Masonic Principles at Work Intellectual momentum for the Albany - TopicsExpress

Masonic Principles at Work Intellectual momentum for the Albany Plan clearly derived from Anderson’s Constitutions of the Free-Masons, which outlined a federal system—an “orderly, balanced, and enlightened” mechanism—that would “eventually form the basis for a unified American nation,” according to Walter Isaacson, a meticulous biographer of Franklin. This system mirrored that of the Masonic framework of governance in which the provincial grand lodge administered the broader scheme for general affairs of the community of Freemasons, while independent lodges adhered to the established order of by-laws under Anderson’s Constitutions in the colonies. The basic principles of governance employed in Freemasonry include: The grand lodge is supreme in the Masonic federal system Local lodges are self-governing and independent The selection of officers is carried out by secret vote using a ballot and elections Governance is limited by the Constitution The popular sovereignty of representative government and majority rule are fundamental Fiscal responsibility is delegated to the legislative body A type of judicial review is conducted by the grand lodge Freedoms of speech and equal participation are hallmarks of Freemasonry The striking similarities between the Masonic Constitutions and the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights display a revealing connection that has been hardly recognized or explicitly advertised (this is one of Freemasonry’s “public secrets” that has agitated fundamentalists and conspiracists alike). Referring to the Albany Plan, Isaacson writes, “Franklin put forth the idea again in a proposed draft for Articles of Confederation” in 1775. This draft “contained the seeds of the conceptual breakthrough that would eventually define America’s federal system: a division of powers between a central government and those of the states,” the biographer of Franklin concludes. Historian Thomas Burke at the New York State Commission also confirms that “Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan of confederation also based on the Albany Plan” at the Continental Congress in 1775. Burke further reveals that “some of the basic concepts of the Albany Plan were attained at the Constitution Convention” at Philadelphia in 1787. For example, a system of checks-and-balances, which was embodied in the Albany Plan, remained an integral part of our federal system as well as the separation of church and state while promoting religious freedom.