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If the Constitution Was the Solution, Why Hasn’t It Worked?- Part Four

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If the Constitution Was the Solution, Why Hasn’t It Worked?- Part Four

Let’s take a deeper look into the nature of the individuals who created the Constitution in order to gain more insight into why it may have gone off the rails. We’ll begin with a focus on one of the primary figures of the period and almost a sacred figure in our nation- George Washington.

George was highly known and revered even in his own time. So, we should get to know who this man was and what he was about. It has been said that without Washington’s approval, the Constitution would never have been constructed and ratified. He was that highly respected.

The Aloof American?

Nonetheless, he was also known to hold himself apart from others, cultivating an aura of aloofness and separation. A familiar anecdote from the 1787 Constitutional Convention serves as an example of the image he outwardly projected:

“A group of Washington’s friends were remarking on his extraordinarily reserved and remote manner, even among his most intimate acquaintances. Gouverneur Morris, who was always full of boldness and wit, had the nerve to disagree. He could be as familiar with Washington, he said, as with any of his other friends. Alexander Hamilton called his bluff by offering to provide a supper and wine for a dozen of them if Morris would, at the next reception Washington gave, simply walk up to him, gently slap him on the shoulder, and say, “My dear General, how happy I am to see you look so well.”

On the appointed evening a substantial number were already present when Morris arrived, walked up to Washington, bowed, shook hands, and then placed his left hand on Washington’s shoulder, and said, “My dear General, I am very happy to see you look so well.” The response was immediate and icy. Washington reached up and removed the hand, stepped back, and fixed his eye in silence on Morris, until Morris retreated abashed into the crowd. The company looked on in embarrassment, and no one ever tried it again.”

Developing the Image- The Famous Cherry Tree Story?

“When George was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet, of which, like most boys, he was immoderately fond, and was constantly going about chopping every thing that came in his way.

One day, in the garden, where he often amused himself hacking his mother’s pea bushes, he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly, that the tree never got the better of it……”

As the story goes, his father was very angry. When he saw George with his hatchet he asked him, “George, do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry-tree yonder in the garden?”

George replied, “I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I cut it with my hatchet.”

“Run to my arms, you dearest boy, cried his father in transports- ‘run to my arms! Glad am I, George, that you killed my tree, for you have paid me for it a thousand times. Such an act of heroism in my son, is worth more than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold.” – Excerpted from “Washington and his Masonic Compeers by Sydney Hayden

We have all heard a variation of that story in elementary school. George has been perceived in an elevated status from his own day until today. An almost a saintly reputation surrounds him, but was he really the “father” he has been projected to be? Unfortunately, the story appears to have been a fabrication. Let’s look at some of the less highlighted facts surrounding George Washington.

George Washington as a Christian

As the cherry tree story points out, Washington is projected as a model of honesty. From the cherry tree foundation of morality, it is an easy leap to project Washington as a Christian as well. When examining the facts however, that assumption does not bear itself out.

Gary North in the book Political Polytheism (pages 420-422) addresses the assumption of Washington as a Christian.

“[George Washington is]Often portrayed as a great Christian statesman, but just what kind of Christian?

Washington was a communicant member of the Anglican Church all of his life.

However, he never took communion, even though his wife did. He would rise and leave the church just before communion began.

When challenged publicly about this by the rector of The Church of Christ in Philadelphia, Bishop William White, he later apologized indirectly by way of a U.S. Senator and promised never again to attend the church on communion day. A promise that he apparently kept.”

More Directly Stated

“Dr. James Abercrombie had been an Assistant Rector of Christ’s Church and did not mince words in an 1831 statement in which he said, “That Washington was a professing Christian is evident from his regular attendance at our church, but sir I cannot consider any man a real Christian who uniformly disregards an ordinance so solemnly enjoined by the divine author of our holy religion and considered as a challenge to divine grace.”

North explains further:

“Here was the strange situation. George Washington was formally a communicant church member who systematically refused to take communion. The institutional problem here was the unwillingness of church authorities to apply formal sanctions.

Any church member who refuses to take communion has thereby excommunicated himself. A refusal to take communion or a prohibition against one’s taking communion is what excommunication means. Self- excommunication is excommunication just as surely as suicide is first degree murder.

Nevertheless, the churches to which Washington belonged did not take official action against him by either requiring him to take communion or by publicly excommunicating him. It was this disciplinary failure on the part of these churches that led to the public legitimizing of Washington as a Christian.

This failure later indirectly legitimized the Constitution that he conspired to impose upon the nation. Without Washington’s support of the actions of the convention, the Constitution would never have been ratified. But Washington was deemed either too powerful or too sacrosanct to bring under church discipline.”

Never Once Mentions Jesus Christ in Letters

Boller [Paul F. Boller author of George Washington and Religion] insists that not once in his [Washington’s] voluminous letters does he actually mention the name of Jesus Christ. Washington refused to commit to public pronouncements any statement of his personal faith besides a commitment to divine providence.

Except during wartime, he only attended church once a month. Thus concludes Boller, “If to believe in the divinity and resurrection of Christ and his atonement for the sins of man and to participate in the sacrament of the Lord’s supper are requisites for the Christian faith, then Washington on the evidence which we have examined can hardly be considered a Christian except in the most nominal sense.”

Washington – The Only Grand Master Mason President

The key to understanding Washington’s public religion is found on the cover of J. Hugo Tatsch’s book “The Facts About George Washington As a Freemason” There we find Williams 1794 painting of Washington in the regalia of Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge.

It was an official painting. His lodge at Alexandria paid fifty dollars to the painter.

Washington had served as Grand Master of the Alexandria lodge in 1788 and 1789. When he was inaugurated President of the United States, he was therefore a Grand Master. The only mason ever to be inaugurated President while serving as Grand Master.

Carter’s [James David Carter author of Masonry in Texas: Background, History and Influence to 1846] first account of Washington’s inauguration as President is illuminating:

“On April 30th 1789, Washington took the oath of office as President of the United States administered by Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of New York, General Jacob Morton, Worshipful Master of St John’s Lodge in New York City, the oldest lodge in the city and Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of New York was Marshall of the inauguration.
It was one of his duties to provide a bible for the occasion. Morton brought from the altar of St. John’s lodge the bible upon which Washington placed his hand while repeating the obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States and then kissed the sacred volume to complete the ceremony.”

Mason Generals in the Continental Army

You will not read in the textbooks that 33 of Washington’s generals were Masons. You will also not read that Lafayette was not given command over any troops until after he had agreed to be initiated into Union Lodge number one at which ceremony Washington officiated as Master Mason. But such was the case.

Washington presided over a procession in Philadelphia on December 27th 1778 after the evacuation of the British. Dressed in full Masonic attire he marched through the city with 300 other Masons and then held a Masonic service at Christ’s church, which became his congregation of preference during his Presidency.

As President he received many honors from local lodges. His written replies to them were generous. He never wavered in his attachment to Masonry.

In a letter to King David’s Lodge, New Port, Rhode Island written on Sunday, August 22nd 1790 Washington wrote: “Being persuaded that a just application of the principles on which the Masonic fraternity is founded must be promotive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall always be happy to advance the interests of the society and to be considered by them as a deserving brother.”

The Supreme Architect of the Universe?

In several letters he referred to God as the Supreme Architect. A representative example of his letter to Pennsylvania Masons December 27, 1791:

“I request you will be assured of my best wishes and earnest prayers for your happiness while you remain in this terrestrial mansion and that we may thereafter meet as brethren in the eternal temple of the Supreme Architect.”

John Eidsmoe in his book length attempt to defend the Constitution as a Christian document takes seriously Washington’s outright lie. It can be nothing else in a letter to G.W. Snyder in 1798 that “he had not been in a Masonic lodge more than once or twice in the last 30 years.”

One does not become a Grand Master of a lodge by attending services once or twice over 30 years but one can certainly fool two centuries of Christian critics by lying through one’s wooden teeth about it.

As noted by Tatsch, this statement is true but it applies only to English lodges. Washington was a member of Scottish rite lodges. As Tatsch notes: “Washington very obviously distinguished between American and English lodges in that statement, as records of his attendance at American lodges are more numerous.”

More Facts About Washington as a Mason

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial

The lodge of Fredericksburg state from the minutes as noted by Tatsch (a mason) in his book referred to already above:

“The records show that Charles Lewis (the brother of Colonel Fielding Lewis who married Betty Washington, sister of George Washington), paid his entrance fee of 1 pound 1 shilling on November 3, 1752, and affiliated with the lodge on November 4, while George Washington paid his fee for initiation at the same time, amounting to 2 pounds 3 shillings and was brought to light as an Entered Apprentice on November 4. He remained a member of the lodge throughout the remainder of his life.”

Also of note from Tatsch, although the first meeting of 14 persons at the Fredericksburg lodge happened in September 1, 1752 the lodge received its charter on July 21, 1758 from the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Scottish Freemasonry was later infiltrated by the Illuminati created by Jesuit and Mason, Frederick Weishaupt.

Tatsch- Lafayette Mason Apron Presented to George in August 1784

I’m not saying Washington was a member of the Illuminati however the Illuminati adopted the All Seeing Eye from Masonry. Washington was also known to own two Mason aprons according to Hugo Tatsch in the aforementioned book. One was reportedly given to him by Lafayette who was a French Mason in August 1784.

Take note of the All Seeing Eye on this apron along with other occult symbols. Not exactly a Christian based orientation, one would say.

Masonic Beliefs and Christianity Clash

Mason are pluralists. They equally accept all religions. In Masonry, the interpretation of God is left up to each individual meaning Allah of Islam has as much validity as the emptiness of the Buddha and the God of the bible.

Christians who follow the bible consider this a transgression. The God of the bible clearly states, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3

Masons refer to God as the Grand Architect of the Universe. The term George used in his letters.

Masons use this name for God because he is universal and belongs to all men regardless of their religious persuasion. In their private devotions, a Mason considers it acceptable to pray to Jehovah, Mohammed, Allah, Jesus or the Deity of his choice.

Not only do not they not accept the God of the bible as the sole God. They also reject the divinity of Christ. They see Christ as a human being and prophet, not the Son of God. Both of these suppositions could be considered anti-Christian.

As one would expect, Masons also do not accept the Trinitarian concept of God as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This is yet another transgression of Christian beliefs.

Freemasonry fails to acknowledge the Christian God’s forbidding of idolatry found repeatedly throughout the bible in addition to the 2nd commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;” Exodus 20:4-7

Masonry as noted on the apron Tatsch claims was given to Washington pictured above is chock full of pagan idolatry and symbols. In fact, symbolism is a very important part of Masonry and permeates their regalia and buildings. Again, not a biblical Christian practice.

So, in light of all of the above, a practicing Mason could certainly not be called a Christian. I think it fair to conclude that George was a life long practicing Mason and therefore not truly a Christian despite the claims of authors like David Barton. However, what about the other framers? What were their religious convictions?

Next Up

Let’s next take a look at the backgrounds of some other framers of the Constitution including one of the key but often overlooked figures from the Revolutionary period. John Adams said that without this man, the sword of Washington would have been useless.