Reading Cursive To Unlock The Past

by Midnight Freemasons Contributor

Jim Stapleton

The US National Archives recently asked an interesting question - is reading cursive your superpower? The Citizen Archivist program is looking for assistance with transcribing documents, especially with ones that are written in cursive. “Many of the documents at the National Archives are handwritten records such as letters, memos, and reports, many of the words within those documents are not picked up by a search in our Catalog.”1 Through this program, volunteers can sign up for an account and then after receiving instructions and training, they can get started contributing to the effort. 

Transcribing governmental records is important in order to make information available in digital form. According to the Royal Historical Society, digitizing historical records is necessary “to make collections accessible to remote audiences; to enable text searching, and to allow for new types of research.”2 What makes the need to digitize documents even more crucial now is that older documents are often written in cursive because they were created by hand. However, in the United States there are younger generations that are no longer being taught penmanship in schools. This is mainly due to the US Government removing cursive requirements in 2010 from Common Core Standards for K-12 Education.3In addition to not being able to write in cursive, younger generations are also not able to read cursive. This could lead to a significant problem when future citizens want to conduct research of original historical texts. 

What does this have to do with Freemasonry? Our Fraternity also has many handwritten records dating back hundreds of years. Many Lodges have boxes full of documents sitting in their attics. We have Lodge Register books where members sign in to indicate their attendance at meetings and events. What will happen when future generations of Masons eventually look through these 

materials and they cannot decipher any of them? Do we need our own version of the Citizen Archivist program to transcribe Masonic documents so that they can be researchable in the years to come? Will we need to teach younger Masons how to read and write in cursive? 

If we truly want to encourage Masonic research and education, we will need to take into account this potential educational deficit that will soon impact us. Freemasonry has a rich and storied history that we should work to preserve. Otherwise, our Fraternity will be no different than any number of social clubs. 

1. https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/faqs 

2. https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2023/01/17/historical-research-in-the-digital-age-part-3-why archivists-digitise-and-why-it-matters/ 

3. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/03/1140610714/what-students-lost-since-cursive-writing-wa s-cut-from-the-common-core-standards

~JS

Jim Stapleton is the Senior Warden of USS New Jersey Lodge No. 62. He is also a member of the New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education No. 1786. Jim received the Distinguished White Apron Award from the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. He was awarded the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award. Jim is also a member of the Society of King Solomon.

The Lodge Education Series: A History of Blue

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

R.H. Johnson

Prepared for Waukegan Masonic Lodge July 17th, 2023

*Note* This is the second time I've posted about this unique phenomenon. You can read the first one HERE. For this version, I prepared it for my Mother Lodge and I also quoted, almost in full, an article that ran on the Business Insider website. This piece received good feedback. It was practical, interesting, not all the way Masonic, but was unique enough to cause interest in historical, masonic, and scientific thinking Brothers.

The color blue holds great symbolic and practical significance in Freemasonry. Symbolically, blue represents fidelity, wisdom, loyalty, and truth, which are all key virtues cherished by Freemasons. The use of blue in Freemasonry can be traced back to ancient times, where it was associated with divine truths and spiritual enlightenment.

In the Western world Blue is associated psychologically with safety. Interesting when we consider how our candidates come into the lodge for their degrees.

Practically, blue serves as the primary color of the Masonic Lodge. The walls of the lodge are usually painted in various shades of blue, and the Master of the Lodge, as well as other officers, typically wear blue Masonic aprons. This use of blue creates a distinct atmosphere within the lodge, fostering a sense of unity and harmony among the brethren. It also serves as a visual reminder of the values and principles that Freemasons strive to uphold.

Furthermore, the color blue is integral to several Masonic rituals and ceremonies. For instance, when a candidate is initiated into Freemasonry, he is blindfolded and led around the lodge, ultimately approaching the "Blazing Star" in the East, which is often depicted as a blue star. This symbolizes the candidate's journey from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge. The blue star also represents Divine guidance and signifies the pursuit of truth and wisdom.

In addition to its symbolic and practical significance within Freemasonry, the color blue also holds historical and cultural significance. In ancient times, blue pigments were precious and rare, as they were obtained from naturally occurring minerals. This made blue a color associated with nobility and spirituality. The use of blue in European heraldry further emphasized its association with honor and virtue.

In the history of Mankind, Blue is almost brand new. And I mean this scientifically—Humans did not recognize the color blue until what we might consider semi-modern times. But the sky? The Ocean?

The following article is a wonderful journey into the human discovery of blue. It is lifted in bulk and placed within this piece to give full understanding. The article was originally published by Business Insider and was written by Kevin Loria.

No one could describe the color 'blue' until modern times

“In "The Odyssey," Homer famously describes the "wine-dark sea." But why "wine-dark" and not deep blue or green?

In 1858 a scholar named William Gladstone, who later became the prime minister of Great Britain, noticed that this wasn't the only strange color description. Though the poet spends page after page describing the intricate details of clothing, armor, weaponry, facial features, animals, and more, his references to color are strange. Iron and sheep are violet; honey is green.

So Gladstone decided to count the color references in the book. And while black is mentioned almost 200 times and white about 100, other colors are rare. Red is mentioned fewer than 15 times, and yellow and green fewer than 10. Gladstone started looking at other ancient Greek texts and noticed the same thing — there was never anything described as "blue." The word didn't even exist.

It seemed the Greeks lived in a murky and muddy world, devoid of color, mostly black and white and metallic, with occasional flashes of red or yellow.

Gladstone thought this was perhaps something unique to the Greeks, but a philologist named Lazarus Geiger followed up on his work and noticed this was true across cultures.

He studied Icelandic sagas, the Koran, ancient Chinese stories, and an ancient Hebrew version of the Bible. Of Hindu Vedic hymns, he wrote: "These hymns, of more than ten thousand lines, are brimming with descriptions of the heavens. Scarcely any subject is evoked more frequently. The sun and reddening dawn's play of color, day and night, cloud and lightning, the air and ether, all these are unfolded before us, again and again ... but there is one thing no one would ever learn from these ancient songs ... and that is that the sky is blue."

There was no blue, not in the way that we know the color — it wasn't distinguished from green or darker shades.

Geiger looked to see when "blue" started to appear in languages and found an odd pattern all over the world.

Every language first had a word for black and for white, or dark and light. The next word for a color to come into existence — in every language studied around the world — was red, the color of blood and wine.

After red, historically, yellow appears, and later, green (though in a couple of languages, yellow and green switch places). The last of these colors to appear in every language is blue.

The only ancient culture to develop a word for blue was the Egyptians — and as it happens, they were also the only culture that had a way to produce a blue dye.

If you think about it, blue doesn't appear much in nature — there are almost no blue animals, blue eyes are rare, and blue flowers are mostly human creations. There is, of course, the sky, but is that really blue? As we've seen from Geiger's work, even scriptures that contemplate the heavens continuously still do not necessarily see it as "blue."

In fact, one researcher that Radiolab spoke with — Guy Deutscher, author of "Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages," tried a casual experiment with that. In theory, one of children's first questions is, "Why is the sky blue?" So he raised his daughter while being careful to never describe the color of the sky to her, and then one day asked her what color she saw when she looked up.

Alma, Deutscher's daughter, had no idea. The sky was colorless. Eventually, she decided it was white, and later on, eventually blue. So blue was not the first thing she saw or gravitated toward, though it is where she settled in the end.

So before we had a word for it, did people not naturally see blue?

This part gets a little complicated because we do not know exactly what was going through Homer's brain when he described the wine-dark sea and the violet sheep — but we do know that ancient Greeks and others in the ancient world had the same biology and therefore same capability to see color that we do.

But do you really see something if you don't have a word for it?

A researcher named Jules Davidoff traveled to Namibia to investigate this, where he conducted an experiment with the Himba tribe, which speaks a language that has no word for blue or distinction between blue and green.

When shown a circle with 11 green squares and one blue, they could not pick out which one was different from the others — or those who could see a difference took much longer and made more mistakes than would make sense to us, who can clearly spot the blue square.

But the Himba have more words for types of green than we do in English.

When looking at a circle of green squares with only one slightly different shade, they could immediately spot the different one.

Davidoff says that without a word for a color, without a way of identifying it as different, it is much harder for us to notice what is unique about it — even though our eyes are physically seeing the blocks it in the same way.

So before blue became a common concept, maybe humans saw it. But it seems they did not know they were seeing it. If you see something yet can't see it, does it exist? Did colors come into existence over time? Not technically, but our ability to notice them may have ...”

Our earliest art using the color is 1,500 BCE. Throughout the medieval period, blue was worn by poor commoners. But in the 13th Century, the nobility took a real interest in blue, and “red V. blue” was a real thing.

The earliest known blue dyes were made from plants – woad in Europe, indigo in Asia and Africa, while blue pigments were made from minerals, usually either lapis lazuli or azurite.

Overall, the color blue is deeply ingrained in Freemasonry's symbolism and culture. It represents the virtues and principles that Freemasons strive to embody and serves as a visual reminder of their commitment to truth, wisdom, loyalty, and fidelity.

~RHJ

RWB Johnson is an Emeritus Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 2nd N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Spes Novum Lodge No. 1183. He is a Past Master of Waukegan Lodge 78 and a Past District Deputy Grand Master for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He is the current V:. Sovereign Grand Inspector for AMD in IL. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four and works full-time in the executive medical industry. He is the co-author of "It's Business Time - Adapting a Corporate Path for Freemasonry", “The Master’s Word: A Short Treatise on the Word, the Light, and the Self – Annotated Edition” and author of "How to Charter a Lodge: A No-Nonsense, Unsanctioned Guide. More books are on the way.

“No Talking Politics!” - A Glance at Freemasonry and Politics

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Patrick Dey

At the end of last month Darin Lahners posted on this blog a post in which he says that Freemasonry is “supposed to be a refuge from Religion, Politics, and other sectarian subjects.” And that is the general opinion of brothers within our polite gentlemen’s society: that we should avoid talking about the three things that give our individual lives any value, meaning, or purpose: politics, religion, and sex. Now, while I commend Bro. Darin on his article, I do have to dispute the extent to which Masonry and politics have remained separate, if they have ever been separate, and if they even can be separate.

Freemasonry and politics walk hand-in-hand, almost since its origins as a social club, and really long before that. For instance, the old guild system was an economic system, which means it was by extension a political arm of social-economic policies. Guilds were government sanctioned monopolies. To be, say a baker, and practice in a commercial capacity, you had to be part of the bakers guild. Sure, you could bake at home for your family, but if you wanted to bake and sell bread, you had to contend with the guild, who had the blessing of the king, governor, or whomever has granted them the monopoly. Guilds had patrons, usually an aristocrat who had a vested interest in the commercial work of the guild. For instance, if one owned a silver mine, they would be a patron of the silversmith guild. The patron would lend his political influence to curry favors for the guild from the king or governor, and likewise would help enforce regulations the king has mandated upon a guild, which also ensures his commercial interests in the work of that guild. Such was a matter of public health and safety, maintained quality of production, et cetera. So long before Freemasonry emerges from the stonemason guilds as a symbolic gentlemen’s club, it was already a political organization.

As laissez-faire capitalism emerges, and soon thereafter communism, the guilds as the dominant politico-economic system begins to wane. It is these two opposing economic systems that effectively kill the guilds, as both were equally in opposition to the guilds as they were to each other. Yet, more and more non-operative Masons were still joining the remnants of the stonemason guilds, effectively as patrons. And like the old patrons, though they may not have had a commercial interest in stonemasonry, they were nearly all aristocrats, the likes of which include Sir Robert Moray (initiated in 1641) and Alias Ashmole (initiated in 1646). These gentlemen appear to have used Symbolic Masonry as a private club to rub shoulders and advance scientific and philosophical agendas in a socio-political capacity, and such political ideologies would continue on into the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1717.

One need only look at the driving personalities behind the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, as well as the relationship many of these men had to preceding events in England to see the politics embedded in Freemasonry from its very start.

Ric Berman traces the politics behind the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in several of his books (e.g. Inventing the Future, his Prestonian lecture, et al), which I will outline here using his work. As Protestantism spread and gained followers in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in France, Catholics grew increasingly belligerent toward them. Hundreds of thousands of French Huguenots were massacred over the course of two centuries by French Catholic Kings. One need only look at St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 or the Dragonnades implemented under King Louis XIV to see how terribly Huguenots were treated: theft, rape, torture, murdered… absolutely awful. And over the course of these two centuries the Huguenots would trickle out of France into Germany, Switzerland, North Africa, and most popularly to England. Then in 1685 the last vestige of protection any French Protestant had was revoked by King Louis, and that previous trickle turned into a flood of mass migration of Protestants. And England was very sympathetic to their plight, providing asylum, charitable funds to support them, opportunities for work, et cetera. It is estimated that post-1865 the population of London was 10% Huguenot.

And why wouldn’t England be accommodating to them? They had spent decades trying to get rid of Catholic rulers. And with George I and James Stewart contending for the throne, it became dire for England to keep James from assuming the throne, and thus George I of the House of Hanover became King. There was a serious threat that James would attempt to seize the throne, and he did try, several times, and France, Rome, and Spain all supported him. Over the years a number of Jacobite uprisings occurred to attempt to dethrone George I, but all failed. Had James seized the throne, all those Huguenots that sought asylum in England would have entered into the same predicament they were in previously.

The personalities behind the formation of the Grand Lodge of England were all aristocratic (with the exception of Anthony Sayer, the first Grand Master). They were noblemen with high-ranking titles, advocated pro-Enlightenment philosophy and scientific pursuits, Protestant, and pro-Hanoverian. Jean Theophilius Desaguliers, the third Grand Master, was the son of a Huguenot refugee from France. He grew up poor, his father working for a church in North London, which did not include a salary, but a stipend provided to all the workers for the amount of service they provided, which they split collectively. But Desaguliers becomes wealthy and greatly respected, rising through the ranks rapidly in a way that was almost unprecedented prior to the Huguenot migration.

All the Grand Masters for the first few decades were pro-Hanoverian. That is, they supported Enlightenment ideologies, they promoted meritocracy for social advancement rather than a rigid class system in which there was next to no social mobility; they championed freedom of religion, which was unheard of in its time; they promoted equal rights within governance, such as each man gets a vote and each vote is equal, regardless of social standing. And they provided a social club that would permit such to be implemented. As long as you could afford to pay your dues as a Freemason, you could practice whatever religion you wanted, and it allowed for a simple laborer to have as much right to become Worshipful Master of a lodge as a duke or lord, and that both had the same value in their votes.

This was wildly unheard of. It was truly radical, and deeply political. We might put this on par with, say, a lodge in South Carolina admitting a person of color into their lodge, or any lodge anywhere admitting a transgender or gender-non-conforming person into Masonry. Sure, today we look at Article I of the Constitutions of Free-Masons (1723) and think: “Oh yes, they were wise and ahead of their time.” No, they were absolutely radical. I’m certain there were Masons at the time who were saying: “Keep politics out of the Lodge!” when the Constitutions was published in 1723. And as a note, while we are not totally certain, most scholars firmly believe that Desaguliers was the author of the Charges.

Then look at Article II of the Charges, which specifically states that Masons maintain a “peaceable” subservience to the government, but there is still no problem with a Mason being rebellious toward his government: “So that if a Brother should be a Rebel against the State, he is not to be countenanc’d in his Rebellion, however he may be pitied as an unhappy Man; and if convicted of no other Crime, though the loyal Brotherhood must and ought to disown his Rebellion, and give no Umbrage or Ground of political Jealousy to the Government for the time being; they cannot expel him from the Lodge, and his Relation to it remains indefeasible.”

Let’s put that into perspective. I remember during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 there were a lot of brothers I heard advocating for the expulsion of any Mason who participated in those protests. Every Grand Master in the United States issued a formal letter condemning the violence at those protests, and yet, only two Grand Masters formally condemned the violent actions of the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021, and likewise the same brothers calling for the expulsion of BLM protestors were suddenly very quiet on January 6. Double-standards aside, and explicit political biases aside as well, in either instances, so long as a brother did not actually commit a crime, or least was never charged and found guilty of a crime, then no action should be taken against him in the Masonic fraternity, at least according to Desaguliers, Anderson, etc. A brother may have supported the Black Lives Matter movement, or even supported the violence on the Capitol while Congress was in session, but unless he actually did anything, his political opinion is not chargeable. Sure, he may be regarded as an “unhappy man” and all Masons should “disown his rebellion,” but nothing else could be done. It is wild to me, personally, that both rebellions could be weighed the same by Masons, and yet the framers of the Constitutions of 1723 would have seen it exactly like that.

This would be like the Premier Grand Lodge of England permitting a Catholic supporter of James Stewart to become Grand Master… and they did. Philip Wharton, the First Duke of Wharton, was just such a person. Where everyone else was Protestant and pro-Hanoverian, when the Duke of Montagu stepped down as Grand Master, the Duke of Wharton stepped up. He had long been placated by the King and the high-ranking aristocracy, being given titles and lordships to subdue his passions as a Jacobite and win his loyalty to the King. He was also a wildcard, likely being a libertine, and certainly indulging in transgressive and immoral activities. He was even the founder of the original Hellfire Club. However, soon Masons grew tired of his Jacobite rhetoric, and his Deputy Grand Master, Desaguliers, would push him to step down from Mastership. Mind you, at the time, there were still ongoing Jacobite revolts and they were real threats to the Throne of England. We might put this on par with a member of Al Qaeda becoming a Grand Master… and then only urging him to stepdown as Grand Master and no further action taken against him, so long as he was not actually engaged in any crimes. Yep. All anyone can say is: “Booooooooooo!”

It is easy for us look back at the politics of the early Grand Lodge of England and see it as mere “history.” We don’t see all this as deeply political, or even radically political, but it was. We lose sight of the implications of these things because they happened in England a long time ago. Yet, even as history marches forward, we will see again and again Freemasonry intwined with politics.

Freemasonry is a social club, and thus is typically a reflection of the larger socio-political climate it is situated within. I could probably do a second part to this piece to further elaborate, and I probably should, but for now, I will leave it at this. We could deeply explore the politics behind various anti-fraternization policies of Grand Lodges during the American Civil War, as well as how many brothers chose to ignore those policies (and just as many followed them). I have previously explored on the Whence Came You? podcast how most Freemasons and Grand Lodges in Germany renounced Freemasonry and signed up with the Third Reich when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany… a reality that is very contrary to the feel-good narrative we are fed about the origin of the Forget-Me-Not. Heck, even today, I have wondered how the Grand Master of Russia could run against Putin for President and not end up going missing (it has been rumored that the two are very close friends and that Putin actually has some influence over how Freemasons conduct themselves politically in Russia). We could look at how Freemasons have committed treason together (e.g. Boston Tea Party) as well as build a nation and even form states (e.g. it is well known that Freemasons had a huge and mighty hand in the formation of the State of Colorado).

Time and time again we will find that Freemasonry is very political, or at least politics and Freemasonry often walk hand-in-hand, no matter how much we say otherwise. The larger issue isn’t that we need to keep politics out of the Lodge or that our fractured political climate in the United States is bleeding over into the Lodge. No, the bigger issue is that we are confusing our patriotism with our politics.

We know we have a deeply divided political climate in this country. The issue has become that one side of the political aisle thinks their politics is “patriotic” and thus the other side are seditious bastards. Each side thinks their party is correct and walking with God, so the other side is wrong, and therefore we are the patriotic side. If being antisemitic is the policy of one side, then the other side that says, “Hey maybe we don’t exterminate Jewish people,” then the former will claim that any favor extended to Jewish people is unpatriotic... and horrible things tend to follow shortly thereafter, historically speaking. Swap “Jewish” with “transgender” and the same point stands. Frame the same scenario with gun laws and suddenly one side is full of terrorists that want to rip this country apart! (See how I kept that example vague, and you already think it fits your point of view?)

It's not that politics in Masonry is dangerous. It’s how far sideways political identity has tipped. Bro. Darin’s original point in his post still stands: a lack of thinking, a total lack of reason in guiding our political understandings, a complete lack of original rhetoric in how we understand how we live and make policies together, has led to a decay in how politics can ever be appropriate within Masonry. Thus, what we are left with is left or right-wing soundbites regurgitated as if original, but ultimately is a lot of “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” This is when politics in Masonry becomes dangerous: when politics can’t be a part of Masonry.

~PD

 

Patrick M. Dey is a Past Master of Nevada Lodge No. 4 in the ghost town of Nevadaville, Colorado, and currently serves as their Secretary, and is also a Past Master of Research Lodge of Colorado. He is a Past High Priest of Keystone Chapter No. 8, Past Illustrious Master of Hiram Council No. 7, Past Commander of Flatirons Commandery No. 7, and serves as the Secretary-Recorder of all three. He currently serves as the Exponent (Suffragan) of Colorado College, SRICF of which he is VIII Grade (Magister), and is a member of Gofannin Council No. 315 AMD and Kincora Council No. 8 Knight Masons. He is a facilitator for the Masonic Legacy Society, is the Editor of the Rocky Mountain Mason magazine, serves on the Board of Directors of the Grand Lodge of Colorado’s Library and Museum Association, and is the Deputy Grand Bartender of the Grand Lodge of Colorado (an ad hoc, joke position he is very proud to hold). He holds a Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado, Denver, and works in the field of architecture in Denver, where he resides with wife and son.

Upon our Heads

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

Arthur J Jefferson III

Masonry loves to talk about its legacy. As a fraternity, we have existed for at least three hundred years. Our principal tenants and core beliefs have been espoused around the world and brought about revolutions that brought democracy and equality to the oppressed. We are an organization of compassionate thinkers who desire to see our world made better. We do not permit religion or politics into our lodges and allow all good men to kneel at our altar humbly and reverently and take our obligations. Right? After all this is what we pride ourselves on as a fraternity. I’m sure you’ve heard the taglines “a beautiful (or peculiar) system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols” or that we seek to “make good men better” or perhaps the newest in these corporate Americanesque slogans “Not just a man, A Mason.” With all these slogans, taglines, and platitudes surely Freemasonry is alive and thriving and progressing humanity upward and forward?

All these words, the platitudes, the analogies, our allegories, our symbols, and yes, our ritual…. Cue the eye roll and ire of the Past Masters… means absolutely nothing if we do not bring these teachings out into the world, or even more so truly practice it in our lodges. How many times have you experienced a “Brother” who was little more than a ring bearer? Sure, he has paid dues for 25 years but has done little else, and the only time you see him is as you drive past the local watering hole. Or the opposite of this, that Past Master that doesn’t understand what the Past in his honorific means and attempts to rule and govern the craft from the Northeast Corner. 

For too long Masonry has rested on its laurels. Our knowledge is or should be a collective understanding of both their triumphs and failures that allows us to progress further. The achievements of our dead while mighty can only carry us so far. It is up to each of us, as the next line, to carry the torch forward. It is only by us living the principles of our craft, and constitutions, in the lodge and out of the lodge that we can grow. It is time to rend back the veil and show the community who we are, not through exposing or violating our obligation, but by being actively involved in our communities. Both as lodges, and as individuals. The world needs Friendship, Morality, and Brotherly Love now more than ever. Our nation is as divided, if not more so than at the start of the American Civil War and Masonry is in a unique position to cross those political and religious lines showing pure love for our fellow man, not just masons but all of humanity. But we as individuals must set ourselves apart and commit to participating in our communities, speaking up for what’s right, and helping wherever possible. The surplus and golden era of fraternalism is over, it's time to move forward and stop resting on our history. We have counted ourselves among the greats, but the greats among us have by and large laid down their working tools. We cannot continue to idolize our dead and ignore our future. It’s time to call the Craft back to labor from refreshment and get back into the quarries, which are our communities, where we can draw new stones to be perfected.

Bro. Arthur Jefferson III was Entered on April 7th, 2021, Passed on November 10th, 2021, and Raised to the Sublime Degree on the 2nd of March 2022. He currently serves as the Senior Master of Ceremonies for Wallkill Lodge No. 627 under the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York. He also serves on the District Deputy Grand Masters Team for the Orange Rockland Sullivan District and represents the Battle Within Foundation which helps to fight veteran suicide. Bro. Arthur Jefferson III is an Army veteran having served two overseas tours one in Germany and one in Poland and is a Volunteer Firefighter with the Walden Fire Department.

https://www.thebattlewithinfoundation.com/our-cause

Murder And Treason Excepted - Revisit

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

I recently produced a Benedict Arnold video for the Whence Came You podcast.  The gist of its message is this: had a wound Arnold received in the Revolutionary War's second Battle of Saratoga been fatal, he would today be considered a great American hero.  

Having been appointed commander of the fort at West Point, Arnold contacted British Major John Andre, offering to surrender the fort to the British in exchange for an unspecified high rank and £20,000 (Roughly £2.7 million or $4 million today) .  West Point was located on the Hudson River; had the British taken control of the fort they would have controlled the river and probably turned the tide in the Revolution to their favor.  The plan fell apart when Andre was caught and, on October 2, 1780, executed as a spy.  

The British, in turn, gave Arnold the rank of Brigadier General and reduced his payment to £6,315 (£850,000/$1.25 million), since the plot failed.  Arnold moved to England and lived in relative obscurity until his death in 1801.

The video itself, a short vignette which can be seen at http://bit.ly/1VnDgVZ, doesn't tell the full story.  In researching the piece, I discovered some additional things about Benedict Arnold worth sharing:

Arnold was an active member of Hiram Lodge 1, New Haven, Connecticut.  After his act of sedition, the Lodge struck his name from its records, as did other Lodges Arnold had visited.

Benedict Arnold's father was Benedict Arnold III.  He also had an older brother named... Benedict Arnold.  It was his family's tradition to have a son with that name in each generation.  His older brother died before he was born and the family gave him the same name.  His full name was, in fact, Benedict Arnold V.

Arnold was a deserter in the French-Indian war, even though under extenuating circumstances.  He received word his mother had contracted Yellow Fever and left the battlefield to be with her.  She died shortly after he returned home.

Arnold's first profession, at 21, was a shopkeeper, selling medicines and books.  

He became a trader, a profession made difficult by the taxes the British levied to maintain the colonies.  Subsequently, to avoid the taxes, he became a smuggler.

He was catapulted to hero status when, together with Ethan Allen, he captured Fort Ticonderoga early in the American Revolution.

He led  a march to Quebec in 1775, in an effort to capture the city and make Canada the 14^th colony!  When General Montgomery, who was supporting him, died, the mission failed.

Arnold again was considered a hero at the Battle of Valcour Island in the American Revolution.    He felt he should have been promoted as a result of this victory, but others were promoted over him, beginning his resentment toward the American cause.

He subsequently drove the British to the sea and was made a Major General.  With other less deserving men still superior to him, his resentment continued.

When General Horatio Gates hesitated to advance at Saratoga, Arnold took command and defeated the British.  Arnold was wounded in his left leg for the third time in his career.  He clearly was responsible for the victory but Gates snatched the glory and accepted British General Burgoyne's sword.  To add further insult, Arnold was placed under arrest for disobeying orders.  

In order to impress the father of Peggy Shipman, he purchased a 96 acre estate and subsequently married her.  The remaining money he owed on the estate sunk his finances.

When he cooked up his plot  to surrender West Point, he gave Major John Andre a pass to get him through American lines.  Andre was robbed.  When the robbers-turned-patriots discovered Andre was a spy, they arrested him and showed the pass to George Washington.  That tipped Washington off that Arnold was a traitor, and Washington immediately set out to arrest him.  Arnold escaped with only minutes to spare.  Although she knew about the plot, his wife Peggy somehow convinced Washington she was innocent.

The British made Benedict Arnold a Brigadier General in the British Army.  Americans hated him and the British resented him.  No one trusts a traitor.

An apocraphyl story claims George Washington was so angry at and so reviled Arnold he decreed his name should never be written down; subsequently he had the gravestones of Arnold's father and brother of the same name removed.  Indeed, records at Old Northtown Cemetery in Connecticut, where his father is buried, indicate "Gravestone removed in 1781."

Also, a marker known as the "Boot Monument" at Saratoga battlefield honors Arnold's heroism without naming him.  The boot commemorates the wound he received to his leg without otherwise recognizing a traitor.

The Boot Monument at Saratoga Battlefield honors 

Benedict Arnold, but does not mention his name.

In the end, Benedict Arnold regretted his seditious actions.  Knowing he was dying, he put on his former uniform and said, "Let me die in my old American uniform — The uniform in which I fought my battles.  God forgive me for ever putting on any other."

It may have been a noble thought, but it's doubtful anyone, including his former Brothers choose to forgive him.  After all, whether it be secrets or vile deeds, we Freemasons have a saying, "murder and treason excepted."

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

George Washington's Oath: So Help Me God

by Midnight Freemasons Founder

Todd E. Creason

"So help me God, and keep me steadfast in the due performance of the same."

~Duncan's Ritual

We've all heard that phrase in our Lodges before.  It is with those words we take a solemn oath--and then we kiss the Holy Bible.  It's been a Masonic tradition for a long time.  It has long been held that George Washington took that Masonic tradition with him when he was sworn in as President of the United States.  He added the words "so help me God" to the end of his oath of office, and then kissed the Holy Bible--a Masonic altar Bible that was provided by St. John's Lodge No. 1 in New York no less.  And according to tradition, every United States President has added those four words "so help me God" to the end of their oath of office ever since.  It's a great story.  But there's a couple problems with that story. 

Most of us know that the words "so help me God" are not part of the oath as it's presented in the Constitution.  Those words were added later, and are considered the President-elect's option to use or exclude.  The fact that the tradition started with George Washington is also been questioned.  Those four words were in use as part of the oath in federal courtrooms at that time, so it was common practice when Washington was sworn in.  But, there is no evidence that Washington added those four words to his Presidential oath of office.  Comte de Moustier, the French foreign minister, attended the event, and in a long letter recorded the oath verbatim--he did not include the words "so help me God" in his account.  And for Washington, a man who presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, it would have been out of character for him to have changed those words recorded in the Constitution. 

 

The Washington Bible

So did George Washington kiss the Bible?  We don't know that for sure either, but it is less hotly debated than whether or not he said "so help me God" at the end of the oath.  The source of much of this legend of the Washington inaugural came into existence 60 years after the event, and can be attributed to Washington Irving.  Irving, as we all know, knew how to tell a story as we may remember from his famous stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." 

So did Washington say "so help me God" and kiss the Bible?  We don't really know.  He may have done one, or the other, or neither.  Maybe he did both.  Or perhaps it was a great story shared by a great storyteller, Washington Irving. 

However, I like to think he did.  He was a Freemason, and as we all know those traditions become ingrained in us.  It becomes habit.  How many of us have accidentally said "so mote it be" after a prayer in our church on Sunday morning?  I have.  History very often misses the small details in very important events--especially small details that are familiar or commonplace by those attending.  Until we figure out time travel and go back and watch the event, we'll never know for sure.  Either way, it's either a great story about the great man George Washington, or it's a great story written by a great man Washington Irving.  Take your pick. 

What we do know, is the first real evidence that the phrase "so help me God" was used in the Presidential oath was in September 1881 when Chester Arthur was inaugurated.  There's no question about it--he said it.  Whether anyone did prior to Chester Arthur is anybody's guess.  However, we also know without question, that those optional words "so help me God" have been used by every President* since Chester Arthur, including our most recent President, Donald J. Trump.

And that's the truth as I know it . . . So help me God

~TEC

*There is one possible exception.  Teddy Roosevelt according to one source was reported to have said "and thus I swear" rather than "so help me God."  

Todd E. Creason, 33°, FMLR is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.  He is the award winning author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is the author of the From Labor to Refreshment blog.  He is the Worshipful Master of Homer Lodge No. 199 and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754, where is currently serves as Secretary.  He is the Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees.  He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR) and a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D.  You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org