Freemason Research Paper

To answer the question about what freemasonry is one must first find the origins of the order and look at some members that have been involved in its mysterious material. Many facts about the Freemasons are those that are thought up by people that dislike the order. Though some considerer it a religion or cult, others look at the order as the ones who helped build and shape our country into what it has become today.
Looking at how Freemasonry has had its hand in the development of the United States is a great way to see how much power and knowledge this group of individuals has. Freemasonry has many deep secrets that cannot be revealed by any mason to anyone who is not a mason. Once a freemason takes the oath to his “brothers”, if he reveals any secrets of the order he will be punished by death. Although this penalty seems harsh a few secrets of masonry have been leaked out on the Internet, in books, and movies, to give us some incite on how this mysterious order operates.
It is a secular fraternal order, traditionally open to men, that promulgates the principles of morality and seeks to advance the practice of brotherly love (2). Masonry can be dated as far back as the 13th century when groups of “Union workers” would help one another other build cathedrals. Freemasonry came about at the decline of the cathedral building era. Workers did not look at themselves as a group of workers helping to build cathedrals, but rather a group of men building “cathedrals of men” (1). Freemasonry was officially born in 1717, when four lodges of men gathered at the Apple Tree Tavern in London, England (1). Within 30 years the order had spread to every country in Europe and later to the North American colonies over seas. With Lodges spread worldwide freemasonry was becoming a very powerful society who would soon be in control of governments around the