TL;DR
- From the beginning of European contact, the Americas inspired mystical theories including identification with the biblical Lost Tribes of Israel and the legendary Atlantis.
- Spanish friar Bartolomé de las Casas speculated that indigenous peoples might be descended from the Ten Lost Tribes, while Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis linked the Americas to classical mythology.
- Secret societies like the Knights Templar (through legends of pre-Columbian voyages) and later Freemasonry played significant roles in New World exploration and colonization.
- Masonic lodges became crucial networks for independence movements across the Americas, with figures like George Washington, Simón Bolívar, and José de San Martín using fraternal bonds to coordinate revolutions.
- The Founding Fathers and Latin American liberators often met as brethren in lodge rooms, forging in secrecy the very public history of American independence.
Esoteric Myths and the New World#
From the very beginning of European contact, the Americas inspired mystical theories. Some early Europeans wondered if the “New World” was in fact the fabled Atlantis or home to the Lost Tribes of Israel. For example, the Spanish friar Bartolomé de las Casas speculated in the 16th century that the indigenous peoples of the Americas might be descended from the Ten Lost Tribes, reportedly saying “I can bring proofs from the Bible that they are of the Lost Tribes.” Similarly, a Portuguese traveler in 1644 claimed to have found Hebrews “beyond the Andes” among Native Americans, fueling the lost-tribes theory. Such ideas, though fringe, show how early colonizers folded the Americas into Biblical lore.
At the same time, Renaissance mystics drew parallels to classical myths: Sir Francis Bacon’s utopian novel New Atlantis (1627) imagined a wise island society in the Western Ocean, implicitly linking the Americas to the Atlantis legend. Bacon – who was associated with Rosicrucian secret societies – portrayed the New World as a land where ancient wisdom could flourish anew. These notions cast the Americas as a repository of primordial wisdom, either as the remnant of Atlantis or as a “New Israel,” in the eyes of certain esoteric thinkers.
Legends of Atlantis in America#
By the 19th century, occult and Masonic writers took the Atlantis idea further. Minnesota politician Ignatius L. Donnelly’s Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) argued that Atlantis was real and had civilized both the Old and New Worlds – suggesting Mesoamerican and Egyptian pyramids shared Atlantean origins. In esoteric circles, the myth of a Golden-Age continent resonated strongly. Freemasons, too, have long been intrigued by Atlantis as a metaphor for a lost enlightened civilization. Modern Masonic essays describe Atlantis as a “powerful collective memory” of a time before the fall of man – analogous to the Masonic veneration of Solomon’s Temple as an archetype of ancient wisdom.
Though mainstream historians find no evidence for Atlantis, the legend’s symbolic value was embraced by some secret orders as a parable of advanced knowledge lost to catastrophe.
Lost Tribes and Occult Traditions#
The theory that Native Americans were a lost branch of Israel also permeated colonial mythology. Aside from clergy like de las Casas, it found its way into esoteric lore. Later mystics like theosophists folded indigenous American cultures into global spiritual lineages – for instance, positing that Native peoples carried wisdom from earlier root-races (Atlantean or Lemurian). While such claims are not part of orthodox Freemasonry, they illustrate how secretive groups often believed ancient truths were widely diffused across the world.
In short, many 18th–19th century esoteric thinkers saw the Americas not as a new land devoid of history, but as an ancient-new land, rich with remnants of antediluvian knowledge and peoples possibly connected to Biblical or mythic lineages.
Secret Societies in Early Exploration and Colonization#
Long before the age of revolution, secretive orders and mystic ideals influenced the exploration of the Americas. Notably, the Knights Templar – a medieval crusader order suppressed in 1307 – appear in many speculative theories about pre-Columbian voyages. According to one legend (widely regarded as fringe), a Scottish noble Henry Sinclair – alleged to be connected to exiled Templars – sailed to North America in 1398, nearly a century before Columbus.
Some interpretations of this tale point to curiosities like the Westford Knight carving in Massachusetts and carvings of New World plants in Scotland’s Roslin Chapel as hints of a Templar presence in the New World. While mainstream historians remain skeptical, the Templar voyage myth exemplifies the belief that secret societies might have sought out the Americas as a sanctuary or source of ancient treasures.
The Order of Christ and Portuguese Exploration#
More concretely, the spirit of the Knights Templar lived on in successor orders that did partake in Atlantic exploration. In Portugal, the old Templar order continued as the Order of Christ, which played a key role in financing voyages of discovery. Famous Portuguese explorers (like Vasco da Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator) were members of the Order of Christ, and its red cross emblem adorned the sails of ships that charted the coasts of the New World. Thus, one can say a quasi-Templar mystique rode with the earliest European ships.
Some even suspect Christopher Columbus had secret society connections. Occult historian Manly P. Hall noted that Columbus’s peculiar signature – a cluster of letters and cabalistic symbols – “conveyed far more than…a private citizen,” hinting he might have belonged to a hidden order. Hall speculated (without hard proof) that “a society of unknown philosophers” guided Columbus, inspiring him with Plato’s story of Atlantis and other classical lore to seek lands westward.
Hermetic Traditions in Colonial America#
In the English colonies, esoteric traditions took subtler forms. Several early colonists were interested in alchemy and hermeticism. (For instance, John Winthrop Jr. – governor of Connecticut – was an alchemist who corresponded with Rosicrucian-minded thinkers in Europe.) Sir Francis Bacon’s circle envisioned America as fertile ground for a “New Atlantis,” a society guided by enlightened science and perhaps secret fraternities.
Later, during the Enlightenment era, Freemasonry spread to the colonies, bringing a heritage that claimed descent from ancient mystery schools (Egypt, Solomon’s Temple, etc.). By the mid-18th century, Masonic lodges existed in cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and Charleston, providing a network for like-minded thinkers. These lodges were not directly settling the land, but they became influential in colonial society – and soon in the push for independence.
Freemasonry and Revolutionary America#
Throughout the Americas, Freemasons and similar secret society members played outsized roles in independence movements. In British North America, many Founding Fathers of the United States were active Freemasons, and Masonic ideals of enlightenment, liberty, and fraternity influenced the Revolutionary ethos.
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Paul Revere – all were well-known patriots and Masons. Franklin became Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1734, and he later joined a Masonic lodge in Paris, befriending French Enlightenment brethren. These men bonded in lodges where rank was set aside in favor of brotherhood and secrecy. The Masonic emphasis on equality and tolerance paralleled the Revolution’s democratic ideals (“All men are created equal…” as the Declaration’s drafter Thomas Jefferson – not a Mason himself, but surrounded by many – wrote).
Masonic Networks in the Revolution#
Indeed, contemporaries noticed that the shared Masonic membership of American and French officers (e.g. Marquis de Lafayette was a Freemason) helped cement alliances in the war. It’s important not to overstate – the American Revolution was not run by the Freemasons as a conspiracy; rather, Masonry was a network and a common philosophical ground. Lodges provided a space for patriots to meet discreetly and discuss radical ideas under cover of ritual.
According to the Scottish Rite Museum, “many men who were Freemasons during the War for Independence” fought for the Patriot cause, but for every Mason there were non-Masons as well. Still, certain key events show a Masonic flavor: the Boston Tea Party plot reputedly was hashed out in the Green Dragon Tavern – which doubled as the meeting place of St. Andrew’s Lodge (Paul Revere’s lodge). And when the war was won, George Washington donned his Masonic apron to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in a formal ceremony.
Latin American Liberators and Secret Lodges#
The wave of independence movements in Latin America in the early 19th century was deeply entwined with secret societies – above all, Freemasonry or spin-off revolutionary lodges. Nearly every major Latin American liberator had ties to Masonic or secret orders.
Simón Bolívar and the Masonic Network#
Simón Bolívar – the heroic liberator of northern South America – was a dedicated Freemason. Bolívar was initiated in a Masonic lodge in Cádiz, Spain in 1803 and later received the high 33° of the Scottish Rite. He even founded lodges during his campaigns (e.g. Protectora de las Virtudes lodge in Venezuela) to nurture patriot unity.
José de San Martín – the Argentine general who freed the southern regions (Argentina, Chile, Peru) – likewise was involved in secret lodges. In 1812, San Martín and other officers formed the Lautaro Lodge (Logia Lautaro) in Buenos Aires. This was a covert society explicitly devoted to liberation. Though named after an indigenous Mapuche hero Lautaro, it was essentially a political-military secret fraternity using Masonic-like organization.
The Lautaro Lodge Network#
The Lautaro Lodge (and its branches in Chile and elsewhere) allowed Latin American patriots to coordinate across borders under strict secrecy, evading Spanish colonial spies. Members took ritual oaths and used code names, much as Freemasons did, but their goal was revolution. Recent historical research shows the Lautaro Lodges had only a “superficial” connection to formal Freemasonry – they adopted the lodge model as a cover for liberal conspiracy. Nonetheless, many participants (San Martín included) were bona fide Masons as well.
Francisco de Miranda – a Venezuelan precursor to Bolívar – was a globe-trotting revolutionary who in the 1790s established a secret “Gran Reunión Americana” (Great American Reunion) lodge in London. This lodge gathered exiled Spanish Americans (including young Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile) and indoctrinated them in Enlightenment and Masonic ideals of liberty. Miranda’s efforts laid the ideological groundwork for independence; he, too, was a Freemason (initiated in London). O’Higgins later led Chile’s independence and, tellingly, named his first government Logia Lautaro, honoring the secret society that had guided him.
Mexican Masonic Politics#
Mexico’s insurgents had Masonic ties as well. Father Miguel Hidalgo, who launched Mexico’s revolt in 1810 with his “Grito de Dolores,” was initiated into Mexico’s first Masonic lodge (“Arquitectura Moral”) in 1806. After independence, Mexican politics itself split along Masonic lines: rival lodges became proto-political parties.
The Escoceses (Scottish Rite Masons, established 1806) favored a conservative centralized regime, while the Yorkinos (York Rite Masons, introduced 1825 with U.S. help) pushed liberal federalism. This rivalry was so influential that early presidents and cabinet members openly belonged to one faction or the other – President Guadalupe Victoria was a Yorkino Mason, his Vice President Nicolás Bravo was Grand Master of the Escoceses.
Revolutionary Networks Across the Americas#
Similar patterns appeared elsewhere. José Martí, the 19th-century champion of Cuban independence, was reportedly a Mason (raised in a Madrid lodge in the 1870s). Toussaint L’Ouverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), is believed to have been a Freemason – his inner circle certainly were Masons. Historians note that Toussaint’s personal signature included three dots in triangular formation (a Masonic mark).
In Brazil, which gained independence in 1822, the first ruler Emperor Dom Pedro I was a committed Freemason. Upon declaring Brazil’s independence from Portugal, Pedro I named his advisor José Bonifácio (also a Mason) as Grand Master of the new Brazilian Grand Orient (national Masonic body). Brazilian lodges became “privileged spaces” for the founding fathers to strategize out of public view, taking the place of political parties which were then nascent.
Why Secret Societies Thrived in the Americas#
Why were Freemasons so involved? One reason is that Masonic and other secret societies provided ideal cover and camaraderie for revolutionaries. Under repressive colonial regimes, meeting to plot independence was dangerous – but meeting in a “respectable” Masonic lodge, sworn to secrecy, offered protection. The lodges also inculcated values of liberalism, equality, and anti-clericalism that many independence leaders shared.
For example, Mexico’s great reformer Benito Juárez – a full-blooded indigenous Zapotec who became the nation’s first indigenous president – was a high-degree Freemason, initiated in 1847. Juárez and fellow liberal Masons in mid-1800s Mexico championed separation of church and state, public education, and abolition of special clerical privileges – essentially Enlightenment policies.
In short, membership in secret societies knit together the patriots of the New World across social and ethnic divides. Being “Brothers” in the lodge – whether Creole aristocrat like San Martín or self-educated indigenous man like Juárez – created an alternate meritocracy based on ideals rather than birth.
Ancient Visions and Revolutionary Reality#
To these revolutionaries, did the esoteric legends of the Americas hold any sway? In some cases, yes – nationalist mythologies drew on ancient symbols. The naming of Lautaro Lodge after an indigenous hero hints at a conscious linking of independence with a pre-Columbian legacy. Likewise, Simón Bolívar at one point envisioned creating an Andean federation named “The Incán Republic” (after the Inca empire), indicating a romantic reverence for America’s antique civilizations.
However, the hard work of nation-building quickly took precedence over occult musings. The secret societies active in the Americas were primarily vehicles for political change, even if they were steeped in ritual and mystique. Still, in the cultural imagination, a notion persisted that the Western Hemisphere had a “secret destiny.”
Occult authors in the 20th century (like Manly P. Hall) popularized the idea that America was chosen to revive ancient wisdom and liberty. Hall even claimed a hidden order of sages had guided the founding of the U.S., calling the new nation “the New Atlantis… coming into being, in accordance with the program laid down by Francis Bacon”. Such claims remain speculative, but they underscore a real thread in the fabric of American ideology: the blending of Enlightenment revolution with esoteric providence.
FAQ#
Q 1. Were the Founding Fathers really involved in secret societies?
A. Yes, many prominent Founding Fathers including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, and Paul Revere were active Freemasons, though the American Revolution was not a Masonic conspiracy but rather benefited from Masonic networks of like-minded liberty-seekers.
Q 2. How did secret societies help coordinate Latin American independence?
A. Organizations like the Lautaro Lodge allowed patriots like San Martín and O’Higgins to coordinate across borders under strict secrecy, evading Spanish colonial surveillance while sharing revolutionary strategies and resources.
Q 3. What evidence exists for pre-Columbian secret society voyages to America?
A. Claims of Templar voyages (like Henry Sinclair’s alleged 1398 expedition) remain largely speculative and unsupported by mainstream historians, though the Order of Christ (Templar successor) did finance legitimate Portuguese exploration.
Q 4. How did esoteric beliefs influence colonial settlement?
A. Early colonists like John Winthrop Jr. practiced alchemy and hermeticism, while thinkers like Francis Bacon envisioned America as a “New Atlantis” where enlightened science and perhaps secret fraternities could flourish.
Q 5. Did indigenous peoples contribute to these mystical narratives?
A. European colonizers often projected their own mystical frameworks onto indigenous peoples, such as identifying them with the Lost Tribes of Israel or incorporating native heroes (like Lautaro) into secret society names and revolutionary symbolism.
Sources#
- Las Casas, Bartolomé de. Historia de las Indias. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1951. (Original observations on Lost Tribes theory)
- Bacon, Francis. New Atlantis. London: 1627. (Utopian vision linking Americas to Atlantis legend)
- Donnelly, Ignatius L. Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1882. (Popular 19th-century Atlantis theory)
- Hall, Manly P. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1944. (Occult interpretation of American founding)
- Bullock, Steven C. Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. (Scholarly study of Masonic influence on American Revolution)
- Ferrer Benimeli, José A. Masonería española contemporánea. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 1980. (Spanish and Latin American Masonic history)
- Mitre, Bartolomé. Historia de San Martín y de la emancipación sudamericana. Buenos Aires: 1890. (Classic account of San Martín and revolutionary lodges)
- Vázquez Semadeni, María Eugenia. La formación de una cultura política republicana: El debate público sobre la masonería México, 1821-1830. Mexico City: UNAM, 2010. (Mexican Masonic political factions)
- Coil, Henry Wilson. Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia. New York: Macoy Publishing, 1961. (Reference work on Masonic history and symbolism)
- Scottish Rite Museum. “Freemasonry and the American Revolution.” Educational materials, Washington D.C. (Contemporary Masonic historical perspective)