FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
The Craftsman - 1866
Freemasons' Lodges in
America are of recent date. Upon application of a number of
brethren residing in Boston, a warrant was granted by the Right
Honorable and Most Worshipful Anthony, Lord Viscount Montague,
Grand Master of Masons in England, dated 30th April, 1733, a
pointing the R. W. Henry Price, Grand Master of North America,
with full power and authority to appoint his deputy, and other
Masonic officers necessary for forming a Grand Lodge; and
also to constitute lodges of free and accepted Masons, as
often as occasion should require. In consequence of this
commission, the Grand Master opened a Grand Lodge in Boston,
(sometimes called the "Grand Lodge of Modern Masons") on the
30th July, 1733, in due form, and appointed the R.W. Andrew
Belcher, Deputy Grand Master, and Thomas Kennelly and John
Quann, Grand Wardens. The Grand Lodge being thus
organized, order the designation of St. John's Grand Lodge,
proceeded to grant warrants for instituting regular lodges in
various parts of America; and from this Grand Lodge originated
the first Grand Lodges in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Barbados, Antigua,
Newfoundland Louisburg, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Surinam, and
St. Christopher's. In 1775, hostilities commenced between
Great Britain and America. Boston became a garrison, and was
abandoned by many of its former inhabitants. The regular
meetings of the Grand Lodges were terminated, and the brethren
of St. John's Grand Lodge held no assembly until after the
re-establishment of peace. There was at that time also a
Grand Lodge holden at Boston, upon the ancient establishment,
under the designation of "The Massachusetts Grand Lodge," which
originated as follows:- In 1755, a number of brethren
residing in Boston, who were ancient masons, in consequence of a
petition to the Grand Lodge of Scotland, received a
dispensation, dated Nov. 30, 1752, from Sholto Charles Douglas,
Lord Aberdour, then Grand Master, constituting them a lodge,
under the title of St. Andrew's Lodge, (No. 82), to be holden at
Boston. This establishment was discouraged and opposed by the
St. John's Grand Lodge, who thought their privileges infringed
by the Grand Lodge of Scotland; they therefore refused to
have any intercourse with the St. Andrew's Lodge for several
years. The prosperous state of St. Andrew's Lodge soon
led its members to make great exertions for the establishment of
an ancient great Lodge in America which was soon effected in
Boston, by the assistance of travelling lodges, belonging to
the British army who were stationed there. 1769,
December, 27. - The festival of the evangelist was celebrated in
due form. When the brethren were assembled, a commission from
the Right Hon. and M.W. George, Earl of Dalhousie, Grand Master
of Masons in Scotland, dated the 30th of May, 1769, appointing
Joseph Warren to be Grand Master of Masons in Boston, and within
one hundred miles of the same, was read, and he was, according
to ancient usage, duly installed into that office. The Grand
Master then appointed and installed the other grand officers,
and the Grand Lodge was at this time completely
organized. Between this period and the year 1791, this Grand
Lodge granted warrants of constitution for lodges to be holden
in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, and
New York. In the year 1773, a commission was received
from the Right Hon. and M.W. Patrick, Earl of Dumfries, Grand
Master of Masons in Scotland, dated March 3, 1772, appointing
the R. W. Joseph Warren, Esq., Grand Master of Masons for the
continent of America. In 1775, the meetings of the Grand
Lodge were suspended, by the town of Boston becoming a
garrison. At the battle of Bunker's Hill, on the 27th June,
this year, Masonry and Grand Lodge met with a heavy loss in the
death of Grand Master Warren, who was slain contending for
the liberties of his country. Soon after the evacuation
of Boston by the British army, and previous to any regular
communication, the brethren, influenced by a pious regard to the
memory of the late Grand Master, were induced to search for his
body which had been rudely and indiscriminately buried in the
field of slaughter. They accordingly repaired to the place, and,
by the direction of a person who was on the ground at the time
of his burial, a spot was found where the earth had been
recently turned up. Upon moving the turf, and opening the grave,
which was on the brow of a hill, and adjacent to a small cluster
of sprigs, the remains were discovered in a mangled condition,
but were easily ascertained; (by an artificial tooth) and being
decently raised, were conveyed to the State House in Boston;
from whence by a large and respectable number of brethren, with
the late grand officers, attending in procession, they were
carried to the stone chapel, where an animated eulogium was
delivered by Bro. Perez Morton. The body was then deposited in
the silent vault; 'without a sculptured stone to mark the spot;
but, as the whole earth is the sepulchre of illustrious men, his
fame, his glorious actions, are engraven on the tablet of
universal remembrance, and will survive marble monuments or
local inscriptions.' 1777, March 8. The brethren who had
been dispersed in consequence of the war, being now generally
collected, they assembled to take into consideration the state
of Masonry. Being deprived of their chief by the melancholy
death of their Grand Master, as before mentioned, after due
consideration they proceeded to the formation of a Grand Lodge,
and elected and installed the Most Worshipful Joseph Webb,
their Grand Master. 1783, January 3. A committee was
appointed to draft resolutions explanatory of the power and
authority of this Grand Lodge. On the 24th June following, the
committee reported as follows, viz. :- The committee
appointed to take into consideration the conduct of those
brethren who assume the powers and prerogatives of a Grand
Lodge, on the ancient establishment in this place, and examine
the extent of their authority and jurisdiction, together with
the powers of any other ancient Masonic institution within the
same, bed leave to report the result of their examination,
founded on the following facts, viz.;- That the
commission from the Grand Lodge of Scotland, granted to our late
Grand Master, Joseph Warren, Esq., having died with him, of
course his deputy, whose appointment was derived from his
nomination, being no longer in existence, they saw themselves
without a head, and without a single grand officer; and in
consequence it was evident that not only the Grand Lodge, but
all the particular lodges under its jurisdiction, must cease to
assemble, the brethren be dispersed, the penniless go
unassisted the craft languish, and ancient Masonry be
extinct in this part of the world. That in consequence of
a summons from the former grand officers to the Masters and
Wardens of all the regular constituted lodges, a grand
communication was held, to consult and advise on some means to
preserve the intercourse of the brethren. That the
political head of this country having destroyed this connection
and correspondence between the subjects of these states and the
country from which the Grand Lodge originally derived its
commissioned authority, and the principles of the Craft
inculcated on its professors submission to the commands of the
civil authority of the, country they reside in; the brethren did
assume an elective supremacy, and under it chose a Grand Master
and Grand Officers, and erected a Grand Lodge, with independent
powers and prerogatives, to be exercised however on
principles consistent with, and subordinate to the regulations
pointed out in the constitutions of ancient Masonry. That
the reputation and utility of the Craft, under their
jurisdiction, has been more extensively diffused by the
flourishing state of the fourteen lodges constituted by their
authority, within a shorter period than that in which three only
received dispensations under the former Grand Lodge. That
in the history of our Craft we find, that in England there are
two Grand Lodges independent of each other; in Scotland the
same; and in Ireland their Grand Lodge and Grand Master are
independent either of England or Scotland. It is clear that the
authority of some of those Grand Lodges originated in
assumption; or, otherwise, they would acknowledge the head from
whence they derived. Your committee are therefore of opinion,
that the doings of the present Grand Lodge were dictated by
principles of the clearest necessity, founded in the highest
reason, and warranted by precedents of the most approved
authority, This report was accepted, and corresponding
resolutions entered into by the Grand Lodge and
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