2012 Lecture – The Heart of Masonry: Upstate New York and the New Nation, 1776-1826.

Dr. Steven C. Bullock
Professor of History, Humanities & Arts – Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Steven C. Bullock’s lecture is entitled The Heart of Masonry: Upstate New York and the New Nation, 1776-1826.

Steven C. Bullock is Professor of History, Humanities & Arts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. A prize-winning author, he has published Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840, The American Revolution: A History in Documents, and numerous articles. He has also commented on Masonry and other subjects on ABC, CNN, and NPR, and appeared in documentaries aired on PBS, the History Channel, and elsewhere.

Lecture Summary

In the fifty years after 1776, American Freemasonry grew dramatically – and upstate New York lay at its center. Upstate brothers did more than help the fraternity grow. They also transformed it, leading the way as Masons reshaped their rituals, developed new degrees, and shaped a growing belief that their fraternity had deep religious significance. Having helped remake the post-Revolutionary fraternity, upstate brothers also set off the incidents that led to its downfall. In 1826, when Americans were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their independence, rogue Freemasons kidnapped William Morgan, a man who had planned to publish the fraternity’s rituals. The results of this relatively small event were remarkable, a dramatic (if only temporary) decline in the fraternity and an equally extraordinary shift in American culture and public life – changes that brought an end to the period when upstate New York stood at the center of the fraternity.

To see the poster for this event, please click here.

To see the introduction video to the lecture presented by Renée Lafferty, Assistant Professor of History and Canadian Studies at Brock University, please click here.

Photos

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