Freemasons Essay

1056 Words3 Pages

There are many theories of hidden secrets in Washington D.C. that some people believe to be real and others to be figments of people’s imagination. The group/fraternity most associated to these theories is the Freemasons. The Freemasons have been revealed in many movies but played a larger role more recently in movies like “National Treasure” and “The Lost Symbol”. With the story lines of these movies being based off of the history of the Freemasons, it has divided people into two separate groups, believers and spectators. The believers think that the masons actually planned and hid symbols into the streets and buildings of Washington D.C. while the spectators believe that these situations just occurred and are only coincidences.
In order to know what the Freemasons might have planned or hidden in the city layout and buildings for Washington D.C. we have to look at where they came from. The Freemasons are the largest and oldest fraternity in the world, being founded in London in 1717. Its members range from presidents, senators, businessmen, ministers, and even common labors. Although they started as a guild in the mid 15th century building cathedrals, they later had to prove their skills and were given a secret handshake and were taught the tricks of the trade. This allowed the Freemasons to move freely from job to job and the handshake acted as a resume to prove their allegiance and skill level. With America being a place of freedom to express yourself, Freemasonry became very popular. In the 1820’s, Freemasonry exploded in the United States. There are roughly 6 million members currently today with 3 million in the United States. As someone advances in Freemasonry they learn secrets of the universe. They take some of these secre...

... middle of paper ...

...ch public attention during this ceremony so a year later, Washington made a big scene by crossing the Potomac escorted by other Freemasons. When they landed on the east bank there was music, drums, flags and food and drink for all. During this ceremony of setting the first south east stone, they once again poured corn, wine and oil to bless the building.
Whether you want to believe that there are hidden symbols in Washington D.C. or not, the Freemasons played a large part of history as they used their knowledge in designing it. From their experiences and allegiance to strict guidelines, they were able to produce a capitol city from scratch that the rest of the world recognizes. Without this knowledge base that was passed throughout generations, there is no way of knowing what Washington D.C. would be like, and chances are it would have been a catastrophic failure.

Open Document