Freemasonry, Civil Society, and American Democracy

Provisional Syllabus


UCLA Department of History

History 97D: Freemasonry, Civil Society, and American Democracy

Winter Quarter, 2012

Jesse Sadler, Instructor

Email: Jsadler@ucla.edu

The Plan of the Class

This course will look at Freemasonry and other fraternal organizations in the context of

the emergence of civil society and democratic politics in the United States, from the European

origins of Masonic activity to the place of fraternalism in our present moment. Throughout the

class, we will be testing the extent to which Freemasonry and similar organizations provided a

mediating role, between people and the state, between people and other social organizations, and

between citizens themselves, amidst wider developments in American politics, economics, and

society. These developments include the creation of a democratic political language and

imaginary, the corresponding developments of a liberal, capitalist polity, a purportedly secular

public sphere, and the expansions and contractions of an established yet uncertain space between

the state and the individuals it governs: the space of civil society. How have fraternal

organizations interacted with this space, what role have they played in its emergence as well as

its continuance? How have these interactions served the achievements and failures of

democratic political ideals in American history? How has the language of brotherhood and

fraternal order been appropriated for radical and/or reactionary political goals, particularly along

lines of demands for racial and gender equality? In short, how can we characterize the

relationship, historically, between democracy, civil society, and fraternalism? These are some of

the key questions we will be asking, and thus we will not only be studying Freemasonry, but

using it as a testing ground for examining the “constitutions” of American politics: the historical

construction and contemporary health of concrete organs for community and democratic

participation.

The Rules and Expectations of the Class

As a seminar, this class will require a good amount of critically engaged reading and

discussion of that reading. You can expect to read around 70-100 pages a week. Supplementary

readings, recommended for all but required only for the presenter(s), are indicated by separation

in the outline and schedule of readings below. Every student, regardless of whether they are

responsible for a presentation, should arrive having read carefully and printed out the reading for

reference during class. Students should be prepared to share with the class their critical

engagements with both the primary and secondary sources for the week.

Needless to say in any class, but particularly in a class about historical conjunctions of

concerns for the links between personal and civic virtue, academic integrity will be assumed and

rigorously enforced. Students who present or hand in plagiarized material will automatically fail

the class and be referred to the Department and Academic Dean for disciplinary measures.

Students who are confused about this should consult with the instructor as well as the academic

integrity guidelines published by the University. We do not expect any problems with this, so

have some integrity and do not provide us with any such problems.

Provisional Syllabus

The seminar will also operate with an assumption of discursive ethics, which is to say a

sense of respect (not just toleration) for opposing viewpoints expressed in the seminar. Our

whole game falls apart if we fail to practice this foundational ideal.

Grading:

Presentation: 15%

Primary Source Paper: 10%

Weekly Critiques: 15%

Participation and Assignments: 20%

Final Research Paper: 40%

Presentation: A 10-15 minute presentation on one of the readings from the supplementary

reading list. The presentation should provide a critical analysis of the reading. It should establish

a framework and interpretive scheme for approaching the reading and relating it to the larger

themes of the class. The presentation should also facilitate a discussion of the material with the

rest of the class.

Primary Source Paper: This paper should be 3-4 pages in length and will analyze a primary

source that each student will choose from their own research. UCLA’s Young Research Library

provides students with a plethora of options for obtaining primary source material. Further

information will be provided in class.

Weekly Critiques: These will provide students an opportunity to further engage with one of the

readings each week. These readings are marked in the syllabus by an asterisk. Students will write

a one-page critique about the main ideas of the article and their significance.

Final Paper: A 12-15 page research paper that will be grounded in but not limited to the

assigned readings for the class. It will be developed in personal consultation with the instructor

as well as with peers in seminar before it is turned in during Week 11 in lieu of a final exam.

Further information will be provided in class.

The Schedule and Readings of the Class

1. Introduction

- Introduction of participants, introduction to course and themes, expectations for reading and

discussion in class, assignment of an analytical paper to be completed by Week 11, division of

readings and presentations.

2. Enlightenment and the Theory of Civil Society

- Jacob, Strangers Nowhere in the World, pp. 95-121

- *McWilliams, The Idea of Fraternity in America, pp. 1-8, 64-94

- Putnam, “Bowling Alone,” pp. 65-78

Find an article on Jstor and Project Muse and find a Primary Source on library website

Supplementary Reading:

- Habermas, “Three Normative Models of Democracy,” pp. 1-10

Provisional Syllabus

- Rosanvallon, Democracy Past and Future, pp. 147-159

3. The Spirit of Association in the Eighteenth Century

- *Bullock, “The Revolutionary Transformation of American Freemasonry, 1752-1792,” pp.

347-369

- Anderson, The Constitutions of the Freemasons (Philadelphia, 1734), pp. 1-57, 80-82

- Lemay, The Life of Benjamin Franklin (v. 2), Printer and Publisher: 1730-1747, pp. 83-92

Bring a book from YRL to class

Supplementary Reading:

- Pateman, “The Fraternal Social Contract,” in The Disorder of Women, pp. 33-57

- Simmel, “Group Expansion and the Development of Individuality,” pp. 251-276, 284-288

- Skinner, “The Idea of Negative Liberty: Machiavellian and Modern Perspectives,” pp. 186-212

4. Fraternalism, Republicanism, Democracy

- Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, pp. 137-162

- *Wood, Radicalism of the American Revolution, pp. 213-225

- Aedanus Burke, “Cassius,” Observations on the Society or Order of Cincinnati (1783)

- Anonymous, Observations on a Late Pamphlet Entitled Observations... (1783)

- Prince Hall, “Charges to the Brethren of the African Lodge” (1792)

Choose primary source for Primary Source Paper and Final Paper Topic

Consultations by Appointment

Supplementary Reading:

- Walker, A Noble Fight, 45-85

- Godbeer, The Overflowing of Friendship, pp. 17-48

- Harris, “Civil Society in Post-Revolutionary America,” in Empire and Nation: The American

Revolution in the Atlantic World, pp. 197-216

5. Strife in Antebellum America

- Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood, pp. 277-307

- *Mary P. Ryan, “Civil Society as Democratic Practice: North American Cities during the

Nineteenth Century,” pp. 559-584

- William Morgan and David Miller, Expositions of Masonry (1826), Parts 1 and 6

- Edgar Allen Poe, The Cask of Amontillado (1846)

Supplementary Reading:

- Kantrowitz, “‘Intended for the Better Government of Man’: The Political History of African

American Freemasonry in the Era of Emancipation,” pp. 1001-1026

- Kutolowski, “Freemasonry and Community in the Early Republic,” pp. 543-561

6. The Road to Modern America and Freemasonry

- Roscoe Pound, Masonic Writings and Addresses of Roscoe Pound, “Causes of Divergence in

the Ritual,” and selections from “Masonic Jurisprudence,” pp. 199-226, 261-311

- Moore, “The Masonic Lodge Room, 1870-1930: A Sacred Space of Masculine Spiritual

Hierarchy,” pp. 26-39

Provisional Syllabus

- *Clawson, “Fraternal Orders and Class-Formation in the Nineteenth Century United States,”

pp. 672-695

PRIMARY SOURCE PAPER DUE

Supplementary Reading:

- Harland-Jacobs, “‘Hands Across the Sea,’ The Masonic Network, British Imperialism, and the

North Atlantic World,” pp. 237-253

- Lewchuk, “Men and Monotony: Fraternalism as a Managerial Strategy at the Ford Motor

Company,” pp. 824-856

7. Race and Fraternalism

- *Skocpol, Liazos, and Ganz, What a Mighty Power We Can Be, pp. 1-20, 61-94, 174-213

Abstract and Annotated Bibliography for paper

Supplementary Reading:

- Walker, A Noble Fight, pp. 175-218

- Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, pp. 317-337

8. Capitalism, Paranoia, and Secret Societies

- *Michael Lind, “Rev. Robertson’s Grand International Conspiracy Theory,” NYRB, 1995

- Pat Robertson, The New World Order, pp. 167-185

- Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow, pp. 580-591 (590-601 in later ed.)

Thesis Statement

Supplementary Reading

- Koselleck, Critique and Crisis, pp. 76-97

- Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” pp. 3-40

9. Experiments in Association

- *McWilliams, The Idea of Fraternity in America, pp. 570-624

Introduction paragraph and Outline

Supplementary Readings:

- Walzer, “The Civil Society Argument,” in Dimensions of Radical Democracy, pp. 89-107

- Mouffe, “Democratic Citizenship and the Political Community,” in Dimensions of Radical

Democracy, pp. 225-239

- Wolin, “What Revolutionary Action Means Today,” in Dimensions of Radical Democracy, pp.

240-253

10. Presentations and Summation

Presentation of papers in class

Rough Draft

Consultations by Appointment

11. FINAL PAPERS DUE