Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut, 1789-1835

Dorothy Ann Lipson

Published by Princeton University Press 1978

Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut, 1789-1835

Dorothy Ann Lipson

Volume 1408 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400870080

Overview
Contents

About this book

Freemasonry prescribed for its members a supra-religious, supra-national philosophic universalism. Dorothy Ann Lipson examines its reception and adaptation in America, where its rapid spread was one index of increasing local diversity and cultural change.

After tracing the English origins of Masonry, the author focuses on its development in post-Revolutionary Connecticut, where the Calvinist churches and the state had been supported by an unusually homogeneous population. As a counterculture or form of dissent, the fraternity provided its members with a variant religious experience, a source of serial distinction, a stable reference in times of change, a means of education, and an ethically licensed form of recreation. The author considers its role in these areas as well as the implications of such a fraternity tor the lives of women. The confrontation of the Masons and anti-Masons in the first part of the nineteenth century receives special attention as it dramatized political, religious, and cultural diversification.

Originally published in 1978.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. The Invention of Freemasonry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
II. The Americanization of Freemasonry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
III. Masonry and the Standing Order of Connecticut Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
IV. The Structure of Masonic Dissent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
V. The Dynamics of Masonic Dissent: Putnam Lodge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
VI. Masonry, Manners, and Morality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
VII. The Masonic Counterculture: “That Which Is Not Bread” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
VIII. “The Great Moral Shock”: Antimasonic Organization Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
IX. “The Grand Inquest of the Nation”: Masonry Recapitulated Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	312
Appendixes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	369
Backmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381