Week 12

During the eighteenth a secret society known as the Freemasons came to America. They stressed the idea of an individual deity, and some of their more prominent members including prominent figures in American society such as Benjamin Franklin. They were usually involved in leadership at different levels of government. According to A People and a Nation Volume 1: to 1877, the South was greatly opposed to Freemasonry. This sounds about right since the South dealed mostly with plantations, while the North housed the capital and industry. The freemasons would be much more likely to have their fingers in the government, and therefore would be more likely to reside in the North.

Norton, Mary Beth, David M. Katzman, David W. Blight, Howard P. Chudacoff, Fredrik Logevall, Beth Bailey, Thomas G. Paterson, and William M. Tuttle,Jr.. A People and a Nation Volume One: to 1877. Houghton Mifflin Company: New York, 2007.