the topic. Their wall of silence was only finally breached by Afro-Americans themselves, some of whom attained the Masonic mysteries and used them to advance their quest for civil rights and freedoms. The dilemma that slavery and racism presented to Freemasonry was especially pressing in Rhode Island, where the slave trade became the most lucrative branch of commerce in the later eighteenth century, and it forms the background for the early appearance of Afro-American RU³3ULQFH+DOO´0DVRQU\LQWKHVWDWH While only a small minority of Newporters personally commissioned or captained African voyages, thousands of others manned or supplied them, processed the West Indian goods that the voyages obtained in exchange for captives, or acquired their own slaves to work in homes and workshops in Rhode Island. Freemasonry and the slave trade were uncomfortably intertwined, and Thomas Rogers was not the only Rhode Island Mason that trafficked in slaves even as his own lodge Brothers condemned racism. One might see Rhode Island as an extreme case, considering that it was the capital of the slave trade in North America, but in fact it merely exemplified a larger pattern in the eighteenth century: Masonry tended to take hold in the port towns of the Atlantic rim, and the slave trade was the lifeblood of the Atlantic ecRQRP\VXSSO\LQJWKHODERUIRUFHRIWKH1HZ:RUOG¶VWURSLFDO colonies while diverting much of the wealth that they produced to European and North American merchants. Young men would not have been drawn into the dangerous and unstable Atlantic world without the lure of wealth that slavery and the slave trade produced, and hence the Craft would not have found fertile ground in harbor towns and aboard sailing ships. Many of the cities )$&! ! in which Freemasonry flourished and spread²Liverpool, London, Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Kingston, and Le Cap, among others²were major slave-trading ports. The tension between Masonic universalism and the traffic in African bodies was unavoidable. )RULWVSDUW5KRGH,VODQG¶VLQYROYHPHQWLQWKH$IULFDQWUDGHZDVIDU-reaching but never fore-ordained. Newport began its career as a significant seaport in the late 1600s, primarily by VXSSO\LQJWKH:HVW,QGLDQFRORQLHVZLWK³SURYLVLRQV´²lumber, hides, grain, salt fish, and other materials that planters preferred to import. Specie was scarce in the Caribbean, and Rhode Island traders often exchanged their provisions for West Indian goods, particularly sugar and molasses. After 1700, distilleries opened in Newport in order to distill molasses into rum, which could be marketed within the colony or elsewhere along the American coast. The commodity that Caribbean planters demanded most, however, was slaves. Beginning in 1709, some Rhode Island merchants gathered the capital, credit, and crews necessary to undertake audacious triangular voyages: their vessels carried rum and other American products to the coast of West Africa, where they exchanged their goods for captives; carried the human cargo westward to ports in the West Indies or North America, where they would be auctioned as slaves; and returned to Rhode Island with money or tropical products, particularly molasses, which was in turn distilled into rum to be sold in Africa, thus completing the macabre cycle. Over the rest of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, the number of slaving voyages from Rhode Island soared, reaching a peak of 51 voyages in the year 1805 alone. Before the trade was finally suppressed, Rhode Island vessels carried about 106,000 people into slavery, placing the )$'! ! VWDWH¶VUROHLQWKHtraffic at about the same level as those of the minor carrier nations of Denmark and the Netherlands.974 Around the midpoint of the eighteenth century, when the first recorded Masonic lodge formed in Newport, the peace following the War of the Austrian Succession allowed the Rhode Island slave trade to grow substantially. By 1764, Rhode Island voyages to Elmina and other slave-trading ports and fortresses were so frequent that in February of that year, the Mercury reported that five Newport captains were all currently anchored on the Coast of West Africa.975 Few Rhode Islanders in this early period perceived the African trade as morally distinct from the various other trades that their countrymen pursued in faraway lands and seas. In practical terms, the slave trade shared the qualities of the familiar West Indian and coasting trades but carried them to the extreme: African voyages were longer, more expensive, more dangerous, and correspondingly more lucrative. Only those merchant-magnates with the greatest access to capital and credit and the widest knowledge of West Indian ports²e.g., Godfrey Malbone and William and Samuel Vernon²dared to outfit their vessels for African voyages. These men were not Masons. As seen in Chapter 3, Masonry failed to attract RKRGH,VODQG¶VZHDOWKLHVWDQGPRVW powerful merchants in the colonial era, meaning that non-0DVRQVSLRQHHUHGWKHFRORQ\¶V$IULFDQ trade. After 1755, however, the Masons Alexander Grant, Isaac Elizer, Robert Elliot, and Nathaniel Mumford invested in a single slaving voyage each.976 More directly, several early members of the lodge were mariners who manned or captained triangular voyages. Francis Malbone captained a slaving voyage of the Othello in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 974 Coughtry, 5-29; Crane, A Dependant People, 55-7. 975 Newport Mercury, February 20, 1764, p. 3. 976 Coughtry, 241-8. )$(! ! 1755, the year before he became a Mason. The Mason-captains Thomas Rodman, Edward Wanton, Thomas Rogers, William Earle, George Crosswell, and Owen Morris (not to be confused with the actor of the same name) each captained one or two slaving voyages before 1765.977 The significant overlap between the constituencies of Freemasonry and the slave trade is reflected in an ad in the Mercury in 1764 for a shop selling maps of West Africa and the Caribbean as well as several popular books including the )UHHPDVRQ¶V3RFNHW&RPSDQLRQ.978 In the 1760s and 1770s, two Newport Masons became major figures in the slave trade. The Freemason who was most active in the trade, Peter Wanton, joined the lodge in July 1760, the same year as his first known African voyage. Over the course of the decade, Wanton commanded at least five voyages to West Africa, most of which sold their human cargo in Barbados, the most frequent destination for Rhode Island slavers before the Revolution. Following the Revolution, he evidently remained involved in the trade until 1786 when, like many slave traders, he died on the coast of Africa.979 )ROORZLQJRQ:DQWRQ¶VKHHOV3HOHJ Clarke captained his first known African voyage, on the Patty, to Barbados in 1767, followed by the Fletcher, which sold its cargo in Jamaica in 1772. In the 1770s and 1780s, Clarke went on to become one of the wealthiest and most successful slave traders in Newport. By March 1774, he co-owned a slaving vessel, and he continued to captain slaving voyages until at least 1787. &ODUNH¶VEULJWKHThames, was an exceptionally large vessel for a Newport trader: whereas the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 977 Coughtry, 248-53. 978 Newport Mercury, December 31, 1764, p. 1. 979 Coughtry, 250-7; Newport Mercury, February 11, 1765, p. 3, March 6, 1771, p. 3, April 17, 1786, p. 3. )$)! ! vast majority of Rhode Island slave ships were small, carrying only 75 to 150 captives, the Thames delivered 300 slaves to Barbados in 1775.980 Peter Wanton and Peleg Clarke were outliers among the colonial Rhode Island Masons; even those Freemasons who were involved in more than one or two slaving voyages tended to be minor players. The life and career of one such minor slave trader, Nathan Bull, who joined the lodge in 1765, is fairly well recorded. Born in 1737, he was apprenticed as a cooper²a craft that was highly important to triangular voyages, where barrels and slave platforms required frequent repairs, and that often served as a steppingstone to the captaincy. He was employed on a slaving voyage in 1757, when French privateers captured him on the Guinea coast and took him, severely ill with smallpox, to Martinique. Bull narrowly survived the illness, and by 1766, he was commanding slaving voyages; in that year, he transported 130 slaves to Saint Croix on the Nelly, and in 1768 carried 182 slaves on the Polly+HPDUULHGLQDW6DLQW3DXO¶V Church in Narragansett; fleeing to the Narragansett country during the British occupation of Newport, he was listed in 1777 as unable to bear arms. He died in 1778, leaving behind in his estate a maple desk, silver plate, and several birdcages.981 /LNHPRVWRI0DVRQU\¶VVRFLDOLQYROYHPHQWVWKH&UDIW¶VFRQQHFWLRQWRWKHJURZLQJVODYH trade was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Masonry probably spread both upward and downward through the ranks of slaving crews, as it did in military units and aboard other oceangoing ships such as the privateer George discussed in Chapter 3. Both Nathan Bull and Jeremiah Clarke were involved in the trade before they affiliated with the Newport lodge in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 980 Coughtry, 151, 255, 258, 261-3; Newport Mercury, August 24, 1767, p. 3, March 19, 1787, p. 3. 981 Robert E. Swisher, The Newport, RI Ancestors of Nathan Bull III (Newport: Newport Historical Society, 1986), 27-38. )$*! ! 1765, suggesting that they may have first become Masons at sea or abroad. On the other hand, the slave trade was highly dangerous, and took a heavy toll on the Rhode Island Masons. The coast of west and central Africa was a lethal disease environment for Europeans, and indeed, a higher proportion of slave traders died during their sojourns on the coast than captives on the Middle Passage.982 The Mason-captain Owen Morris returned from a slaving voyage in 1765 to report that his mate, the mate of another Newport captain, and most of the crews of two Boston WUDGHUVKDGDOOGLHGGXULQJ0RUULV¶WLPHRQWKHFRDVW983 In the autumn of that year, the mariner Daniel Duncan died on the African coast, followed only a few weeks later by Captain Benjamin Carr and in 1774 by Captain Thomas Rogers, all of them Newport Freemasons.984 Disease was by far the most frequent killer of European and American slave traders; violence was comparatively rare, especially among Rhode Island slavers, who usually captained smaller vessels on which slaves had little chance of overwhelming their captors. Generally, in the case of organized resistance, slave traders sought to restore control over their captives with a minimum of loss to their valuable cargo, and often, EuropeaQV¶PDVWHU\RIWKHWHFKQRORJLHVRI sailing, navigation, and firearms and their access to a common language enabled them to quash resistance without bloodshed. Nonetheless, a few Rhode Island Masons did use deadly force against their human cargoes. Owen Morris and his crew shot 11 rebelling captives on the Othello in 1765, and Peleg Clarke killed 33 in the course of quelling a revolt on the Thames in 1776.985 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 982 Coughtry, 154-5. 983 Newport Mercury, June 17, 1765, p. 3. 984 Newport Mercury, December 30, 1765, p. 3, January 13, 1766, p. 3, May 16, 1774, p. 3. 985 Coughtry, 150-2. )$+! ! Reports of the violence and degradation involved in the slave trade rarely reached the Rhode Island press, but perhaps the most gruesome and dramatic exception of the entire eighteenth century involved Captain George Frost, an otherwise obscure mariner who had joined the Masonic lodge in 1757. According to a report published in the Mercury in 1763, Frost and the crew of his sloop were in the process of gathering slaves along the African coast when they made a series of missteps. Frost dispatched three crew members ashore to obtain supplies, leaving the ship under the control of three men. Rhode Island traders, carrying small cargoes, often allowed their captives to roam unchained on deck,986 DQGRQWKLVGD\)URVWEURXJKW³DERXW ´RIWKHPXSIRUH[HUFLVH7KHFDSWLYHVVHL]HG)URVWDQGDFUHZPHPEHUDQGWKUHZWKHP overboard, taking control of the ship. Frost attempted to re-board the vessel, but the rebels threw DODQFHZKLFK³SHQHWUDWHGKLVERG\´DQGDV)URVWWXUQHGWRVZLPDVKRUHKH³VXQNDQGZDVVHHQ QRPRUH´/DWHUWKDWGD\DV$IULFDQWUDGHUVLQFDQRHVVRXJKWWRUHWDNHWKHYHVVHOWKHUHEHOVIired their small arms, igniting the barrels of powder and causing an explosion that killed around thirty. Finally, three days later, when slave traders did retake the vessel, they found the mate, :LOOLDP*UDQWGHDGLQKLVEHGKLVWKURDWFXW³LQDYHU\VKRFNLQJPDQQHU´987 7KHPDFDEUHWDOHRI*HRUJH)URVW¶VVKLSLOOXVWUDWHVPRVWRIWKHFRPPRQZHDNQHVVHVERWK of European traders²small numbers, vulnerability to disease, and naivety regarding their FDSWLYHV¶GHWHUPLQDWLRQWRUHVLVW²and of the targets of the trade²lack of knowledge of navigation, firearms, and languages. Most readers of the Mercury probably did not see in such a story an indictment of the slave trade and its inherent violence, but rather a confirmation of the purported savagery and childish impulsiveness that justified the enslavement of Africans. The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 986 Coughtry, 153-4. 987 Newport Mercury, June 6, 1763, p. 3. )$,! ! UHSRUW¶VUHIHUHQFHWR:LOOLDP*UDQW¶VFXWWKURDWHYHQDVLWOHIWXQPHQWLRQHGWKHYDULRXVWRUWXUHV and mutilations that facilitated the African trade, helped to squelch any qualms that readers might have felt regarding the enslavement of a shipful of people. So long as the trade remained at a great distance, targeting foreigners who remained safely behind the anonymous mask of the ³QHJUR´5KRGH,VODQGHUVLQFOXGLQJWKH0DVRQVFRXOGVKLHOGWKHPVelves from whatever moral qualms their involvement in the trade provoked. The moral stakes of the slave trade increased when Africa, in a sense, came home; the shields of distance and anonymity broke down. After 1750, slaves and free blacks, no longer meUHO\DGLVWDQWDEVWUDFWLRQEHFDPHDXELTXLWRXVDQGRIWHQLQWLPDWHSDUWRIZKLWHFRORQLVWV¶ lives. Some Rhode Island slavers brought portions of their human cargo back to their home ports, where they were sold into slavery, and in the 1750s, slave auctions occasionally took place LQ1HZSRUWLQFOXGLQJDGMDFHQWWR7ULQLW\&KXUFK%\5KRGH,VODQG¶VSRSXODWLRQRIDERXW 41,000 included more than 4,600 blacks, both slave free, most of them concentrated in Newport and the Narragansett country.988 Since Newport was not a plantation society, most of the merchant-Masons in the town who owned slaves tended to possess only a few, most often only RQH&DSWDLQ%HQMDPLQ&DUUZKRGLHGLQOHIWRQH³VPDOOQHJURJLUO´LQKLVHVWDWH989 Robert Jenkins, the former Worshipful Master of the lodge who also died in 1766, left behind RQH³QHJURER\´ZKRZDVDXFWLRQHGRIILQWKH0DUNHW+RXVH990 Benjamin Wanton, who wrote up his will in 1761, left to his father-in-ODZKLV³QHJURER\QDPHG-DFNR´991 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 988 Crane, A Dependant People, 51-2; Newport Mercury, August 20, 1859, p. 1. 989 Inventory of estate of Benjamin Carr, Town Council Records, vol. 15, p. 28-30, NHS. 990 Newport Mercury, July 14, 1766. 991 Will of Benjamin Wanton, Town Council Records, vol. 13, p. 81, NHS. )%-! ! While most Masons, like other middling New England merchants, had only one slave if any, a small handful held more. Thomas Rodman, who died in 1766, left behind two enslaved men and one woman, who made up the bulk of the value of his estate.992 Jahleel Brenton, who broke up his estate at Hammersmith upon his death in 1767, distributed six slaves among his sons and daughters.993 On the eve of the Revolution, the lodge in Newport had ceased to function, but a census held in 1774 shows that several former Masons had become significant slaveholders; the household of John Mawdsley contained eight whites and twenty blacks, all of them probably slaves, making him the largest slaveholder in Newport. All in all, the census found 1,246 blacks in Newport out of a total of 9,208 people. Meanwhile, in Providence, slaveholding was more rare, with the same census recording only 303 blacks in the town out of a total of 4,321 people. The Brown brothers, however, were among the larger slaveholders in 3URYLGHQFHZLWK-RVHSK%URZQ¶VKRXVHKROGLQFOXding four slaves and that of John Brown, two.994 ! 7KHVHVPDOOJURXSVRIVODYHVZHUHRIWHQYHU\LPSRUWDQWDVVHWVWRWKHLURZQHUV¶IDPLOLHV including many Newport Freemasons. Doctor William Hunter often treated slaves at their RZQHU¶VH[SHQVHLQFOXGLQJ³QHJURHV´EHORQJLQJWRIHOORZ0DVRQV(YDQ0DOERQH*UHJRU\ Cozzens, Christopher Champlin, and Moses Michael Hays, and Edward Wanton.995 Many !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 992 inventory of estate of Thomas Rodman, 1767, Town Council Records, Vol. 15, p. 120-3, NHS. 993 Will of Jahleel Brenton, 1766, Town Council records, vol. 15, p. 99-103, NHS. 994 John R. Bartlett, ed., Census of the Inhabitants of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence 3ODQWDWLRQV« (Providence: Knowles, Anthony, and co., 1858). 995 Dr. William Hunter, medical daybook, extracts, Rhode Island Roots, 27:27, March 2001, p. 0HPRUDQGXP³FRQFHUQLQJ'U:LOOLDP+XQWHU´+XQWHU)DPLO\3DSHUV%R[)ROGHU 1+6 3K\VLFLDQ¶V%RRNQR-9, Box 15, NHS; Account between Edward Wanton and William Hunter, 1760-1, Box 43, Folder 6, NHS. )%$! ! African slaves were evidently valued and sought after for their special skills: in 1775, Benjamin Brenton advertised in VHDUFKRID³QHJURIDUPHU´DQGLQ&KULVWRSKHU&KDPSOLQDGYHUWLVHG WKHDYDLODELOLW\RID³OLNHO\QHJURER\«ZKRXQGHUVWDQGVWKHFDUHRIDKRUVHDWWHQGLQJRIWDEOH HWF´996 Slaveowners would often go to great lengths to recover a slave that ran away, which thye frequently did. In 1765, Benjamin Brenton offered a reward for a 20-year-old slave named /RQGRQ³VXSSRVHGWREHKLGLQJVRPHZKHUHLQWRZQ´ LQ3DXO7HZRI3URYLGHQFHDQRWKHU Mason, offered a slightly larger reward for a runaway slave named Caesar, aged 50 to 60, who VSRNH³WROHUDEOHJRRG(QJOLVK´DQGZKRKDGSUHYLRXVO\SUHWHQGHGWREHIUHH997 Few colonial Rhode Island Masons expressed qualms with regard to slavery or the generally degrading treatment of Afro-Rhode Islanders. One partial exception was the Reverend Thomas Pollen, who shortly after arriving in Newport in 1754, offered to evangelize and educate black Rhode Islanders. While most religious societies in the colony welcomed blacks to worship services, they did not wish to see them become full members and communicants. Pollen, for his SDUWGHFODUHGWRIHOORZPLVVLRQDULHVLQWKDW³,VKDOOPDNHQRVFUXSOHRIEDSWL]LQJ´EODFN worshipers. Pollen met with opposition from some of his parishioners who claimed that blacks ³JURZZRUVHDIWHUEDSWLVP´ EODFN1HZSRUWHUVDVWXWHO\DWWULEXWHGWKLVRSSRVLWLRQWRWKH VODYHKROGHUV¶RZQIHDUV³WKDWWKHLUVHUYDQWVZRXOGE\EDSWLVPFRPHWRRQHDUWKHPVHOYHV´LQ status.998 Pollen ignored these objections, but he called only for spiritual, not legal, equality. He considered it the duty of Christian masters to evangelize their slaves and accept them as fellow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 996 Newport Mercury, January 9, 1775; Newport Gazette, June 12, 1777. 997 Providence Gazette, June 20, 1772, p. 3; Newport Mercury, December 30, 1765, p. 3. 998 Thomas Pollen to John Waring, July 6, 1765, reproduced in Van Horne, Correspondence of the Associates of Dr. Bray, 119-20, quoted in John Wood Sweet, Bodies Politic, 113. )%%! ! Christians, not necessarily to free them; his outlook was fairly typical of the Anglican Church, which sought to integrate slaves into a hierarchical imperial order. In general, the Rhode Island Masons in this period showed no particular discomfort with owning and trading in slaves, despite their universalist and humanist rhetoric. Freemasonry could co-exist easily with slavery, as demonstrated by its flourishing in the West Indies, where slaveholding was more ubiquitous than in Rhode Island. Indeed, the same Reverend Thomas 3ROOHQZKRKDGFHOHEUDWHGWKDW0DVRQU\³RSHQVZLGHLWVDUPVWRHYHU\QDWLRQXQGHUKHDYHQ´ after relocating from Newport to Kingston in 1760, frankly acknowledged the foundational importance of slavery in his new home. In a letter to a friend in Newport, the minister noted the GHDUWKRIZKLWHZRPHQDQGFKLOGUHQLQ.LQJVWRQ SURFUHDWLRQKHKDGEHHQWROG³is carried on, by white or black gentlemen, and black or tawny ladies´999 It perhaps took an outsider to identify so bluntly the reliance of British West Indian society on the African population even for its biological reproduction. Still, he apparently squared slavery with his Christianity and his Masonry; like many men and women of the eighteenth century, he recognized the humanity of Africans while accepting slavery as a social and legal institution. -DPDLFD¶VHVWDWHDQGWD[UHFRUGVVKRZWKDWWKHVOLJKWPDMRULW\Rf the Freemasons of Kingston in the 1760s were slaveholders. Of the forty-three members of the Mother Lodge listed in its 1763 report, twenty-two owned some slaves. The Masons who were slaveholders owned an average of 16.5 slaves each, whether in Kingston or at rural estates in the surrounding parishes. The largest slaveholding Masons were the silversmith, Daniel Almeyda, with fifty slaves, and the printer, Thomas Woolhead, with forty-three; both of these craftsmen surely used !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 999 Thomas Pollen to [?] Vernon, March 12, 1761, Vernon family papers, box 79, folder 9, NHS. )%&! ! slave labor in their workshops.1000 Far more Kingston Masons, though, like their Brethren in Newport, owned only a single slave; for instance, the estate of Moses Cohen Peixotto, who died LQLQFOXGHGRQH³QHJURER\´QDPHG3ULPXVZRUWKWZHQW\-five pounds. The Masons of other lodges both in Kingston and elsewhere in Jamaica are harder to identify, but the planter and jurist William Wynter, who served briefly as the Provincial Grand Master, owned at the time of his death in 1772 two estates and a town house with a total of about three hundred slaves.1001 The flourishing of Masonry in Jamaica in the 1770s underscores the importance of the imperial crisis and the Revolution in upsetting the apparent harmony between the two institutions in North America, particularly in Rhode Island. Colonial Masonry and slaveholding could coexist despite their apparent ideological tension; only in response to the political and philosophical challenge of the Revolution did Masons become involved in the antislavery cause. Both the Revolution and the actions of black New Englanders themselves forced a shift in thinking about slavery. By 1770, the wall of denial that Rhode Islanders had previously maintained around the slave trade cracked. Afro-Rhode Islanders were increasingly important parts of their oZQHUV¶QHLJKERUV¶DQGEXVLQHVVSDUWQHUV¶OLYHV QRWRQO\GLGPDQ\RIWKHPJDLQ freedom by purchase, persuasion, or flight, but they played important roles in colonial society once free. Some served the Crown in war; for instance, at least two Afro-American soldiers, ³&DVDV6DPER´DQG³-DPHV6DPER´VHUYHGLQ6DPXHO$QJHOO¶VFRPSDQ\LQGUDZLQJWKH same pay as their comrades.1002 Many were skilled mariners, and as early as 1758, the crew of the George included several men with characteristically Afro-APHULFDQQDPHVLQFOXGLQJ³%HQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1000 Kingston Parish Vestry minutes, 1763-7, 1766 Tax List, p. 103-5, JARD. 1001 Estate of William Wynter, 1772, inventories Liber 53, p. 112-17, JARD. 1002 3D\OLVWRI&RORQHO6DPXHO$QJHOO¶V&RPSDQ\'HFWR0DUFK&RORQLDO0LOLWLD Collection, RIHS. )%'! ! 1HJUR´³3ULQFH*RXOG´DQGIRXUPHQQDPHG³&DHVDU´1003 Some free black Rhode Islanders showed astonishing talents and ambition. For example, Occramer Marycoo, also called Newport Gardner, came to Rhode Island as a slave in 1760, aged about 14; he soon learned to read, speak French, and play and compose music, and after obtaining his freedom, he opened a music school patronized by many prominent Rhode Islanders.1004 In the face of the increasing importance of Afro-Americans, both enslaved and free, in the fabric of Rhode Island society, colonists were forced to justify their continued holding of Africans in bondage. Some Rhode Islanders, including several Masons, clung to paternalistic racism as a rationalization. In 1776, Moses Seixas complained to the commanders of the British IOHHWVWDWLRQHGLQ1HZSRUWKDUERUWKDWKLV³1HJURER\´DJHG³DERXWWZHQW\´KDGHVFDSHGWRWKH ship of war, the Rose. 7KHPHUFKDQW¶VFRPSODLQWUHIOHFWVERWKWKHSHUVRQDOLQWLPDF\RI slaveholding in Newport and the paternalistic notions that some colonists used to justify it. In DVNLQJIRUWKHVODYH¶VUHWXUQ6HL[DVREVHUYHGWKDWWKHIRUPHUZDV³FDSDEOHRIGRLQJPRVWNLQGV of housework, was pretty free from vices, and was worth seventy-five pounds lawfuOPRQH\´ $VLIWRDYRLGVHHPLQJRYHUO\PHUFHQDU\6HL[DVDGGHGWKDWKHKDGKHDUG³WKDWVLQFHKHKDVEHHQ RQERDUGRIWKHIOHHWKLVIHHWJRW>LOOHJLEOH@KDYHEHHQFXWRIIVRWKDWLIHYHUKHVKRX¶GEH UHVWRU¶G,VKDOOEHDJUHDWHUVXIIHUHUWKDQ,DOUHDG\DP´1005 Even if the merchant was sincere in his wish to see the slave returned to him in order to care for him as part of his household, Seixas refused to consider the possibility that the young man might value his freedom more than his !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1003 Crew list for Privateer brigantine George, Sep. 20, 1758, Christopher Champlin Papers, Series 2, box 5, folder 10, RIHS. 1004 Floyd Miller, The Search for a Black Nationality, 7; William Robinson, ed., The Proceedings of the Free African Union Society of Newport (Providence: Urban League of Rhode Island, 1976), 58-9. 1005 ³/LVWRI/RVVHV´HQWHUHGE\MXVWLFHRIWKHSHDFH $SULOLQ³+HEUHZ6LJQDWXUHV - ´%R[)ROGHU1+6 )%(! ! practical comfort RULQGHHGKLVIHHW6HL[DV¶VHOI-pitying remark is reminiscent of the most romantically paternalistic²and-self-serving²Southern pablum of the nineteenth century. Nonetheless, by the time the British fleet had appeared in Newport harbor, most observers FRXOGVHHWKDWVODYHU\¶VGD\VLQ5KRGH,VODQGZHUHQXPEHUHG7KRXJKPDQ\5KRGH Islanders may have subscribed to paternalistic racism, fewer and fewer considered it a persuasive defense of slavery. In Rhode Island²in terms of the North American slave trade, the belly of the beast²a movement against the traffic in human beings had taken hold. As in most of the English-speaking world, organized action against slavery and the slave trade began among the Society of Friends. Between 1760 and 1775, the Quaker meetings of Rhode Island passed a series of rules prohibiting their members from owning or trading in slaves, adding increasingly tough penalties for violations. In the years of imperial turmoil between the Stamp Act and Lexington and Concord, antislavery sentiments in Rhode Island began to translate into action EH\RQGWKH4XDNHUVSKHUH,QWKHZRPHQ¶VOD\UHOLJLRXVVRFLHW\LQ1HZSRUW¶V)LUVW &RQJUHJDWLRQDO&KXUFKVHFXUHGWKHDSSRLQWPHQWWRWKDWFKXUFK¶VSXOSLWRI6DPXHO+RSNLQVDQ abolitionist minister.1006 Hopkins and his fellow Congregationalist, Ezra Stiles, partnered with black members of their churches to formulate plans for selected black leaders to emigrate to Africa, evangelize, and combat the slave trade.1007 Though the ambitious plans of Hopkins and his allies fell through, the increasing mobilization of Quakers and Congregationalists against the trade pushed the Rhode Island Assembly, in 1774, to pass an act banning the importation of slaves into the colony and deeming any African who entered Rhode Island after that date to be free. Though the law did not touch !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1006 Elaine Crane, Ebb Tide in New England (Northwestern U. Press, 1998): 77. 1007 Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 7; John Wood Sweet, Bodies Politic, 240-3. )%)! ! the trade conducted at a distance to the West Indies and did not free the slaves already in the colony, it made an important symbolic statement: it acknowledged that slaveholding was incompatible with whig principles. As historian Christopher Brown has pointed out, the frequent LQYRFDWLRQVRI³OLEHUW\´DQGQDWXUDOULJKWVGXULQJWKHLPSHULDOFULVLVRIWKHVIRUFHGVRPH colonists to follow up their rhetoric with action against slavery, if only to avoid the appearance K\SRFULV\ 5KRGH,VODQG¶V$FWGHFODUHGWKDW³WKRVHZKRDUHGHVLURXVRIHQMR\LQJDOOWKH DGYDQWDJHVRIOLEHUW\WKHPVHOYHVVKRXOGEHZLOOLQJWRH[WHQGSHUVRQDOOLEHUW\WRRWKHUV´1008 By the time the Assembly passed the slave-LPSRUWDWLRQEDQRIWKHFRORQ\¶VWZR Masonic lodges were defunct, and no individual Masons are known to have played a direct role LQWKHDFW¶VSDVVDJH,WLVSRVVLEOHKRZHYHUWKDW0DUWLQ+RZDUG-UWKHMXULVWZKRKDGEHHQ driven out of Newport by Stamp Act rioters and subsequently taken up the post of Chief Justice of North Carolina, helped to bolster anti-slavery opinion from afar. In 1771, the Chief Justice found himself incensed by a grand jury that declined to indict a white man accused of killing a slave. Howard, though himself a slaveholder, addressed a subsequent grand jury with an LPSDVVLRQHGDWWDFNRQWKHFUXHOW\DQGLQMXVWLFHYLVLWHGXSRQ$IULFDQVODYHVZKRDUH³RXURZQ IHOORZFUHDWXUHVWKR¶LQKXPEOHUFLUFXPVWDQFHVDQGDUHFapable of the same happiness and PLVHU\ZLWKXV´1009 In his charge, Howard savaged the hypocrisy of the rebellious American colonists, imagining an aggrieved slave asking his master, You invoke Heaven and earth against a claim to take from you a trifling sum of money without your consent, or to try you without a jury, when you are charged !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1008Coughtry, 204; Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 7, p. 251-3; Christopher Leslie Brown, Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2006), 105-11. 1009 Don Hiigginbotham and William 63ULFH-U³:DV,W0XUGHUIRUD:KLWH0DQWR.LOOD 6ODYH" &KLHI-XVWLFH0DUWLQ+RZDUG&RQGHPQVWKH3HFXOLDU,QVWLWXWLRQLQ1RUWK&DUROLQD´William and Mary Quarterly, 36:4, October 1979, p. 593-7. )%*! ! with any crime; and are you so judicially hardened and reprobate as to take from us every right and privilege of humanity? Howard goes on to point out, in his own voice, the gall of men who, with an unfeeling indifference, [hold] their own fellow creatures in bondage; but when they imagine their own liberty is in the least invaded, they will gravely, and without blushing, quote every writer upon government and civil society to prove, that all men are by nature equal and by nature free.1010 1RQHWKHOHVV+RZDUGVWRSSHGVKRUWRIFDOOLQJIRURXWULJKWHPDQFLSDWLRQDFNQRZOHGJLQJWKDW³LW PXVWEHFRQIHVVHGWKDWLQWKHSODQWDWLRQVWKHODZIXOQHVVRIVODYHU\LVJHQHUDOO\DGPLWWHG´:ith a Toryish respect for custom, precedent, and paternal hierarchy, Howard accepts the legality of VODYHU\HYHQDVKHUHFRJQL]HVWKHKXPDQLW\RIWKHVODYHV6WLOO+RZDUG¶VEOLVWHULQJFULWLTXHRI the hypocrisy of American slaveholders could not have pleased a Whig audience any more than his Letter from A Gentleman at Halifax did six years earlier. His grand jury charge was printed in the Newport Mercury the following May, perhaps fed to Solomon Southwick by Howard himself. The speech²which served, in paUWDVDVPDOOEXWVWLQJLQJUHYHQJHDJDLQVW1HZSRUW¶V so-FDOOHG³6RQVRI/LEHUW\´²may have struck the Rhode Island Whigs at an ideological weak point, thus helping to prepare the way for passage of the 1774 anti-slavery bill. $SDUWIURP0DUWLQ+RZDUG¶VVHaring comments, no Freemasons are known to have directly tackled the questions of slavery or the slave trade in Rhode Island before the Revolution. $SSDUHQWO\DWOHDVWLQFRORQLDO5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQU\¶VXQLYHUVDOLVWDQGHJDOLWDULDQUKHWRULFGLG not translate into anti-slavery action in the way that Protestant doctrine did. This failure can be attributed to several basic causes, namely: the collapse of the two Masonic lodges in the 1760s, at precisely the time that the anti-slavery movement in Rhode Island was in its incipient stage; the Masonic hatred of conflict and controversy, which surely led them to avoid the divisive issue !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1010 Cape Fear Mercury, February 12, 1772, reprinted in Newport Mercury, May 11, 1772, p. 2. )%+! ! RIDEROLWLRQ WKH0DVRQV¶UHVWULFWLRQWRHFRQRPLFDOO\LQGHSHQGHQWPHQRIKLJKRUPLGGOLQJVWDWXV which effectively excluded Afro-American men, wo were mostly relegated to low-paying and low-status economic roles; the heavily maritime constituency of colonial Masonry, which meant that many of the wealthier Masons made their income, directly or indirectly, from the slave trade; and the general religious disjuncture between the Masons and abolitionism, which was rooted in the Society of Friend and the Congregational Church²precisely those religious groups that were the most unfriendly to Freemasonry. Conversely, the groups most strongly represented in the Craft²the Anglicans and Baptists²were also the most deeply involved in the slave trade. The moral conflicts of the mid-eighteenth century seem to have aligned Masonry and slave- trading as morally suspect pursuits. With regard to this last point²the religious mismatch between Masonry and the antislavery movement²it is worth considering the third group that was strongly represented in colonial Masonry, namely, the Jewish community. An oft-repeated notion holds that Jews were disproportionately involved in or responsible for the slave trade. This is in fact a spurious myth propagated to inflame anti-Semitism. Scholars have found that Jewish involvement in the trade was miniscule: Jewish ship captains of any kind were unheard of, and slaving voyages, being expensive and risky, were outfitted by the richest and most powerful merchants, almost none of whom were Jews. Jewish investors appeared in the African trade late in the game and always constituted less than 2% of the investors in slaving voyages undertaken under British or American suzerainty.1011 ,Q1HZSRUWWKHSLRQHHULQJPHUFKDQWVZKRHVWDEOLVKHG1HZSRUW¶VOLQNV to African markets were Anglicans, Baptists, and Quakers, while most Jewish men in Rhode !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1011 Eli Faber, Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade, New York: NYU Press, 1998; Henry Louis *DWHV-U³%ODFN'HPDJRJXHVDQG3VHXGR-6FKRODUV´New York Times, July 20, 1992. )%,! ! Island were shopkeepers, artisans, or minor merchants exporting provisions to the West Indies and Portugal. Nevertheless, late in his life, Moses Seixas became a shareholder, along with three RWKHUPHQLQDFRPSDQ\WKDWRXWILWWHGVODYLQJYR\DJHVEHWZHHQDQG6HL[DV¶ investmHQWLQWKLVILUPDQG,VDDF(OL]HU¶VFR-ownership of the Prince George, which carried a cargo of slaves to the Bahamas in 1762, constitute the sum total of the involvement of Jewish 0DVRQVLQ5KRGH,VODQG¶V$IULFDQWUDGH1012 The very small overlap between thH5KRGH,VODQGVODYHWUDGHDQG1HZSRUW¶V-HZLVK Freemasons underscores an important fact of eighteenth-century commerce: that slave-trading was the preserve of the upper echelon of merchant-magnates, to which very few colonial Jews or Masons belonged. At the same time, the Rhode Island Jews, like the Masons, are not known to have taken a public stand against slavery or the slave trade²probably for the same reasons. In an ambiguous and potentially vulnerable legal position, Jews preferred to keep their heads low and to avoid controversy. Jewish Rhode Islanders were probably loath to speak out against the African trade and thus attract opposition or cause conflict among Jews. By the same token, the growing opposition to the slave trade after 1765 may have warded minor Jewish merchants away from entering the trade, thus explaining why Isaac Elizer, Naphtali Hart, and Moses Levy each invested in a single slaving voyage before 1765 and then immediately dropped the pursuit. The neutrality that Masons, Jews, and many other Rhode Islanders maintained with regard to the slave trade, even as the abolition movement gained steam, would soon be put to the test by the Revolution. The outbreak of war with Britain shook the accepted norms and practices of Rhode Island society, forcing colonists to take a stand with regard to the moral dilemma of slaveholding. Furthermore, the Revolutionary upheaval led to the initiation, in nearby Boston, of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1012 Coughtry, 248-59. )&-! ! the first known Afro-American Masons, thus beginning the centuries-long process of integration in the Masonic Fraternity. In the later eighteenth century, contention over the political status of Afro-Americans would test the meanings and limits of Masonic brotherhood, and in Rhode Island, connections between Masonry and the struggle for Afro-American civil rights are numerous though ambiguous. The last quarter of the eighteenth century in Rhode Island saw the gradual convergence of two stories: the growing struggle against slavery within the state, and the flourishing of Afro- American Masonry, which had its beginnings in neighboring Massachusetts. As mentioned in Chapter 16, the Afro-American branch of Masonry began during the British occupation of Boston. In March 1775, an Irish regimental lodge meeting on an island in Boston harbor initiated fifteen free black Bostonians into the Masonic mysteries. It is no coincidence that this first known initiation of black men into Masonry was followed barely a year later by that of the first known Native American Mason, the Mohawk sachem, Joseph Brant; and that of the first known South Asian Mason, Umdat ul-Umrah Bahadur, a son of the ruler of the Carnatic state in India. As the unity of the British imperial state came under attack from rebelling North American colonists, some British soldiers and officials turned to Freemasonry as a means of cementing alliances with local leaders and shoring up the foundations of empire.1013 While the Afro-American Masons initiated in Boston in 1775 were hardly an elite, they were largely skilled and literate, and during the imperial crisis, their disenfranchisement within New England society marked them out as possible allies of the king. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1013 Peter P. Hinks and StanOH\.DQWURZLW]³,QWURGXFWLRQ 7KH5HYROXWLRQLQ)UHHPDVRQU\´LQAll Men Free and Brethren, p. 1-3; Harland-Jacobs, Builders of Empire, 78-81. )&$! ! 7KHOHDGHURI%RVWRQ¶VEODFN0DVRQLFJURXSWKHFRRNDQGOHDWKHU-dresser Prince Hall, used his newfound social connections and his platform as a Masonic leader to advance the civil rights of Afro-New Englanders. In the summer of 1776, after the British occupiers had left %RVWRQ+DOORUJDQL]HGKLVEODFN%UHWKUHQLQWR³$IULFDQ/RGJH´,Q-DQXDU\+DOO spearheaded a petiWLRQWRHQGVODYHU\LQ0DVVDFKXVHWWV VHYHUDORIWKHSHWLWLRQ¶VVLJQHUVZHUH black Masons. After the end of the war, in 1787, perhaps frustrated by the continuing racism of Boston society, he petitioned for state support of black emigration to Africa, and soon after, for the admission of black children in Boston public schools. Though repeatedly disappointed, Hall sought self-reliant solutions, and in the 1790s, led the formation of an independent school for black students. Similarly, in his Masonic career, Hall fostered both Afro-American LQGHSHQGHQFHDQGLQFOXVLRQLQPDLQVWUHDPVRFLHW\,QKDYLQJEHHQVQXEEHGE\%RVWRQ¶V white lodges, he obtained a charter for African Lodge from the Moderns Grand Lodge of England; in his capacity as Worshipful Master, Hall composed and printed sermons through the VDQG VLQYRNLQJ0DVRQLFLGHDOVVXFKDVWKH³WZRJUDQGSLOODUVRI0DVRQU\ORYHWR *RGDQGXQLYHUVDOORYHWRDOOPDQNLQG´LQVXSSRUWRIHTXDOLW\IRUEODFNPHQ1014 It is likely that +DOO¶VEODFNSolitical and Masonic enterprises early on involved men from neighboring Rhode ,VODQG RQHRIWKHHLJKWVLJQHUVRIWKHDQWLVODYHU\SHWLWLRQZDVQDPHG³1HZSRUW6XPQHU´ DQGLQ 3ULQFH+DOOZHOFRPHGLQRQHRIKLVFKDUJHV³\RXP\GHDUEUHWKUHQRI3URvidence, ZKRDUHDWDGLVWDQFHIURPDQGFDQQRWDWWHQGWKHORGJHEXWVHOGRP´1015 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1014 Wesley, Prince Hall: Life and Legacy, p. 129-41; Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, p. 158-62; Chernoh Sesay in Kinks and Kantroeitz, eds., All Men Free and Brethren, 24-6. 1015 3ULQFH+DOO³$&KDUJH'HOLYHUHGWRWKH%UHWKUHQRIWKH$IULFDQ/RGJHRQWKHth of June, DWWKH+DOORI%URWKHU:LOOLDP6PLWKLQ&KDUOHVWRZQ´ %RVWRQ &RUQKLOO STXRWHd in Charles Wesley, Prince Hall: Life and Legacy, 124; George Moore, Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts %HGIRUG0DVV $SSOHZRRGERRNV S ³6ODYH3HWLWLRQIRU)UHHGRPWRWKH )&%! ! At the same time that it responded to the particular injustices that Afro-New Englanders faced, African Lodge also served the same practical and emotional needs that other port-town Masonic lodges did. As the historian Chernoh Sesay has cautioned, it is an error to suppose that WKH%UHWKUHQRI$IULFDQ/RGJHVSUDQJIURP%RVWRQ¶VEODFN³HOLWH´ QRQHRIWKHPRWKHUWKDQWKH occasional exception of Prince Hall himself, appeared among the largest black taxpayers in Boston. Rather, the Brethren of African Lodge tended to practice middling trades such as butchery, leather-working, and sailing, and often faced economic danger from the vicissitudes of the maritime economy. Many of them were vulnerable to kidnapping and re-enslavement, as famously befell Solomon Northup a half-century later; no wonder then, that in 1788, Hall led a petition for the return of abducted black mariners. Clearly, the lodge served as a source of stability and mutual support to those men who were most exposed to the dangers of port-town life. In addition, mourning and burial were crucial functions of the African Lodge. Two of %RVWRQ¶VEODFN0DVRQVZHUHVH[WRQVDQGHYHQEHIRUHLWDFTXLUHGLWVFKDUWHUIURP/RQdon, the lodge had secured warrants from the Massachusetts Grand Lodge to hold Masonic funeral processions and to bury their dead in Masonic form.1016 Ritualized response to the specter of frequent death was central to Masonry for both black and white Brethren. Meanwhile, at the same time that the crisis of the British Empire in America opened a door to the Masonic sanctum for black men in Boston, it threatened to upset the institution of slavery throughout the continent. It is common, in times of war, for invading or occupying forces to turn to local slaves as a source of potential support. Such was the case when Lord !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 0DVVDFKXVHWWV/HJLVODWXUH´7KH+HULWDJH)RXQGDWLRQ, < http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first- principles/primary-sources/slave-petition-for-freedom-to-the-massachusetts-legislature>, accessed July 15, 2014. 1016 &KHUQRK6HVD\³(PDQFLSDWLRQDQGWKH6RFLDO2ULJLQVRI%ODFN)UHHPDVRQU\-´LQ All Men Free and Brethren, p. 21, 28-39. )&&! ! Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia, issued his famous proclamation of November, 1775, offering to emancipate any North American slaves that served the Crown in combating the colonial rebellion.1017 :KHUHDVVHYHUDOWKRXVDQGEODFNPHQUHVSRQGHGWR'XQPRUH¶VFDOOWKH Revolution led to a smaller but still profoundly symbolic wave of emancipation in Rhode Island. As mentioned in Chapter 8, while the Rhode Island units of the Continental Army dwindled during the Valley Forge winter, Brigadier-General James Mitchell Varnum proposed that his home state recruit slaves and free men of color into a new regiment, offering freedom to any slaves who enlisted. A number of men of color were already serving in Massachusetts and 5KRGH,VODQGXQLWVDQGVRZLWK*HQHUDO:DVKLQJWRQ¶VZDU\DSSURYDO9DUQXPVHQWKLVPRVW trusted Rhode Island officers to present the proposal to the Rhode Island Assembly, which approved the measure in February, 1778. Over the course of the ensuing year, Colonel Christopher Greene gathered a regiment of several hundred men of color, about one hundred of whom had been slaves prior to enlisting.1018 It would be easy to see Rhode ,VODQG¶VWXUQWRLWVRZQEODFNDQG,QGLDQSRSXODWLRQIRU recruits as a desperate act born of strategic necessity; however, as discussed above, a significant abolitionist movement was already afoot in Rhode Island by 1778. There is no question that James Mitchell Varnum, for one, had been exposed to antislavery doctrine. In the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society is a copy of a short book, Considerations on Keeping Negroes, Recommended to the Professors of Christianity, of Every Denomination, authored by the eminent Quaker abolitionist John Woolman and printed by Benjamin Franklin in 1762. The !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1017 The experiences and subsequent struggles of these ex-slaves are examined in Cassandra Pybus, Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty (Boston: Beacon Books, 2006). 1018 Varnum of New York City, 17- '¶$PDWR-1; Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 8, p. 358-61; Chernoh Sesay in Hinks, ed., All Men Free and Brethren, 23-5; Sweet, Bodies Politic, 206-8. )&'! ! book excoriates the selfishness and perversity of keeping a fellow rational being in bondage, and contains accounts of the horrors of the slave trade. The frontispiece of the copy belonging to the 5KRGH,VODQG+LVWRULFDO6RFLHW\LVVLJQHGE\VHYHUDORIWKHERRN¶VSDVWRZQHUVLQFOXGLQJWKH Reverend James Manning, who was the president of the College of Rhode Island in the 1760s, DQG³-DPHV0LWFKHOO9DUQXPRI'UDFXWLQWKH0DVVDFKXVHWWV%D\´ZKRZRXOGKDYHEHHQ 0DQQLQJ¶VVWXGHQW1019 Apparently, the minister passed the book down to Varnum as part of the IXWXUHJHQHUDO¶VHGXFDWLRQ Additionally, there can be no doubt that when the Assembly agreed to Varnum¶VUHTXHVW WRIRUPWKH³%ODFN5HJLPHQW´LWXQGHUVWRRGWKHV\PEROLFVLJQLILFDQFHRILWVDFWLRQ$OWKRXJK Newport was under British occupation at the time, the order applied to the substantial slave, free black, and Indian populations of Providence, Warwick, and the Narragansett Country, and it was approved over the strenuous objections of Assemblymen from the southwestern part of the state. 6L[RIWKHDFW¶VRSSRQHQWVORGJHGDIRUPDOFRPSODLQWZDUQLQJWKDWVROGLHUVRIFRORU³ZRXOGEH looked upon in the neighboring states in a contemptible point of view, and not equal to their WURRSV´DQGWKDWWKH%ULWLVKZRXOG³UHWRUWXSRQXVWKHVDPHNLQGRIULGLFXOHZHOLEHUDOO\ EHVWRZHGRQWKHPRQDFFRXQWRI'XQPRUH¶VUHJLPHQWRIEODFNV´+DYLQJFRQYHQLHQWO\ projected their own racism onto others, the critics of the act cite the great expense of FRPSHQVDWLQJVODYHRZQHUVIRUWKHLUORVWZRUNIRUFHZKLOH³PDQ\PDVWHUVZLOOQRWEHVDWLVILHG ZLWKDQ\SULFHVDOORZHG´1020 The remonstrance, which surely echoes points brought up in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1019 John Woolman, Considerations on keeping Negroes : recommended to the professors of Christianity, of every denomination (Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1762), RIHS. 1020 Bartlett, ed., Colony Records, vol. 8, p. 361. )&(! ! legislative debate, reflects the combination of emotional and material interests that the recruitment of the Black Regiment threatened. 7KHFUHDWLRQRI5KRGH,VODQG¶V%ODFN5HJLPHQWZDVDPDMRUVWHSWRZDUGWKHHQGRI slavery in New England, and it seems to bear a close relationship to Masonry. James Mitchell Varnum was a Freemason by no later than December, 1778, and, as discussed in Chapter 8, there is a good chance that he became one at Valley Forge. It is not inconceivable that his introduction to 0DVRQU\PD\KDYHLQIOXHQFHG9DUQXP¶VSURSRVDOWRUHFUXLWDUHJLPHQWRIVROGLHUVRIFRORU Varnum sent his most trusted subordinate officers²Christopher Greene, Samuel Ward, Jr., and Jeremiah Olney²WR5KRGH,VODQGWRVHFXUHWKH$VVHPEO\¶VDSSURYDODQGWRbegin the organization of the new regiment.1021 After the Masonic lodge reopened in Providence in December, 1778, Samuel Ward became a Mason in February, followed by Christopher Greene, who commanded the regiment, on March 3rd; Greene continued as an active Mason for the short remainder of his life. On the same evening that Greene was initiated, Captain Thomas Coles, who commanded a company of the Black regiment, affiliated with the Providence lodge.1022 Suggestively, the only officer whom Varnum had deputized to organize the Black Regiment who did not become a Mason²Jeremiah Olney²was also the one who turned against black HQOLVWPHQW7DNLQJXSFRPPDQGRIWKHUHJLPHQWDIWHU*UHHQH¶VGHDWK2OQH\KHOGPXVWHULQJVLQ Rhode Island in 1781, where he announced that blacks were not welcome and that negroes and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1021 '¶$PDWR-1. 1022 .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHORJERRN- 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5I. The QDPHVRIVROGLHUVLQ&ROHV¶FRPSDQ\LQFOXGHPDQ\FKDUDFWHULVWLFDOO\$IUR-American names, such as Jehu Pomp, Pharoa Hazard, Abram Remus, Pomp Watson, Primus Watson, Prince Childs, George Sambo, and (EHQH]HU&DHVDU$OVRLQWKHPXVWHUUROOLVRQH³&DWR9DUQXP´VXJJHVWLQJWKDWWKHVROGLHUPD\KDYH been a former slave of James Mitchell Varnum. No clear record exists of Varnum owning a slave, but it is not inconceivable that one of the slaves that the general freed in his formation of the Black Regiment was his own. Christopher Greene and Thomas Cole, muster roll, November, 1778, Revolutionary War papers, Box 6, Folder 24, RIHS. )&)! ! Indians were unreliable soldiers.1023 Considering the close concordance between Masonry and the campaign to enlist men of color, a connection between the two seems likely. 0RUHEURDGO\WKHUHYLYHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V/odge of Providence showed a greater affinity to the abolitionist cause than its colonial forerunners had. The prime organizer of the re-opening and the new Worshipful Master, Jabez Bowen, was a member of the Congregational Church, which was firmly antislavery by this time. The most prominent civilian to be initiated in the reconstituted lodge in its first month was the printer John Carter, a fellow Congregationalist and strong abolitionist. Carter had frequently reprinted essays and poems against slaveholding in the GazetteDQGLQ0DUFKKHDGYHUWLVHGDQHGLWLRQRI$QWKRQ\%HQH]HW¶VSDPSKOHWThe Potent Enemies of America Laid Open, Being Some Account of Distilled Spirituous Liquors and the Slavery of Negroes.1024 As the Revolution reoriented Rhode Island society and the center of Masonic activity shifted northward to Providence, Freemasonry and the abolitionist movement came into closer alignment. The shift in affinity was subtle, however, and did not lead the Craft to adopt a public position on slavery or racism. The reopened lodge is not known to have included any men of color; the membership rolls show no obviously Afro-American names. Furthermore, the Fraternity as an institution continued to avoid taking any clear stand on the questions of slavery and the slave trade, and no Masons in Rhode Island are known openly to have used a Masonic platform to oppose slavery before 1800. Whatever relationship existed between Masonry and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1023 Sweet, Bodies Politic, 209. 1024 William Johnston, Slavery in Rhode Island (Providence, 1894): 50- /RVFKNH\³&DUWHUDQG WLONLQVRQ´S-8. )&*! ! abolitionism in the later 1700s was one of informal or secretive influence, similar to that between the Craft and the radical Whig committees of the 1760s. The increasing connections between Masonry and the movement for black freedom and civil rights stemmed not from a concerted Masonic policy, but from the changing environment in the wake of the Revolution and from the actions of black Rhode Islanders themselves. In 1780, following the British withdrawal from Newport, black residents of the southern town, Occramer Marycoo among them, organized the African Union Society, with the stated goals of policing the morals of the black community and offering mutual aid; some leaders advocated for slave emancipation and emigration to Africa. In 1787, the Society partnered with a Quaker planter from Antigua to form tentative plans to acquire land for resettlement in West Africa; the cost of chartering a vessel proved to be their main obstacle.1025 'HVSLWHWKHLQLWLDOIDLOXUHRIWKH1HZSRUWHUV¶HPLJUDWLRQVFKHPHWKHEODFNIUDWHUQDO movement continued to grow, with 1789 proving to be a crucial year. Henry Stewart, a representative of the Free African Society of Philadelphia, visited Newport on his way to meet with Prince Hall in Boston, and the Newport Society soon after dispatched a message to its counterpart in Philadelphia, advocating emigration. Meanwhile, two members of the Newport Society went to Providence to invite free black leaders of that town to join them in a statewide association; the Providence blacks demurred, instead forming their own separate organization, the Providence African Society, in August. The otherwise obscure James McKenzie, who had SUHYLRXVO\MRLQHG3ULQFH+DOO¶V0DVRQLFORGJHVRRQEHFDPHWKH3URYLGHQFH6RFLHW\¶VVHFUHWDU\ In 1794, McKenzie came closer than anyone had before to establishing a black American foothold in Africa when he gained passage on a Providence merchant ship to Sierra Leone and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1025 Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 9-12. )&+! ! VHFXUHGWKHJRYHUQRU¶VSHUPLVVLRQWRVHWWOHWZHOYHIDPLOLHVWKHUHLIWKH\EURXJKWOHWWHUVRI endorsement from Rev. Samuel Hopkins. However, Hopkins refused to furnish the letters, perhaps due to the rivalry between Newport and Providence; the project fell through, the Providence African Society dissolved, and emigration plans were not attempted again until 1815.1026 Even as the emigrationist hopes of the Providence and Newport free black organizations met with repeated setbacks, their advocacy helped to sustain the growing abolitionist movement. The Rhode Island slave trade had been effectively shut down during the Revolutionary War, and manumission also became more frequent; for example, in 1782, Dr. Benjamin Bowen, one of the founding members of the Providence lodge, stipulated in his will that his four slaves be freed, with one of them, Sylvia, to be supported from his estate.1027 In 1784, Samuel Hopkins, Moses Brown, and their allies were able to guide through the Assembly a gradual emancipation bill mandating that any child born in Rhode Island from that date onward would become free upon reaching adulthood. Although technically the law did not mandate that anyone be released from bondage until 1802, Rhode Island slaveholders saw the writing on the wall, and began PDQXPLWWLQJVRPDQ\VODYHVWKDWWZRWKLUGVRIWKHVWDWH¶VSHRSOHRIFRORUZHUHIUHHE\ DQG nine tenths by 1800.1028 The partial victory of the 1784 emancipation law was followed immediately by an ominous and frustrating setback. Taking advantage of the Peace of Paris, Rhode Island slave traders resumed their traffic, with five Rhode Island vessels setting sail for Africa in the autumn !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1026 Miller, 13-19. 1027 Last will of Benjamin Bowen, 1782, Bowen family papers, Box 1 Folder 1, RIHS. 1028 Sweet, 249-52. )&,! ! of that year. In reVSRQVHLQWKH)ULHQGV¶ Friends procured similar laws in Connecticut and Massachusetts in 1788.1029 Still, the 1787 prohibition of the slave trade was a victory in form more than in substance, since it did not provide for any enforcement mechanism. The state had no apparatus for monitoring the activities of Rhode Island ships thousands of miles away, and over the next eighteen months, fifteen slaving voyages departed from Newport and Bristol (in addition to one from Warren) with perfect impunity. Seeing the dilemma, in January 1789, Moses Brown organized in Providence the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which would endeavor WRJDWKHUHYLGHQFHRI5KRGH,VODQGPHUFKDQWV¶VODYH-trading activities and to take action against them in court. The original standing committee of the new Society included the Mason-printer Bennett Wheeler, and the other founding members included the long-time Masons Dr. John 0DZQH\RI3URYLGHQFH 'U-RQDWKDQ$UQROGRI9HUPRQW DQGWKHGHDFRQRI1HZSRUW¶V6HYHQWK- Day Baptist Church, William Tilley. Their mission statement declared, in vaguely Hermetic language, that God had made ³of one blood all nations of men, and having by the diffusions of his light manifested that however diversified by colour, situation, religion, or different states of VRFLHW\LWEHFRPHVWKHPWRFRQVXOWDQGSURPRWHHDFKRWKHU¶VKDSSLQHVV´1030 The Providence Abolition Society achieved a record of mixed success over the ensuing twenty years. In May 1789, one of its members initiated the first legal prosecution under the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1029 Coughtry, 205-6, 261-2. 1030 Coughtry, 206- ³$EROLWLRQ6RFLHW\¶V%RRN´1HZ(QJODQG )'-! ! slave-trade law, against the owners and captain of the Hope. As the trial dragged through two years of wrangling over technicalities of jurisdiction, the slave trade became the central issue of Rhode Island politics. John Brown spewed invective against the Abolition Society in letters and in the Providence Gazette, while the 1790 ratifying convention criticized the Constitution for barring Congress from prohibiting the slave trade for twenty years; the delegates eventually agreed to submit an antislavery petition to Congress.1031 )LQDOO\LQ2FWREHU WKH6RFLHW\¶V evidence procured a guilty verdict in the case of the Hope; John Carter printed a jubilant report in the Providence GazetteGHFODULQJLQFODVVLFDOO\0DVRQLFODQJXDJHWKDWWKHMXGJH¶VFKDUge to WKHMXU\LQWKHFDVH³GHVHUYHGWRKDYHEHHQZULWWHQLQFKDUDFWHUVRIJROG´1032 Still, the victory in the Hope case hardly ended the slave trade. The penalties imposed were very light, and in the meantime, dozens of other slaving voyages had set sail from Rhode Island without punishment. Moses Brown sought to halt Providence merFKDQWV¶VODYH-trading activities through moral suasion; while this approach was effective in a few cases, such as that of 3URYLGHQFH¶VODUJHVWVODYHWUDGHU&\SULDQ6WHUU\LWonly allowed time for other slave traders to prepare their opposing strategies.1033 6ODYHWUDGHUVVNLUWHGWKHVWDWH¶VODZWKURXJKYDULRXV forms of subterfuge, including false documents, rerouting of voyages to the West Indies before proceeding to Africa, and relocation of outfitting operations from Newport to Bristol, where the 'H:ROIIDPLO\VRRQEHFDPHWKHVWDWH¶VSUHPLHUHVODYH-trading firm. The trade sustained an apparent blow in 1794 when Congress passed a federal law barring Americans from transporting slaves to foreign countries, but evasion continued. For example, in 1797, Peleg Clarke gave !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1031 Coughtry, 206-7; Providence Gazette, March 13, 1790, p. 3. 1032 Providence Gazette, October 22, 1791, quoted in Coughtry, 210. 1033 Coughtry, 210-12. )'$! ! elaborate instructions to Captain John Vilett concerning his return from Africa to the New :RUOGVD\LQJ³,ZLVKLWWRDSSHDUWKDW\RXDUHERXQGWR*HRUJLDWKrough Old Straits²and every letter in your possession, or on board the vessel mentioning or indicating the contrary must be GHVWUR\HG´9LOHWW¶VWUXHGHVWLQDWLRQZDVWREH+DYDQDWKHPRVWFRPPRQPDUNHWLQWKH V for American slavers, where the Cuban sugar boom created a voracious demand for slaves. Once LQSRUW9LOHWWZRXOG³SUHWHQGWREHLQZDQWRIZDWHURUSURYLVLRQV´DQGVHOOWKHFDSWLYHVDVZHOO DVWKHYHVVHO³RQSUHWHQVHRIQRWEHLQJVHDZRUWK\´$VLWKDSSHQHG&ODUNH¶VSODQVFDPHWR naught, as the ship was captured by a French privateer and Vilett proceeded to Saint Thomas, where he soon died. Nonetheless, many other slave-smuggling voyages netted large profits.1034 The opponents of slavery did not give up, despite the rampant lawbreaking. William Ellery, who while serving in Congress in 1785 helped to draft the amendment banning slavery in the Northwest Territory, was appointed as the federal collector at Newport. Ellery did his best to enforce the slave-trade law and to close loopholes, including by ruling that the prohibition applied even to foreign vessels if they cleared from an American port. The Abolition Society and their allies initiated countless prosecutions in state and federal courts and procured more than a dozen convictions. Unlike with most crimes, however, intent was easier to prove than the act itself, with manacles and other incriminating cargoes sufficient only to convict merchants of outfitting a ship with the aim of transporting captives. Violations of the first article of the 1794 federal law, which covered intent, carried the smallest penalty²forfeiture of the ship. Some slave-traders circumvented even this punishment by buying their vessels back from friendly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1034 Peleg Clarke and Audley Clarke to John Vilett, Jan. 24, 1797, Audley Clarke to Gertspert de Wind, February 15, 1798, Audley Clarke and Peleg Clarke to Fulwar Skipwith, April 28, 1804, Clarke family papers, Box 2, RIHS; William Ellery to David L. Barnes, October 15, 1799, Channing-Ellery papers, vol. 6, p. 35, RIHS; David Barnes to William Ellery, November 1, 1799, Channing-Ellery papers, vol. 6, p. 37, RIHS; Coughtry, Notorious Triangle, 216-25. )'%! ! officials at a fraction of their market value. In 1799, when a customs official was ordered to attend an auction in Bristol and bid up the price of a vessel that had been seized from the DeWolf ILUPWKHIDPLO\¶VJRRQVNLGQDSSHGKLPDQGGHSRVLWHGKLPRQDUHPRWHVKRUHRI0RXQW+RSH Bay. The incident began a low-level campaign of violence, intimidation, and bribery by which slave traders prevented state and federal officials from enforcing laws against the trade.1035 7KRXJKDPLQRUVODYHWUDGHUKLPVHOI-RKQ%URZQEHFDPHWKHWUDIILF¶VXQRIILFLDO spokesman. He reacted to the formation of the Abolition Society in 1789 with horror, GHFODLPLQJWKDW³GHHSSORWVDQGFRPELQDWLRQVDUHIRUPLQJWRRSSUHVVWKHDOUHDG\WRRPXFK RSSUHVVHG´²meaning slave traders. Using a pseudonym in the Gazette, he challenged the 6RFLHW\WR³SRLQW>@RXWDEHWWHUPHWKRGRISHRSOLQJWKH:HVW,QGLHV´DQGDSWO\ZDUQHGWKDWWKH 6RFLHW\¶VDEROLWLRQLVPZRXOGOLNHO\SURYRNHDFLYLOZDUZLWKWKHVRXWKHUQVWDWHV,QKLVILUVW anonymous letter in the Gazette%URZQFODLPVWRZLVK³WKHZKROHUDFHRIPDQkind of every FRORXUDOOWKHKDSSLQHVVWKDWZDVGHVLJQDWHGWKHPLQWKHLUFUHDWLRQ´EXWDGGVFR\O\WKDW none will pretend to say, but that there ever have been, and ever will be, distinctions among men; some strong and robust, some weak and effeminate, some industrious and some indolent; of course, some rich and some poor. In short, every one seems to be designed for some purpose or other for which he is fitted.1036 As a strong Whig, Brown could not fall back upon custom and precedent in the manner that Martin Howard did. Rather, he took the tack of suggesting natural, inborn differences that make men suited for various social stations. Furthermore, the binaries that Brown cites in his letter are all hierarchical; he subtly implies that Africans show not only different but inferior traits placing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1035 Beverly Bland Munford, 9LUJLQLD¶V$WWLWXGH7RZDUG6ODYHU\DQG6HFHVVLRQ (Richmond: L. H. Jenkins, 1909), p. 203; 1036 Providence Gazette, February 14, 1789; Providence Gazette, March 14, 1789. )'&! ! them in a servile position. One can see in his writings the process described by historian David Brion Davis, whereby the adoption of Whig and liberal values necessitates the elaboration of racism in order to defend slavery.1037 Brown continued to cast himself as a victim through the rest of the slave-trade controversy, even as his moral arguments changed. In 1790, he resigned from the Charitable %DSWLVW6RFLHW\LQSURWHVWDJDLQVWD³PROLVKRXVODZVXLWDJDLQVWPH´Iiled by members of the 6RFLHW\ZKRDUH³DERPPDQDEOHDEROLVKRQHUV´Using language with Masonic overtones, he LQVLVWVWKDWKHFDQQRW³sitt at worship of the Supreme being till they purge themselves of their unheard of wickedness´1038 In 1794, Brown opposed the federal bill abolishing the slave trade to foreign ports, and his friend and Masonic Brother, Ephraim Bowen, Jr., lamented the influence WKDWWKH³VO\4XDNHUV´VHHPHGWRKDYHRYHU&RQJUHVV.1039 Similarly, later that year, Brown complained of Quaker influHQFHLQ³the stoping of the carrying slaves to the Havannah where all agree that the usage of slaves is by far more humane than amonJWKH(QJOLVKRU)UHQFKLVODQGV´ suggesting that Brown took an ameliorationist view of slavery, justifying the institution in its purportedly milder forms.1040 By the later 1790s, as prosecution of the trade intensified, Brown would begin to distance himself from the African trade while retaining his sense of victimhood; no longer defending the trade, he minimized his involvement in it. In 1797, when charged with outfitting a slave-trading !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1037 David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation (Oxford University Press, 1999). 1038 John Brown to the Charitable Baptist Society, July 2, 1790, Charitable Baptist Society folder, )%&,$TXRWHGLQ-6WDQOH\/HPRQV³7KH%URZQVDQGWKH%DSWLVWV´Rhode Island History, Summer/Fall 2009, Volume 67, Number 2, p. 78-9. 1039 Ephraim Bowen, Jr., to Benjamin Bourne, February 6, 1794, Benjamin Bourne papers, RIHS. 1040 John Brown to Benjamin Bourne, November 29, 1794, Benjamin Bourne papers, RIHS. )''! ! YR\DJH%URZQTXHVWLRQHGZK\KHVKRXOGEHVLQJOHGRXWIRUSURVHFXWLRQ³while others of Warrin Bristol Newport etc. etc. who are driveing the trade are suffered unmolested´1041 Moved by guilt, Moses Brown tried to convince his fellows in the Abolition Society to lessen the charges against John, but they correctly perceived the suit as a test case which John sought to defeat in order to set a favorable precedent. In the end, the federal judge, Benjamin Bourne, found John guilty of violation of the first article of the 1794 law and confiscated his vessel.1042 Ultimately, the illegal slave trade survived by avoiding enforcement mechanisms in Providence and Newport and by swallowing the occasional costs of fines and litigation. In 1801, John Brown shepherded through Congress a bill creating a customs district for Bristol, separate from Providence and Newport, and in 1804, the Republican lobby in the sate persuaded President Jefferson to appoint to the collectorship a sympathetic official who would turn a blind eye to the $IULFDQWUDGH%ULVWRO¶VLOOHJDOWUDIILFERRPHGZLWKWKH'H:ROIHIDPLO\EHQHILWLQJWKHPRVW GUDPDWLFDOO\2QHRIWKHG\QDVW\¶V\RXQJHUVRQV*HRUJH'H:ROIHDIRXQGLQJPHPEHURI6DLQW $OEDQ¶V/RGJHRXWILWWHGRULQYHVWHGLQHOHYHQVODYLQJYR\DJHVEHWZHHQDQG,Q George took up leadership of the family business and used the profits to build Linden Place, one of the most magnificent private homes in the United States, in Bristol in 1810.1043 0DQ\RIWKHPDULQHUVZKRPDGHXSWKHHDUO\PHPEHUVKLSRI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH founded in Bristol in 1800, clearly took part in the slave trade. The lodge held mourning processions for Brethren lost off the coast of Africa, at Almira Castle, and in Cuba. Decades later, the merchant Bateman Munro, who had become a Mason in South Carolina in 1791 before !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1041 John Brown to Welcome Arnold, June 15, 1797, Peck Collection, Box 10, p. 62, RIHS. 1042 Coughtry, 212-16. 1043 Coughtry, 57-8, 225-9. )'(! ! DIILOLDWLQJZLWK6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHLQ%ULVWROWHVWLILHGWKDW0DVRQU\KDGEHHQRIJUHDWXVHWR him in trade and smuggling in the Spanish territories, particularly Havana²which was, as mentioned earlier, the main destination for Rhode Island slavers by 1800.1044 The already- illegal slave trade merely went further underground after the federal statute of 1808 banned the importation of slaves into the United States, and intensified enofocement only gradually quashed WKH5KRGH,VODQGWUDIILFHQGLQJZLWKWKHFROODSVHRIWKH%ULVWROIDPLO\¶VHQWHUSULVHVLQ1045 The battle over the slave trade was the overwhelming political controversy in Rhode Island²a state accustomed to bitter controversy²between the ratification of the Constitution and the War of 1812. Like the sugar and stamp crisis in Newport in the 1760s many of the important players on both sides of the dispute²James Mitchell Varnum, John Carter, William Ellery, John Brown, and George DeWolfe²were Masons. Other less prominent Brethren showed their views in more subtle ways, whether by manning African voyages, owning slaves, manumitting them, or joining the Abolition Society. Some, such as Silas Talbot, who owned VODYHVLQWKHVEXWODWHURIIHUHG$PHULFDQVXSSRUWWR7RXVVDLQW/¶2XYHUWXUHVWUDGGOHGWKH line opportunistically.1046 0DVRQLFPHPEHUVKLSGLGQRWGHWHUPLQHRQH¶VSRVLWLRQLQWKLVGLVSXWH any more than it did in the imperial crisis and the Revolution; what is more, as the words of John Carter and John Brown illustrate, Masonic terms and metaphors could be used alternately to celebrate the abolition movement or to denigrate it. The main difference lies in the fact that the slave-trade controversy did not destroy Rhode Island Masonry. Rather, the suppression of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1044 ³+LVWRULFDO/HFWXUH´6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R). and A. M., Bristol, Rhode Island: Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800-1950, p. 9, Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island; Report of the Committee Appointed, etc., Appendix, p. 92-3. 1045 Coughtry, 21 1046 Toussaint Louverture to Silas Talbot, July 22, 1800, Silas Talbot collection, Box 1, Folder 35, RIHS; Bill of sale, January 31, 1786, Benjamin Bourne papers, RIHS. )')! ! political debate in the lodges effectively quarantined them until slavery and the slave trade faded from the political scene. If Freemasonry had any significant effect on the struggle for abolition and black civil rights in Rhode Island, it was through fostering solidarity and social connections among Afro- New Englanders. The first known black lodge in Rhode Island formed in 1797, in the midst of the battle over the illegal slave trade, when Prince Hall granted a charter to nine Brethren in Providence. As discussed in Chapter 16, the identities of these founding Brethren of Hiram Lodge are unknown, but they may have included James McKenzie, who made the journey to Sierra LeoQHRQEHKDOIRIWKH3URYLGHQFH$IULFDQ6RFLHW\LQ DQGWKHIRXU%UHWKUHQ³RI 3URYLGHQFH´WKDW3ULQFH+DOOOLVWHGLQDUHSRUWWR/RQGRQLQ $OORIWKHVHPHQDUHREVFXUH with the partial exception of Prince G. Wright, later known as Richard P. G. Wright, a hairdresser who became a leading abolitionist in the 1820s. The mysteriousness of the founders of Hiram Lodge leaves open the question of how the newly-IRUPHGORGJHUHODWHGWRRWKHUIUHHEODFNRUJDQL]DWLRQVDQGWRWKH³ZKLWH´PDLQVWUHDP lodges. Presumably, Prince Hall Masonry took hold in part because other lodges refused to admit black men. However, unlike women, black men were not barred from Masonic initiation by any formal rule, but only by prejudice and poverty. At least some Rhode Island Masons at the turn of the nineteenth century may have been open to the idea of black Masonic brotherhood. In his Independence Day oration to the College of Rhode Island in 1802, Benjamin Gleason made what was probably the strongest abolitionist statement yet heard in Rhode Island, declaring that, ³XQKDSS\$IULFD´ZRXOG³RQHGD\ULVHDQGWKHRSSUHVVRUVVKDOOWUHPEOH´+HFRQGHPQHG³WKH YLRODWRUVRIKXPDQULJKWV´DQGSUD\HGIRU*RGWR³EHPHUFLIXOWRWKHRSSUHVVHGDQGKDVWHQWKH )'*! ! days when man shall no mRUHKROGLQVODYLVKVXEMHFWLRQKLVEURWKHUPDQ´1047 Like Owen 0RUULV¶UHDGLQJVRIOthello DQG0DUWLQ+RZDUG¶VJUDQGMXU\FKDUJH*OHDVRQ¶VDGGUHVV demonstrates that at least some white Masons openly recognized the humanity of African men, while further asserting their right to freedom. The question of whether men of color might have joined predominately white lodges in eighteenth-century Rhode Island therefore depends on the contingencies of personal choice and the balance of opinion in a given lodge. Richard P. G. Wright went on to join a predominately white lodge in Schenectady, New York,1048 and it is not inconceivable that a similar admission FRXOGKDYHWDNHQSODFHLQ5KRGH,VODQG,Q3ULQFH+DOO¶V UHSRUWWR/RQGRQRQHRIWKH %UHWKUHQLGHQWLILHGDV³RI3URYLGHQFH´LVQDPHG*HRUJH+LOO/LNHZLVHLQWKHLUILUVWDQQXDO return to the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, in June 1801, Mount Vernon Lodge listed among their members a George Hill, who had apparently been raised to the third degree in that lodge on December 10, 1799.1049 Could these two Masons have been the same man? Could a black 5KRGH,VODQGHUKDYHXQGHUJRQHLQLWLDWLRQLQ%RVWRQ¶V$IULFDQ/RGJHEHIRUHJDLQLQJDGPLVVLRQWR Mount Vernon²which, as examined in Chapter 16, served the more modest classes of Providence society? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1047 Benjamin Gleason, An oration on the anniversary of American independence (Providence: Munroe and Francis, 1802), p. 6-7. 1048 -HIIUH\&URWHDX³%ODFN$EROLWLRQLVWVLQ:KLWH/RGJHV 5LFKDUG3*:ULJKWDQG7KHRGRUH 6HGJZLFN:ULJKW´3DSHUSUHVHQWHGDWWKHrd International Conference on the History of Freemasonry, Alexandria, Virginia, May 27-9, 2011, )'+! ! The federal census of 1800 shows two adult white men named George Hill living in northern Rhode Island²one in Lincoln and one in Cumberland²but none in Providence.1050 The Cumberland resident is probably the same George Hill listed as a proprietor of the Unity Cotton Manufacturing Company in that town in 1813, and the other is most likely the man LQWHUUHGLQ/LQFROQ¶V2OG5LYHU&HPHWHU\LQ1051 Was the Brother that Mount Vernon Lodge raised in 1799 one of those two, who lived several KRXUV¶ULGHDZD\IURP3URYLGHQFHDQG had no known connection to the Craft, or was he the black resident of Providence whom Prince +DOO¶VOHWWHUDWWHVWVZDVDOUHDG\D0DVRQE\ "&RQVLGHULQJWKHDPELYDOHQWDQGFKDQJLQJ relationships among Freemasonry, slavery, and racism in the eighteenth century, the truth is DQ\RQH¶VJXHVV:KDWHYHUGLVSXWHPD\KDYHDULVHQRYHUWKHLGHDRIDGPLWWLQJDEODFNPDQLQWR 0RXQW9HUQRQ/RGJHLQ KDVEHHQORVWZLWKWKHORGJH¶VLQWHUQDOUHFRUGVLILWZDVHYHU recorded at all. The enigma of George Hill is one small facet of the larger mystery of the $PHULFDQSXEOLF¶VFRQIXVHGDWWLWXGHVWRZDUGSHRSOHRI$IULFDQGHVFHQWLQWKHHLJKWHHQWKFHQWXU\ Black Masons in Boston, like Hannah Mather Crocker and her female lodge, looked to the Queen of Sheba as their forebear1052²an African ruler whose kingdom is not marked on any map and whose questions to King Solomon are unrecorded. Whatever challenge the queen PLJKWKDYHSUHVHQWHGWR6RORPRQ¶VDVVXPSWLRQVDQGKDELWVRIPLQGKDYHEHHQlost to time. In contrast, the question of how the Masons could square their Masonic idealism with slavery and racism, however much it may puzzle present-day observers, was rarely asked in the eighteenth century, let alone answered. The record is silent due to indifference, fear, or secrecy. In the age !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1050 1800 federal census for Rhode Island, p. 449, 527. 1051 NEHGS database; Providence Gazette, November 13, 1813, p. 4. 1052 Bullock, 159 )',! ! before the American Revolution, it was possible to accept slavery as a legal practice at the same time that one recognized the humanity of Africans. In the two hundred and forty years since the Revolution, the Prince Hall branch of Masonry has flourished as a laboratory of Afro-American solidarity, and until recent decades, only Prince Hall Masons themselves adhered to the plain PHDQLQJRIWKH&UDIW¶VXQLYHUVDOLVWUKHWRULFLQZKLFKWKH)UDWHUQLW\³RSHQVZLGHLWVDUPV´WRPHQ of all nations. )(-! ! Chapter 19: Freemasonry, Women, and Gender ! ! In the Masonic catechism, Masonry Dissected, first printed at London in 1730, the examiner asks the purported Brother who claims to hold the Fellow Craft degree to explain the symbolism of the letter G. The respondent answers obliquely with a short verse: By sciences are brought to Light Bodies of various Kinds, Which do appear to perfect Sight; But none but males shall know my Mind. This cryptic verse captures the mood of mystery surrounding the Masonic rites, which marked the boundaries of a rarefied symbolic world inaccessible²at least in theory²to women. It is ironic that this verse should have appeared unchanged in the edition of Masonry Dissected printed at Newport in the winter of 1749/50, which, as we saw in Chapter 1, was almost surely a product of the workshop of Ann Franklin. One of a handful of female printers in colonial North $PHULFD)UDQNOLQZDVDFUXFLDOUHVRXUFHWR1HZSRUW¶VPHUFDQWLOHHFRQRP\DQGWRWKHRhode Island government; the Masonic lodge most likely commissioned her to print the Masonic exposure as a handbook and aide-mémoire. The awkwardness of the idea of Masonic secrets EHLQJKDQGOHGDQGUHSURGXFHGE\DZRPDQFDQDFFRXQWIRU)UDQNOLQ¶VQDPHEHing left off of the ERRN¶VWLWOHSDJH1053 $QQ)UDQNOLQ¶VHGLWLRQRIMasonry Dissected encapsulates the ironies and contradictions RIWKHHDUO\)UHHPDVRQV¶UHODWLRQVKLSZLWKZRPHQ7KHVRFLHWLHVLQZKLFK0DVRQU\PRVWRIWHQ flourished in the eighteenth century²the Atlantic port towns²were ones where women !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1053 Samuel Prichard, Masonry Dissected (London: J. Wilford, 1730), 22; Samuel Prichard, Masonry Dissected (Newport: workshop of Ann Franklin, 1749/50), Library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; Newport Mercury, November 2, 1872, p. 2. Although James Franklin, Jr. also worked in $QQ)UDQNOLQ¶VZRUNVKRSKHGLGQRWFRPHRIDJHDQGXQGHUWDNHSULQWLQJSURMHFWVRIKLVRZQXQWLO )($! ! outnumbered men, and the lodges in Rhode Island and throughout the Atlantic world constantly UHOLHGRQZRPHQ¶VNQRZOHGJHVNLOOVDQGVRFLDOFRQQHFWLRQVWRDGYDQFHWKH&UDIW:RPHQ produced and handled Masonic artwork, performed at Masonic public rituals, and reinforced social bonds among Masons, even as they were formally excluded from the fraternal sanctum. The Rhode Island Masons faced repeated questioning as to why they barred women from their fellowship (and indeed, in some parts of Continental Europe in the eighteenth century, women did become Masons). In response, the Brethren advanced an array of often contradictory MXVWLILFDWLRQVIRUWKHLUUHIXVDO7KH0DVRQV¶H[FOXVLRQRIZRPHQHYHQDVWKH\UHOLHd on them socially and materially is most ironic in light of the fact that women and Masonry played parallel roles in the construction of eighteenth-century society: both offered a sense of permanence and an air of civility amidst the tumult of early modern urban life; specifically, the institutions of Masonry and marriage offered similar emotional bonds that could shield men against the traumas of social upheaval and frequent death. Nonetheless, the very same parallels between the roles of women and Masonry in port-town life prevented the Brethren from admitting women into the Fraternity, since the latter offered a resource that was all the more scarce in a majority-female society: intimacy and camaraderie among men. It should of course go without saying that Freemasonry was a fundamentally gendered LQVWLWXWLRQ1RWRQO\GLGWKH0DVRQV¶RDWKVDQGFRQVWLWXWLRQVDVVXPHZLWKRXWTXHVWLRQWKDWDOO initiates would be male, but the emotionally weighted terms that anchor every Masonic oration and letter²³%URWKHU´%UHWKUHQ´DQG³EURWKHUKRRG´²link Masonic intimacy and equality to the male gender. On one level, this pattern was unavoidable²the English language has no gender- QHXWUDOZRUGWKDWFDUULHVWKHGHHSHPRWLRQDOFRQQRWDWLRQVRI³EURWKHU´RU³VLVWHU´ IDPLOLDl intimacy is unavoidably gender-structured. Still, the North American Masons refused to re- )(%! ! imagine their inner world in such a way as to include women, suggesting that they believed that the peculiar relationships that they built with one another, which Jabez Bowen invoked when he FORVHGKLVOHWWHUVWR0RVHV%URZQDV³\RXUPRVWDIIHFWLRQDWHIULHQGEURWKHU´1054 depended on gender uniformity. Nonetheless, although Masonry was fundamentally linked to manhood, it would be a mistake to conclude that the FrateUQLW\WKHUHIRUH³VKDSHG´RU³UHLQIRUFHG´WKHPDVFXOLQHJHQGHU norms of society at large. First, to make such an assumption is to overlook the tension and mutual suspicion that usually existed between Masons and non-Masons²and indeed, gender exclusion was itself one of the principal points of contention fueling this suspicion. TKH&UDIW¶V relationship to wider North American society was always ambiguous and open to attack, while the Masons themselves continually expressed fear and suspicion of the external world, which they viewed as disorderly and corrupt. Conflict between Masonry and its detractors left an imprint on even the most secret of rituals. According to the liturgy of the Knight of the Sun GHJUHH³7UXWK´KDGEHHQKRXQGHGRXWRIWKHZRUOGE\WKH³YXOJDUDQGSURIDQH´PHDQLQJQRQ- 0DVRQVDQGQHDUO\HYHU\0DVRQLFRUDWLRQGHFULHGWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VFULWLFVZKRP$EUDKDP /\QVHQ&ODUNHFDOOHG³WKHVXSHUVWLWLRXVELJRW>V@´ZKR³JXLGHGE\DQXQHQOLJKWHQHG]HDO DVSHUVHRXURUGHU´1055 Most anti-Masonic ideas of the eighteenth century travelled by word of mouth and cannot be recovered, but the fact that they often centered on sex and gender is attested by a flurry of anti-Masonic screeds published in Boston in the mid-VFXOPLQDWLQJLQWKHVDWLULFDO³Defense !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1054 Jabez Bowen to Moses Brown, June 14, 1765, Moses Brown Papers, Box 1C, Folder 7, RIHS. 1055 $EUDKDP/\QVHQ&ODUNH³$'LVFRXUVH2FFDVLRQHGE\WKH'HDWKRI«:DVKLQJWRQ´ (Providence: John Carter, 1800) p. 24-5. )(&! ! RI0DVRQU\´SULQWHGLQWKHBoston Evening-Post in 1751. This obscene poem plays on anal and sexual puns to allege that the Masons used their secrecy as a cover for homosexual sodomy, and was accompanied by an engraving showing one Mason hammering a wooden peg into his lodge %URWKHU¶VSRVWHULRU7KH0DVRQVZHUHYXOQHUDEOHWRVXFKDWWDFNVQRWRQO\EHFDXVHRIWKHLU gender exclusion but also because of their largely mercantile professions and their purported connections to the Orient, both of which early modern Britons associated with sexual perversion. 7KH0DVRQVIDLOHGLQWKHLUDWWHPSWWRKDYHWKHDXWKRURIWKH³'HIHQVHRI0DVRQU\´SURVHFXWHG but the series of vulgar anti-masonic diatribes ended in Boston after about 1755.1056 The mutual suspicion between Masons and non-Masons through much of the eighteenth century stems in part from the ambiguity of the male gender. In one of the more cryptic lines of WKH³'HIHQVH´WKHILFWLWLRXV0DVRQLFVSHDNHUGHFODUHV³ VKHZ\RXWKDWZHOLYHLQORYH´1057 playing on the ambiguity and multiple resonances of the ³ORYH´WKDW0DVRQVUHSHDWHGO\GHFODUHGIRUWKHLU%UHWKUHQ2IFRXUVHWKH%RVWRQVDWLULVWZDV incorrect in alleging that Masonic secrecy and gender exclusion were covers for illicit homosexuality²no surviving evidence suggests that Masons were any more interested in sex with other men than was the rest of the male population²but it would be equally unwise to assume that the emotional intimacy that Masons experienced could not have an erotic or romantic dimension for some. Masonry is best understood as what Eve Sedgwick famously calls !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1056 7KRPDV$)RVWHU³$QWL-Masonic Satire, Sodomy, and Eighteenth-Century Masculinity in the µ%RVWRQ(YHQLQJ-3RVW¶´William and Mary Quarterly, 60:1, January 2003, p. 171-84. 1057 ³,Q'HIHQVHRI0DVRQU\´Boston Evening-Post, January 7, 1751, quoted in Thomas A. )RVWHU³$QWL-0DVRQLF6DWLUH´S )('! ! D³KRPRVRFLDO´HQYLURQPHQW²one built upon intimacy among men that could at times include erotic attraction, but which was not necessarily defined by it.1058 In addition, to link Masonry to mainstream gender norms is to fail to see that multiple masculinities, with competing ideals and practices, can co-exist within a given society, and can even be practiced by the same person within the course of the same day, depending on his environment at a given moment. Indeed, one of the principal benefits that Masonry offered its members in eighteenth-century society was the cultivation of a closed, homosocial space in which a particular form of masculinity could be practiced and cultivated²a masculinity that ultimately resembled contemporary femininity, and that offered the hope of emotional stability amidst the storms of life in the early modern Atlantic basin. In order to understand the particular form of the male gender that Freemasonry allowed to exist in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world, one must consider the distinctive conditions shaping the relations between men and women in that world: frequent death and the disproportionate abundance of women. The Rhode Island port towns, like most towns in which Freemasonry flourished in the eighteenth century, were economically predicated upon the sea. Without the wealth generated through maritime trade and the processing of materials acquired through that trade, these towns could not have grown beyond mere hamlets. Sea travel was the fastest, most efficient means of moving people, goods, and information in the eighteenth century²but no mode of travel was safe. Every year, inevitably, some mariners and travelers from Newport and all the other maritime ports did not return from their voyages. Stalked by the three-headed dragon of disease, storms, and warfare, the male populations of the Atlantic port !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1058 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985). )((! ! towns experienced a horrific rate of mortality. Captains, sailors, and soldiers, when they did return, found towns increasingly populated by women, a large share of them unmarried or widowed. This effect was especially severe in Newport, where heavy casualties in the Seven Death and the uneven gender ratio, two brute demographic facts, placed strains upon both women and men, who continued to enact older European codes of power and conduct that were ill-suited to the new maritime environment. Freemasonry offered a set of ideals and practices that could mitigate the strains of port-town life. On the emotional level, the specter of death at all stages of life necessitated emotional comfort and the hope of immortality. As we have seen in WKHSUHFHGLQJFKDSWHUV0DVRQU\LVSRVLWLYHO\REVHVVHGZLWKGHDWK7KH0DVRQV¶P\WKVDQG symbols center on Hiram Abiff, the murdered architect in whose death, burial, and exhumation every Master Mason ritually participates; Masonic aprons and tracing boards feature coffins, skulls, and crossbones alluding to their lost master. The most frequent public Masonic rituals were always funerals, in which the gathered Masons would bury the deceased with his apron and DVSULJRIHYHUJUHHQUHSUHVHQWLQJ³WKHEHOLHIWKDWKHZLOOOLYHEH\RQGWKHJUDYH´7KHODVWNQRZQ public Masonic ritual in colonial Rhode Island was the funeral procession for Robert Jenkins, and the two events that served to place the Masons firmly on the American social map were the deaths of Joseph Warren and George Washington, which the Masons marked with the most elaborate Masonic ceremonies of the eighteenth century. Emotionally, Masonry helped to shield !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1059 Elaine Crane, Ebb Tide in New England: Women, Seaports, and Social Change, 1630-1800 %RVWRQ 1RUWKHDVWHUQ8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV S&UDQH¶VFDOFXODWLRQVDUHEDVHGXSRQWKHVSRUDGLF colonial censuses of Rhode Island and the federal census of 1790. )()! ! early modern men from the threat of early death by integrating it into eternally recurring myths; in the timeless present of ritualized narrative, the line between life and death fades, seamlessly WUDQVODWLQJWKHGHSDUWHG%URWKHU³IURPDWHUUHVWULDOWRDFHOHVWLDOORGJH´1060 On the material level, the practical effects of frequent male death placed different burdens upon men and women. Although Newport, Providence, and other Atlantic port towns prospered in the eighteenth century, their sources of wealth were almost completely monopolized by men, who had nearly exclusive access to seaborne trade, government offices and patronage, and the lucrative crafts.1061 This created a precarious situation for women, whether married, unmarried, or widowed. Left behind by men who went to sea for months at a time and often died or simply disappeared without a trace, women were forced to search for scarce means of supporting themselves. As historian Elaine Crane has found, many women eked out an existence through the sale of clothing, food, and domestic services, and although some could obtain a good income in the needle trades, they were paid only a fraction of what male tailors received for the same work. Older widows, in particular, were thrust into an economic no-PDQ¶V-land, often forced to rely on informal networks of female support or on charity from churches and the state.1062 The Rhode Island Masons, being disproportionately involved in maritime trade and warfare, were particularly vulnerable to the perils of port-town existence. Many of them died suddenly, whether at sea or at home, leaving behind women to support themselves and often their young children. In 1767, Captain George Crosswell, a Newport Mason, died of a fever on a return voyage from Jamaica, leaving his wife with five children. On the eve of the Revolution, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1060 :LOOLDP6PLWK³7KH0DVRQLF%XULDO2IILFH$V2EVHUYHGE\WKH*UDQG/RGJHRI«5KRGH ,VODQG´ %HQQLQJWRQ9HUPRQW +DVZHOO S 1061 Crane, Ebb Tide in New England, 106-7. 1062 Crane, Ebb Tide in New England, 116-17. )(*! ! the Providence Mason John Nash disappeared on a voyage to the Mississippi, leaving his wife with a daughter and a son, the latter of whom died of consumption six years later, in 1781, just as he reached the age where he might have been able to support his destitute mother. In 1801, William Earle, Jr., a customs officer and Providence Mason, drowned at age 43 after falling from the gunwale of his boat, leaving his wife with six children. All of these are aside from the married Masons lost to warfare, such as Colonel Christopher Greene, killed by a Loyalist surprise attack in 1781. Indeed, by the end of the century, Rhode Island Masons would have seen not only widows and orphans in general, but more specifically those of their fellow Masons, proliferating around them.1063 In this context, it is not surprising that the Masons emphasized their charity to widows and orphans as a justification for their existence. Most eighteenth-century fraternal clubs, such as the Marine Society which was founded in Newport in 1754, included charity to widows as a part of their mission, and the Masons made it central to their public image. Thomas W. Moore, in his poetic defense of Masonry in 1793, admonished his Brethren to provide food, clothing, and shelter to widows and orphans, and almost forty years later, a Newport Mason, when questioned by the Rhode Island Assembly during the Anti-Masonic movement, defined the Fraternity as ³D charitable institution, intended for the relief of distressed brethren, their families, widows, and RUSKDQV´ 7KH0DVRQV¶WRDVWVRIWHQKRQRUHG³WKHZLGRZVDQGRUSKDQVRIRXUGHSDUWHGEURWKHUV´ DVDWWKH*UDQG/RGJH¶VFonsecration of Washington Lodge, no. 5 in 1799.1064 Most Masons !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1063 Providence Gazette, Feb. 17, 1781; Newport Mercury, July 13, 1767, p. 3; Providence Gazette, February 7, 1801, p. 3. 1064 Newport Mercury, June 1, 1844, p. 4; Report of the Committee Appointed, Appendix p. 126- 32; Newport Mercury, October 15, 1793, p. 4; United States Chronicle, October 17, 1799, quoted in $OEHUW)(OOVZRUWK´+LVWRULFDO$GGUHVV´LQOne Hundredth Anniversary of Washington Lodge, No. 5, F. and A. M. (Providence: Snow and Farnum, 1898) p. 23. )(+! ! surely noticed the resonance between this expressed concern for widows and orphans and the )UDWHUQLW\¶VP\WKRORJ\ 0DVRQLFULWXDOVDQGFDWHFKLVPVFXVWRPDULO\UHIHUUHGWR+LUDP$ELIIDV ³WKH:LGRZ¶V6RQ´LGHQWLI\LQJKLPZLWKWKH³ZLGRZ¶VVRQRIWKHWULEHRI1DSKWDOL´DVNLOOHG bronze-ZRUNHUZKRP+LUDPRI7\UHUHSRUWHGO\GLVSDWFKHGWRZRUNRQ6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOHLQ Kings 7:14; when in distress, such as in combat, Masons were expected to call for hHOSIURP³WKH VRQVRIDZLGRZ´1065 7KHVHHSLWKHWVXQGHUVFRUHGWKH0DVRQV¶VHOI-image as caretakers both of their Brethren and of the women associated with them. 7KHUHLVUHDVRQWREHOLHYHWKDWWKH0DVRQV¶UHIHUHQFHVWRFKDULW\WRZDUGVZLGRZVDQG orphans were not mere lip service. Surviving Masonic financial records from Rhode Island show RFFDVLRQDOGLVEXUVHPHQWVIRUWKHZLYHVDQGFKLOGUHQRIGHFHDVHG%UHWKUHQVXFKDV6DLQW-RKQ¶V /RGJHRI1HZSRUW¶VSD\PHQWWR:LOOLDP7D\ORULQ ³IRUWKHVFKRROLQJRIRne of the widow &DKRRQH¶VFKLOGUHQ´,QWKH1HZSRUWORGJHYRWHGXQDQLPRXVO\WRJLYHVL[GROODUVWR0DU\ Rodman, the widow of Thomas Rodman. Perhaps most dramatically, in 1779, the reconstituted lodge in Providence granted to the widow of Captain John Peck, a colonial Mason, a certificate that enabled her to travel westward across the country to the Mississippi, hosted and supported E\0DVRQVDOODORQJWKHZD\,QLWVILUVWIHZ\HDUV6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHLQ%ULVWROJDYHDFRUGRI ZRRGWRD%URWKHU¶V ZLGRZD\HDU¶VWXLWLRQIRUDGHFHDVHG0DVRQ¶VVRQDQGDVXPRIPRQH\WR WKHZLIHRID%URWKHUDZD\DWVHD³ZKLFKVXPZDVWREHGHPDQGHGIURPKLPXSRQKLVUHWXUQ´ The lodge may not in fact have expected for this last loan to be repaid²many women in the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1065 6HHIRUH[DPSOH³6\PEROLTXH HJUDGH0DLWUH´0DVRQLF&DWHFKLVPWDNHQIURPWKH0DULD Eugenia, en route from Reunion to Philadelphia, 1798, translated by Brother Harry Carr, 1965, LMF- UGLE. )(,! ! $WODQWLFSRUWWRZQVZHUH³KDOI-ZLGRZHG´PHDQLQJWKDWWKHLUKXVEDQGVZHUHPLVVLQJRQYR\DJHV for longer than expected, and were likely lost.1066 %\WKHEHJLQQLQJRIWKHQLQHWHHQWKFHQWXU\VRPH0DVRQV¶ZLGRZVEHOLHYHGWKDWWKH\ could look to the Fraternity as a source of support in their economic distress. Solomon Mackay (or Mackey), a generally obscure mariner, joined the growing Newport lodge in 1757; at the time, he was married to a 24-year-old wife, Susannah. Solomon died some time around 1769, and Mrs. Mackay apparently never remarried, which was not unusual due to the scarcity of men in Newport. In the late 1810s, after having survived the shocks of the Revolution, the War of DQG1HZSRUW¶VIDOOIURPLWVFRORQLDOSURVSHULW\6XVDQQDKZURWHWRWhe Worshipful Master RI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH The widow of Captain Solomon Mackey late a worthy and respectable member of your lodge, must earnestly and respectfully solicit your charity. Having lived in the world eighty six years, my race must be nearly run ± having lived fifty years in a state of widowhood, my resources must be few ± in the providence of god rendered sightless for ten years, my necessities must be great ± my means of support, is the charity of strangers, and my affliction is the climax of poverty. Your benevolence will soothe the [illegible] of distress, and [illegible] the glooms of decaying nature. This being only the second time of my applying for assistance, I trust confidently in your disposition to relieve. with sentiments of respect I am yours, Susannah Mackey. Mrs. Mackey, as it turns out, was correct that her race was nearly run²the Providence Gazette UHSRUWHGKHUGHDWKLQ1HZSRUWRQ0D\ ³LQWKHth \HDURIKHUDJH´1067 She had !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1066 ³6W-RKQ¶V/RGJH1LQDFFRXQWFXUUHQWZLWK:7HZ7UHDVXUHU ´6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGge QR3RUWVPRXWK5, 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH%RRN% --DQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR 1HZSRUW5, 5REHUW$0DFDXJKH\³7KH+LVWRU\RI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH´LQ6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R 6, F. and A. M., Bristol, Rhode Island: Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800- 1950, p. 10-11, Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island; The American Freemason, A Monthly Magazine vol. 1 (New York: J. F. Brennan, 1858), p. 295-7. 1067 Providence Gazette, May 8, 1819, p. 3; Susannah Mackey to John L. Boss, esq., undated, 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, ))-! ! survived a staggering fifty years of widowhood in a society with no dependable safety net for the poor and few sources of income for an older woman²let alone a blind one. Although the Masons could not or would not take her maintenance entirely upon themselves, they had apparently assisted her at least once before, and offered some hope of further support near the HQGRI0UV0DFNH\¶VOLIH ZKDWLVPRUHWKH\GLGVRIRUWKHZLGRZRIDPDQZKRPQRQHRIWKH Brethren of 1819 could likely remember. Susannah Mackey was not unique in looking to the Masons as a source of likely support IRUVWUXJJOLQJZLGRZV6DUDKRU³6DOO\´7RZQVHQGPDUULHG*HRUJH&RUQHOOLQDW 1HZSRUW¶V6HFRQG&RQJUHJDWLRQDO&KXUFK VRPHWLPHWKHUHDIWHU*HRUJHGLHGOHDYLQJWZR FKLOGUHQLQ6DOO\¶VFDUHDQGE\ VKHDQGDWOHDst one of her children were shuttling between KHUIDWKHU¶VDQGKHUVLVWHU¶VKRXVHV)XUWKHUPRUHKHUIDWKHU¶V³DGYDQF¶GDJHDQGLQILUPLWLHV´ prevented him from rendering his daughter any financial assistance, leading her to turn for help WR³the Masonic society, of which I presume you know my late husband was a member´$V 0UV&RUQHOOZURWHLQ ³LWLVZHOONQRZQWR\RXKRZORQJ,KDYHEHHQREOLJ¶GWRVWUXJJOH through life as a widow with no other means than my own exertions to support and bring up my children´6XUYLYLQJUHFRUGVGRQRWVKRZZKHWKHUWKH0DVRQVDFFHGHGWR0UV&RUQHOO¶VUHTXHVW before she died in 1814, aged only 50, but her letter demonstrates that by the beginning of the nineteenth century, the lodges were reputed to be sources of suSSRUWIRUWKHLUODWHPHPEHU¶V widows and children.1068 7KH0DVRQV¶PRWLYDWLRQVIRUDVVLVWLQJWKHLUPHPEHU¶VZLGRZVDQGRUSKDQVVXUHO\GLGQRW flow from pure compassion alone. The concentrations of impoverished women in the North !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1068 Arnold, ed., Vital Records of RI, vol. 1, p. 33; Providence Gazette, Nov. 19, 1814, p. 3; Sally &RUQHOOWR:LOOLDPDQG+HQU\0RRU0DUFK 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR. 1, Portsmouth, RI. ))$! ! American port towns created a burden on churches and the state²a burden that the Masonic lodges could help to mitigate, thus currying public favor. Furthermore, the Masons, like most fraternal societies of the time, acted in part as a system of insurance, promising its members support in case of poverty or infirmity and facilitating the discharge of marital and fatherly duties by allowing men to share some of their burdens with a wider group. In the maritime port towns of the eighteenth century, however, early death was a more immediate threat than poverty, and KHQFHDGXOWPHQKDGPRUHUHDVRQWREHFRQFHUQHGDERXWWKHLUZLYHV¶DQGFKLOGUHQ¶VSRVVLEOHUXLQ than their own. This situation can account for the pattern observed in Chapter 3 of young men joining the Fraternity shortly before or after marrying for the first time. By emphasizing their support for widows and orphans, the Craft made a practical economic appeal to the population of young urban men. On an emotional level, however, the very concerns that caused the Masons to offer charity to widows also prevented them from admitting those same women into their circle of brotherhood. It is something of a truism that the men of colonial and early republican America aspired to be economically independent and self-sufficient; material independence was essential to manliness.1069 What present-day observers more often overlook is that Anglo-American VRFLHW\SDUWLFXODUO\LQ1HZ(QJODQGH[SHFWHGPHQLQRUGHUWREH³XVHIXO´WRSURYLGHQRWRQO\ for themselves, but also for an extended family of dependents, who were integral to their self- understanding. Men fell into disrepute or even ostracism if they failed to create their own families and to meet the needs of dependent women, children, servants, and the aged, while also maintaining GRPHVWLFSHDFHDQGKDUPRQ\0RVWRIWKHSDWULDUFK¶VGDLO\ZRUNDQGDWWHQWLRQZDV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1069 See for example, Anne S. Lombard, Making Manhood: Growing Up Male in Colonial New England (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003): 4-11. ))%! ! devoted to domestic matters, in which he was expected to be a benevolent ruler and provider. According to the historian Lisa Wilson, the Anglo-American adult male lived in tHUURURI³WKH VSHFWHURIXVHOHVVQHVV´²roughly speaking, the failure to maintain a comfortable and harmonious household.1070 The eighteenth-century port town was a world without separate male and female spheres²a nineteenth-century notion that did not describe reality accurately even when it was LQYHQWHG5DWKHUVRFLDODQGHFRQRPLFVWULYLQJZHUHDQH[WHQVLRQRIDPDQ¶VGRPHVWLFGXW\ 2ELWXDULHVUHJXODUO\EOHQGHGWRJHWKHUPHQ¶VSROLWLFDODQGIDPLOLDODFKLHYHPHQWVVXFKDVWKDWRI the druggist William Tweedy, whom the Mercury PHPRULDOL]HGLQDV³a gentleman possessed of every qualification requisite to endear him to society,´DQGDWWKHVDPHWLPH H[FHOOLQJLQ³the different offices of a husband, a parent, a son, a brother, a friend, and a master.´1071 The sDPHSDSHULQ GHVFULEHGWKHODWH0RVHV,VDDFNVDV³DNLQGKXVEDQGD WHQGHUSDUHQWDQGDPRVWZRUWK\FLWL]HQ´1072 and in 1801 pointed out that while it was the ³SULQFLSDODLP´RIWKHPHUFKDQW*HRUJH6HDUV³WRPRYHLQWKHVSKHUHRISXEOLFDFWLRQZKHUH he FRXOGUHQGHUKLPVHOIPRVWXVHIXOWRKLVIHOORZPHQ´QRQHWKHOHVV³Kis worth, in every private and GRPHVWLFUHODWLRQ´ZDVXQGHQLDEOH1073 Conversely, disease, old age, marital discord, commercial failure, and injury threatened to render even the most hardworking man useless and so to rob him of his self-worth. John Adams derided the owner of a boarding house in which he lodged in 1770 because the man had failed in trade and could not afford his wife a genteel lifestyle, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1070 Lisa Wilson, Ye Heart of a Man: The Domestic Life of Men in Colonial New England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 2-3. 1071 Newport Mercury, June 1, 1782. 1072 Newport Mercury, September 11, 1798, p. 3. 1073 Newport Mercury, February 24, 1801, p. 3. ))&! ! ODEHOLQJWKHLQQNHHSHU³DVRIWO\OLYLQJWKLQJWKDWFUHHSHWKXSRQWKHHDUWK´1074 A group of black Bostonian men that petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for support in emigrating to Africa LQVRXJKWQRWRQO\IUHHGRPEXW³WKHSURVSHFWRIXVHIXOQHVV´1075 The obligation to play the role of the patriarch, maintaining comfort, order, and harmony within the domestic sphere while simultaneously obtaining the means for its survival without, was emotionally taxing, as men themselves often noted. In 1765, Jabez Bowen wrote to his friend and lodge brother Moses Brown while the latter was attending a convention in East *UHHQZLFKWRSODQWKHFRORQ\¶VUHVSRQVHVWRWKH6WDPS$FW -DEH]LQIRUPHG0RVHVWKDW0UV Brown had been severely ill, and although he assured Moses WKDW³the heighth of her indisSRVLWLRQ>ZDV@RYHU´DQ\LOOQHVVFRXOGEHFRPHOLIH-threatening; Bowen acknowledged the strain of balancing public endeavors with care for domestic dependants when he added that he, ³ZRuld not have [Moses] uneasy´DQGWKDW³if anything occurs that is not for the better´-DEH] would inform him immediately.1076 7KHVWUDLQRIPHQ¶VSXEOLF-private lives was all the greater in the maritime port towns, where the low proportion of adult males obliged many men to take on ever greater numbers of dependants. In addition to their own wives and daughters, many of the early Newport Masons accepted responsibility for the women and children of their extended families. Captain Benjamin Wanton, who died in 1761, bequeathed in his will two hundred pounds for his ³VLVWHU-in-law Hannah Wanton, widow of my EURWKHU(GZDUG:DQWRQGHFHDVHG´ and Jahleel Brenton left money for his daughters as well as land for his sons in 1766. Captain !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1074 John Adams, Diary and Autobiography, vol. 1, p. 358, quoted in Wilson, p. 110. 1075 HistorLFDO'RFXPHQWV³7KH%RVWRQ3ODQ´3%62QOLQH5HVRXUFH%DQN ))'! ! Benjamin Carr, who died on the coast of Africa in 1763, split his estate among his wife, his widowed mother, and his unborn child.1077 Similarly, as Providence threw itself into maritime trade toward the end of the eighteenth FHQWXU\PRVWRIWKHWRZQ¶VKRXVHKROGVRIDOOVL]HVDFFXPXODWHGGLVSURSRUWLRQDWHQXPEHUVRI female dependants, placing a strain on even the most affluent householders. According to the WRZQ¶V FHQVXVWKHKRXVHKROGRI:LOOLDP6PLWKLQFOXGHGRQHDGXOWPDOH 6PLWKKLPVHOI three adult women, and two children; that of the printer John Carter, five men (probably mostly apprentices), seven women, and three children; and that of Ebenezer Thompson, three men, six women, and three children.1078 The clustering of women, who regardless of their skill or industriousness, had meager earning power in an eighteenth-century town, placed increasing burdens on the lone patriarchs charged with their welfare at the same time that they grappled with commercial and political disputes. In 1788, the Rhode Island native Silas Cooke, after OHDUQLQJRIKLVVLVWHU(OL]DEHWK¶VGHDWKJULHYHGQRWRQO\IRU himself and his brother-in-law but for his niece, Becky; after expressing, in a letter to a friend, his hope that they would be FRPIRUWHGE\%HFN\¶JUDQGSDUHQWVKHWXUQHGWRGLVFXVVLQJKLVVWDWH¶VQHDU-violent debate over ratification of the Constitution.1079 The popularity of Masonry in eighteenth-century mercantile towns such as Newport and Providence was in part a response to the peculiar emotional burdens that these societies placed on men; Masonry mitigated the psychological strain of adult manhood. Firstly, Masonic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1077 Will of Benjamin Wanton, 1761, Town Council Records, vol. 13, p. 81, NHS; Will of Jahleel Brenton, Oct. 10, 1766, Vault A, Box 5, Folder 123-4, NHS; Will of Benjamin Carr, 1763, Town Council Records, vol. 15, p. 28-30, NHS. 1078 1791 Providence Town Census, Providence Census Collection, RIHS. 1079 Silas Cooke, Jr. to Henry Marchant, April 20, 1788, Henry Marchant papers, RIHS. ))(! ! membership enabled men to play the role of protector and provider collectively, through the Fraternity, even when such a role was impossible to fulfill on an individual level. The Rhode Island newspapers repeatedly carried reports of Masonic meetings and orations all over the Atlantic world followed by collections for the poor; every meeting of the Grand Lodge in Providence and Newport included charitable collections.1080 Money from these collections and IURPWKHORGJHV¶GXHVZHQWWRFKDULWDEle disbursements, most of them to women and children, although some occasionally went to men; for instance, in 1803, the Newport and Providence lodges agreed to split the cost of supporting John Gazie of East Greenwich, ³WRUHQGHUWKH remnant RI%U*D]LH¶VOLIHFRPIRUWDEOH´1081 Such an expenditure offered a dual psychological EHQHILWWRD0DVRQZKRDSSURYHGLW WKHDFWLRQUHLQIRUFHGWKH%UHWKUHQ¶VPXWXDOLVWLFERQGV reassuring him that the Fraternity would provide for him in case he should face similar poverty. As Doctor Thomas Truman proudly declared in his 1781 oration, So great and so sudden are frequently the vicissitudes of human affairs, that he who to-day is forced by pressing necessity to accept the pittance which charity affords, may to-morrow have an opportunity to return the same kindness to his benefactor.1082 In addition, charitable expenditures enabled each Mason to fulfill the role of patriarchal provider, even if his own individual financial contribution had been small. On the public stage, the 0DVRQV¶FKDULW\DWOHDVWSDUWO\VXFFHHGHGLQJDLQLQJWKHPUHVSHFWDVD³XVHIXO´LQVWLWXWLRQ² Masons were routinely eulogized as useful members of society, and as Masonry weathered the controversy stemming from the French Revolution, none other than President John Adams !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1080 see for example, Providence Gazette, June 30, 1792, p. 3. 1081 6$,17-2+1¶6/2'*(%22.% -2FWREHU6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR Portsmouth, RI. 1082 Truman, 6. )))! ! publicly declared WKDW³I have ever esteemed the societies of Free Masons, in this country, not only as innocent, but useful´1083 &RQYHUVHO\DQGPRVWLPSRUWDQWO\RIDOOLQDFFRXQWLQJIRU0DVRQU\¶VH[FOXVLRQRI women, the Masonic world offered men a refuge from the role of patriarchal provider. Men in the Atlantic port towns spent much of their time (when not away at sea or at war) among women, children, and subordinates, before whom they had to maintain the patriarchal persona. Within the 0DVRQLFVDQFWXPUHVWULFWHGWRDGXOWPHQ0DVRQVFRXOGEHKDYHDV³%UHWKUHQ´IRUPDOO\ equal and interdependent. The trite emotionalism of Masonic rhetoric reflects the relief of HVFDSHIURPSDWULDUFKDOGXWLHV WKHPHPEHUVRIWKHH[SLULQJ.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJe recalled the ³SHDFHIULHQGVKLSDQGORYH´WKDWKDGSUHYDLOHG³ZLWKLQLWVSDOHV´ 1084 the first song in John &DUWHU¶V +HUHVRFLDOORYHVHUHQHO\VPLOHV>«@ Music the weight of care beguiles, And lulls each gloomy thought to rest.1085 Masonry echoed the ideals of harmony and concord celebrated in marriage and the domestic sphere, but it did so while dropping the paternal hierarchies of the family and mainstream society. The patriarchal ethos that required men to act as rulers and providers toward women also arranged men themselves into hierarchies of patronage and deference² employers and apprentices, fathers and sons, officers and soldiers. Masonic ritual and rhetoric at least symbolically dissolved these hierarchies into a geneUDO³%URWKHUKRRG´UHOLHYLQJPHQRIWKH duties of patriarchal caretaking and social striving. It is important to note that while Masons !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1083 Providence Gazette, February 2, 1799, p. 1. 1084 .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRNTXRWHGLQ5XJJ-4. 1085 Wheeler, ))*! ! UHOLVKHGUHIHUULQJWRRQHDQRWKHUDV%UHWKUHQQR0DVRQFRXOGHYHUFODLPWKHWLWOHRI³)DWKHU´ For all the elaborate titles of Masonic offices, from stewards and wardens to high priests and knights, none ever came with a paternal epithet. Masons were only Brothers, and hence putatively equal, mutual caretakers. The Craft gave rise to no world-turned-upside-down, but it did allow for a world flattened. This is not to say that social distinction and deference ceased to exist in a Masonic lodge²on the contrary, as discussed in Chapters 3 and 11, social deference strongly influenced WKHORGJHV¶VHOHFWLRQRILQLWLDWHVDQG of officers. However, this deference in large part served to suppress contests for power and status that were commonplace in external society. The suppression of conflict within Masonry, exemplified by the prohibition on canvassing and electioneering, wDVFHOHEUDWHGLQSUD\HUDQGVRQJDVLQ&DUWHU¶V&KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V Songs ³1RGLVFRUGQRHQY\among XVVKDOOEH´1086 In their 1793 letter seeking to settle the dispute over militia offices between Bennett Wheeler and Joseph Allen, the officers of the Grand Lodge supposed that nothing had yet been said on the one side, or the other, that was of such a nature as to make a serious misunderstanding between gentlemen, much more between Masons and brethren of the same Lodge; as such we do earnestly recommend it to Brothers Allen and Wheeler to bury the memory of the transactions that caused the uneasiness in the depth of the sea, and that they mutually forgive any warmth of temper or expression that has at any time escaped them; that in so doing they will create Joy in the Lodge and they themselves will again taste how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.1087 7KH*UDQG2IILFHUV¶HIIRUWWRVPRRWKRYHUWKHGLVSXWHEHWZHHQ:KHHOHUDQG$OOHQUHIOHFWHGQRW only a hatred of conflict, as all Masonic rhetoric does, but a general discomfort with questions of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1086 Carter, ed., $&KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV (Providence: John Carter, 1779), p. 24. 1087 Bowen, Tillinghast, and Thompson to Daniel Stillwell, May 21, 1793, Stillwell family papers, Folder 1793, RIHS. ))+! ! status and hierarchy, which could undermine the appearance of fraternal harmony. While it was not illegitimate for men to invoke status differences²indeed, the Grand Officers agreed with Wheeler WKDW³WKHWLPHZDVQRWDUULYHGIRU%URWKHU$OOHQ¶VSURPRWLRQ´²it was unacceptable for such considerations to disturb the fraternal façade. Brotherhood necessitated the suspension of status contestation and a willful forgetting of external rivalries. 7KH0DVRQV¶RIWHQHJDOLWDULDQUKHWRULFPXVWEHXQGHUVWRRGLQWKLVOLJKW DVDFHOHEUDWLRQ of the temporary ritual suspension of paternal duties and social hierarchies within the lodge. The Masons were not levelers; they did not, as a group, wish to create equality in society at large²a notion that William Hunter conclusively refuted in his 1802 oration. Rather, they wished to LQWHUDFWDVSXWDWLYHHTXDOVPHHWLQJ³XSRQWKHOHYHO´DVDcontrast to their social lives outside of the lodge. When the Masons sang the lines from the oft-UHSULQWHG³(QWHU¶G³3UHQWLFH¶V6RQJ´² Great King, Dukes, and Lords, Have laid by their swords, 2XUP\VW¶U\WRSXWDJRRGJUDFHRQ $QG1H¶HUEHHQDVKDP¶G 7RKHDUWKHPVHOYHVQDP¶G With a free and accepted Mason²1088 they did not thereby express any desire to do away with kings, dukes, or lords. Rather, the laying by of the sword symbolizes the temporary surrender of patriarchal privilege²a surrender of both power and responsibility²WREHWDNHQXSDJDLQDWWKHORGJH¶V closing. Masonry was not in most instances a blueprint for the world, but an alternate world unto itself: an island of brotherhood amidst a sea of patriarchy. As the Masons themselves repeatedly made plain, the benefits of participation in this alternate world were primarily emotional. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1088 Carter, ed., $&KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV (Providence: John Carter, 1779), p. 7. )),! ! ,QVXPWKH0DVRQV¶H[FOXVLRQRIZRPHQGLGQRWVWHPIURPDYHUVLYHPLVRJ\Q\ DOWKRXJK surely some Brethren must have been misogynists). Rather, the policy of gender exclusion served to protect mutualistic male relationships that were incompatible with the paternalistic norms of relations between the sexes. Male fraternal camaraderie offered an occasional, ritualized release from the pressures of patriarchal manhood in an early modern town. Hence the ironic fact that Masonry flourished in Rhode Island at precisely the time that adult men were the most scarce: whereas the sex ratio in New England had been nearly even through the seventeenth century, it became skewed towards women in the early eighteenth century, when Masonry made its first definitely recorded appearance in the region, and particularly so in Rhode Island during WKH6HYHQ 0DVRQU\¶VLPSRUWDQFHDVDPDOHUHIXJHLV further supported by the fact that many Masonic lodges, including both of the first two in Rhode Island, were founded in port towns in WKHZDNHRIZDU6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHDVVHHQLQ&KDSWHU3, was more or less a FUHDWLRQRIWKH6HYHQ Revolution. The Newport lodge, although founded during peacetime, appeared on the heels of WKH-DFRELWHXSULVLQJDQGWKH:DURIWKH$XVWULDQ6XFFHVVLRQLQZKLFKRQHRIWKHORGJH¶V first initiates, John Mawdsley, had served as a privateer.1090 Indeed, considering the overwhelming numbers of soldiers and sailors involved in the founding of lodges, it may be most accurate to regard most Masonic bodies in eighteenth-century port towns as spawns of traveling regimental and shipboard lodges, which would serve to perpetuate in the port town the male !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1089 Crane, Ebb Tide in New England, 11-14. 1090 W. P. Sheffield, Privateersmen of Newport, p. 47-8. )*-! ! camaraderie that their members had experienced at war or at sea. On the battlefield or on board ship, Freemasonry could foster male fraternization without undermining hierarchical discipline; likewise its relationship to civilian life on land. An objection might be made to this argument on the grounds that it cannot apply to societies where women did not predominate, such as the West Indian colonies. However, Masonry in the eighteenth-FHQWXU\:HVW,QGLHVDSSHDUHGLQWKHLVODQGV¶SRUWWRZQVZKLFK showed similar demographic characteristics to those of New England. Most notably, Kingston, Jamaica saw a large proportion of widowed or unattached women, and of the 24 Freemasons whose marriages are recorded in Kingston before 1776, seven married widows. The historian Elaine Crane has found that in the New England port towns, households headed by widowed or unattached women often clustered together on particular streets, reflecting the formation of mutual support networks; similarly, in Kingston in the 1760s, female-headed households FOXVWHUHGWRJHWKHULQ*HRUJH¶V/DQHDQG0DWWKHZ/DQH7KHOLVWRISDXSHUVVXSSRUWHGE\WKH Kingston parish council in 1765, like those of New England, was composed overwhelmingly of women.1091 Additionally, even in smaller Caribbean towns where free women were scarce, European men lived under constant pressure to maintain control over the slave population. In their most flattering self-conception, white West Indian men preferred to see themselves as paternal providers for their dependants, including slaves, while in practice they maintained FRQWUROWKURXJKZKDWWKHSODQWHU7KRPDV7KLVWOHZRRGFDOOHG³W\UDQQ\´²violence and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1091 Crane, Ebb Tide In New England, 16-19; Kingston Parish Marriages, 1753-1776, JARD; Kingston Parish Register, 1740-1753, JARD; Kingston Vestry Minutes, and Parish poll Tax, 1763-7, p. 9, 54, 118, JARD. )*$! ! intimidation.1092 If anything, such conditions created even stronger, if different, motivations to retreat into a fraternal sanctum of white men. While psychological factors can largely account for why the Masons in the Anglo- American world admitted only men, the growth of the Fraternity ran parallel to political changes in gender relations. Historians of gender have found that after a period of social fluidity and comparatively wider opportunities for women in the American colonies in the seventeenth century, the eighteenth century saw the creation of formalized institutions and a concurrent silencing of women. Most dramatically, state apparatuses became more independent of the churches, in which women increasingly predominated in the eighteenth century. Freemasons were constantly involved in this process, obsessed as they were with the construction of a stable, ordered society. The new institutions that Masons helped to found, such as schools, colleges, military units, and charitable societies, were usually male-RQO\,QGHHGWKH0DVRQV¶UKHWRULFRI reason and self-FRQWURORYHUFRPLQJUHOLJLRXV³HQWKXVLDVP´DQG³ELJRWU\´VXUHO\FDUULHGD JHQGHUHGVXEWH[WVHUYLQJWRMXVWLI\WKHQHZPDOHDVVRFLDWLRQV¶LQGHSHQGHQFHRIWKHIHPDOH- dominated churches. However, the most direct efforts to reform and stabilize institutions at the H[SHQVHRIZRPHQ¶VYRLFHVZHUHVSHDUKHDGHGE\QRQ-Masons; for instance, the dramatic reform RI3URYLGHQFH¶V)LUVW%DSWLVW&KXUFKLQ-1, which saw the construction of a new neo- Classical meeting house, the foundation of the Charitable Baptist Society, the relocation of the &ROOHJHRI5KRGH,VODQGWR3URYLGHQFHDQGWKHHOLPLQDWLRQRIZRPHQ¶VULJKWVWRSUHDFKDQGYRWH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1092 Trevor Burnard, Mastery, Tyranny and Desire. )*%! ! in church affairs, was led by Nicholas Brown and Daniel Jenckes, neither of whom was a Mason.1093 5DWKHUWKDQIROORZLQJDQ\FOHDURUFRQVFLRXVSURJUDPRIPDOHGRPLQDWLRQWKH0DVRQV¶ relationship with women was improvised and ambiguous. Though restricted to men, the lodges inevitably interacted with women at every stage of their existence. In majority-female societies, WKH0DVRQVGHSHQGHGRQZRPHQ¶VVNLOOVDQGVXSSRUWQRWRQO\DVLQGLYLGXDOVEXWDVDQLQVWLWXWLRQ This dependence led to constant friction and contestation, forcing the Masons repeatedly to justify their existence and their exclusion of women. Nearly every public Masonic ritual LQFOXGHGVRPHDWWHPSWWRGHILQHDQGPDQDJHWKH&UDIW¶VUHODWLRQVKLSZLWKZRPHQDQGWRSUHVHQW its advantages to both sexes. The notion of women becoming Masons was not inconceivable in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world, but always alive and sometimes realized, necessitating a FRQVWDQWSROLFLQJDQGGHIHQVHRIWKH&UDIW¶VJHQGHUHGERXQGDULHV $QQ)UDQNOLQ¶VSULQWLQJRIMasonry Dissected was not the last time that women would be called upon to further the development of Masonry in North America²and indeed, they sometimes even served as its public face. In 1753, following the first known Masonic procession LQ1HZ 0UV+DOODP¶VDGGUHVVEXWLWSUREDEO\VRXQGHGWKHWKHPHRIPDULWDOKDUPRQ\EHWZHHQ0DVRQV and their wives that was so pervasive in Masonic song. The continuing popularity of Masonry DPRQJWKHDWULFDOSHUIRUPHUVIXUWKHULQVWDQWLDWHGE\2ZHQ0RUULV¶VLQLWLDWLRQLQ1HZSRUWLQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1093 -6WDQOH\/HPRQV³7KH%URZQVDQGWKH%DSWLVWV´5KRGH,VODQG+LVWRU\6XPPHU)DOO Volume 67, Number 2, p. 75-8. 1094 Grand Lodge of New York: Masonic Beginning in Colonial New York (New York: Eaton and Gettinger, 1922): volume: ³Official Exposition Record and History of Masonry in the State of New York,´ p. 45. )*&! ! 1761,ensured that the lodges in Rhode Island, too, frequently associated with publicly visible women and commissioned them to help FXUDWHWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VLPDJH,Q WKH3URYLGHQFH Lodge sponsored a performance of The Jew by a traveling acting troupe consisting of six men and four women.1095 In 1803, female performers appeared in a production of the bizarre and surreal masque, Harlequin Free-Mason, staged in Providence for the benefit of the daughter of RQH³0U%DWHV´PRVWOLNHO\DPHPEHURI0RXQW9HUQRQ/RGJH1096 In addition, female singers performed in a chorus for the 1794 Grand Lodge meeting in Providence, and gave instrumental music for the convention in 1798.1097 The Masons apparently had no misgivings about women speaking and performing in public, and even representing the Craft²they objected only to the admission of women into their private, fraternal space. Even the private space of the lodge, however, was overwritten with the female presence. The trades on which Masonry most relied for its week-to-week existence²innkeeping, textiles, and food preparation²were all ones where women were strongly represented. Many of the inns DQGWDYHUQVLQZKLFKORGJHVFRQYHQHGZHUHUXQE\ZRPHQ IRULQVWDQFH6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI 3URYLGHQFHPHWDWWKHZLGRZ'LQDK.LOWRQ¶VWDYHUQRQ1RUWK0DLQ6WUHHWLQ-8.1098 A VXUYLYLQJDFFRXQWPHPRUDQGXPIURPWKH0DVWHU¶V/RGJHLQ1HZSRUWFRYHULQJWKe period from !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1095 Playbill announcing performance of The Jew, or, the Benevolent Hebrew (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1796), MHS. 1096 Providence Gazette$XJXVWS³0U%DWHV´ZDVPRVWO\OLNHO\0HUULW%DWHVD member of Mount Vernon Lodge. 1097 Providence Gazette, June 28, 1794, p. 3, Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 39-43. 1098 +DUU\*UHHQH-DFNVRQ³ )*'! ! March 1761 to January 1762 shows a payment to Christian Mayer for lodging, in addition to seven other payments, totaling 41 pounds, all of them to women²WKUHHWR³0LVV.LWW\´WZRWR ³0UV0D\HUV´DQGWZRWR³0LVV%HWV\´7KHPHPRUDQGXPGRHs not record the particular goods or serves for which these three women were remunerated²they may have been food or garments²EXWWKHSD\PHQWVZHUHVXEVWDQWLDO(LJKWHHQ\HDUVODWHUDV.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH struggled to find its footing in Newport with far fHZHUILQDQFLDOUHVRXUFHVLWVPHPEHUV³YRWHG that the thanks of this lodge be returned to Mrs. Hays for her very obliging offers to this body DQGIRUPDNLQJDQXPEHURIDSURQVIRUWKHORGJH´1099 In this instance, the lodge relied on the good will and voluntDU\VXSSRUWRIWKH:RUVKLSIXO0DVWHU¶VZLIH5DFKHO0\HUV+D\V KHUODERU may indeed have been one of the most important donations to the lodge that enabled it to function prior to the French arrival. Women were also instrumental in the reproduction of the Masonic symbolic world and its meanings. Masons often relied on their wives, daughters, and other female relations to sew and embroider Masonic garments²WKHDSURQVWKDW0UV+D\VGRQDWHGWR.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHLQ 1780 were not unique²and this is only one of many ways that women not only handled but reproduced and deployed Masonic symbols. The sewing sampler discussed in Chapter 17, which VKRZV*HRUJH:DVKLQJWRQ¶VWRPEHPEOD]RQHGZLWKD0DVRQLFVTXDUHDQGFRPSDVVZDVVXUHO\ sewn by a young woman, demonstrating both her practical skill with the needle²and hence her desirability as a wife²and her fluency in the symbolic language of the early republic. Many women surely mastered aspects of Masonic iconography, having not only produced Masonic textiles, but handled and disposed of Masonic art of all sorts. The collection of the Newport Historical Society includes a Liverpool transferware mug with Masonic designs, probably !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1099 .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-XO\6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, )*(! ! produced in Britain in the 1790s, and donated to the Society by Antoinette S. Peckham in 1961. Born in 1867, Peckham had multiple ancestral roots in Newport stretching back to the eighteenth century, and she might have inherited the mug from any number of sources, but it is more than possible that it belonged to her forebear Benoni Peckham, a Newport Mason who died in 1796 DIWHUGHVLJQDWLQJKLVZLIH0DU\DVKLVHVWDWH¶VDGPLQLVWUDWRU1100 In this case, the mug would KDYHSDVVHGWKURXJKDWOHDVWWZRZRPHQ¶VKDQGVEHIRUHDUULYLQJLQWKHFROOHFWLRQRIWKH1HZSRUW Historical Society. The Peckham mug, covered with intricate Masonic designs, is emblematic of the Masonic art that women often not only saw but possessed and curated, stimulating their curiosity and building their personal understanding of the Craft. ! Masonic mug, British, ca. 1790-1800, donated to Newport Historical Society by Newport native Antoinette S. Peckham. Image courtesy of Newport Historical Society. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1100 Newport Mercury, November 8, 1796; Will of Benoni Peckham, 1794, Probate Council Records, Book 3, p. 30, Newport City Hall. )*)! ! ! ! Masonic mug, British-made, ca. 1790-1800, reverse view. Image courtesy of Newport Historical Society. The often intimate personal connections between women and Masonry in the Atlantic port towns unavoidably raised the question of why the lodges barred women from becoming Masons. This question was not merely academic; women did hold voting rights as full members of several of the religious societies in Rhode Island, including the Baptist churches, and spoke DQGIXQFWLRQHGDVPHQ¶VQHDU-equals in the Quaker meetings.1101 Moreover, the North American 0DVRQVZHUHSUREDEO\DZDUHWKDWZRPHQKDGEHFRPH)UHHPDVRQVLQ(XURSH VHYHUDO³lodges of DGRSWLRQ´LQ)UDQFHDQGWKH/RZ&RXQWULHVKDGDGPLWWHGERWKZRPHQDQGPHQDV0DVRQVIURP the 1740s onward. Even if the American Brethren rejected the legitimacy of these lodges, this did not preclude the possibility of regular, all-male lodges admitting women as exceptions. In !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1101 Crane, Ebb Tide in New England, 53-97. )**! ! 1710, Elizabeth St. Leger (later Aldworth), the daughter of the Viscount Doneraile, reportedly RYHUKHDUGD0DVRQLFORGJHPHHWLQJLQKHUIDWKHU¶VPDQRUKRXVHLQ&RXQW\&RUN,UHODQG$IWHU catching Elizabeth trying to escape down the hall, the Brethren, rather than allowing her to abscond with Masonic secrets, initiated her. Thereafter, she became an active Mason, and was listed prominently in a report on Freemasonry in Ireland in 1744; following her death in 1773, she was ZLGHO\PHPRULDOL]HGLQSULQWDV³WKH/DG\)UHHPDVRQ´1102 Hannah Mather Crocker, the granddaughter of Cotton Mather and an accomplished writer and orator, in her Series of Letters on Freemasonry published in 1815, claimed to have organized a Masonic lodge, QDPHG³6DLQW $QQH¶V´DPRQJKHUOLWHUDWHIHPDOHIULHQGVLQ%RVWRQLQWKHV$FFRUGLQJWR&URFNHUVRPH %UHWKUHQUHMHFWHG6DLQW$QQH¶V/RGJHDVVSHFLRXV³EXWE\WKHPRVWUHVSHFWDEOHSDUWRIWKHPZH ZHUHWUHDWHGOLNH6LVWHUV´1103 Regardless of whether tKH5KRGH,VODQG0DVRQVZHUHIDPLOLDUZLWK(OL]DEHWK$OGZRUWK¶V RU+DQQDK0DWKHU&URFNHU¶V0DVRQLFFDUHHUVVWRULHVRI\RXQJZRPHQJDLQLQJDGPLWWDQFHWR Masonry by subterfuge²most of them probably spurious²proliferated in the eighteenth century. In 1765, the Newport Mercury carried a report from London of such an episode at a lodge in the Strand, wherein DVSULJKWO\\RXQJJLUOIRXQGPHDQVDUWIXOO\WRLQWURGXFHKHUVHOIGLVJXLV¶GLQ PHQ¶VFORWKHV>«@where she had the happiness of satisfying her curiosity, so inseparable from the fair sex, and of being initiated into the sublime mystery and arcana of that antient and most honourable society; she remained some time in the lodge, but the awkwardness of her behavior in her new apparel, and some other circumstances, created a suspicion, which occasioned the supposed gentleman to be taken into another room, when her sex was discovered.1104 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1102 (GZDUG&RQGHU³7KH+RQ0LVV6W/HJHUDQG)UHHPDVRQU\´Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 7 (1895), 16-23. 1103 Crocker, A Series of Letters, 8. 1104 Newport Mercury, June 24, 1765, p. 2. )*+! ! The veracity of this story is doubtful, seeing as how a lodge would rarely initiate a candidate without knowing something of his background and character. The tale is an exception that SURYHVWKHUXOHVHUYLQJPRUHWRYDOLGDWHWKH0DVRQV¶JHQGHUH[FOXVLRQWKDQWRFKDOOHQJHLW WKH purported young woman is actuated by mere curiosity, rather than by sincere interest in the ideals or social bonds of the lodge; she gains entry by subterfuge rather than by open argument or SHUVXDVLRQ DQGWKH%UHWKUHQVRRQXQFRYHUKHUWULFNHU\WKXVPDLQWDLQLQJWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶V gendered boundaries. Nonetheless, the report reflects the atmosphere of curiosity and anxiety surrounding the Craft as the idea of women becoming Masons repeatedly surfaced in the eighteenth century. The Brethren turned to a wide array of ideological tools to defend their gendered exclusion, beginning with orthodox religious doctrines. In 1767, the Providence Gazette reprinted a report from Virginia asserting WKDW³a young gentleman was in company with some ladies; when, among other subjects of conversation, Free Masonry offered itself. The ladies were witty upon its mysteriousness, but particularly upon their bHLQJH[FOXGHGIURPWKHVRFLHW\´ The following day, the young man allegedly responded to their concerns by means of a poem containing the following verses: Nor you, ye fair! impute to us disgrace, that we exclude ye, froPWKLVVDFUHGSODFH>«@ The advice of Eve, and her delusive grace, from bliss and freedom, drove her wretched race. The fault lamented, and the evil felt, Long on the minds of our forefathers dwelt. Hence female councils, they excluded leave; And in her daughters fear, another Eve.1105 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1105 Providence Gazette, January 24, 1767, p. 4. )*,! ! The Virginian poet bluntly invokes the sin of Eve²a sin of pursuing knowledge²and so UHEXNHVZRPHQ¶VFXULRVLW\DWWKHVDPHWLPHWKDWKHMXVWLILHVWKHLUH[FOXVLRQIURP0DVRQU\7KLV was not the only time in the eighteenth century that Masons would conveniently rely on Genesis; DFFRUGLQJWR6RQJRI&DUWHU¶VChoice Collection(YH³WRILQGRXWWKHVHFUHWVRIWUXH 0DVRQU\6KHDWHRIWKHIUXLWVKHSOXFN¶GIURPWKHWUHH´$VDUHVXOW(YH¶VKHDGZDV³ZLWK knowledge sufficienWO\FUDPP¶G´DQG$GDPLQKRUURUGHFODUHG³1RZRPDQ)UHH0DVRQVKDOO EH´1106 Evidently, invocations of Genesis were not sufficient to put the question of women and Masonry to rest, and the Freemasons had to seek more nuanced means of responding to female curiosity. James Mitchell Varnum addressed the problem in a strange passage of his oration EHIRUHWKHUHFRQVWLWXWHG6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHLQ ZLYHVRURWKHUIHPDOH dependants had apparently raised concerns that Masonry would distract men from their familial GXWLHVOHDGLQJ9DUQXPWRUHDVVXUHWKHZRPHQLQKLVDXGLHQFHWKDW0DVRQV³DUHERXQGE\KRQRU DVZHOODVWKHWHQGHUHVWDIIHFWLRQWRDGPLUH>ZRPHQ¶V@EHDXW\VXEPLWWRWKHLUFKDUPVDQG GHIHQGWKHLUYLUWXH´6WLOOKHDGYLVHVKLVIHOORZ Masons that, should [women] wish to know the Secrets which have so long cemented our Society, we are happy in giving them more than their desires; and, by a rational endearing Intercourse, preventing the return of their first curiosity.1107 It is unclear what Varnum means to suggest by this vague proposition. He may expect that Masons will explain the purposes and ideals of the Fraternity while withholding its esoteric secrets, or he may intend openly to acknowledge what has hitherto gone unsaid: that many !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1106 Carter, ed., &KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV(Providence: John Carter, 1779), 20. 1107 9DUQXP³$Q2UDWLRQ'HOLYHUHG%HIRUH$/RGJHRI)UHHDQG$FFHSWHG0DVRQV´ 3URYLGHQFH John Carter, 1779), p. 7. )+-! ! ZRPHQZLOOLQHYLWDEO\OHDUQVRPHRI0DVRQU\¶VVHFUHWNQRZOHGJHDQGVRWKH%UHWKUHQVKRXOG manage their inquisitiveness by revealing to them enough to assuage their curiosity. Most likely, 9DUQXP¶VRUDWLRQDOOXGHVWRDQDFFHSWHGVWUDWHJ\WKDW0DVRQVKDGDlready discussed in private, indicating that their interactions with inquisitive women were a serious dilemma for the Masons of the Revolutionary period. As Masonry continued to grow in the independent republic, Masons further defended their exclusion of women, usually arguing that a female presence in the lodge would ruin its fraternal ethos. Every Mason who publicly addressed the question found it necessary to reject the older notion that women could not join the Masons because they were unable to keep a secret. Thomas W. Moore, in his poetic speech in defense of Masonry in Newport in 1793, discards this misogynistic notion, instead insisting that women could not be admitted because the SRVVLELOLW\RIURPDQWLFORYHZLWKLQWKHORGJHZRXOG³TXLWHGHVWUR\´ Masonic harmony: Be not offended, lovely, beauteous fair, 7KDW\RXIURP0DVRQ¶V5LJKWVH[FOXGHGDUH µ7LVQRWEHFDXVHZHWKLQN\RXZRXOGGLVFORVH :KDWH¶HUZLWKLQ\RXUEUHDVWVZHPLJKWUHSRVH %XWZH¶UHDIUDLG DQGVXUHRXUIHDUVDUHWUXH Were you admitted, LOVE would enter too; That jealousy might then our hearts inflame, DQGWRDULYDO¶VWXUQD%URWKHU¶VQDPH1108 0RRUH¶VGLUHSUHGLFWLRQGURSVWKH%LEOLFDODQGSV\FKRORJLFDODUJXPHQWVIRUIHPDOHLQIHULRULW\ invoking instead the Masonic fear of conflict bHWZHHQ%UHWKUHQ2IFRXUVH0RRUH¶VDUJXPHQW has many flaws: early modern men routinely controlled their romantic and sexual passions when associating with women, such as in church, and members of the lodge would not necessarily be attracted to any and every woman; conversely, Moore, like any man in a maritime port, was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1108 Newport Mercury, October 15, 1793, p. 4. )+$! ! surely aware that erotic attraction and love between men was not out of the question, either. 6WLOO0RRUH¶VSRHPSRLQWVWRWKHVDPHXQGHUO\LQJSUHGLFDPHQWH[DPLQHGHDUOLHULQWKLV chapter²that the customary relations between men and women, of which courtship was one mode, were incompatible with fraternalism. The gestures of paternal condescension as well as WKHFRPSHWLWLYHQHVVDVVRFLDWHGZLWKFRXUWVKLSZRXOG³EUHDNDOORXUERQGV´E\GLVUXpting the egalitarian environment of the lodge. The lodge was unlike the external world, and so could not accommodate the types of relationships that were normal outside of its walls. Nonetheless, as the controversies stemming from the French Revolution impelled the 0DVRQVWRSRLQWWRWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VSXUSRUWHGXVHIXOQHVVLQFXOWLYDWLQJYLUWXHDQGEHQHYROHQFH the question of gender exclusion became all the more urgent. The Reverend Abraham Lynsen Clarke acknowledged this awkward tension in his 1799 address at South Kingstown, asking UKHWRULFDOO\³LIWKHGRRULVHYHU ready to be opened to the virtuous and worthy, why is it forever closed, locked and barred against our amiable female friends"´&ODUNHTXRWHVDQHDUOLHU0DVRQLF VHUPRQLQGLVPLVVLQJWKH³PLVWDNHQLGHDWKDWWKH\FDQQRWNHHSRXUVHFUHWV´:RPHQPD\ HSLWRPL]HWKHEHQHYROHQFHWKDW0DVRQU\FHOHEUDWHV³Eut the fact is,´&ODUNHODPHQWV the institution is derived from practical Masonry, and still retains so many ancient ceremonies and laborious rites, utterly incompatible with the tenderness and delicacy of your nature, that I feel no possibility of your admission; unless you are able to influence your Masonic friends to obliterate and do away with these ancient rites and usages.1109 &ODUNH¶VGHIHQVe, conveniently shunting off the responsibility for female exclusion onto the 0DVRQLFULWXDOVFRQWDLQVVLPLODUZHDNQHVVHVWRWKRVHRI0RRUH¶DUJXPHQWFHQWHULQJRQURPDQWLF love²in particular, there is no obvious reason that some capable women could not undergo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1109 $EUDKDP/\QVHQ&ODUNH³7KH6HFUHWVRI0DVRQU\,OOXVWUDWHGDQG([SODLQHG´ 3URYLGHQFH Bennett Wheeler, 1799), 5-7. )+%! ! LQLWLDWLRQDVH[FHSWLRQV:KDWLVPRUHZRPHQPD\KDYHDFWXDOO\WDNHQXS&ODUNH¶VLQYLWDWLRQWR WU\WRSHUVXDGHWKHLU0DVRQLFIULHQGVDQGUHODWLRQVWRUHIRUPWKHORGJH¶VULWXDOVLQRUGHUWRDOORZ for female initiation. The danger of such an unintended consequence probably prompted William Hunter, in his 1802 oration, to fall back on the romantic-love argument seen in Thomas :0RRUH¶VSRHP³But why,´+XQWHUDVNVUKHWRULFDOO\DIWHUQRWLQJ0DVRQU\¶VFRVPRSROLWDQ inclusion, ³with pretension to universal benevolence, exclude from the benefit of your institutioQRQHKDOIRIWKHKXPDQUDFH"´+XQWHUDGDPDQWO\GLVDYRZVWKHQRWLRQWKDW³women FDQQRWNHHSDVHFUHW´FKHHNLO\SRLQWLQJRXWWKDW He must be unfortunate, who has not at times, in the undisguised frankness of friendship, unbosomed to [female friends] his most secret sentiments, his tenderest sensations, his most extravagant hopes, his most corrosive cares; and he must be unfortunate indeed, who has not found them as faithful as his fellow men >«]; who has not found, that tho they accepted and cherished for his consolation and felicity, his confidence, they never betrayed it. Furthermore, Hunter acknowledges that Freemasonry, as Clarke had argued, entails ³mechanic duties and labors, which require personal exposure and fatigue, to which female delicacy ought not and cannot submit´EXWFRQFOXGHVWKDWWKLVLVRQO\DPLQRUDQGLQFLGHQWDOREVWDFOH5DWKHU ³WKHFKLHIUHDVRQRIWKHLUH[FOXVLRQ´+XQWHULQVLVWV is not the suspicion we entertain of their weakness, but our own«Our holy volume describes the fate of him, who, overcome with importunity and tears, revealed the secret of his strength, and slumbered on the lap of Delilah. +XQWHU¶VUHIHUHQFHWR6DPVRQ¶VVHGXFWLRQE\'HOLODKVXEWO\GHIOHFWs the responsibility for gender exclusion back upon women themselves, represented in the myth by the archetypal temptress. Still, Hunter reaffirms the Masonic belief in the precariousness of self-control, which must be constantly alert against temptation and the ever-present threat of conflict: We are afraid of ourselves. The authorized emotions of friendship might insensibly yield to more exquisite and dangerous sensations. The bloom of young )+&! ! GHVLUHµwould lighten WKURWKHYHLORIVHQWLPHQW¶Our lodge is tiled against every unsocial passion; but if love were permitted an entry, jealousy, its food, thro its poison, would taint our festivity, and discord with all her family of pain, and care, would usurp our sanctuary.1110 In order to understand the Masons¶FRQWLQXLQJLQVLVWHQFHRQJHQGHUH[FOXVLRQRQHPXVWFRQVLGHU ZKDW+XQWHUPHDQVE\KLVUHIHUHQFHVWR³H[TXLVLWHDQGGDQJHURXVVHQVDWLRQV´DQG³XQVRFLDO SDVVLRQV´WKDWZRPHQ¶VSUHVHQFHZRXOGLQWURGXFHLQWRWKHORGJH7KHVHSKUDVHVGRQRWRQO\ signify sexual attraction, as one might be wont to understand them today; rather, they can also refer to a range of socially learned impulses towards aggression and competitiveness, which men habitually expressed in the presence of women. Only a closed, all-male environment, in +XQWHU¶VYLHZFRXOGVXSSUHVVWKLVDJJUHVVLYHIRUPRIPDVFXOLQLW\DVVRFLDWHGZLWK³\RXQJ GHVLUH´LQIDYRURIDPDWXUHDQGIUDWHUQDORQH-XVWDV6DPVRQ¶VGLYLQHVWUHQJWKGHULYHGIURPKLV DVFHWLFLVPVRWKH0DVRQV¶ERQGVGHULYHGIURPWKHFROOectively imposed discipline of the lodge. Clarke and Hunter, in their defenses of gender exclusion, acknowledge a great, final irony that nearly all Masons of the eighteenth century accepted implicitly: that even as it withheld its secrets from women, Masonry cultivated a form of masculinity that was quite similar to the contemporary ideal of femininity. Nowhere do the Masonic oaths, orations, or catechisms of the eighteenth century invoke the typically active male virtues²hardly ever does one find mention RI³FRXUDJH´³IRUWLWXGH´RU³YDORU´7KHRQO\H[FHSWLRQVDUHLQWKHKLJKHUGHJUHHVVXFKDVWKH 5R\DO$UFKULWXDO¶VFHOHEUDWLRQRIWKH³FRXUDJH´RIWKHWKUHHPDVRQVZKRGHVFHQGHGLQWR (QRFK¶VYDXOW²but even this story clearly symbolizes an intellectual, rather than martial, boldness.1111 5DWKHU0DVRQLFWH[WVXVXDOO\LQYRNH³YLUWXH´ZLWKRXWJLYLQJWKHWHUPDQ\FOHDU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1110 William Hunter, oration before the Grand Lodge, 1802, Vault A, Box 28, Folder labeled ³0HPRLUVRI7KRPDV'XQQ´1+6 1111 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 129-30. )+'! ! definition. The word most often served as a neutral signifier, to which audiences could attach any positive meanings they wished. No more FODULI\LQJLV7KRPDV)LWFK2OLYHU¶VDVVHUWLRQLQ his 1784 oration in Providence, WKDW³DJRRG0DVRQPXVWEHDJRRGPDQ´1112 The connection between Masonic virtues and gender is conceptually vague; by the eighteenth century, the term ³YLUWXH´WKRXJKGHULved from the Latin, virPHDQLQJ³PDQ´ZDVDSSOLHGIUHHO\WRERWKPHQDQG women, such as in 1762, when the Mercury PHPRULDOL]HG-RKQ0DZGVOH\¶VILUVWZLIH6DUDKDV ³a Lady whose virtuous, amiable, and engaging DispositiRQUHQGHUHGKHUKLJKO\HVWHHPHG´1113 0DVRQVUHSHDWHGO\LQVLVWHGWKDWWKHLU)UDWHUQLW\FXOWLYDWHG³YLUWXH´EXWRQWKHUDUH occasions that they bothered to define the term, they invoked passive rather than active or heroic TXDOLWLHVRIFKDUDFWHU0DVRQLFRUDWRUVKDELWXDOO\FLWHG3DXO¶VHSLVWOes and the Gospel of John in FHOHEUDWLQJ³FKDULW\´DQG³EHQHYROHQFH´DVWKHIRUHPRVWYLUWXHV WKHOHWWHULQWKHNew York Gazette KRQRULQJWKH0DVRQV¶VSRQVRUVKLSRIDFKDULWDEOHSHUIRUPDQFHLQ1HZSRUWLQ GHFODUHG³without benevolence and charity every pretension to reformation will be as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.´1114 -RKQ&DUWHU¶V ³FKDULW\RUXQLYHUVDOORYH«JURZVRQO\LQWKHEUHDVWRIWKHEHQHYROHQWDQGLVWKHJUDQGFRUQHU VWRQHRIRXURUGHU´ &DUWHUJRHVRQWRH[KRUWWKH%UHWKUHQWR³EHWHPSHUDWHEHIUXJDOJHQHURXV EHQHYROHQWKXPDQHVLQFHUHDQGNLQGWRDOOPHQ´1115 In 1773, the officers of the Lodge of St. -RKQRI-HUXVDOHPRQ6W(XVWDWLXVQDPHG³FDQGRUPHHNQHVVDQGFKDULW\´DVPRVWGHILnitive of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1112 Oliver, p. 15. 1113 Newport Mercury, October 7, 1762. 1114 New York Gazette, September 21, 761, cited in Seilhamer, 125-6. 1115 Carter, )+(! ! the Masonic character.1116 ,QHXORJL]LQJ:DVKLQJWRQWKHUHSXEOLF¶VJUHDWHVWPLOLWDU\KHUR$PRV 0DLQH$WZHOOUHIHUVWRWKHODWH*HQHUDO¶V³Faith, Hope, brotherly Love, Relief and Truth´DOOWKH while insisting WKDW³the essential key-stone that connects and secures the whole edifice´ZDVWKH passive virtue of secrecy.1117 The qualities that Masonic orators and authors associated with their Fraternity were more or less identical to those that contemporary society celebrated in regard to women. Like John 0DZGVOH\¶VILUVWZLIHPHQWLRQHGDERYHWKHZLIHRI:LOOLDP6PLWKZDVPHPRULDOL]HGDV ³DPLDEOH´DQG³H[HPSODU\LQOLIH ´1118 likewise, in 1796, Harmony Lodge in Port Royal, Jamaica DSSURYHGWKHLQLWLDWLRQRI/LHXWHQDQW(GZDUG&ROOLQJZRRG³IURPKLVNQRZQ character and DPLDEOHPDQQHUV´1119 In 1800, Trinity Church in Newport asked Benjamin Brenton to thank his nieces in Leith, Scotland²the daughters of the fourth Jahleel Brenton who had fled to Britain during the Revolution²IRUDQ³HOHJDQWGDPDVN-table-cloth´WKDWWKH\KDGPDGHIRUWKHLUIDWKHU¶V ROGFKXUFKSUDLVLQJ³WKLVVSHFLPHQRIIHPDOHLQGXVWU\SLHW\DQGEHQHYROHQFH´1120 The qualities honored in women were often public and intellectual as well; in 1794, the Gazette HXORJL]HG+HQU\+XQWHU¶V-year-old ZLIH5HEHFFDDVSRVVHVVLQJ³Dmind greatly improved E\(GXFDWLRQ«displaying in the several public, social, and more domestic duties of life, an H[DPSOHZRUWK\RIKHUVH[´1121 7KHOLIHRI0RVHV%URZQ¶VODWHZLIH$QQDZDV³DSDWWHUQRI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1116 Perfect Masons of the lodge of St. John of Jerusalem to the Lodge of St. Peter, October 13, 1773, 23/C/7, LMF-UGLE. 1117 Atwell, 13. 1118 Providence Gazette, December 15, 1792, p. 4. 1119 ³$EVWUDFWRIWKHWUDQVDFWLRQVRI+DUPony Lodge no. 281 held in the town of Port Royal in the LVODQGRI-DPDLFD´6QLLL-iv, LMF-UGLE. 1120 Annals of Trinity, p. 226. 1121 Newport Mercury, February 4, 1794, p. 3. )+)! ! usefulness and deFHQF\´PXFKDVKHUEURWKHU-in-ODZ-RKQ%URZQZDV³DOZD\VGLVWLQJXLVKHG´ IRUKLV³YDULHGDQGH[WHQVLYHXVHIXOQHVV´ZKLOHWKH&ROOHJHWKDW0RVHVDQG-RKQKHOSHGWRIRXQG ZRXOGSUHSDUHPHQWRGLVFKDUJH³WKHRIILFHVRIOLIHZLWKXVHIXOQHVVDQGUHSXWDWLRQ´1122 The personal qualities that Masons celebrated²both in their character as Brethren and as private citizens²were gender-neutral, and more reminiscent of womanly virtues than of masculine heroism. Masons openly acknowledged the irony that the Craft claimed to cultivate among men the virtues that eighteenth-century society associated primarily with women. Abraham Lynsen &ODUNHLQKLV DGGUHVVDW6RXWK.LQJVWRZQDGPLWV³yet I fear you will still say, if your society is altogether a charitable one, why should those be excluded who are generally acknowledged to possess greater sympathy and more beneficence´1123 In his 1802 oration, :LOOLDP+XQWHUDVNVUKHWRULFDOO\³Why interdict the admission of the other sex, whose hearts are at least as susceptible of benevolent impression as yours; anGZKR«are better instruments of EHQHILFHQFH"´&ODUNHDQG+XQWHUHDFKRIIHUWKHLURZQMXVWLILFDWLRQVIRUJHQGHUH[FOXVLRQ discussed above²but it seems likely that they would have concurred with the argument that Hannah Mather Crocker later put forward in her Observations of the Real Rights of Women: that women did not need to learn the secret of Masonry, because they could naturally practice the Masonic virtues without it.1124 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1122 Providence Gazette, February 13, 1773, p. 3; Providence Gazette, September 24, 1803, p. 3; April 28, 1764, p. 4. 1123 Clarke, 1799, p. 5-6. 1124 Hannah Mather Crocker, Observations on the Real Rights of Women and Other Writings, Constance J. Post, ed., (University of Nebraska Press, 2011), p. 113-14. )+*! ! The virtues that Masonry claimed to cultivate²passive, beneficent, and prudent²were those suited not to heroic achievement, but to social harmony and stability. Whether practiced by Masons or by women, they were responses to the conditions of life in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world²a world of political conflict, slavery, migration, warfare, and disease. In this environment, women and Masons similarly served as symbolic anchors in the tide of events. For instance, considering the constant threat of death at sea, and the concurrent desire for a sense of security and familiarity, it is not surprising that mariners invoked both women and Freemasonry in naming their vessels. Most commonly, ships in the eighteenth century bore female names (eg. the Polly and the Diana), but among the small minority bearing male names, most were Masonic²most frequently, as noted in Chapter 4, the Free Mason. In addition, the Providence merchant and Mason, William Earle, owned a sloop called The Hiram, which launched from the wharf belonging to his son-in-law, the fellow Mason Joseph Tillinghast; Earle later owned the brig Hermes, named for a deity commonly associated with Masonry and alchemy.1125 In 1800, a Captain Vloan sailed from Newport to New York in a sloop called the 0DVRQ¶V'DXJKWHU, honoring both conventions at once.1126 7KHVHSHFXOLDUSDWWHUQVLQVKLS¶VQDPHVVXJJHVWD symbolic or even talismanic quality associated with both women and Masonry. No wonder, then, that North American port towns, and later, the new republic, would turn to both women and Masonry as symbols of the stability and harmony that they hoped to wrest from the chaos of the eighteenth century. Masons and women appeared in similar roles, as twin pillars of the same new temple; when James Mitchell Varnum gave his address, rich with !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1125 Tillinghast, 1797: The Year the Elephant Visited Providence, p. 22; Sloop Hiram accounts, 1799, Benjamin T. Chandler papers, RIHS. 1126 Newport Mercury, September 2, 1800, p. 3. )++! ! Masonic apocalypticism, at the founding of Marietta, a small outpost threatened by Native American hostility, the ceremony began with a procession of the officers and ladies of Fort Harmar,1127 and the town itself was named for a womam²Marie Antoinette. The famous Masonic cornerstone-laying of the Capitol in the federal city in 1793, over which Washington presided in his Masonic regalia, helped to insure the permanence and sanctity of the new government; this ceremony finds its parallel, however, in a less famous reception in New Jersey, which Abraham Lynsen Clarke describes in his eulogy for Washington: after accepting the presidency of the federal republic, on his way to his inauguration in New York, Washington passed over a bridge at Trenton, the site of his winter attack twelve years earlier. The women of the town had erected a triumphal arch over the middle of the bridge, supported by thirteen pillars entwined with evergreen wreaths, symbolizing immortality, and a delegation of ladies, dressed all in white, sang, Virgins fair, and matrons grave, 7KRVHWK\FRQTX¶ULQJDUPVGLGVDYH They for thee triumphal bowers Build, and strew thy way with flowers; Build for thee triumphal bowers, And strew WKHLU+HUR¶VZD\ZLWKIORZHUV1128 The scene is at once a parallel to the Masonic cornerstone-laying of 1793, in which Washington himself bestowed divine favor on the new government by the pouring of corn, wine, and oil, and a complement to it, in which the women of Trenton bestow immortality upon the federal state, represented by the thirteen pillars, and upon Washington, whose masculine and heroic virtues they emphasize in contrast to their own feminine innocence. The presence of the women !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1127 Varnum, An Oration Delivered at Marietta, p. 2-3. 1128 Abraham Lynsen Clarke, A Discourse Occasioned by the Death of «Washington (Providence: Carter, 1800), p. 13-14. )+,! ! themselves underscores the contrast between the suffering and uncertainty of war and the stability promised by the federal order. Public ceremonies involving women and Freemasonry served parallel symbolic ends, but by different and incompatible means: one by suppressing gender difference, the other by emphasizing it. Finally, the institution of marriage, by ritually formalizing relations between the sexes, served parallel social ends to those of Freemasonry. As seen in Chapter 3, Masons in colonial 1HZSRUWRIWHQPDUULHGRQHDQRWKHU¶VGDXJKWHUVRUVLVWHUVKHOSLQJWRFRQVROLGDWHDODUJHO\ Anglican mercantile elite centering on the Brenton and Wanton families. Apart from the marriages to Brenton women already discussed, John Topham married Anne Tew, the daughter of the innkeeper James Tew, Jr., a fellow Mason and later a frequent host of King DavLG¶V Lodge.1129 Both of the sisters of Jeremiah Clarke, who served in 1765 as a steward of the Newport lodge, married Masons, while Jeremiah himself married a member of the Wanton clan.1130 During and after the Revolution, such Masonic intermarriage continued in a new context; Masonry and marriage worked in tandem to integrate a new leadership class of merchants, artisans, and Revolutionary veterans. Samuel Snow, a veteran and pioneer of the China trade, married the daughter of Peter Wanton, a Newport Mason and slave trader.1131 In WKHUHYROXWLRQDU\YHWHUDQ+HQU\6KHUEXUQHDPHPEHURI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHPDUULHG Catherine Tweedy, the widow of his late lodge brother, the druggist William Tweedy.1132 In 1791 and 1799, the pewterer William Billings married in succession both of the sisters of his !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1129 E. Jean Scott, ³$)HZRIWKH7HZVRI1HZSRUW5,´1994, p. 25-6, NHS. 1130 George Austin Morrison, Jr., The Clarke Families of Rhode Island, New York: Evening Post, 1902, p. 238, 245, 287, 290. 1131 Edwin H. Snow, Desccendants of William Snow (Providence: Snow and Farnum, 1908), 146. 1132 Newport Mercury, June 4, 1785, p. 3. ),-! ! lodge brother, the silversmith Ezekiel Burr.1133 By the time of his death, Captain Samuel Allen, DPHPEHURI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHZDVPDUULHGWRWKHGDXJKWHURI'RFWRU+HQU\ Sterling, an Irish-born physician who had joined the lodge in the colonial era.1134 In most LQVWDQFHVWKHJURRP¶V0DVRQLFLQLWLDWLRQSUHFHGHGWKHZHGGLQJEXWLQVRPHFDVHVLWIROORZHG soon after²for instance, in 1799, Captain Henry Hudson of Newport married Patience Tilley, the daughter of the Baptist deacon William Tilley, before following his father-in-law into the lodge in 1800.1135 It is impossible to know whether the intertwining of marital and Masonic bonds in Rhode Island resulted from any conscious program or merely from the accidents of personal DFTXDLQWDQFH,WLVSRVVLEOHWKDWWKHSDWWHUQPD\KDYHUHVXOWHGSDUWO\IURPZRPHQ¶VFKRLFHV²if her father or brothers were Masons, a young woman might have positive associations with the Craft, taking it as a sign of marriageability, or alternatively, encouraging her husband to join. This is certainly the notion that the Masons themselves put forward, in comically exaggerated IRUPLQDVRQJFROOHFWHGLQ-RKQ&DUWHU¶V KDQGERRN7KHYHUVHGHVFULEHVD³0DVRQV¶ GDXJKWHUIDLUDQG\RXQJ´ZKRWKRXJKVKHORYHVKHUVXLWRUUHPDLQVDPDLG³1RQHVKDOOXQWLH P\YLUJLQ]RQH´VKHVWLSXODWHV³%XWRQHWRZKRPWKHVHFUHW¶VNQRZQ2IIDP¶G)UHH0DVRQU\´ ZKLFKH[FOXGHV³WKHSORGGLQJNQDYHDQGSDUW\WRDG´1DWXUDOO\WKH\RXWKKXUULHVWRWKHQHDUHst ORGJHDQGJDLQVDGPLVVLRQ ILQDOO\³WKHIDLURQHJUDQWHGKLVUHTXHVW&RQQXELDOMR\VWKHLUGD\V KDYHEOHVW´1136 We may laugh at this song as a convenient bit of self-flattery, but the Masons !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1133 5LFKDUG%RZHQ³:LOOLDP%LOOLQJV 3URYLGHQFH3HZWHUHUDQG%UDVV)RXQGHU´S-9. 1134 Providence Gazette, October 13, 1821, p. 3. 1135 Newport Mercury, July 9, 1799, p. 3. 1136 Wheeler, ),$! ! did strive to present themselves not only as amenable to womHQ¶VFRPSDQ\EXWDVLGHDOURPDQWLF partners²as Song no. 6 in the 1802 Vocal Companion ERDVWV³1RWDOOWKHRULHQWJHPVWKDW VKLQH1RUWUHDVXUHVRIULFK2SKLU¶VPLQH([FHOWKH0DVRQ¶VKHDUW´1137²and judging by the frequency with which Masonss sisters, daughters, and widows married fellow Masons, it seems their efforts may have met with some success. More fundamentally, the firm emotional bonds that undergirded the ideal eighteenth- century marriage, such as James Mitchell Varnum claimed to enjoy in relatiRQWRKLV³GHDUHVW 3DWW\´UHVHPEOHWKRVHRI0DVRQLFEURWKHUKRRG7KRXJKRIDQHQWLUHO\GLIIHUHQWVRFLDODQGOHJDO character, marriage and Masonic fraternalism thrived on the same personal dispositions toward emotional intimacy and loyalty. The parallel between the two relationships is thrown into uncanny relief in the ritual of the degree of Perfection, in which the candidate, standing before a WDEOHVHWZLWKEUHDGDQGZLQHUHFHLYHVDJROGULQJLQVFULEHGZLWKWKHVORJDQ³ZKDWYLUWXHXQLWHV death cannoWVHSDUDWH´1138 Still, irrespective of the parallels between Masonry and marriage, wives, as dependant clients, were not to be Masons. As an outsider, the ideal wife did not seek DIWHU0DVRQLFNQRZOHGJHLQWKHPDQQHURI(YH DV6RQJQRLQ&DUWHU¶V collection ERDVWV³7KHFRZDQPD\VWULYHQD\SORWDQGFRQWULYH7RILQGRXWRXUJUHDWP\VWHU\ The LQTXLVLWLYHZLIHPD\LQYDLQVSHQGKHUOLIHIRUVWLOOZH¶OOEHKRQHVWDQGIUHH´1139 0HQDQGZRPHQFRQWHQGHGRYHUZRPHQ¶VDFFHVVWR0DVRQLFNQRZOHGJH in part through %LEOLFDOPHWDSKRUVZLWKWKHOHJHQGRIWKH4XHHQRI6KHEDVHUYLQJDVDWRXFKVWRQHIRUZRPHQ¶V relations to the Craft. The Masons presented as the archetype of the good marriage not that of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1137 Dunham, ed., Vocal Companion and Masonic Register, p. 12. 1138 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 153. 1139 Carter, ed., &KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV, p. 32. ),%! ! Adam and Eve, but rather the relationship between Solomon and the Queen, who had the LQWHOOLJHQFHWRUHFRJQL]H6RORPRQ¶VZLVGRP6KHED¶VTXHVWLRQVVHUYHQRWOLNHWKRVHRIWKH LQTXLVLWLYHZLIHWRJDLQPDOHZLVGRPEXWRQO\WRWHVWLW,Q³6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH $Q2UDWRULR´ originally performed at Dublin DQGLQFOXGHGLQ&DUWHU¶VChoice Collection, Hiram Abiff LQWURGXFHVWKHWZRUXOHUVOHDGLQJWKHPWRIDOOLQORYH WKHSOD\FORVHVZLWKWKHFKRUXV³Give to Masonry the prize, / Where the fairest choose the wise: / Beauty still should wisdom love; / Beauty and order reign above.´1140 The play evokes the alchemical coniunctio, in which the union of complementary male and female principles overcomes mortal corruption. In contrast, +DQQDK0DWKHU&URFNHUVDZWKH4XHHQRI6KHEDDV6RORPRQ¶VHTXDOZKRSDUWRRNLQWKH divine P\VWHULHVZULWLQJLQRQHRIKHU0DVRQLFRGHV³6LQFH6KHED¶VTXHHQ7KHILUVWZDVVHHQ7R JDLQWKLVZRQG¶URXVDUW 6KHPDGHWKHYRZ:HDOOGRQRZ$QGJDLQ¶GWKHZLVHNLQJ¶V KHDUW´1141 Here, in the Biblical myth as Crocker reimagines it, tKH4XHHQHDUQV6RORPRQ¶V admiration, as romantic love and Masonic fellowship fuse. For most male Masons, however, marriage and Masonry, like parallel lines, never crossed. The two coexisted, complementary but separate, in the same emotional world; both relationships served as talismans against mortality and as responses to the anguish of frequent separation. Only in death did marriage and Masonry unite. This fact is demonstrated by the appearance of the Solomonic style on the gravestones of women and children associated with Freemasons²indeed, the majority of the specimens of the style mentioned in Chapter 11 were memorials for women. Although the Solomonic style disappeared after 1790, gravestones !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1140 ibid, p. 40. 1141 Hannah Mather Crocker, A Series of Letters on Free-Masonry, By a Lady of Boston (Boston: John Eliot, 1815), p. 20-1. ),&! ! FRQWLQXHGWRGHPRQVWUDWHPHQ¶VXVHRI0DVRQLFV\PEROVWo understand their marriages and to FRSHZLWKPRUWDOLW\,Q 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHLQLWLDWHGDQRWKHUZLVHREVFXUH young man named Jonathan Fuller; within a year, he had passed through all three degrees.1142 In 1810, his wife Ruth died at the age of 31. On her gravesite in North Burial Ground stands what is possibly the most striking and distinctive gravestone in all of Rhode Island: in the tympanum of the headstone, flanked by sets of three pillars, is a three-tiered masonry tower resembling a ziggurat, probably intended to represent the Tower of Babel. ! G ravestone of Ruth Fuller (ca. 1779 ± 1810), North Burial G round, Providence. Photo by the author. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1142 Special return for Providence; ),'! ! ! G ravestone of Ruth Fuller (ca. 1779 ± 1810), North Burial G round, Providence (detail). Photo by the author. The Masons had long viewed the legend of the Tower of Babel with ambivalence, at once celebrating the hope of reaching the divine realm on earth while accepting the condemnation of WKHEXLOGHUV¶H[FHVVLYHDPELWLRQ WKH7RZHUVHUYHGDVboth a model and a cautionary tale in the 0DVRQV¶TXHVWWRRYHUFRPHKXPDQGLYLVLRQ,Q6RQJQRRI&DUWHU¶VChoice Collection, the %UHWKUHQGLVDYRZWKH³GLVFRUG´DQG³HQY\´WKDWSXUSRUWHGO\GRRPHGWKH%DEHOSURMHFWEHIRUH FRQFOXGLQJREOLTXHO\³$WRZHUWKH\ZDQWHGWROHDGWKHPWREOLVV ,KRSHWKHUH¶VQREURWKHUEXW NQRZVZKDWLWLV 7KUHHSULQFLSDOVWHSVLQRXUODGGHUWKHUHEH$P\VW¶U\WRDOOEXWWKRVHWKDW DUHIUHH´1143 7KHWKUHHWLHUVRIWKHWRZHURQ5XWK)XOOHU¶VJUDYHVWRQHUHSUHVHQWWKHVHGuctive and dangerous longing for reunion²of the male and the female, of the earthly and the divine, of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1143Carter, &KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV, 1779, p. 24. ),(! ! living and the dead. This longing haunted the lives of both men and women in the eighteenth century. Jonathan Fuller, for his part, followed his wife to the grave just one year later, in October, 1811.1144 :HFDQQRWNQRZKRZKHUHVSRQGHGWRKLVZLIH¶VGHDWKRWKHUWKDQE\WKH clues on her headstone, which suggest, in their typically cryptic way, that the Masonic rites offered him the hope of immortality DQGRIDQHYHQWXDOHQGWRWKHDOLHQDWLRQRI*RG¶VFUHDWXUHV from their maker and from one another²³'HDWKNLOOVWRFXUH:HIDOOWRULVH´ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1144 Providence Gazette, October 5, 1811, p. 2. ),)! ! Conclusions: Masonry at the Opening of the Nineteenth Century Freemasonry, like the country houses of the EQJOLVK&DWKROLFJHQWU\KDVD³GRXEOH DUFKLWHFWXUH´FDUHIXOO\PDQDJLQJZKDWLWFRQFHDOVDQGZKDWLWUHYHDOVWRWKHRXWVLGHZRUOG Therefore, to conclude our examination of Masonry in the eighteenth century, we must consider both the position that it had attained on the public stage by the end of that era and how it FRQWLQXHGWRRSHUDWHEHKLQGFORVHGGRRUVLQPHQ¶VZRUGVERGLHVDQGPLQGV)RXUHYHQWVDOORI ZKLFKWRRNSODFHZLWKLQWKHILUVWIHZ\HDUVRIWKHQLQHWHHQWKFHQWXU\GHPRQVWUDWHWKH0DVRQV¶ partial success in establishing themselves on the social and civic landscape as the United States, even as WKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VVHFUHF\DQGORYHRIP\VWHU\NHSWLWVUROHLQWKHQHZUHSXEOLFDPELJXRXV i. The Completion of Masons Hall, Newport, 1803 On MarcKWZRRIILFHUVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWSDLGDSDLURIEXLOGHUV to supply the lodge with 358 wooden beams and posts, varying in length from nine to thirty-three feet. Over the ensuing five months, the lodge spent at least 2,047 dollars on additional building materials and supplies; Brother Moses Barlow, who had been initiated the preceding year, IXUQLVKHGWKHORGJHZLWKOXPEHUDQGWKHORGJH¶VW\OHU-RKQ5LFKDUGVSURYLGHGVWRQH7KHSXEOLF VRRQOHDUQHGRIWKHUHDVRQIRUWKH0DVRQV¶VOHZof expenditures: they had excavated the forty- three-year-old foundations at the corner of Church and School Streets and were preparing at last to build their long-planned Masons Hall. The Brethren had been discussing the possibility of building a hall at OHDVWVLQFH DQGRQ$SULOWKH\ODLGDQHZFRUQHUVWRQH³LQGXH IRUP´OHGE\WKUHH1HZSRUWGLJQLWDULHV²the Worshipful Master, Moses Seixas, the Past Grand ),*! ! Master, Christopher Champlin, and the Junior Grand Warden, John L. Boss. The lodge marked the occasion with public ceremonies, paying Brother William Barker for hymns for the occasion, musicians for a public concert, and Brother Christopher Fowler for a gallon of brandy.1145 The cornerstone-laying marked the beginning of a fairly swift building process. Construction continued at least through the end of 1802, by which time the lodge had paid for FHGDUSRVWVDQLURQGRRUIRUDQRYHQFXUWDLQVFDUSHQWU\DQGLURQLFDOO\³PDVRQZRUN´1146 On 1HZ February 22nd, in honor of George Washington, and appointed a committee of Masons and 0DVRQV¶VRQVWRRUJDQL]HDEDOO2QWKHDSSRLQWHGGD\LQ)HEUXDU\VL[W\-nine Masons, including thirteen visitors, gathered at the State House in Newport and processed down to 7KDPHV6WUHHWDQGEDFNXSWKHKLOOWRWKHFRPSOHWHGWHPSOH7KH7\OHURI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH led the procession, followed by the Brethren in the order of their degrees of initiation, the Grand Tyler, choristers, various Grand Officers, and finally the Grand Sword Bearer. They performed the customary consecration with corn, wine, and oil, and marched inside and around the hall WKUHHWLPHVWRWKHWXQHRI³:DVKLQJWRQ¶V0DUFK´7KHMercury announced that the following GD\WKH0DVRQVZRXOGKRVWDEDOOLQZKLFKERWKJHQWOHPHQDQGODGLHVZRXOGEHLQYLWHG³WRYLHZ WKH0DVRQLFDSDUWPHQWV´1147 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1145 David SDQIRUGDQG$1RUWKDP&RQWUDFW0DUFK%R[)ROGHU³0DVRQLF /RGJH´1+6 ([SHQVHOHGJHU- 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, Newport Mercury, April 13, 1802, p. 3, September 16, 1876, p. 6; Log Book B, 1798-1811, Saint John¶V/RGJHQR Portsmouth, RI. 1146 Expense ledger, 1802- 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, Newport Mercury, September 16, 1876, p. 6. 1147 Newport Mercury, February 22, 1803, p. 3; Log Book B, 1798-6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR 1, Portsmouth, RI. ),+! ! ! Watercolor painting, unknown artist, Newport, ca. 1820-1830. This painting shows Masons Hall, as seen from across Church Street, in the center; the adjoining building to the right is the Moravian church, built in 1767. Seen over the house to the left is the peak of the steeple of Trinity Church. Image courtesy of Newport Historical Society. The opening of Masons Hall, framed like all Masonic occasions by ritual, music, and alcohol, was undoubtedly a moment of pride and satisfaction for the Newport Masons. At last, the town in which Masonry in Rhode Island had been born could, like Providence and Warren, boast its own Masonic temple. The simple and elegant Federal-style building provided visible evidence of the Masonic quest for lasting order. Still, although the wooden edifice most likely GLGQRWIROORZ3HWHU+DUULVRQ¶VRULJLQDOSODQIRUDEULFNVWUXFWXUHHYHQWKLVPRUHPRGHVt EXLOGLQJH[FHHGHGWKHORGJH¶VILQDQFLDOUHVRXUFHV2Q)HEUXDU\MXVWVL[GD\VDIWHUWKH dedication ceremony, the Worshipful Master Moses Seixas wrote to an Assemblyman in Providence WKDW³our Masonic edifice has involved us in a heavy debt´DQd argued WKDW³a lottery appears at present the only sensible means to extricate ourselves therefrom´7KH deputies from Newport had already agreed to support such a lottery, and Seixas asked for the ),,! ! 3URYLGHQFH$VVHPEO\PDQ¶VDSSURYDO7KHIHGHUDOMXGJH Benjamin Bourne added a note pointing RXWWKDWWKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VPHPEHUVKLSLQ5KRGH,VODQGLQFOXGHGVXFKUHVSHFWDEOHPHQDV-RKQ Carlile, the captain of 3URYLGHQFH¶VDUWLOOHU\FRPSDQ\ and Christopher Rhodes, a militia officer, cotton manufacturer, and Assemblyman from Warwick.1148 7KHUHVSRQVHWRWKH0DVRQV¶UHTXHVWUHIOHFWVWKHLUJURZLQJDFFHSWDQFHLQ5KRGH,VODQGDV a quasi-civic institution. The legislature again granted the Masons permission to hold a lottery, and on March 8th, the Mercury began advertising tickets. The committee charged with overseeing the lottery, unlike the equivalent body appointed in 1759, was composed entirely of Masons.1149 The debt was evidently discharged by the end of 1803, by which time the advertisements for the lottery ceased, and in June 1804, Seixas was elected to his third term as *UDQG0DVWHU7KH0DVRQV¶ORQJTXHVWIRUDSHUPDQHQWSODFHLQ1HZSRUWVRFLHW\HQGHGLQ success. 7KH0DVRQV¶VXFFHVVUHVWHGRQDVRFLDOGLYHUVLILFDWLRQAs the foregoing chapters have pointed out, Masonry in the eighteenth century was largely a maritime phenomenon, with merchants, sailors, and itinerant professionals carrying the Craft to nodes on an Atlantic network; by 1804, maritime trade had become only one industry alongside several others also beginning with the letter ³P´LQZKLFK0DVRQVSOD\HGDGLVSURSRUWLRQDWHO\ODUJHSDUW PHWDOZRUNLQJ manufacturing, the military, medicine, and music. Freemasonry in Rhode Island integrated itself into the social order by recruiting members through all of these industries and by linking itself with the central symbols of the republic. In June 1802, while Masons Hall was still under !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1148 Moses Seixas and Benjamin Bourne to unknown recipient, February 28, 1803, Papers of the Seixas family, Series II, Moses Seixas, Box 2, Folder 2, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY. 1149 Newport Mercury, March 8, 1803, p. 3. *--! ! construction, the Grand Lodge convened in Newport; after hearing an oration by the Assemblyman William Hunter, the Grand Officers retired to dinner in the State House and proposed a series of sixteen toasts that illustrate the social world in which the Masons sought to establish themselves at the dawn of the nineteenth century: to the United States; to Rhode Island; to all nations; to all lodges; to religion; to commerce; to agriculture; to government; to the PLOLWLD WRWKHQDY\DQGDUP\ WRWKHGD\ ³we are all eTXDOEXWZHQHHGODZVDQGJRYHUQPHQW´ ³Pay universal masonry be the only univerVDOPRQDUFK\´ WRWKHV\PEROV WR³our sisters´ DQGWR the memory of George Washington.1150 7KH0DVRQV¶WRDVWVLOOXVWUDWHQRWRQO\WKH)UDWHUQLW\¶VHIIRUWWRHVWDEOLVKLWVHOIRQWKH social landscape, but also its role in creating a sphere of sacred, non-political civic loyalties. The political theology that the American Masons propagated transferred the sanctity of the Crown DQGWKHNLQJ¶VKHDYHQO\ERG\WRWKHV\PEROVRIWKHUHSXEOLFDQRUGHU²the Constitution, the judicial system, the military, and the divinized George Washington. The prayer, repeated in Rhode Island at least since 1791, WKDW³XQLYHUVDOPDVRQU\´PLJKWEH³WKHRQO\XQLYHUVDO PRQDUFK\´H[SUHVVHVWKHKRSHIRUXQLYHUVDOSHDFHDQGRUGHUWKDWVDFUDONLQJVKLSRQFHSURPLVHG to fulfill and for which Masonry served as a vehicle in the wake of the American and French revolutions. Carefully eschewing radical egalitarianism, the Masons did not foment revolution, but they smoothed revolutionary transitions by bridging the gap between the monarchical and republican worlds. Still, the completion of Masons Hall was on many levels a hollow victory for the Newport Brethren. In politics and trade, Newport had been indisputably overtaken by its northern rival, Providence. The southern town was entering a long period of stagnation, and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1150 Newport Mercury, June 22, 1802, p. 2. *-$! ! Sei[DV¶HOHFWLRQWRWKHRIILFHRI*UDQG0DVWHUZDVPDLQO\DV\PEROLFJHVWXUHE\D)UDWHUQLW\LQ which the Providence Brethren set the pace. In the later months of 1802, as the Hall was under construction, a Newport vendor sold. for a dollar a copy, the edition of )UHHPDVRQ¶V0RQLWRU that Webb had published that year in Providence1151 In the nineteenth century, Masonry in the United States proliferated in the new industrial towns and inland settlements, thriving on the success of the local entrepreneurial and political classes. Newport, a harbor town that remained within the older Atlantic mercantile framework, was left by the wayside. Moreover, anti-Masonic sentiment in North America had not been vanquished, but was merely in temporary abeyance. The Masonic project of the eighteenth century, if it can be called such, remained incomplete. Even the work that the Masons performed in reconfiguring North American political theology was haphazard, resulting mainly from their efforts to define and defend their own legitimacy, and their successes, though impressive, were only partial. Suspicion and hostility continued to dog Freemasonry, with critics accusing the Masons of nepotism and religious blasphemy. The tide of anti-Masonry would come roaring back to Rhode IVODQG¶VVKRUHVLQWKHODWHVDQGHDUO\VDVSDUWRIDQDWLRQDOPRYHPHQW Masonry could not settle the enduring questions over its existence, no matter how it positioned itself in civic and political affairs, because it was not fundamentally a civic or political institution; it was a fraternal order built upon esoteric myths, rituals, and symbols. Controversy about Masonry will continue as long as the roles of secrecy and ritual in human life are uncertain. Thus, in order to assess the effects of Masonry on eighteenth-century North American society, we must withdraw from the public sphere, and return once more to the Masonic myths and rituals, the FRUHRI0DVRQLFOLIHWRFRQVLGHUWKHHIIHFWVWKDWWKH\ZURXJKWRQPHQ¶Vminds and bodies. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1151 Newport Mercury, September 8, 1802. *-%! ! ! ii. The Results of Ritual²The Disillusionment of Dr. Case, Providence, 1801-2 The strength of the Masonic Fraternity depended on the efficacy of its rituals. When Dr. %HQMDPLQ:&DVHXQGHUZHQWLQLWLDWLRQLQ6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHLQ KHIHOW miVJLYLQJVDERXWWKHFHUHPRQ\¶VEL]DUUHDQGVRPHWLPHVKXPLOLDWLQJULWHV:KHQKHWRRNWKH WKLUGGHJUHHWZRRUWKUHH\HDUVODWHUKH³EHFDPHVWLOOIXUWKHUGLVJXVWHG´$WWKHSRLQWLQWKH ULWXDOZKHUHKHZDVWR³SHUVRQDWHRUUHSUHVHQWWKHGHDWKRI+LUDP$ELIIWKHZLGRZ¶VVRQ´RQH of his lodge Brothers whispered to him, while he was still blindfolded, that he should not let his attackers pull him to the floor; Dr. Case apparently took the words to heart, and when attacked E\DQXQVHHQ%URWKHU³VSUDQJIURPKLVJUDVS´DQGZUHVWOHGKLVDVVDLODQWVWRWKHJURXQG FRQWLQXLQJWKH³IUROLF´XQWLO³WKH\WRUHP\FORWKHVSUHWW\EDGO\DQG,ZDVGLVJXVWHGE\LW´ Although Case ultimately finished the ritual and maintained his tie to the Fraternity, it was a weak allegianFH LQRUKHREWDLQHGFRSLHVRI5RELVRQ¶VDQG%DUUXHO¶VERRNV connecting Masonry to the French Revolution, and disturbed by their allegations of an Illuminist FRQVSLUDF\IRUHLJKW\HDUVKH³UHIXVHGWRYLVLWWKHORGJHVH[FHSWRQIXQHUDORFFDVLRQV´+HODWHU renewed his Masonic activities at the urging of business partners who promised professional advancement, but during the anti-Masonic movement, he willingly divulged Masonic secrets to the Rhode Island Assembly.1152 %HQMDPLQ&DVH¶VWKLUG-degree initiation must be regarded as a failed ritual. The elaborate IRUPVRIWKHFHUHPRQ\DQGWKH%UHWKUHQ¶VDWWHPSWVWRHYRNHIHDUDQGDZHEDFNILUHG KLVFDUHHULQ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1152 Testimony of Benjamin W. Case, Report of the Committee Appointed, Appendix. p. 76-7. *-&! ! the Craft reflects the comparative weakness of mercenary motivations in maintaining Masonic loyalty when rituals failed to establish a deeper bond. Such failure seems to have been rare; the vast majority of initiates showed firm loyalty to the Craft. The contrasting mirror image of &DVH¶VWHVWLPRQ\FDQEHVHHQLQWKHDQRQ\PRXVPHPRUDQGXPLQwhich a newly initiated Brother admits WKDW³DOWKRXJKWKHVROHPQLWLHRI>WKH0DVRQV¶@ proceedings did cause at one time great fear to come upon me´KHKDVIRXQGLQ0DVRQU\³WKHWLHRIEURWKHUO\DIIHFWLRQ´DQGSUD\V WKDWWKH)UDWHUQLW\PD\³long remain to the amelioration of ye miseries of humanity´1153 The anonymous Brother probably represents the sentiments of far more Masons in the eighteenth century, most of whom assiduously kept the Masonic secrets, ran and funded lodges, produced Masonic art, and recruited new Brothers. If one wishes to see the effects of Masonic ritual, one need only look at the strength and spread of Masonry itself. Additionally, the Masonic myths and rituals affected the beliefs and world-views of Brethren outside the lodge, in eighteenth-century society at large. First, Masonry changed its GHYRWHHV¶XQGHUVWDQGLQJRI*RGDQGUHOLJLRQ7KH0DVRQLFLQWHUSUHWDWLRQRI-XGHR-Christian mythology was distinct but non-sectarian; it avoided the controversial questions that divided confessions, such as the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, the nature of the Eucharist, and apostolic authority. Nobody changed their church because of Masonry, but the Craft offered an alternative XQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKHLQGLYLGXDO¶VUHODWLRQVKLSZLWK*RGDVDTXHst for knowledge rather than for grace, for perfection rather than for salvation. Hermetic and alchemical metaphors frame the 0DVRQV¶WKHRORJLFDOODQJXDJH6RPHWLPHLQWKH VWKH5HY6DPXHO+RSNLQVJDYHDJXHVW VHUPRQDW1HZSRUW¶V6HFRQG&RQJUHJDWLRQDO&KXUFKLQZKLFKKHFKDUDFWHUL]HGWKH³EDSWLVPE\ ILUH´UHIHUUHGWRLQ,VDLDKDQGLQWKH1HZ7HVWDPHQWDVV\QRQ\PRXVZLWKWKHILUHVRI+HOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1153 0HPRUDQGXP-XQH9DXOW$%R[ )ROGHU³0DVRQLFSDSHUV´1+6 *-'! ! William Ellery, who had been an active Mason in colonial Boston, objected, arguing that no Biblical passage equates the fiery baptism with damnation. Though a loyal Congregationalist and an admirer of Rev. Hopkins, Ellery, in a conversation with his own minister, pointed out WKDW³the elements water, air, and fire are considered as purifiers, and fire as the most perfect UHILQHURIDOORIWKHP´,QDGGLWLRQ³Iire is symbolical of the Deity, of the Messiah, and the Holy 6SLULW´ Hence, the baptism by fire was identical to the indwelling of the Spirit that must follow WKHEDSWLVPE\ZDWHU(OOHU\¶VDOFKHPLFDOtheology echoes Masonic liturgy, such as the prayer XVHGLQWKH3HUIHFWLRQGHJUHHDQGLQWKHRSHQLQJRI.LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJHWKDW*RG³SXULI\RXU KHDUWVE\WKHVDFUHGILUHRIWK\ORYH´1154 The Masons, as is well known, customarily referred to the Abrahamic GoGDVWKH³*UHDW $UFKLWHFWRIWKH8QLYHUVH´RUE\VLPLODUWLWOHV0DUJDUHW-DFREHTXDWHVWKLVFRQFHSWLRQRI*RG ZLWK³WKH*RGRI1HZWRQLDQVFLHQFH´1155 when in fact, no evidence links Newton with this epithet for God nor with the ideas behind it. Rather, the phrase represents an understanding of God with medieval and Renaissance roots. Many medieval illustrated Bibles, especially from the 13th FHQWXU\RQZDUGLQFOXGHLPDJHVGHSLFWLQJ*RGZLWKDQDUFKLWHFW¶VFRPSDVVGUDZLQJWKH heavens and the Earth according to geometric principles.1156 These images probably refer to the SDVVDJHRI3URYHUEVLQZKLFK*RG³VHW>V@DFRPSDVVRQWKHIDFHRIWKHGHHS´DQGZKLFK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1154 William Ellery to William Patten, undated letter draft, William Ellery papers, Series 2, RIHS; )UDQFNHQPDQXVFULSWS .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN- 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR Portsmouth, RI. 1155 Margaret Jacob, Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions, p. 24. 1156 John Lowden, ³7KH+RONKDP%LEOH3LFWXUH%RRNDQGWKH%LEOH0RUDOLVpH´LQ0DUURZ Linenthal, and Noel, eds., The Medieval Book (Houten, Netherlands: Hes and de Graaf, 2011), p. 78-80. *-(! ! Masons often quoted.1157 %\WKHILIWHHQWKFHQWXU\WKHVWRQHPDVRQV¶ORGJHVVHHPWRKDYH adopted a similaUQRWLRQRI*RGFDOOLQJWKHGHLW\WKH³IRXQGer and former of Heaven and of Earth´LQWKH2OG&KDUJHVUHFRUGHGLQWKH&RRNH0DQXVFULSW,QWZRDVWURORJHUVGHGLFDWHG their book of astrological tables to the Freemason and antiquarian Elias Ashmole, commending KLP³WRWKHVafeguard of the Great Architect of Heaven and Earth´;1158 the prayer ending the degree of Perfection uses the same title for God, word for word.1159 7KH0DVRQLF³*UHDW$UFKLWHFW´LVDYDULDQWRIDPRUHFRPPRQDUWLVDQDOQRWLRQRI*RGDV a cUDIWVPHQDQGE\H[WHQVLRQRIRQH¶VRZQDUWLVDQDOODERUDVDQHFKRRI*RG¶VDFWRI&UHDWLRQ The sixteenth-century Italian miller Menocchio, whose heterodox religious views Carlo Ginzburg famously examines in The Cheese and the Worms, claimed among his skills carpentry DQGVWRQHPDVRQU\ KHWRROLNHQHG*RGWRDPDVWHUFUDIWVPHQDQGDVVHUWHGWKDW*RG¶VFUHDWLYH SRZHUZDVPDLQO\³WRRSHUDWHWKURXJKVNLOOHGZRUNHUV´1160 The implicit parallel between DUWLVDQDOZRUNDQGGLYLQH&UHDWLRQJDYHVKDSHWRWKH0DVRQV¶sense of religious mission. In his 1791 address at the founding of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, the Episcopal minister William Smith asserted that God had ILOOHGSDUWLFXODUSHUVRQVZLWKµWKH6SLULWRI:LVGRP«DQGRIDOOLQJHQLRXV ZRUNPDQVKLS ¶HQDEOLQJWKHPWKHUHE\WRµGLVFRYHULQJHQLRXVGHYLFHVWRZRUNLQ JROGDQGVLOYHUDQGEUDVV LQFXWWLQJRIVWRQHVDQGLQFDUYLQJRIZRRG ¶LQVKRUW in the arts of the jeweler, the engraver, the embroiderer, the carpenter, and the mason. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1157 cf, William Smith, Discourse Delivered Before the Grand Lodge (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1791), 6. 1158 C. H. Josten, ed., Elias Ashmole, His Autobiographical Writings (Oxford, 1966): 680-1. 1159 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 185. 1160 Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms (Johns Hopkins U. Press, 1980), chs. 26 and 31. *-)! ! 6PLWK¶VDOOXVLRQWR*RG¶VDSSRLQWPHQWRIFUDIWVPHQWRVHUYHWKH,VUDHOLWHVLQ([RGXVVKRXOG not be at all surprising considering the large number of metalworkers and other skilled artisans in the ranks of Masonry in the Federal Era. What is more, the minister presents these crafts and VNLOOVDVIXOILOOLQJD³SXUSRVH´QDPHO\³WKDWRIFR-operating with the sovereign architect, in his JUDQGDQGLPPXWDEOHGHVLJQRIEXLOGLQJXSKLVFKLOGUHQDVµOLYLQJVWRQHV¶LQWRRQHJORULRXVDQG VSLULWXDO7HPSOH´1161 7KH0DVRQV¶VHQVHRIUHOLJLous mission and their obsession with ritual can also account for their egalitarian and cosmopolitan rhetoric. Rites of passage, particularly lodge openings and degree rituals, structure Masonic life. Furthermore, all Masonic lodge proceedings are equated WR³ODERU´RQWKHXQILQLVKHG7HPSOHDQGKHQFHFDQEHVHHQDVFRQWLQXDOLQFRPSOHWHULWHVRI passage. Victor Turner, in The Ritual Process, finds that rites of passage tend to invoke the universalist bonds of human affection that transcend social station, remarking that the passage from one structural status to another may be accompanied by a strong VHQWLPHQWRIµKXPDQ-NLQGQHVV¶DVHQVHRIWKHJHQHULFVRFLDOERQGEHWZHHQDOO members of society²even in some cases transcending tribal or national boundaries²regardless of their subgroup affiliations or incumbency of structural positions.1162 Turner further argues that certain social roles, such as those of monks, nuns, mendicants, and shamans, have the liminal qualities of a permanent rite of passage, in which a person adopts a humble persona, giving up individuating features, and so gains the moral authority to represent the universal ties binding all people. The Masons, though rarely humble in their self- presentation, nonetheless claimed a similar moral authority stemming from their liminal status. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1161William Smith, Discourse Delivered Before the Grand Lodge (Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1791), 9-10. 1162 Victor Turner, The Ritual Process, 116. *-*! ! +RZHOVHWRVTXDUHWKH0DVRQV¶ULWXDOL]HGVHFUHF\DQGH[FOXVLRQZLWKWKHLUconstant invocations RI³XQLYHUVDOORYH´ZLWKRXWUHJDUGWRUDQNRUQDWLRQDOLW\"0DVRQLFRUDWLRQVDUHUHSOHWHZLWK appeals to universal good will; Thomas Pollen, in his 1757 oration, asserts that the Masons UHSUHVHQW³ORYH«WRDOOPDQNLQG´DQGWKDW³LWZDVWKURXJKWKHSULQFLSOHRIXQLYHUVDOORYH«WKDW PHQIRUP¶GWKHPVHOYHVLQWRVRFLHW\´ 7KRPDV7UXPDQLQKLVRUDWLRQDGPRQLVKHVKLV audience, in typical Masonic fashion, WKDW³it is our duty to love one another as men, being the RIIVSULQJRIRQHFRPPRQSDUHQW´1163 In the privacy of the lodge, Masonic rituals evoked the humanist feelings that their orations articulated in public. Finally, Turner finds that millenarian and apocalyptic movements also tend to take on the ritualized humility of the subjects of rites of passage, seeking to build a new society on the sense RIXQGLIIHUHQWLDWHG³FRPPXQLWDV´WKDWWUDQVLWLRQDOULWHVHYRNH1164 As seen in Section 3, Masonry involves apocalyptic ideas and symbols, particularly in the higher degrees that became popular in WKHODWHU\HDUVRIWKH$PHULFDQ5HYROXWLRQ7KH0DVRQV¶UKHWRULFRIHTXDOLW\DPRQJWKH Brethren and their ritual divestment of property resemble the practices of apocalyptic movements, while their invocations of the Book of Revelation and the celestial Jerusalem proclaim their role as the harbingers of a new social and cosmic order. 7KHIXOILOOPHQWRIWKH0DVRQV¶YLVLRQZDVLGHDOO\WREH a new kingdom, not a democracy. The Masons saw themselves as servants and disciples of Solomon and inculcated a religious reverence for kingship; the Temple myths cast monarchy as a point of contact between the human and divine realms, much like Eden, the Tower of Babel, and the Temple itself. In addition, the Rite of Perfection re-enacts myths centering on the Persian emperor Cyrus, the only !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1163 Pollen, 11, 8; Thomas Truman, An Oration, 6. 1164 Turner, The Ritual Process, 111-12. *-+! ! non--HZQDPHGLQWKH%LEOHDVD³PHVVLDK´RUGLYLQHO\DQRLQWHGNLQJ&\UXVKLPVHOIFODLPHG authority from the law-JLYLQJGHLW\0DUGXNDQGDOORZHGWKH,VUDHOLWHV¶UHWXUQIURP%DE\ORQWR Jerusalem. Daniel Stillwell, the tailor who served in the early 1790s as Worshipful Master of 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI3URYLGHQFHNHSWLQKLVSDSHUVDV\OODEXVRIVFULSWXUDOSDVVDJHs collected from the Old-7HVWDPHQWSURSKHWVGHVFULELQJWKH,VUDHOLWHV¶UHEXLOGLQJRIWKH7HPSOHXQGHU &\UXV¶SDWURQDJH1165 Cyrus served as the model for Alexander the Great, who claimed to be a living deity. According to late antique and medieval legends, Alexander discovered the water of LPPRUWDOLW\DIWHUMRXUQH\LQJWKURXJKD³ODQGRIGDUNQHVV´SUREDEO\UHSUHVHQWLQJGHDWK1166 Kingship, immortality, and the shamanic journey to the world of the dead connect in legend and symbolism, forming the background for Masonic myth. As sacral kingship faced a series of crises in Britain and France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Masons sought to refigure or re-position their reverence for the Crown, investing new practices and institutions with quasi-religious sanctity.1167 The political conflict DQGXSKHDYDORIWKHVHFHQWXULHVLQWKH0DVRQV¶YLHZZHUHREVWDFOHVQRWRQO\WRSHDFHDQG prosperity, but also to communion with God and the divine world; the creation of stable, non- confessional institutions parallHOHGWKH0DVRQV¶PHWDSKRULFDOODERURQWKH7HPSOH5LWXDOVVXFK as cornerstone-layings established the sanctity of place and permanence in a transient world. The catechism of the 24th degree of the Rite of Perfection, which alludes at once to the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1165 Syllabus of scriptural passages, 1793, Stillwell papers, RIHS. 1166 $OHNVDQGUD 6]DOF ³,Q 6HDUFK RI :DWHU RI /LIH 7KH $OH[DQGHU 5RPDQFH DQG ,QGLDQ 0\WKRORJ\´LQ6WRQHPDQ(ULFNVRQDQG1HWWRQHGV The Alexander Romance in Persia and the Near East (Groningen: Barkhius Publishing, 2012). 1167 For the crises of sacral kingship in the seventeenth century, see Ronald Asch, Sacral Kingship Between Disenchantment and Re-enchantment: The French and English Monarchies, 1587-1688 (Berghahn Books, 2014); for the eighteenth century, see Paul Monod, Jacobitism and the English People. *-,! ! destruction of the Temple, the dissolution of the Knights Templar, and the deposition of James II DQGRWKHUHPEDWWOHGNLQJVQHDWO\VXPVXSWKH0DVRQV¶VHQVHRIFLYLFPLVVLRQ Q. Where did you work? A. In a place of security to re-establish secretly the edifice ruined by the traitors ± Q. What success do you expect from it? A. The reign of virtue, accord of brothers, and the possessions of our fore fathers; and everlasting happiness Q. have you shed tears? A. I have. Q. Have you wore mourning? A. Yes, and I wear it still. Q. Why? A. Because virtue is [de]posed, and crimes will continue unpunished as long as vice reigns, and innocence will be oppressed. 4:KRLV¶WWKDWZLOOSXQLVKYLFHDQGUHZDUGYLUWXH" A. The great architect of the universe alone. Q. How so? A. To favour our designs and desire. $WWKLVSRLQWLQWKHULWXDODOOWKHEURWKHUVSUHVHQWFKDQWWKUHHWLPHV³*RGIDYRURXUGHVLJQ´1168 While kingship figures prominently in Masonic lore and forms the primary link between the Craft and politics, the Masonic quest in the 1700s was not essentially political. It was, rather, a means of responding to the emotional challenges of mortality and social disruption; myth and symbolism bridged the gaps between men and between the worlds of life and death. A traditional story, first recorded in 1774, GHVFULEHVWKHRULJLQVRIWKH³3UHQWLFH3LOODU´WKHPRVW ornate pillar in Roslin Chapel, a fifteenth-century Scottish house of worship; the chapel was built under the patronage of the Sinclair family of Roslin, who were later appointed as patrons of the 0DVRQV¶FUDIWThe Prentice Pillar was allegedly sculpted by an apprentice while his master, who FRXOGQRWH[HFXWHWKHSLOODU¶VFRPSOH[GHVLJQZDVDZD\7KHPDVWHUUHWXUQHGWRILQGWKHSLOODU complete, and in a jealous rage, killed the apprentice with a hammer blow to the head; the pillar, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1168 Francken Manuscript 1783, p. 271. *$-! ! WKHUHIRUHVHUYHVDVWKHFUDIWVPDQ¶VPRQXPHQW$VPDQ\REVHUYHUVKDYHSRLQWHGRXWWKHIOXWHG pillar entwined with vegetation issuing from the mouths of dragons takes the form of Yggdrasil, the cosmic tree of Norse mythology.1169 The similarity of the Roslin story to the Masonic legend of Hiram Abiff, slain by a blow to the head while working on the Temple, may be due to imitation or to shared roots in Scottish folklore. Either way, the tale reinforces the role of craftsmanship as a pathway to the Tree of Life, overcoming violence and death to bridge the cosmic realms. Speculative Masonry itself took up the metaphysical role of craftsmanship as seen in the tale of the Prentice Pillar and in 0HQRFFKLR¶VFRVPRORJ\ WKH0DVRQVHQOLJKWHQHGE\WKHLUFRPPXQLRQZLWKWKHZRUOGRIWKH dead, perpetually renewed their fraternal bonds and their labor on the spiritual Temple. iii. The Masonic Masque²Harlequin Free-Mason, Providence, 1803-4 While Freemasonry met with increasing success in Providence after 1800, its relationship to civil society was anything but straightforward. The Masons played a continual game of masking and unmasking, to which audiences responded in unpredictablHZD\V7KH&UDIW¶V persistence reflects a strain of esoteric thought in North American life that resists the familiar categories of Enlightenment humanism and rational-empiricism, and that instead finds its unity in emotion and myth. On August 27, 1803, the Providence Gazette advertised a coming SHUIRUPDQFHRI³DKLVWRULFDOSOD\FDOOHG$OH[DQGHUWKH*UHDW´IROORZHGE\³D*UDQG3DQWRPLPH Entertainment, in two acts, called HARLEQUIN FREE-MASON; or Friendship and Love.´,Q !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1169Robert Forbes, An Account of the Chapel of Roslin (Edinburgh, 1774), cited in Will Grant, Rosslyn: The Castle, The Chapel, and Scenic Lore (Kirkcaldy: Dysart and Rosslyn Estates, undated), 44- 5. *$$! ! WKLVSDQWRPLPHWDNLQJSODFH³LQ +LUDP¶VJDUGHQDQGUHFOXVHE\PRRQOLJKW´DQXPEHURI mysterious spectacles would appear: The Masonic figures, emblems and decorations, though not entirely understood by any but the brethren of the craft, yet to the eye of every auditor create a pleasing and novel effect²whilst the general scenery, incident and humour of character, instigate surprise, admiration and laughter. The success of Masonic performances, like this pantomime in Providence in 1803, depended on the emotional responses and sense of wonder that they elicited. More specifically, the marvels seen in Harlequin Free-Mason included, Masonic emblems change[d] to harlequin.²A fashionable head-dress, enclosed in a magical band-box« A dog-kennel changed to a pigeon-house, with an old woman enraged, or the clown in the wrong basket. A collection of animated pictures, or the portrait turned painter.²A magic cabinet organized. The exaltation or hanging of harlequin, who drops limb from limb, and is instantaneously re-animated.1170 Once more, D0DVRQOLNHWKHILJXUHLQ6DPXHO.LQJ¶VSULQWFRPHVWROLIHDIWHUDVVHPEOLQJIURP disparate pieces; the persona of the Freemason is an uncanny illusion or artifice, the forerunner RI)UDQNHQVWHLQ¶VPRQVWHUDQG+RIIPDQQ¶V2O\PSLD The strange show must have been at least moderately successful, for it was advertised again the following month, and once more a year later, on August 18, 1804. This time, it followed after a performance of The Tempest, a poetic drama of sorcery and power on an Atlantic island. The director apparently hoped that Harlequin Free-Mason would continue the PRRGRIP\VWHU\DQGZRQGHUIURP6KDNHVSHDUH¶VSOD\ZKLOHGHEXQNLQJLWVRXWPRGHG metaphysics; the advertisement promised that the show would include a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1170 Providence Gazette, Aug. 27, 1803, p. 3. *$%! ! phantasmagoria, or a wonderful display of optical illusions, which introduce the phantoms or apparitions of the dead, or absent, in a way more completely illusive than has ever yet been witnessed; as the objects fairly originate in the air, and unfold themselves under various forms DQGVL]HV«This spectreology professes to expose the practices of artful impostors and exorcists, and to open the eyes of those who still foster an absurd belief in ghosts and disembodied spirits. Nevertheless, the play appeals to the will to believe anGWRWKHYLHZHU¶VVHQVLWLYLW\WRPRRGDQG atmosphere more than it appeals to the skeptical mind. The Masonic dimension of the play lies not in its didactic purpose of exploding superstitions, but rather in its unification of various figures and ideas in a single scene of mystery and wonder. The phantasmagoria, according to the DQQRXQFHPHQWZRXOG³IRUPDQGH[KLELWWKHIROORZLQJSKDQWRPV´² the aerial progression of old father time, the king of terrors, a female spirit rising from the tomb, the ghost of Hamlet, Washington, the President of the United States, Bonaparte, a bust of Dr. Franklin, [and] an Egyptian pigmy idol, which instantaneously changes to a human skull.1171 The three real men that materialize in this sequence²Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Napoleon Bonaparte²were all Freemasons. Franklin had died in 1790, as had Washington in 1799, just a few weeks after Bonaparte seized power in France. Napoleon proceeded to expand French dominion in Europe and to menace Britain; just a few months before the 1804 performance of Harlequin in Providence, the French Senate had proclaimed him Emperor. In this Rhode Island theater, artifice and spectacle transfer all of these men, already existing and operating across gulfs of time and space, into an eternal realm, along with spirits, idols, and even Time itself; the barrier between life and death evaporates. These iconic figures are linked together in a providential scene, more spectral than historical; the civic is transmuted into the mythic, even the metaphysical. This, more than anything else, is the role that Masonry played on the public stage. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1171 Providence Gazette, Aug. 18, 1804, p. 3. *$&! ! iv. The Destruction of the Philadelphia, Tripoli, 1804 As mentioned earlier, the completion of Masons Hall was largely a hollow victory, as Newport was already rapidly losing ground in commerce and politics. What kept the town on the map was the growing national navy. The armed fleet brought young men to the Atlantic port town and provided a unifying symbol of the federal state. Rhode Island Freemasons, such as Abraham Whipple and Silas Talbot, had been at the forefront of the formation of an American navy during the Revolution, and after the Peace of Paris, the movement gained new urgency, as American merchants seeking to sell their goods in southern Europe and the Middle East, left without British naval protection, fell prey to North African pirates. In the 1790s, Barbary corsairs often took crews captive for ransom or for forced labor. In the winter of 1793-4, John Brown of Providence, another Rhode Island Mason, wrote to Congressman Benjamin Bourne FDOOLQJIRUDODQGWD[WRIXQGDIOHHWRI³IORDWLQJFDVWOHV´WKDWZRXOGSURWHFW$PHULFDQLQWHUHVWV DVNLQJ³Zhat farmer is there that will not cheerfully pay his feu [sic] dollars to secure a good mDUNHWIRUKLVSURGXFH"´1172 Soon enough, John Brown received even more than he had wished for. Congress commissioned a navy in 1794 and established a cabinet department to manage it in 1798. In 1801, the North African city of Tripoli demanded tribute to prevent further predation on American shipping; President Jefferson refused, leading Tripoli to declare war on the United States on May 10th of that year. Jefferson dispatched the young American fleet to the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1172 John Brown to Benjamin Bourne, December 30, 1793, January 15, 1794, Benjamin Bourne papers, RIHS. *$'! ! Mediterranean, but in October, 1803, the frigate Philadelphia ran aground in Tripoli harbor, allowing the Tripolitans to take its crew hostage and to use the ship as a gun battery. On the night of February 16, 1804, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, the young Maryland-born mariner who had become a Mason in SaLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHRI1HZSRUWLQ OHGDGHWDFKPHQWRIVL[W\PHQ into the harbor aboard a captured Tripolitan ketch. Approaching the Philadelphia in disguise, they received an initial welcome before boarding the frigate and overwhelming its crew in a shRUWILHUFHEDWWOH'HFDWXU¶VPHQWKHQVHWILUHWRWKHPhiladelphia, narrowly escaping back to WKHLUNHWFKEHIRUHWKHVKLSEXUQHGWRWKHZDWHU¶VHGJHLWVVWRUHVRISRZGHUH[SORGLQJRYHUWKH harbor.1173 'HFDWXU¶VGHVWUXFWLRQRIWKHPhiladelphia²which HoratiR1HOVRQUHSRUWHGO\FDOOHG³WKH PRVWEROGDQGGDULQJDFWRIWKHDJH´²made him an immediate national hero. Some of his Masonic Brethren, including John Brown, surely saw in the action an echo of the destruction of the Gaspée on the shores of Narragansett Bay thirty-two years earlier. In each incident, a task force of Anglo-Americans, headed by a Rhode Island Freemason, set out at night to board a beached vessel originally belonging to their own nation and set it aflame in order to deprive their opponents of its use. Not surprisingly, Masons had organized the institutions that coordinated both of the seaborne attacks²the Sons of Liberty and the American navy. Nonetheless, the passage of a little more than a generation since 1772 had allowed for profound changes. The rebellious mariners who destroyed the Gaspée belonged to an opportunistic shadow army, engaged in a secretive power struggle with their own government that would soon erupt into civil war, whereas those who attacked the Philadelphia served in a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1173Spencer Tucker, Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2005), xi, 36-77. *$(! ! foreign war as part of the navy of an internationally recognized sovereign power. The burning of the Gaspée PDUNHGWKHHQGRIWKHFRORQLDORUGHULQ5KRGH,VODQGZKLOH'HFDWXU¶VVXFFHVVLQ Tripoli harbor, followed a year later by an advantageous peace treaty, marked the beginning of WKH8QLWHG6WDWHV¶ULVHDVDQLQWHUQDWLRQDOSRZHU7KHWZRILUHVFDQEHVHHQWRGHPDUFDWHOLNH flares, the beginning and the end of the revolutionary age, during which Anglo-$PHULFDQV¶ formal role in the world was shifting, uncertain, and vulnerable. In this welter of violent confusion, Masonry provided a conceptual and ritualized order. New temples were planned and constructed: amidst the contingencies of earthly politics, the Masons helped to create a new nation with its own institutions, symbols, and political theology. The fire that consumed the Philadelphia was in part a refining fire, an unintended ritual, in which a people attained greater strength by sacrificing a part of itself. In the formation of the American state, as in any rite of passage, familiar bonds were broken and others forged to replace them. This process was also, on a mythical level, a return to primitive origins, the completion of a cosmic cycle. Esoteric symbols referred back to one another in an endless braid. The monument for the victories at Tripoli, commissioned in 1806, featured a Mercury figure with a caduceus representing commerce and a winged victory holding a laurel wreath over a sarcophagus, much like the sprigs of acacia placed on the coffins of departed Masons;1174 the navy, once a lower-status military service than the army, now offered the same immortality through fame. The Masonic Fraternity, obsessed by myth and ritual, did not conspire to cause a civil war, or even to bring about American independence, but it did provide the symbolic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1174 ³7ULSROL0RQXPHQW VFXOSWXUH ´$UW,QYHQWRULHV&DWDORJ6PLWKVRQLDQ$PHULFDQ$UW Museum, *$)! ! language necessary to understand the break between Britain and North America as, in its fullest sense, a revolution. American independence, in return, helped to set Masonry on a new course for the nineteenth century, during which it often served as a vehicle for nationalist movements²Haitian, Spanish-American, Greek, Italian, Filipino, and others. One must not, however, mistake the 0DVRQV¶IUHTXHQWLQYROYHPHQWLQPRYHPHQWVIRULQGHSHQGHQFHRUQDWLRQDOunification for a concerted political program; results should not be confused with causes. Like maritime trade, revolutionary politics was a field in which many men found Masonry appealing, but it did not GHILQHWKHIXQGDPHQWDOPHDQLQJRIWKH³5R\DO$UW´ In Masonic rhetoric, myth is always prior to politics; the lodge must open and close before a toast can be raised to government or the navy. In his eulogy for Joseph Warren in 1776, Perez Morton attributes the similarities between the JHQHUDO¶VEXULDODQGWKDWRI+LUDP$ELIIWR³WKH)DWHV´ZKRZLVKHGWR³UHYHDOLQWKHSHUVRQRI our Grand-0DVWHUWKRVHP\VWHULHVZKLFKKDYHVRORQJODLQKLGIURPWKHZRUOG´,QHVFDSDEOH GHVWLQ\EULQJVKLVWRU\LQOLQHZLWKP\WK WKH³WXUIDQGWKHWZLJ´RQWKH*UDQG0DVWHU¶VJUDYH signals both his death and his eternal life in a mythic cycle.1175 As political conditions changed, the Masons continued to guard the gates to the sacred world beyond time²the Temple, the Tower, and the Garden²and held to their Masonic membership as an anchor amidst the storms of modern life. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1175 3HUH]0RUWRQ³$Q2UDWLRQGHOLYHUHGDWWKH.LQJ¶V&KDSHOLQ%RVWRQ$SULO´HWF UHSULQWHGLQ:HOOV>³$%RVWRQLDQ´@Biographical Sketch of General Joseph Warren, (Boston, 1857), p. 76. *$*! ! BIB L I O G R APH Y Unpublished Primary Documents Newport Historical Society, Newport, R. I.: Brenton Family Papers Estate records, Box 5, Folder 7 Genealogy of George Champlin Mason, Vault A, Box 127 GHR Scrapbooks Gibbs Manuscripts ³+HEUHZ6LJQDWXUHV´ -92, Box 43, Folder 15 ³0DUWLQ+RZDUG´GRVVLHU William Hunter, oration before the Grand Lodge, 1802, Vault A, Box 28, Folder labeled ³0HPRLUVRI7KRPDV'XQQ´ Hunter family, Genealogical Notes, Box 101, Folder 5 John Jenkins daybook, 1763-5, no. 456, Vault A Land Evidences ³0DVRQLF/RGJH´SLHFHV-1802, Box 52, Folder 8 ³0DVRQLF3DSHUV´%R[ )ROGHU Rochambeau and the French in Newport, Papers and miscellaneous, 1760s-1940, Vault A, Mss Box A-16. ³6HL[DV0RVHV 0DVRQLF ´9DXOW$%R[)ROGHU Town Council Records Vernon Papers *$+! ! Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass.: Christ Church Records Moses Michael Hays Papers William Heath Papers Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, R. I.: Jonathan Arnold Papers Benjamin Bourne Papers Bowen Family Papers Moses Brown Papers Christopher Champlin Papers Channing-Ellery Papers Thomas Coles Papers Colonial Militia Collection Distillery Excise Tax Records William Ellery Collection Christopher Greene Papers Stephen Hopkins Collection Jenkins and Bannister Account Books Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers Records Providence Census Collection Providence Marine Society Records Revolutionary War Papers *$,! ! Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Thomas Sessions Family Papers Shepley Papers Silas Talbot Papers Simeon Thayer Papers Stillwell Papers Updike Papers Ward Family Papers Jamaica Archives and Records Department, Spanish Town, Jamaica: Estate Inventories Kingston Parish Marriages Kingston Parish Register Kingston Parish Vestry Minutes and Parish Poll Tax Saint Catherine Parish Vestry Minutes Library and Museum of Freemasonry, United Grand Lodge of England, London, U.K.: &RUUHVSRQGHQFHRI³0RGHUQ´DQG³$QFLHQW´*UDQG/RGJHVRI(QJODQG ³6\PEROLTXHHJUDGH0DLWUH´0DVRQLF&DWHFKLVPWDNHQIURPWKH0DULD(XJHQLDHQURXWH from Reunion to Philadelphia, 1798, translated by Brother Harry Carr, 1965 Center for Jewish History, New York, N.Y.: Jacques Judah Lyons Collection Seixas Family Collection *%-! ! Town Hall, Bristol, R.I.: Index of Deaths, 1660-1902 Library of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, East Providence, R.I.: 5REHUW(%ULQWRQDQG-RKQ0-RKQVWRQ³$/RGJH+LVWRU\´1HZSRUWFD -2 Preservation Box. +RZDUG.'H:ROI³7KH+LVWRU\RI:DVKLQJWRQ/RGJH1R)DQG$0 - ´ (Warren, RI, 1955). -DPHV9*UHHQKDOJKµ+LVWRULFDO$GGUHVV´One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800-1950, Friendship Lodge No. 7, Free and Accepted Masons, Chepachet, Rhode Island. 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R)DQG$0%ULVWRO5KRGH,VODQG Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800-1950. Henry Greene Jackson, 5REHUW$0DF&DXJKH\³7KH+LVWRU\RI6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH´LQ6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R) and A. M., Bristol, Rhode Island: Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, 1800-1950. Special Return to the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, 1877²booklets listing all candidates known to have been initiated, passed, raised or admitted in each of the following lodges, from their respective foundations to 1877: 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR1HZSRUW SaLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR33URYLGHQFH Washington Lodge no. 3, Warren Mount Vernon Lodge no. 4, Providence 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJHQR%ULVWRO Friendship Lodge no. 7, Chepachet Library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass.: %R[(³/LVWHG'RFXPHQWV´ 3DUNHU¶V,QGH[RI0DVVDFKXVHWWV)UHHPDVRQV *%$! ! Livingston Library of the Grand Lodge of New York: James Royal Case, Nominal Roll of those on Record in the Minutes of American Union Lodge. Masonic Lodge Records: Expense ledger, 1802-19, SaLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, .LQJ'DYLG¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN- 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, 0DVRQLFFKDUWHUIRU6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQRRI1HZSRUW5KRGH,VODQG$SULO 6DLQW -RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5I. 6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN-KHOGE\6DLQW$OEDQ¶V/RGJH1R%ULVWRO5, 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH/RJ%RRN% -6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, ³6W-RKQ¶V/RGJH1LQDFFRXQWFXUUHQWZLWK:7HZ7UHDVXUHU´ -6, 6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH no. 1, Portsmouth, R. I. ³7UDQVFULSWLRQRI([WUDFWVIURP&RORQLDO5HFRUGV´6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJHQR3RUWVPRXWK5, Newspapers: Newport Mercury Providence Gazette United States Chronicle (Providence) Unpublished Genealogies: J. R. Bartlett, History of the Wanton Family in Rhode Island, 1878, NHS Chester F. Brenton, Descendants of William Brenton, Governor of Rhode Island, NHS Sherrie Styx, The Mumford Families in America, 1992, NHS Robert E. Swisher, The Newport, RI Ancestors of Nathan Bull III, 1986, NHS *%%! ! *%&! ! 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John Russell Bartlett, ed., Census of the Inhabitants of the Colony of Rhode Island and 3URYLGHQFH3ODQWDWLRQV«. Providence: Knowles, Anthony, and co., 1858. Charles Brockwell, Brotherly Love Recommended. Boston: John Draper, 1750. John Carter, ed., $&KRLFH&ROOHFWLRQRI0DVRQ¶V6RQJV7R:KLFK,V$GGHG6RORPRQ¶V7HPSOH an Oratorio, Providence: John Carter, 1779. The Charter and Bye-/DZVRI6DLQW-RKQ¶V/RGJH1R1HZSRUW5KRGH-Island. Newport: Nathaniel Dearborn, 1808. Abraham Lynsen Clarke, A Discourse, Delivered at Providence, Before the Grand Lodge. Providence: Carter and Wilkinson, 1794. Abraham Lynsen Clarke, The Secrets of Masonry Illustrated and Explained. Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1799. Abraham Lynsen Clarke, A Discourse, Occasioned by the Death of General George Washington. Providence: John Carter, 1800. *%'! ! Howard M. Chapin, ed., Gazette Francoise: a Facsimile reprint of a newspaper printed at Newport on the printing press of the French fleet in American waters during the revolutionary war. With an introduction by Howard M. Chapin. New York: Grolier Club, 1926. J. Hector Saint John Crèvecoeur, Letters from An American Farmer. New York: Fox, Duffield, and co., 1904. Hannah Mather Crocker, A Series of Letters on Free-Masonry, By a Lady of Boston. Boston: John Eliot, 1815. Theodore Dehon, A Discourse, Occasioned by the Death of General Washington. Newport: Barber, 1800. Laurence Dermott, Ahiman Rezon. London: Robert Black, 1764. Franklin Bowditch Dexter, ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles. 3 vols. New York: Charles 6FULEQHU¶V6RQV John Moseley Dunham, ed., Vocal Companion and Masonic Register. Boston: John M. Dunham, 1802. Edward Field, ed., Diary of Colonel Israel Angell. Providence: Preston and Rounds, 1899. Francken Manuscript 1783. Kila, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 1993. Benjamin Gleason, An Address in Commemoration of the Anniversary of Saint John the Baptist. Providence: B. Wheeler, 1802. Otis G. Hammond, ed., Letters and Papers of Major-General John Sullivan, Continental Army, vol. 2. Concord, N. H.: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1931. +/+H\ZRRGHG³7KH0DWWKHZ&RRNH0DQXVFULSWZLWK7UDQVODWLRQ´The Builder, 1923, reproduced by Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, Jachin and Boaz; Or, an Authentic Key to the Door of Free-Masonry. London, W. Nicoll, 1762. John P. Kaminski et al, eds., The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, vol. 24-5, Ratification of the Constitution by the States: Rhode Island. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2012. Douglas Knoop and G. P. Jones, eds., The Early Masonic Catechisms. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1943. *%(! ! Douglas Knoop and G. P. Jones, eds., The Early Masonic Pamphlets. Manchester: Manchester U. Press, 1945. Joseph Plumb Martin, Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier: The Narrative of Joseph Plumb Martin. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2006. George Champlin Mason, ed., Annals of Redwood Library. Newport: Redwood Library, 1891. George Champlin Mason, ed., Annals of Trinity Church Newport, R. I. Newport: Mason, 1890. William Morgan, Light on Masonry, ed. Arturo de Hoyos. Washington, DC: Scottish Rite Research Society, 2008. 3HUH]0RUWRQ³$Q2UDWLRQGHOLYHUHGDWWKH.LQJ¶V&KDSHOLQ%RVWRQ$SULO´HWF UHSULQWHGLQ:HOOV>³$%RVWRQLDQ´@Biographical Sketch of General Joseph Warren (Boston: Shepard, Clark, and Brown, 1857). ³2FFXSDQWVRI+RXVHVLQ1HZSRUW5,'XULQJWKH5HYROXWLRQ´Newport Historical Magazine, vol. 2. Newport: Newport Historical Publishing Company, 1881-2. Thomas Fitch Oliver, A Discourse Delivered at the Episcopal Church in Providence. Providence: John Carter, 1784. Thomas Pollen, Universal Love: A Sermon Preached at Trinity Church. Boston: Green and Russell, 1758. Samuel Prichard, Masonry Dissected: Being an Universal Description of All Its Branches, etc. London: Charles Corbett, 1730. Proceedings in Masonry [records of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1733-1792]. Boston: Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1895. Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York. New York: J. J. Little and Company, 1899. Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, vol. 1, 1791-1820, reprinted 1888. Providence: T. S. Hammond, 1888. Proceedings of the M. E. Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Rhode Island, from its organization, 1798-1858. Central Falls: E. L. Freeman and Co., Book and Job Printers, Union Block, 1880. Records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel [microform], Isobel Pridmore, ed., published by Micro Methods in conjunction with British Association for American Studies. *%)! ! Report of the Committee Appointed by the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, to Investigate the Charges Against Freemasonry and Masons in Said State. Providence: William Marshall, 1832. I. B. Richman and G. P. Winship, eds., The Course of True Love in Colonial Times. Boston: Merrymount Press, 1905 William Robinson, ed., The Proceedings of the Free African Union Society and the African Benevolent Society, Newport, Rhode Island, 1780-1824. Providence: Urban League of Rhode Island, 1975. Julius Sachse, ed., :DVKLQJWRQ¶V0DVRQLF&RUUHVSRQGHQFH. Lancaster: Press of the New Era, 1915. Julius Sachse, Ancient Documents Relating to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Philadelphia: Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 1915. Marsha Keith Schuchard, Restoring the Temple of Vision. Brill, 2002. William Smith, Discourse Delivered Before the Grand Lodge of the Most Antient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, of the State of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations. Providence: Bennett Wheeler, 1791. William Smith, The Masonic Burial Office, as Observed by the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. Bennington, Vermont: Anthony Haswell, 1799. William Staples, ed., Annals of the Town of Providence. Providence: Knowles and Vose, 1843. Otis Thompson, An Oration Urging the Necessity of Religion. Providence: Carter and Wilkinson, 1798. Thomas Truman, An Oration, Delivered in Public, at the State-House, In Providence. Providence: John Carter, 1782. James Mitchell Varnum, An Oration Delivered Before a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. Providence: John Carter, 1779. James Mitchell Varnum, An Oration Delivered in the Episcopal Church in Providence. Providence: John Carter, 1783. James Mitchell Varnum, The Case, Trevett Against Weeden. Providence: John Carter, 1787. 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