Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut, 1789-1835

392 Pages·2015·12.728 MB·English

by  Dorothy Ann Lipson

Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut

Dorothy Ann Lipson
FREEMASONRY
in Federalist Connecticut
Princeton University Press
1977
Copyright © 1977 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
Guildford, Surrey
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be
found on the last printed page of this book
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
This book has been composed in VIP Bodoni Book
Printed in the United States of America by Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey
To
F. S. R.
mother and friend

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 3
I. The Invention of Freemasonry 13
London in 1717 16
The Establishment of Speculative Masonry 23
The Masonic System 33
II. The Americanization of Freemasonry 46
Provincial Masonry 47
The American Union Lodge 55
The Connecticut Grand Lodge 62
Post-Revolutionary Masonry:
Moriah Lodge No. 15 72
III. Masonry and the Standing Order of Connecticut 80
Politics, Religion, and Masonry 81
The Growth of the Grand Lodge 90
The llluminati and the Masons 97
The Minister and the Masons 104
IV. The Structure of Masonic Dissent 112
Masonic Politics and Masonic Religion 113
The Grand Lodge and the Connecticut Clergy 127
The Organization and Membership of
Putnam Lodge 132
V. The Dynamics of Masonic Dissent:
Putnam Lodge 150
Putnam Lodge and the Clergy 158
Putnam Lodge and "Celestial" Lodges 163
Putnam Lodge and the Jewish Question 176
VI. Masonry, Manners, and Morality 187
Morality and Female Delicacy 188
Charity 200
Virtue and Justice 214
viii — Contents
VII. The Masonic Counterculture:
"That Which Is Not Bread" 228
Putnam Lodge Elitism 230
Secret Friendship 238
Physical and Social Mobility 244
Social Pleasure 254
VIII. "The Great Moral Shock":
Antimasonic Organization 267
Mobilizing Public Opinion 271
The Woodstock Excitement 285
The Antimasonic Party of Connecticut,
1830-1835 294
IX. "The Grand Inquest of the Nation":
Masonry Recapitulated 312
Appendixes
I. The Structure of Freemasonry 341
II. Officers of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut,
1789-1835 342
III. The Biographical File of Putnam
Lodge Members, 1801-1835 344
IV. Population Tables on Putnam Lodge
and its Territory 351
V. Bibliographic Notes 356
Index 369
Acknowledgments
I am glad that the conventions of this page enable me to adver
tise generally my indebtedness to the several lodges and librar
ies that have been so helpful. There are a few people and
groups whom I would like to thank particularly.
The Freemasons of Connecticut have been generous in their
assistance. The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons has permitted me access to the historical
material in a gracious work environment. Col. James R. Case,
the Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, en
couraged this study by his intellectual hospitality and his spirit
of free inquiry. The robust humor and the deep interest in
Masonic lore of the late John Smith ofPhoenixville, Connecti
cut, lighted my way to Putnam Lodge No. 46, itself most
cooperative.
The dissertation on which this book L· based was directed by
Kent Newmyer of the History Department of the University of
Connecticut. A rare combination of a rigorous scholar and a
gentle man, Professor Newmyer knew how to demand order
without cooling zeal, and I am grateful to him for his unfail
ingly constructive guidance. I would like also to thank A.
William Hoglund and James L. McKelvey, both of the Univer
sity of Connecticut, for their substantial help.
Ronald P. Formisano of Clark University spurred me to
publish this material by carefully reading and cogently com
menting on my dissertation. I thank him here for his great
scholarly generosity, leaving to the footnotes my appreciation
of his stimulating work in antebellum political history.
My family is the foundation that supported this study. My
husband often read aloud to me during the tedious chore of
steaming the rolled or tightly folded papers of a lodge's archive