Freemasonry And American War Of Independence

Freemasonry is a mysterious organization, and its members take an active part in various social industries and fields, in which they play important roles. The establishment of Grand Lodge of England in 1717 marked the formation of the modern and institutionalized freemasonry. Whereafter, freemasonry was expanded to all over the world and it established a vast multitude of grand lodges and their branches. Especially, with the footsteps of the immigrants, English freemasonry came to the British colonies in North America, and it took root in this new world. In 1733, the first formal freemasonry was established by Henry Price in Boston in the colonies in North America. Afterwards, with the help of Benjamin Franklin, the idea of freemasonry was quickly spread to the British colonies in North America. As a result, an increasing number of lodges appeared in the colonies. In the beginning, the British colonies in North America kept a good relation with their suzerain state, and they were affected by Britain in the fields of politics, economy, culture, and so on. However, in order to own the hegemony, Britain started a series of wars in the whole world. Because of decades of wars, British people suffered unspeakably. Therefore, British government made up its mind to transfer its financial pressure to the colonies for the sake of the need of the rule. Britain imposed severe restrictions on the colonies in North America. As a result, these restrictions caused the dissatisfaction of the people of the colonies in North America. They began to fight against British colonists. At this time, freemasonry became the valid center of the revolts with the aggravation of the relation between colonies and their suzerain state. In the meantime, a large number of famous freemasons appeared in the British colonies in North America, such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Joseph Warren and Paul Revere. They were always holding the virtues such as loyalty, sense of responsibility and fortitude on which freemasonry laid an emphasis. They made full use of the fraternity of the organization to unite the people in the colonies to revolt British colonists. Through a series of bloody battles, people of the British colonies in North America achieved their dream independence and freedom in the end. This paper is divided in three parts to inquire into the relation between freemasonry and American War of Independence.Chapter One mainly introduces the formation and development of freemasonry. This chapter first gives a brief summary of the origin of freemasonry, and introduces the disputes about the ancient origin and modern origin in the foreign academics. Ancient origin mainly focuses on the myths and legends. Because of a lack of substantial and accurate materials, we are hard to distinguish between the true and the false. Though there are a variety of disputes on the two origins, the overwhelming majority of people acknowledge that the origin of London in 1717.They hold the opinion that it is the beginning of the formal and institutionalized freemasonry. In the second place, this chapter introduces basic situation of freemasonry.Freemasonry is not a religious organization but a non-religious, non-political and charitable organization, which experienced the shift from operative masons to speculative masons. It is a hierarchical organization, whose members have their duties and obligations. Freemasonry has the characteristics such as the mystery, the symbolism and the fraternity.Chapter Two mainly narrates the development of the freemasonry in the British colonies in North America. Firstly, the chapter introduces the source of the freemasonry of the British colonies in North America, which makes us understand its relations between freemasonry of colonies and those of mother country and know that the establishment of the first freemasonry in North America. Secondly, this chapter illustrates the development of the freemasonry in the British colonies in NorthAmerica after the establishment of the first freemasonry in North America, which can make us know grand lodges were established in thirteen colonies and that colonial freemasonry was divided into two factions, "Ancient" masons and "Modern" masons because of the influence of suzerain state. In the end, the chapter lays an emphasis on the activities of colonial freemasonry before the War of Independence. During this time, in face of the repressive rule of British colonists, a lot of freemasons made concerted efforts to take part in a series of the battles against the British, which shows that the members of freemasonry promoted the breakout of the War of Independence.Chapter Three mainly discusses the freemasonry during American War of Independence. During this period, the main activities of American freemasonry were to take an active part in the War of Independence in order to fight for independence and freedom. In the first place, this chapter gives a brief introduction of the establishment of freemasonry in the Continental Army. With the development of the war situation, freemasonry set up military lodges. Among them, the most famous one is the lodge called American Union Lodge which was established in 1776.The members of freemasonry not only schemed some military activities in American Union Lodge, but also called up some colonial people to take part in their meetings and social gathering. Especially, when the Continental Army was confronted by failures during the war, American Union Lodge often organized some social activities in order to inspire its fighting spirit. Its birth had an important effect on keeping the united and fraternal relations among the members of the Continental Army. Next, this chapter focuses on the freemasonry in the War of Independence. A large number of freemasons took an active part in this war, so this part mainly regards a series of battles as the clue to summarize something about the freemasons" fighting. From these battles, we can learn that a number of freemasons performed their obligations with persistence, and they were always loyal to the lodges and the cause of the independence and freedom of America. No matter what happened, they kept the spirit of fraternal cooperation among the members all the time. The spirit of Freemasons’ bravery and solidarity largely promoted the victory of American War of Independence.