100 - The History of Freemasonry

Course Name	The History of Freemasonry
Series	100
Mentor	Jack Buta
Lessons	12
Availability	Open
Open To	Members
Description	This is a survey course covering the history of Freemasonry from its early beginnings in antiquity, shrouded in mystery and secrecy, to the worldwide fraternity it is today. We will attempt to differentiate between fact and fiction, dispel the myths, and explain the legends. This course concerns itself with history and many times History has not been kind to the Fraternity. No attempt has been made to cover up mistakes or rationalize any action or event. This portrait of Freemasonry, as President Lincoln once said of his, will contain “Warts and all!” However, this course does not explain why men throughout the ages have joined the Fraternity and promoted its’ causes to understand why, it is necessary to become a Freemason. The course will follow the following outline: LESSON ONE From the pyramids of Giza, to the Hagia- Sophia in Constantinople The Pope who taught the seven liberal arts and sciences and built a celestial globe in a flat earth society. How the Normans brought the science and art of building in stone back to England. The Knights Templar LESSON TWO The Black Plague, the labor laws, and the oppression of the guilds in England. The Regius poem and the ancient charges of a Mason. The Stewart Kings and their relationship with the Stone Masons in Scotland. The Reformation The Stuart Monarchy, the combining of the two kingdoms, and the rise and fall of the Duke of Buckingham. The first signs of a secret society with ties to the stonemasons. The first speculative Freemasons The English Civil Wars Dr. Plot attacks the Freemasons LESSON THREE Sir Robert Moray, Freemason The Royal Society. The emergence of English Freemasonry during the civil wars The Grand Lodge of London and Westminster Dr. Anderson and his Constitutions of 1722-3 LESSON FOUR The rise and fall of Grand Master Wharton The rise of the Ancients The effects of the schism in the American Colonies Development of Freemasonry in the Colonies The first Black Freemasons Ancients vs. Moderns Benjamin Franklin The first “higher” Degrees arrive in North America from France LESSON FIVE The second Anti-Freemason Bull Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuits and their mission Adam Weishaupt and the Illuminati (1776) The Abbe Barruel and the origin of the Knights Templar myth. The Status of Freemasonry during the reign of terror. Was Napoleon a Scottish Rite Freemason? LESSON SIX The Scottish Rite Comte de Grasse-Tilly The role of Freemasons in the South American Revolution Simon Bolivar, the only Freemason to have a country named after him The evolution of early American revolutionary Freemasons Andrew Jackson and the war of 1812 The International Compact of 1812 LESSON SEVEN The Morgan affair How the Morgan affair changed American Freemasonry Race relations in Freemasonry prior to the Civil War Masonry under two Flags Prohibitions against minorities in the Grand Lodges after the war Albert Pike; racist or secret liberal? LESSON EIGHT The evolution of Freemasonry from Fraternity to political party The 1875 Congress of Lausanne The Grand Orient of France breaks with recognized Freemasonry The New Grand Lodge of France and its rejection by the United Grand Lodge of England The Fadosha Incident LESSON NINE Garibaldi and the Italian Freemasons of 1884 April 20, 1884 Pope Leo XIII published Humanum Genus Leo Taxil and the Diana Vaughan hoax. Taxil’s confession in 1897 LESSON TEN Female Freemasonry The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine Freemasonry and the War to End all Wars Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations The rise of racial hatred and its effect on American Freemasonry in the 1920’s. The Principles of Recognition LESSON ELEVEN The effects of Freemasonry in American Society The evolution of fraternal organizations originating in Freemasonry Non-Typical Response by maligned Minorities during WWll The decline of Freemasonry in North America: Attack on a French Grand Lodge Italy and the P2 Lodge Light at the end of the tunnel LESSON TWELVE Attack on an American Grand Lodge A new Popularity