"The
public is generally unthankful, and I never will become a Servant of
it, till I am convinced that by neglecting my own affairs I am doing
more acceptable Service to God and Man."
Richard Stockton (October 1, 1730 – February 28, 1781)
Richard
Stockton (October 1, 1730 – February 28, 1781) was an American lawyer,
jurist, legislator, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stockton_%28Continental_Congressman%29
(Charter Master of St. John's Lodge, Princeton, Massachusetts in 1765)
ODE.
ADAMS AND LIBERTY.
Written for, and sung at the fourth Anniversary of the Massachusetts
Charitable Fire Society, 1798.
YE sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought,
For those rights, which unstained from your Sires had descended,
May you long taste the blessings your valour has brought,
And your sons reap the soil which their fathers defended.
'Mid the regin of mild Peace,
May your nation increase,
With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece;
And ne'er shall the sons of Colmbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
In a clime, whose rich vales feed the marts of the world,
Whose shores are unshaken by Europe's commotion,
The trident of Commerce should never be hurled,
To incense the legitimate powers of the ocean.
But should pirates invade,
Though in thunder arrayed,
Let your cannon declare the free charter of trade.
For ne'er shall the sons, &c.
The fame of our arms, of our laws the mild sway,
Had justly ennobled our nation in story,
'Till the dark clouds of faction obscured our young day,
And enveloped the sun of American glory.
But let traitors be told,
Who their country have sold,
And bartered their God for his image in gold,
That ne'er will the sons, &c.
While France her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood,
And Society's base threats with wide dissolution;
May Peace like the dove, who returned from the flood,
Find an ark of abode in our mild constitution
But though Peace is our aim,
Yet the boon we disclaim,
If bought by our Sov'reignty, Justice or Fame.
For ne'er shall the sons, &c.
'Tis the fire of the flint, each American warms;
Let Rome's haughty victors beware of collision,
Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in arms,
We're a world by ourselves, and disdain a division.
While with patriot pride,
To our laws we're allied,
No foe can subdue us, no faction divide.
For ne'er shall the sons, &c.
Our mountains are crowned with imperial oak;
Whose roots, like our liberties, ages have nourished;
But lone e'er our nation submits to the yoke,
Not a tree shall be left on the field where it flourished.
Should invasion impend,
Every grove would descend,
From the hill-tops, they shaded, our shores to defend.
For ne'er shall the sons, &c.
Let our patriots destroy Anarch's pestilent worm;
Lest our Liberty's growth should be checked by corrosion;
Then let clouds thicken round us; we heed not the storm;
Our realm fears no shock, but the earth's own explosion.
Foes assail us in vain,
Though their fleets bridge the main,
For our altars and laws with our lives we'll maintain.
For ne'er shall the sons, &c.
Should the Tempest of War overshadow our land,
Its bolts could ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder;
For, unmoved, at its portal, would Washington stand,
And repulse, with his Breast, the assaults of the thunder!
His sword, from the sleep
Of its scabbard would leap,
And conduct, with its point, ev'ry flash to the deep!
For ne'er shall the sons, &c.
Let Fame to the world sound America's voice;
No intrigues can her sons from their government sever;
Her pride is her Adams; Her laws are his choice,
And shall flourish, till Liberty slumbers for ever.
Then unite heart and hand,
Like Leonidas' band,
And swear to the God of the ocean and land;
That ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
"Adams and Liberty," lyrics by Robert Treat Paine (March 11, 1731 – May 11, 1814)
Robert
Treat Paine (March 11, 1731 – May 11, 1814) was a Massachusetts lawyer
and politician, best known as a signer of the Declaration of
Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. He served as the
state's first attorney general, and served as an associate justice of
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Treat_Paine
(Lodge unknown, however there is a record of him attending the Massachusetts Grand Lodge in 1759)
“I
am weary of politics. It is a study that corrupts the human heart,
degrades the idea of human nature, and drives men to the expedients that
morality must condemn."
William Hooper (June 28, 1742 – October 14, 1790)
William
Hooper (June 28, 1742 – October 14, 1790) was an American lawyer,
physician, politician, and a member of the Continental Congress
representing North Carolina from 1774 through
1777. Hooper was also a signer of the United States Declaration of
Independence, along with fellow North Carolinians Joseph Hewes and John
Penn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hooper
(Member of Hanover Lodge in Masonborough, N.C.)
Dear Sir: -
. . . . On Monday the great question of independency and total
separation from all political intercourse with Great Britain will come
on. It will be carried, I expect, by a great majority, and then, I
suppose we shall take upon us a new name. . . . .
Joseph Hewes (January 23, 1730 – November 10, 1779). in a letter to James Iredell Philadelphia, June 28th, 1776.
Joseph Hewes (January 23,
1730 – November 10, 1779) was a native of Princeton, New Jersey, where
he was born in 1730. Hewes’s parents were members of the Society of
Friends, commonly known as Quakers. Immediately after their marriage,
they moved to New Jersey, which became Joseph Hewes’s home state. Hewes
attended Princeton but there isn't any evidence that he actually
graduated. What is known is that he became an apprentice of a merchant
and in fact became a very successful merchant. After finishing his
apprenticeship he earned himself a good name and a strong reputation,
which would serve him well in becoming one of the most famous signers of
the Declaration of Independence for North Carolina, along with William
Hooper and John Penn. Hewes moved to Edenton, North Carolina at the age
of 30 and won over the people of the colony with his charm and honorable
businesslike character. Hewes was elected to the North Carolina
legislature in 1763, only three years after he moved to the colony.
After being re-elected numerous times in the legislature, Hewes was now
focused on a new and more ambitious job as a continental congressman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hewes
(Lodge unknown, but was recorded as a Masonic visitor to Unanimity
Lodge No. 7, Edenton, North Carolina, in December 1776, and was also
buried with Masonic honors)
"I conjure you, by all that is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred, not only that ye pray, but that ye act."
John Hancock (January 23, 1737 – October 8, 1793)
John
Hancock (January 23, 1737 [O.S. January 12, 1736] – October 8, 1793)
was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American
Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress
and was the first and third Governor of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is remembered for his large and
stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so
much so that the term "John Hancock" became, in the United States, a
synonym for signature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hancock
(Became a Mason in Merchants Lodge No. 277 in Quebec, affiliated with Saint Andrew's Lodge in Boston, 1762)
”…
the door is shut … We have been driven into a Declaration of
Independency & must forget our former love of our British brethren.
The Sword must determine our quarrel.”
William Ellery (December 2, 1727- February 15, 1820)
William Ellery (1727-1820) was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Rhode Island.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ellery
(St. John's Lodge/First Lodge of Boston, Boston, MA, 1748)
Resolved,
That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and
independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the
British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the
State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.
That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.
That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.
~Richard
Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 – June 19, 1794), known as the Lee
Resolution, or the Resolution of Independence, voted and agreed upon by
the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Resolution
Richard
Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 – June 19, 1794) was an American statesman
from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental
Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He
was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous
resolution of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of
Independence, which Lee signed. He also served a one-year term as the
President of the Continental Congress, and was a United States Senator
from Virginia from 1789 to 1792, serving during part of that time as one
of the first Presidents pro tempore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Henry_Lee
(It is not definite he was a Freemason, but it is likely. Hiram Lodge No. 59, Westmoreland County, Virginia)
