"Peter E. Pflaum, Ph.D. Institute for Human Resources (904) 428-9609
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]"
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
TO: List
RE: F& A Masons
July 5, 1994
American Heritage
Forbes Inc.
Mr. Richard Snow, Editor
60 Fifth Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10011
Dear Richard:
It was very kind of you to forward my letter (attached)
to Mark Carnes. He was kind of enough to write to me. My
reply is attached. I'm afraid this kind of study is part of
the problem. He skips from the founding of the modern Masons
in the late 17th century quickly to the case that increased
Anti-mason feeling in the 1820's. In another article on
Rumford, the often quoted remark by Franklin Delano
Roosevelt that the native American men of genius; Jefferson,
Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Frenchman Napoleon had
a were "many-sided". The Royal Academy and modern science
shared beliefs in "natural law" and right reason with the
politics of liberation as they were understood in the age of
reason. I am shy about saying more. Maybe you should do
your own research.
I studied Rumford for my masters in Modern History at
the University of London (LSE) in the early 60's. The fact
that he was a spy for General Gage was just being revealed.
It was reported that the information of Rumford was used to
organize a raid on a store of arms at Concord that let to
serious conse quences, a shot heard around the world. The
group that had the arms (minutemen) was a lodge. Rumford
corresponded with John Q. Adams in Greek and Masonic code.
He was interested in how he would be received in America,
even though he was a officer in the British Army on the
other side. His ex-wife and granddaughter tried to make him
into a patriot, which he may have been but for the British
Empire.
The facts of the role of Freemasonry in the American
Revolution remain out of sight. Dr. Carnes is part of the
problem in that he does not take it seriously. It just
another boys club. Like the odd fellows. He knows nothing of
the Sufi roots. He knows nothing of how character can be
shaped by practice.
Last Letter:
Many years ago I meet a high ranking Freemason in
upstate New York. I followed his activities for several
days, including the settling of disputes. He showed me the
code-books used to translate the hieroglyphic messages used
in interlodge communica tions. The gentleman had a
correspondence with ranking members in Latin America,
Europe, and even in the Soviet Union under Stalin. He told
me that he knew Franklin Roosevelt, who was also a 33'rd.
degree Mason. He said FDR picked another ranking member,
Harry Truman to be vice-president because of the trust they
had
developed as lodge members. He said Roosevelt and Truman
had a wide reaching masonic correspondence with critical
actors in this country and abroad. My father reported
meeting with Truman while he was having an official Masonic
portrait painted. I have always thought the issue of the
Freemason's was an interesting one.
A review of the role of the mason's in American History
reveals the influential role of the Free and Associated
Masons (F & A to separate them from stone masons) in our
history. The research quickly demonstrates the importance
of the lodges from the time of the revolution to the age of
television. The
Committees of Public Safety and Correspondence were critical
in the organization of the American Revolution. These
committees carried out their activities in Masonic code.
Samuel Adams's lodge was the home base of the "Indians" of
the Boston Tea Party. Ben Franklin, along with Otis of
Conn., was the "Founding Father" of the American Blue
Lodges. Franklin's financial connections in the publishing
trade led to important alliances with Huguenot, Dutch and
English Freemasons. (Franklin's printing empire
included 37 newspapers. He was the first media mogul.)
The secret private loans made by the French to George
Washington, at a critical time, were under-written by the
Masonic connection. These loans kept the revolution alive.
In Washing ton's Army the battle-field lodges were vital in
the War for Independence. After the war, the patriotic
lodges were a major source of political and business
connections. The George
Washington Lodge, near D.C. and Franklin's Philadelphia
lodge represent a long republican tradition and contain many
documents vital to our history. The influence of Freemasons
has shaped American Political thought more than any other
element. The United States was a child of the 18th century
enlightment. The "Age of Reason" was best reflected and
promoted by the Masons.
The Anti-Mason movements of the 1830's were a reaction
to the importance of the secret society in the new republic.
Andrew Jackson's masonic connections were openly exploited.
Until the age of Television the lodges offered the major
path to political and sometimes business power. Lodge
connections were vital in building the linkages, what is now
called networks, of successful careers.
Most important today is not the "unknown History" of
the F&A Mason in the USA. The facts can be easily learned,
if anyone wants to look for them. See the list below from
the LUIS system of the Florida Universities libraries. The
interesting question is why all this is still not featured
in textbooks and summaries of American history? The
underlining ideas of republican govern-
ment among liberals and deist in the 18th century were
structured by the "rationalism" of Masonic thought and
ritual. It seems to me impossible to grasp the concept of
the American Republic in the 18th century without
understanding the development of this intellectual
tradition.
The tie to the first, middle class phase, of French
Revolution is direct and compelling. The central idea was
the power of reason over ancient "superstition" especially
the established churches and kings. Members of the
aristocracy, however, were important in the movement in
Europe. The House of Hanover sponsored lodges. After the
French Revolution there was a backlash where all the
excesses were blamed on Masons. Boliviar's conections to
American, British and Spanish leadership were increased by
his Masonic connections.
Membership became a crime in the reactionary states of
the Holy Alliance in the 19th century, as it was in Spain
under Franco and the traditional church. For some Catholics,
the Mason's represent all the evils of the modern secular
world. The Italian lodges were powerful and secret. There
is some connec tion to Opus Dei (God's Work ) and other
progressive movements in Latin America and Spain.
The rise of modern science gave the power of natural
law to understand and control events. Science gave man power
over nature and themselves. (There is a weak SUFFI
relationship, "In the world but not of the world", ideas of
mind control and mystic practices in some Masonic tradition)
The authority of science gave the revolutionaries the faith
that they could establish a new order on earth. State-craft
should be "rational" and logical like other natural
sciences. These ideas are the foundation of the rebellion of
the American Colonies, the industrial revolu tion, the
advancement of science and technology, the rise of popular
government, and most aspects of the modern world as it
emerged from the middle ages. I. Newton's math and mystic
beliefs were the foundation of the Royal Society's
scientific and
political actions.
Franklin is the perfect model of the new modern man and
Free-mason, even free thinker, with a situational ethic
hidden by moralistic statements. He was a scientist of great
originality. The Blue Lodges grew out of the Royal Society
and the science and mysticism of Isaac Newton. Franklin was
a republican, a printer and the first postmaster. All his
activities were central to the Freemason's movement. His
contribution to constitution law began with the Albany
convention. The freedom of the press and the spread of
knowledge by the post office was essential to the
establishment of self-governing states. The American model
was used in the low countries, England, in France, and then
spread all over Europe by the French Revolution. The
Mason's were important in Latin America's independence
movement (Bolivar had Masonic alliances with VanBuren and
wig politicians in Great Britain, as well as in the Spanish
Government itself). In 19th century Russia, Tolstoy
describes the importance of Masons to the idea of republican
and liberal government, even revolution.
The majority of the members of the Constitutional
congress were Masons (if not all), the corner-stone of the
Capitol, Washington D.C., was laded in Masonic garb, on the
great seal that you see on our money is the eye in the
pyramid, a masonic symbol. Every President until John
Kennedy was a ranking Mason. As many have pointed out, the
lodges offered a system of
political connections and networks absolutely necessary for
politicos and some business until the age of mass
communications.
Therefore, important parts of American History cannot
be understood without knowledge of the Freemasons. The
question I ask is -- " why is it not there in our
Textbooks and in the area of general knowledge like any
other aspect in our history?" One does not have to believe
in Masonic conspiracies in the past or present. The role of
the lodges has been almost all for the good. The George
Washington Lodge in Arlington Virginia is a monument to
American History. The 250 years of the Philadelphia lodge
was a reminder of our traditions. Why are Masons left out of
our History?
I really would like to know if anything I believe is
wrong. The issue of Bernard Fay should not confuse the
issue. Fay was a French Catholic Anti-Mason convicted of
War Crimes. The Mason were hunted by Hitler, membership
could mean death. Fay wrote, in the 1930's, a never-the-less
sound book about American Mason's and the revolution. I
really would like to know if local Masonic pressure keep
publishers from including "any" mention of the history of
the lodges in this country. What mention there is focuses on
the Anti-mason movement, the Nativism, Know-nothing activity
of the 1830's to 50's.
I understand the Textbooks are written to be sold.
Would colleges and universities ban books that included the
role of the Freemasons? I doubt it. School boards might.
Maybe American Historian all copy each other and just don't
know. The issue is a good one and won't go away.
Thank you,
Peter E. Pflaum, Ph.D.
Dear Professor Carnes;
It was very kind of Richard Snow, Editor of the
American Heritage to forward my letter about the Freemasons
to you. I agree with the concept of your letter but I don't
believe we have solved the lack of interest in the "ubiquity
of Masonry..in the past."
Of course, as you point out the lodges preformed
different functions in different social setting. There is
the lack of a official central governing body. The high
ranking members do maintain contact and the lodges are
chartered and inspected. The organization is not much
different from the Episcopal Church. The lodges have as
much in common as do members of a religious domination.
They have a common ritual supported by a active press and
official visits from regional and national leadership. The
lodges contribute to area and national funds and feel part
of an international brotherhood.
The clear and important role in the organization of the
American Revolution is the central point I make. That Grant
and Tolstoy were fellow members is not the issue. I do not
argue for a "fathers of Zion" theory. I only point out that
it is difficult to understand large parts of American
History without the
philosophical understanding of Free-Masonry in the 18'th
century and American politics in the 19'th century.
I have personal knowledge of the FDR Truman link and
the documents are in the George Washington lodge in
