THE FOUNDING FATHERS

THE FOUNDING FATHERS

Christians have been led to believe that the government of the United States of America is based on the basic principles of Christian morality, which have their origin in the Scriptures. Notable for propagating this misinformation are D. James Kennedy, author of a book promoting astrology, and Peter Marshall, Jr. (son of the late U.S. Senate Chaplain) who wrote The Light and The Glory. However, both of these ministers are members of the Council for National Policy, a secret organization founded by the globalist Council on Foreign Relations which has an anti-Christian agenda.

Historical evidence militates against the view that those who formulated the fundamental documents of American government were Christians. To the contrary, not a few who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U. S. Constitution were Deists, Theists and Freemasons. Webster's Dictionary defines "theism" and "deism":

Theism - "belief in the existence of a god or gods; specif: belief in the existence of one God viewed as the creative source of man and the world who transcends yet is immanent in the world."

Deism - "a movement or system of thought advocating natural religions based on human reason rather than revelation, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe."

One recent historical account of Freemasonry, THE TEMPLE & THE LODGE, boast instead of the profound influence of Freemasonry on the founding documents, (while carefully trying to avoid creating the impression of a Masonic conspiracy):

"Of the fifty-six signatories of the Declaration of Independence, only nine can definitely be identified as Freemasons, while ten others may possibly have been. Of the general officers in the Continental Army, there were so far as documentation can establish, thirty-three Freemasons out of seventy-four. Granted the known Freemasons were, as a rule, more prominent, more instrumental in shaping the course of events than their unaffiliated colleagues...

"On 11 June, (the Continental) Congress appointed a committee to draft a declaration of independence. Of the five men on this committee, two - Franklin and...Robert Livingston - were Freemasons, and one, Robert Sherman, is believed, though not confirmed, to have been. The other two, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams - were not, despite subsequent claims to the contrary. The text of the declaration was composed by Jefferson. It was submitted to Congress and accepted on 4 July 1776. The nine signatories who can now be established as proven Freemasons, and the ten who were possibly so, included such influential figures as Washington, Franklin and, of course, the president of the Congress, John Hancock. The army, moreover, remained almost entirely in Freemasonic hands...As we shall see, it is in the Constitution that the influence of Freemasonry is most discernible...

"At last, on 25 May 1787, the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia and commenced its efforts to devise the machinery of government for the new nation. The first voice to make itself heard in any significantly influential way was a characteristically Freemasonic one, that of Edmund Randolph.. Randolph...a member of a Williamsburg lodge, had become Washington's aide-de-camp. Subsequently he was to become Attorney-General, then governor of Virginia and Grand Master of Virginia's Grand Lodge. During Washington's presidency, he was to serve as the first Attorney-General of the United States, then the first Secretary of State.

"...There were ultimately five dominant and guiding spirits behind the Constitution - Washington, Franklin, Randolph, Jefferson and John Adams. Of these, the first three were active Freemasons, but men who took their Freemasonry extremely seriously - men who subscribed fervently to its ideals, whose entire orientation had been shaped and conditioned by it. And Adam's position, though he himself is not known to have been a Freemason was virtually identical to theirs. When he became president, moreover, he appointed a prominent Freemason, John Marshall, as first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court." (1)

From American Masonic History - What Are America's True Roots?

"Some of the greatest names of the American Revolution were Masons: Ethan Alien, Edmund Burke, John Claypoole, William Daws, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, John Paul Jones, Robert Livingston, Paul Revere, Colonel Benjamin Tupper, and George Washington. Of the 56 signers of The Declaration of Independence, eight were known Masons and seven others exhibited strong evidence of Masonic membership. Of the forty signers of the Constitution, nine were known Masons, 13 exhibited evidence of Masonic membership, and six more later became Masons.

"There were many other Masonic influences in early American history: (1) Lafayette, the French liaison to the Colonies, without whose aid the war could not have been won, was a Freemason; (2) the majority of the commanders of the Continental Army were Freemasons and members of "Army Lodges"; (3) most of George Washington's generals were Freemasons; the Boston Tea Party was planned at the Green Dragon Tavern, also known as the "Freemasons' Arms" and "the Headquarters of the Revolution"; (4) George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States by Robert Livingston, Grand Master of New York's Masonic lodge, and the Bible on which he took his oath was from his own Masonic lodge; and (5) the Cornerstone of the Capital Building was laid by the Grand Lodge of Maryland." (2)

The following profiles demonstrate the commitment of the most prominent and influential founding fathers to Freemasonry, deism and/or theism.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

"On 8 December 1730, Benjamin Franklin printed in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, the first documented notice about Freemasonry in North America. Franklin's article, which consisted of a general account of Freemasonry, was prefaced by the statement that 'there are several Lodges of FREE MASONS erected in this Province'... Franklin himself became a Freemason in February 1731, and Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1734. That same year, he ushered into print the first Freemasonic book to be published in America, and edition of Anderson's Constitutions...the Bible for English Freemasonry. It enunciates what were to become some of the now familiar and basic tenets of the Grand Lodge... (In) The first article... Anderson writes, 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige (Masons) to that Religion to which all men agree..." (3)

Anderson's Constitutions, the handbook for English Masonry, explained Albert Mackey's mandate for the True Noahides or Gentile Freemasons:

"...(A) revision of the Old Charges...contained this passage: 'A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the Moral Law.' In the edition of 1738, Dr. Anderson has, without authority, completed the sentence by adding the words, 'As a true Noachida. ...the only religious laws which a Freemason is required to obey are those which are contained in the code that has been attributed to Noah. This sentiment is still further expressed toward the close of the 'Old Charges' where it is said that the Mason is obliged only 'to that religion in which all men agree,' excluding therefore atheism and requiring the observance of such simple laws of morality as are enjoined in the precepts of Noah." (4)

Ben Franklin's high level Masonic and intelligence connections are identified in The Occult Conspiracy, which is cited by the Pyramid Gallery:

"'One of the most influential figures in the American Revolution was the writer, philosopher and scientist Benjamin Franklin. He was a Quaker but had become a Freemason in 1731 when he joined the Lodge of St. John in Philadelphia, which was the first recognized Masonic lodge in America. At the time he was inducted Franklin was working as a journalist and he wrote several pro-Masonic articles which were published in The Pennsylvania Gazette. In 1732 he helped draft the by laws of his lodge and in 1734 he printed the Constitutions which was the first Masonic book ever issued in America. He eventually rose to Grand Master of the St. John's lodge and in 1749 was elected Grand Master of the Province. While in France in the 1770s, as a diplomat for the American colonies, Franklin was made Grand Master of the Nine Sisters Lodge in Paris. Members of the Lodge included Danton, who was to play a crucial role in the French Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette and Paul Jones, both of whom fought in the American War of Independence. While in Paris Franklin used his Masonic contacts to raise funds to buy arms for the American rebels.'" [Michael Howard, The Occult Conspiracy - Secret Societies - Their Influence and Power in World History]

"Franklin, was also a Rosicrucian Grand Master, who was at the heart of the Illuminati operations to take over America and replace the visible control of the British Empire with the invisible control of the secret brotherhood, the most effective and ongoing form of mastering the underclass. It is said the Illuminati, via the Freemasons, controlled and manipulated both sides in the American War of Independence and were also deeply connected with the French Revolution (1789).

"Franklin was Agent 72 of the British intelligence agency created by Dr. John Dee and Francis Bacon during the rein of Elizabeth I. During their time in London, Franklin and the Professor were brought into contact with those in positions of power who shared their Masonic and occult interests. One of these was Sir Francis Dashwood, the English Chancellor of the Exchequer who was also the founder of a secret society called the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe, more popularly known in the parlors of London as the Hell Fire Club.

"Franklin and LeMarchand spent a summer at Dashwood's estate in West Wycombe, north of London, where they took part in rituals in the specially-created caves dug on Dashwood's orders.

"Dashwood and Franklin, both postmasters, together were able to control and disseminate intelligence better than the military. Postmaster at this point in history meant spymaster as the postmasters controlled the movement of information."

THOMAS PAINE

Thomas Paine, a theist, published his pamphlet "Common Sense" in January of 1776, which turned the tide of public opinion in favor of declaring independence. Paine's arguments against all forms of monarchy dissolved any lingering attachment to Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence declaring the colonies free and independent states. Although Paine quoted Scripture to denounce the concept of monarchy, his later work, Age of Reason, is a treatise on the implausibility of the Bible and the irrationality of Christianity. Paine believed in one God, but rejected all religions, saying:

"My own mind is my own church." He also maintained an interested in Freemasonry. His pamphlet, Origin Of Free-Masonry, proposed that Masonry's embodiment of the sun worship of ancient Druidism was a legitimate alternative to Christianity. He notes that Freemasonry's god, "...Osiris and Isis, theologically represented the Supreme Being and universal Nature..." (5)

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Thomas Jefferson, a Deist, wrote the Declaration of Independence, which opens with a statement of rights deriving, not from the God of Holy Scripture, but Nature's God and the Natural Law.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

In The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus, Jefferson describes his views of Jesus Christ, the Christian religion, and his own religious beliefs. In a Syllabus which he appended to his Bible, he compared the teachings of Jesus to those of the earlier Greek and Roman philosophers, and to the religion of the Jews of Jesus' time. The following excerpt is from a letter discussing the Syllabus. Of significance is his statement, "...(Jesus) preaches the efficacy of repentance towards forgiveness of sin; I require counterpoise of good works to redeem it..."

"But while this syllabus is meant to place the character of Jesus in its true and high light, as no impostor Himself, but a great Reformer of the Hebrew code of religion, it is not to be understood that I am with Him in all His doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentance towards forgiveness of sin; I require counterpoise of good works to redeem it, etc., etc. It is the innocence of His character, the purity and sublimity of His moral precepts, the eloquence of His inculcations, the beauty of the apologues in which He conveys them, that I so much admire; sometimes, indeed, needing indulgence to eastern hyperbolism. My eulogies, too, may be founded on a postulate which all may not be ready to grant. Among the sayings and discourses imputed to Him by His biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again, of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same Being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross; restore to Him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of His disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corruptor of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of His doctrines, led me to try to sift them apart. I found the work obvious and easy, and that His past composed the most beautiful morsel of morality which has been given to us by man. The syllabus is therefore of His doctrines, not all of mine. I read them as I do those of other ancient and modern moralists, with a mixture of approbation and dissent..." (6)

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Washington: An Abridgement, by Richard Harwell, records the first president's initiation and loyalty to the Masonic Lodge.

"On September 1, 1752, a new lodge of Masons held its first meeting in Fredericksburg and soon attracted members. Under Daniel Campbell as Master, a class of five was initiated on November 4. George, one of this group, paid his initiation fee of £23s. as an Entered Apprentice. (7)

[Washington's journey to Fredericksburg- 1781]

"The journey had shown that the President was as popular in the Southern States as he was in Federalist New England. On the tour he received at least twenty-three addresses. Particularly noticeable were the addresses from Lodges of Free Masons. This probably had no other significance other than it disclosed the strength of the Masons in the South and their pride in Washington as a brother. His answers, in turn, were in good Masonic terms, with no casualness in his references to his membership in the Order." (8)

In 1791, Washington chose Washington , D.C. in 1791 and commissioned Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer, to create a plan for the physical layout of the city, with the Capitol as the center of the city.

"[He] took the road for the relatively brief ride to the Federal City. It was September 18 [1794], the date for laying the cornerstone of the Capitol. The President found the splendor of music and drums, of flying colors, of many Masons in their symbolic regalia, of happy spectators generally. It was a memorable affair for the Masonic Order, magnified by Washington's participation as a member." (9)

Portions of the Temple and The Lodge also confirm that Masonic ceremonies were conducted for Washington's inauguration and the laying of the cornerstone of the Capitol building:

"On 4 February 1789, Washington was elected first president of the United States and John Adams his vice-president. The inauguration was on 30 April. The oath was administered by Robert Livingston, Grand Master of New York's Grand Lodge...The marshal of the day was another Freemason, General Jacob Morton. Yet another Freemason, General Morgan Lewis, was Washington's escort... Washington himself at the time was Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22, Virginia... On 14 December, Alexander Hamilton submitted proposals for establishing a National Bank. Jefferson opposed them but Washington signed them through. On the American dollar bill was printed the 'Great Seal' of the United States. It is unmistakably Freemasonic - an all seeing eye in a triangle above a thirteen-stepped, four-sided pyramid, beneath which a scroll proclaims the advent of a 'new secular order,' one of Freemasonry's long-standing dreams.

"On 18 September 1793, the cornerstone of the Capitol was officially laid. Grand Lodge of Maryland presided over the ceremony and Washington was asked to serve as Master... Subsequently, the Capitol and the White House were each to become focal points of an elaborate geometry governing the layout of the nation's capital city. This geometry, originally devised by an architect named Pierre l'Enfant, was subsequently modified by Washington and Jefferson so as to produce specifically octagonal patterns incorporation the particular cross used as a device by Masonic Templars." (10)

Richard Harwell noted the Masonic funeral of George Washington in 1799:

"When word came that the Freemasons and the military would attend the funeral in a body, Lear began to arrange for the hospitality that would be expected." (11)

Washington's high esteem for the Masonic Order is expressed on the Masonic National Memorial erected in his honor.

"Carved on the outside of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, are words from an address by General Geroge Washington when he visited King David Lodge in Newport, Rhode Island, as follows:

"'Being persuaded that a just application of the principles on which the Masonic Fraternity is founded must be promotive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall always be happy to advance the interest of the Society and to be considered by them as a Brother.'" (12)

See also: George Washington's Correspondence

Source: http://watch.pair.com/mason.html