Influence of Masonic thought in new western societies and their respective independence processes.

Ensaio publicado na revista Latino-Americana, Catedra Giordano Bruno, 2021.

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Conscience is the best judge for a good man.

José de San Martín

If man is born free, he must govern himself; if he has tyrants, he must dethrone them.

Voltaire

Keywords: Freemasonry; Independence; Enlightenment; Industrial Revolution; Masonic Lodges; Liberty.

This essay is a figure of opinion based on the Masonic and secular historical archives of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It is not intended to raise a detailed investigative study on specific events and/or on the life and work of great Brothers who have already passed into the Eternal Orient, whose example still illuminates the entire firmament of human history. Nor does it carry out a survey of the official procedures of the Lodges installed on that date in order to trace the destinies of other nations. Humbly, this task falls to historians. The Masonic obedience, to a great extent, influenced the political-social emancipation of several countries, with a huge amount of existing historical documental collections available. Not intending to offer secrets or new discoveries, but rather to raise questions and doubts that allow us to understand the international political context at the time, in order to build a future with greater wisdom.

The influence of Freemasonry and its members in the destiny of American countries is undoubted, it remains largely omitted from those who write history. It is said that history is written by the victors and we find in everyone a first common denominator, the sacrifice of Truth. The complicated nexus that interconnects the Masonic lodges, their members and their ideals, since the raising of our columns, is confused with the emergence of the Enlightenment Period, the Industrial Revolution, the processes of independence in American countries and the governmental and social transformations of the absolutists regimes in Europe, the fall of influence of the nobility and clergy system and the rise of the bourgeoisie as we shall review.

Freemason and U.S. President George Washington, picture on the website of Gila Valley Masonic Lodge 9 F&AM:

Freemasons have always been men of high culture and erudition, from all spectrum of society, from musicians to soldiers. The first obligation is to work and decay the imperfections of our own rough stone, to work on the character that strives for the evolution of their own conduct, without blemish, in the construction of a better and fairer society. Freemasons, due to their intellectual curiosity to know the world and Nature, participated and also participate in other institutions of a political, religious, esoteric and philosophical nature, which transmit to them an open and fraternal thought.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, new esoteric, Christian, Spiritist currents, as well as scientific knowledge emerged. Essentially, the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution grew in Europe transforming the world forever and leading to today's contemporary society, as opposed to centuries of intellectual dogma, monarchical systems of governance and artisanal productive processes. Great changes took place in Europe to make this independence, this new thinking possible. We also observed in the Americas different doctrines, more humane, and it is true that it was believed, probably as it is today, that society needed change.

Perhaps independence was the belief in the construction of a better society, more equal, more fraternal and respectful of all life, which was miraculously born from the Earth. However, even today, the work is not over! Old dogmatic patterns collapsed, new sciences and a Faith in a better and more humanistic society were born. Society's morals also had profound changes, derived from the French Revolution and the Declaration of Human Rights. The education of all is one of the most crucial aspects for a more humane, egalitarian and fraternal society. Education being the best weapon against the greatest human evil, Ignorance.

However, Freemasonry is not partisan, nor does it profess any particular religion, but a defender of Justice, Freedom and Truth, Masonic teachings always seek the fundamental duties of the human being, that is, the duties to ourselves, to humanity and to the Great Architect of the Universe, an ecumenical idea of God that cuts across all creeds and beliefs. The idea of brotherhood among all humanity, it can be said that it could be the first manifestation of a world human society.

I believe that the workers in the columns of the various European and American obediences were indeed repercussions for these new societies, perhaps much more than the obediences themselves. This reality persists to this day, although today it is much more difficult for a Freemason to work for Freedom, given a paradigm shift.

A historical context is mandatory to describe the trends of thought in Europe and across America, the sequence of which led to the natural process of independence of regions and peoples around the world. We know that Regular Speculative Freemasonry appeared in England, in 1717, using the organization molds of the operative Freemasons. Equally appearing throughout Europe the Enlightenment that, as several Enlightenment authors have mentioned, after centuries of obscurantism and ignorance, we emerged into an era enlightened by reason and science to explain the Universe, as opposed to faith. Thus, was born the age of reason, fostered by the spirit of cultural relativism and a thirst for exploration and knowledge of this world in which we were born.

There was a deep connection between Freemasonry and the Enlightenment, as the great Enlightenmentists of the time were also from Freemasonry. Feudalism declined giving way to mercantilism, Christian churches arising from the Protestant reform proliferated across northern Europe, Christian unity was divided and, as a result of these events, the weakening of the Roman Church.

Two centuries of intellectual and philosophical wealth where I highlight our brother Voltaire, initiated in 1778, was one of the greatest philosophers who influenced all these generations and beyond the 18th century. German philosophers brought a new concept of Idealism, which exalted knowledge, which came, among other things, from the coexistence of ideas, reason and practical reality in the genesis of knowledge, as Kant would say. Karl Marx and his theories of dialectical historical materialism, which good or bad influenced the entire western world. All this new knowledge entered Europe and progressively changed mentalities, putting into question the ideas and values inherited so far. The secularization of the state, progress, science, tolerance, different occult and religious knowledge were the ideals that dominated the world of intellectuals in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. Obviously, the Masonic columns embraced faith in human reason and all Enlightenment philosophies and ideals, encouraging their workers to pursue a life full of integrity, honesty and love for all humanity (Landmarks).

While the Masonic sessions were filled with an avid search for the fraternal and universal knowledge of all things, the theocratic power of the Church declined as the principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity began to take over Europe persecutions of our august order began immediately, of which I would highlight that of the Catholic Church, which always deserves all our respect and consideration for its still charitable work for the world,

I do not see another one with such amplitude. These persecutions I believe, mainly, to the high number of friars, bishops, cardinals and other members of the clergy who adorned our columns and which could pose a serious risk to the Vatican.

Some of the most famous and influential men of this period in history were Freemasons, including Voltaire, John Locke, Haydn, Mozart, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Paul Jones, Paul Revere and so many others. Just access to Wikipedia's list of Freemasons to realize laborer members in all fields of society.

After this context, we immerse ourselves in the independence processes that emerged mainly during the Enlightenment, but we can say that everything started on July 4, 1776 with the proclamation of a new nation, the United States of America, which became independent from Great Britain. The first Provincial Grand Lodge (Moderns) was founded during the colonial era, in 1731, and its jurisdiction granted over New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Among many brothers who stood out at the time, we remember the honored Benjamin Franklin, who was installed as Grand Master in 1735. The honorable brother Franklin was the worshipful master of the famous Parisian store Nine Sisters, in 1779–1781, of the Grand Orient de France and which was influential in organizing French support for the American Revolution.

Until the American Revolution, six more Grand Lodges were installed, including the Grand Lodge of Massachussetts, in 1733, also associated with the Moderns, it had a preponderant role in the North and South American destinations, suffice it to note the travels of Bolivar and other south american brothers to Boston. The Moderns had a profound influence on the colonies and this dispute between Moderns and Ancients Masons in the 18th century, even had Independent Grand Lodges in Great Britain, but both having been reconciled and unified into a single United Grand Lodge of England, in 1813. Due to many modern brothers returning to ancient rituals and to the Law of Illegal Society, passed to prosecute spies of Napoleon at the end of the 18th century.

If there is any doubt about the Masonic influence in the processes of construction of the New World, the Boston Tea Party (Massachussetts) in 1773, whose revolt escalated to the War of the American Revolution, where 50 delegates, out of 56 men, who signed the declaration of independence, were highlighted. members of Freemasonry.

The Masonic symbols are very evident in the architecture of the capital and in the dollar bill, created by a decision of the Congress in 1785. City of Washington was inaugurated in 1800 and the very architect who designed the city, Pierre L'Énfant, was a Freemason having designed the disposition of the new city on Masonic principles and symbols, of which the square, compass and pentagram stand out in the architectural and cartographic projection. President George Washington, dressed in Masonic aporn, laid the foundation stone of the United States Congress and I would like to quote the invitation to the ceremony, circulated in newspapers of the time “The Capitol is underway, the Southeast is still empty and the cornerstone will be placed with the help of the Fraternity on the 18th. All the members of the Order, even if dispersed, are invited to participate in the work“. After the American Revolution and after the incorporation of Canada, several Provincial Grand Lodges in North America were closed and gave rise to the Independent Grand Lodges of the lodges gathered in each state.

The United States of America is not the only country on the American continent with these Masonic evidences, however it had a role and a fundamental influence in the independence processes, made public with the Monroe Doctrine that followed Washington's ideals.

A curious fact was the emmergence of columns, in 1791, of the African Grand Lodge of North America. Prince Hall was unanimously elected Grand Master and served until his death in 1807. Activist for abolitionism and black equity, Hall encouraged black slaves and manumitted to serve in the US Army believing that, if blacks were involved in founding the new nation, would help to obtain freedom for all.

Another very important historical landmark for the western world was the French Revolution of 1789, under the motto Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Freemasonry had its relative influence in this event that definitively elevated democracy, to the detriment of absolutism, and elevated the bourgeoisie, the greatest sponsor of the cause. However, the radicalization and violence used during this revolution led to some discrediting of the Enlightenment movement, by contemporary intellectuals of the time. Nor did it have any influence on the independence processes of countries with a French stamp, mostly African, as they only won their independence in the middle of the 20th century.

The European nations continued in a struggle of interests and influences, marked by the overseas expansion since the century 15th century, while the Enlightenment freed thinkers, artists, poets and politicians from social and religious dogmas. The reality in the colonies was very different in relation to the metropolises and, with the center of the Empire and Religious Dogma further away, there were different lifestyles in Europe, the distances were not only geographical, but increasingly political and cultural, it was time to believe in new political ideas and new regimes, such as the Republic. Obviously, Freemasonry and its brothers conspired for this new world. Freemasonry has the obligation to work for a better world, not for the egocentric benefit of himself, but in a spirit of mission and sacrifice, in favor of peace and life, with justice and progress.

We were faced with the need to install a new lifestyle “sponsored” by Protestant countries, especially Great Britain, which lived in an era called the Industrial Revolution, at the end of the 18th century and the entire 19th century, which capitalized wealth in a new social class, the bourgeoisie. This progress brought new ways of life, the employee/boss relationship, workers lost control of the production process, but now had a salary and a way of subsistence. This Victorian Era brought British world hegemony of colonial expansion. The consumer society emerged, national GDPs grew after centuries of stagnation, disputes and conflicts between European empires continued, along with a growing arms spirit.

New markets such as the South American ones were of enormous interest. A division appeared between Northern and Southern Europe (Protestantism vs Catholicism). Britain now had serious interests in the abolition of slavery and industrialization, a paradigm shift was needed. This topic would make a dissertation, but we intend to continue with the independence processes.

We observe that, between 1804 and 1898, during industrial revolution, around twenty Central and South American countries became independent from the metropolises, most

of them from Spain. Only in the first half of the 19th century, we witness the independence of Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Haiti, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Pero, El Salvador, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic. Was only in the 20th century, the South American countries colonized by Great Britain achieved their inevitable proclamation of independence and, also at 20th century, we finally have the independence of many African countries. The youngest nations in the world. I would say that almost all the independence processes of the 18th and 19th century had Freemasonry as the main orchestrator, which used and was used by different world groups in the chessboard of world economic and political interests. However, acting often without the proper harmony and cohesion that is required.

Portrait of António Gabriel de Miranda:

The great mentor of the independence of the South American countries was Francisco António Gabriel de Miranda, initiated in 1780, in the United States by George Washington himself, and his work was surgical in the independence of the South American countries. Here is a well-known list of Freemasons that brother Miranda prepared: Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, José de San Martín, Carlos Montúfar, Vicente Rocafuerte, Bernardo Monteagudo, José Cecílio del Valle, Pedro José Caro, Servando Teresa de Mier, José Miguel Carrera , Mariano Moreno, Pedro Fermín de Vargas, Simon Bolivar, among others.

In 1797, after exile in the United States, Miranda travels to London and founded the Great American Reunion lodge. He set up other Lodges as branches, but from London come all the instructions to fulfill the Emancipation Plan for all of Latin America, according to Miranda's “inspiration” and the strong influence of Anglo-American Freemasonry. To paraphrase the excellent board The importance of Freemasonry in Latin America, of the Brotherhood Academic Brother Otaíde Feltrim lodge, from the Great Orient of Brasil and that I greatly appreciate the publication, refers that these patriots began to move in Europe to obtain political support and, with sure, economic to the cause. The installation of the famous Lautaro Lodges was also started, in several cities of the American continent, whose work was fundamental. Without going into great detail, it is extremely important to understand the intricacies of these lodges, their Regulations and Obligations prepared by O'Higgins himself and the controversial military vein of these lodges, including their members, in a kind of european Carbonaria, whose branch in Portugal planned and carried out the regicide, in 1908.

Miranda strengthened the idea of a united and independent Latin America. His first expedition to Venezuela, in 1806, had British and North American help, although it failed. Interestingly, one of the volunteers for this expedition was precisely the American brother David G. Burnet, who later occupied the role of interim president of the Republic of Texas, after its separation from Mexico, in 1836. In 1808, another expedition was planned, led by the brother Arthur Wellesley, later invested Duke of Wellington, but Napoleon's invasions of Spain interrupted the plans.

Portrait of Simon Bolivar:

Simon Bolivar himself was initiated into apprenticeship at the age of 20 at the Lautaro Lodge of Cadiz, in 1803. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason in May 1806, at the lodge of Saint Alexander of Scotland, in Paris and in April 1824 he received the 33rd degree of Honorary Inspector General. He raised columns from lodge No. 1, Protectora de las Vertudes, in Venezuela, and Lodge No. 2, Order and Liberty, in Peru. After initiation in Europe, Bolivar traveled to the United States and returned to Venezuela in about 1807. Taking advantage of Napoleon's removal of the King of Spain and convincing his brother Miranda to return to Venezuela, both established the Congress and the First Republic of Venezuela, having officially declared independence from Spain in the same year. Francisco de Miranda was declared the first president, but Miranda saw political and economic disorder and even an earthquake devastate the country, signing, in June 1812, an armistice with the spanish monarchy. This action was considered treason by Bolivar and his followers. Bolivar sentenced Miranda to life imprisonment for this armistice. Bolivar became a commander of the republican army, aided by British soldiers fresh out of the Napoleonic Wars, and regained control of the Republic of Venezuela not just once, but twice, as President. His journey continued through Latin America having united and created the Republic of Gran Colombia, today known as Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, parts of Peru, Guyana and northwestern Brazil, being the first president from 1819 to 1830. Bolivar finally resigned to the presidency on April 27, 1830, with the intention of leaving the country for exile in Europe. He died shortly thereafter from prolonged tuberculosis. Having been demystified, in July 2011, by international forensic experts, at the request of then President Hugo Chávez, the murder theory.

As I mentioned, this is not a historical document, I advise you to go deeper and study the history of the lodges created in America and the brothers mentioned above and others like; Luis López Méndez, Andrés Bello Peña, José Carrión, General José de Sucre, General Cordova, Lieutenant Colonel Vicente Tur, General Antonio Valero de Bernabé, Roseto, Yañez, Penalver Matias, Mariano Montilla, Francisco Iznardi, Miguel Hidalgo, Francisco de Paula Santander, Antonio Nariño, John Hancock, Jose Maria Morelos and Pavon and Ignacio Allende, John Adams, James Buchanan Jr, Albert Pike, Thomas Jefferson, Randolph Took, Padre (priest) Gonçalves Soares de França, among many others.

Paraphrasing again the above-mentioned board, it is certain that there was a work of Freemasons brothers in the formation of a base to support the revolutionary cause. But the work carried out up to the revolutions is quite different from the governance processes of a country and its multiple variables, such as production, administration, education and social and legal structure. Liberating armies was gathered to liberate Argentina, Chile and Peru, but we all know that an army and its logistics are very expensive and someone must have financed these amounts, obviously expecting a return. Foreign support for revolutionary causes may have held the liberators hostage in some decisions. We have verified through history the strong links of the South American brothers with Anglo-American Freemasonry.

Portrait of José San Martin:

We have as an interesting example the liberation of Chile and the measures taken by O'Higgins, after taking office as Supreme Director of the Republic. These measures affected the upper classes, the Nobility and the Catholic Church, with the vox populi having the feeling that the liberators were nothing more than front men of “higher” interests. Another interesting example is the conquest of Lima, in 1820, by San Martin with the maritime support of Lord Cochrane; San Martim won Cochrane's enmity for refusing to attack Lima and managing the evacuation and withdrawal of troops from the Viceroy José de la Serna, preventing bloodshed and thousands of deaths. Lord Cochrane,

regardless of whether he was a Freemason or not, had a history of fraud and a previous expulsion from the British Navy. Was he a man in the pay of the British crown, Corsair style? He later received pardons from the British crown and was promoted accordingly.

But it was with the Battle of Ayacucho, on December 9, 1824, that South American independence defeated the Spanish army. An epic battle for the history of Freemasonry as there are hundreds of Freemason soldiers on both sides fighting each other. Despite attempts to find a peaceful solution between present Masonic lodges and diplomatic efforts the battle was inevitable. On the Spanish side were the Masonic brothers Rodil, Espartero, Vergara, Viceroy José de la Serna, Venerable Master General Canterac, Past Master Marshal Jerônimo Valdez, General Monet, Antonio Tur and General Ballesteros and on the independence side the brothers José Faustino Sanchéz Carrión, General Antonio José de Sucre, General José Maria Córdova, Lieutenant Colonel Vicente Tur and General Antonio Valero de Bernabé, among others. This battle was marked by the Act of Capitulation and by the respect of human rights to the defeated. The Brotherhood honorably marked the victors and Spain had definitively lost its influence.

Interestingly, history reveals that many of these brothers died tragically, for example: General Sucre, President for Life of the new Republic of Bolivia, until 1828, was murdered in Colombia on his journey to assume the Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador; San Martin, the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru traveled in exile to Europe after the death of his wife, having followed with regret the civil wars in his country of federalists against Unitarians, assisting the French Revolution in Paris, but he never returned to South America dying in 1850; O'Higgins was deposed around 1823 and died in exile in Peru in 1842; Miranda died in a prison in Cádiz; Many other brothers died in the various battles as sacrificed heroes, as the allegory of Hiram's death is summed up, in a clear allusion to the Sacrifice.

The exaltation of the Nation, the Flag and the Anthem as a strategy to unify a people, its sacrifice against oppressors, the altruism in defending the ideas of a better country et cetera, are the political propaganda of a new world in counterpoint to the world ruled by monarchies, nobility and clergy, who for hundreds of years ruled the destinies of Europe.

Of high historical importance and which greatly contributed to the victory of independence over the Spanish and Portuguese Monarchy were Napoleon's destabilizing actions, giving rise to the emergence of men in the roll out of those wars. Not only did the British and Americans fight in South America, but Napoleon's defeat, at Waterloo in 1815, caused an exodus of French soldiers to Latin America, where they joined the independence movements armies.

The Napoleonic invasions forced the Portuguese royal family to flee to Brazil in 1807. The Portuguese court was established in Rio de Janeiro and declared this city as the capital of the Empire. Over the next 15 years, the contest, led by Freemasonry, rose in tone in a climate of general sedition throughout Portugal and Brazil. The military forces rebelled against British influence, as the Regency of Portugal had placed on the British Lord Beresford as commander of the Portuguese army and regent of the kingdom of Portugal. This led to protests and intensified the anti-British tendency, originating the Liberal Conspiracy of Lisbon, in 1817. This revolt had a strong stamp on Portuguese Freemasonry, but led to the execution of the 5th Grand Master of the Lusitanian Grand

Portrait of General Gomes Freire de Andrade:

Orient in office, General Gomes Freire de Andrade and the entire operation of Secret Societies in the kingdoms of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves was prohibited. The brother General Gomes Freire was a prestigious European Freemason initiated into Freemasonry before 1785, probably in Vienna, in the Zur gekrönten Hoffnung Lodge, together with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Contestations continued throughout the kingdom and, in 1820, Portuguese Freemasonry led the Liberal Revolution in Porto city, demanding the return of King D João VI and deposing Lord Beresford. The Revolution of 1820 in Spain is also unleashed, of a liberal nature and contesting the Absolutist States of the Iberian Peninsula.

With Napoleon's defeat and fierce protests, the Bragança Monarchy returns to Portugal, and remaining in Brazil the 4th heir, the Freemason D. Pedro, who achieve the independence of Brasil almost peacefully and with the territory intact.

In Brazil it is believed that Freemasonry has existed since the colonial period, there are references to the presence of Freemasons in the Minas Conspiracy, of 1789 and in the Bahia Conjuration, of 1798. The first regular lodge was Réunion, orient of Ille de France. In 1801, two more lodges affiliated with the the Lusitanian Grand Orient were subsequently created, the Constância and Filantropia lodges, in 1804. In the court of King D. João VI, in 1815, there were two lodges in operation, one of them the São João de Bragança lodge, in supposedly veiled homage to the King. Presumed that he would be tolerant towards Masonic activities and despite having banned the activities of secret societies, the cadres of lodges grew throughout the territory and, in June 1822, the Grand Orient of the Brazil was founded, with three lodges.

An interesting fact in some independence processes, such as the case of Brazil, is that we find two Masonic factions, the republicans and those who wanted a constitutional monarchy. England, for example, already had a Constitutional Monarchy since 1688 and there are several European countries in which sovereigns enjoy limited and ceremonial powers.

Brazilian Freemasonry was also divided into two large pro-independence factions, which pursued each other with harm. Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo led one of the factions and defended republican ideas, while José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva believed that the solution was to keep D. Pedro as emperor under a constitutional monarchy and defended, as author Laurentino Gomes refers, “the distribution of land and the encouragement of family farming, political and religious tolerance, education for all, protection of forests and respectful treatment of the Indians (native americans)…” as well as the abolition of slavery.

Portrait of D Pedro I:

On September 7, 1822, we have the proclamation of the Independence of Brazil, on the banks of the Ipiranga River and D Pedro I acclaimed Constitutional Emperor. Unlike the neighboring republics, Brazil remained a monarchy for 50 years, repressing democratic, republican and federative ideas. Official records state that D Pedro I's initiation took place at Loja Comércio e Arte, on August 2, 1822, under the name of Guatimozim – in honor of the last Aztec emperor. On October 4, 1822, D. Pedro was acclaimed Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Brazil, replacing José Bonifácio, who would become Grand Master again in 1831. The Proclamation of the Republic, in 1889, was carried out by the Grand Master of Grande Oriente do Brasil, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, in a military

intervention believed to be based on several fallacious rumors launched by the minority republican party. Without going into more detail given the page limits for this essay, Freemasonry has always had a profound influence in Brazil and, to this day, continues to be an ally in and of government administration. Supported military dictatorships and coups d'etat in Brazil, in opposition to Portugal, which again saw persecution reach the columns of its temples, in 1935, where many of the Freemasons migrated to Mozambique. I take advantage of Mozambique's cue to point out that not only in American countries did this Masonic influence exist, but also in African countries, those of Portuguese expression at least. With the exile of many brothers persecuted in Portugal for Mozambique that considerably developing this country, to the point of having been more developed than the metropolis itself.

After the proclamation of the independence of many South American countries, apart from some emerging countries, of which Brazil stands out, widespread poverty continued, military coups, civil wars, etc., leading to the question; what changed with independence and what did the peoples gain?

The Masonic influence was not only in the independence processes, but also in the slavery abolition movements, namely among the European and North American Enlightenment Freemasons, who had as ideal the Freedom, Equality and Fraternity. The British Crown, which had been one of the nation’s most active in the slave trade between the 17th and 18th centuries, started to lead the abolitionist campaign against the slave trade in the Atlantic, due to industrialization and increased productivity, change in labor relations and necessity the expansion of consumer markets. In this new economic model, which intensified the processes of independence, it was more profitable to keep Africans in Africa, encouraging the production of cheap raw materials. Furthermore, the end of slavery made these men and women a potential consumer market for industrialized products. Slavery was not just a moral and human issue, but according to economic interests.

In this sense, Portugal was one of the first countries to abolish slaver; in 1570, abolishing the slavery of the Amerindians. In 1595, was abolished the Chinese slave trade. In 1761, the brother Freemason and Secretary of State for the Kingdom of Portugal, Sebastião de Carvalho e Melo “Marquês de Pombal” abolished slavery of Blacks and Indians, himself a descendant of slaves, also decreed the end of the importation of slaves from the colonies to the metropolis and, in 1854, the Afro-Portuguese. One of the themes I would like to highlight was the ideal of the V Empire and the cult of Holy Spirit, Liberty and Ecumenism in the Portuguese discoveries, which was lost in favor of economic interests.

Since the 15th century and the Discoveries that the world would no longer be the same anymore. We are moving towards a single civilization in which it is essential to respect each individuality, each way of life, each culture, each opinion as long as it does not harm anything or anyone and is within universal moral values.

The ancestors who migrated to the Americas carrying dreams, fleeing from the unfair models of Europe, still live today wars in several countries, war against poverty, against censorship of different thinking, which may be proof that they were not prepared and that the ideas were not unanimous at all.

In nearly 200 years of post-independence, we continue to live in times of manifest indeterminacy regarding the different dimensions of economic and democratic processes and, consequently, a need to create new ways of thinking and acting. Can it be changed for the better today? We overcome the absolutist autocratic states, religiously dogmatic, with high tributes which we still find today nations living this reality and we pass to the figure of a homeland, whose flag would be Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Today, we observe companies bigger than nations and too big to fail, which even rule more in society than governments themselves, some whose strategies and influences are corrupted by the horrific game of today's society. Weakening of democratic processes, appeal to primitive instincts, fear, tribalism, political dogma, religious dogma. It really matters that we carry a flag, a nationality, if we move on to economic horror, quoting Viviane Forrester, from a corrupt and incompetent government administration, with taxes perhaps higher than before and without knowing the faces of the real responsible. Do the nation and its rulers honor the people?

The people, in turn, do not think, perhaps it is easier to be ordered around and receive instructions than to think, we have all become modern slaves of a system with concrete walls. We should carry an individuality, a culture, a way of life, let us carry universal human values, respect for life and for unwritten Laws, for Peace, for other religious beliefs, for other ways of thinking, not allowing no one manipulate us.

Man has ingenuity in creating, in solving his needs, we have a need to demand good leaders and an economically humane society. We must avoid condemning people and states, protect justice. We live today in an unequal, autocratic, oligarchic society based on nationalist ideals that no longer make sense globally, in the New World Order.

This New World Order will have to be really considered for an equality between the different regions of the globe. We all depend on each other. The clash of cultures still exists out of ignorance. Freedom still has a long way to go in the world populated by humans, but still looking for humanity.

The world always advances towards scientific progress, but the system stopped in time with the same strategies. What is the use of complex legal, financial, police, media, etc. systems, if everything gets corrupted, its human elements who make it perfect or imperfect. The world evolves towards Freedom, Justice and Human Values. A wheel that turns slowly but does not stop, regardless of tractive forces.

It is obvious that Freemasonry was the arm and hand of the independence processes of many countries, in the construction of a new world in opposition to the old, but was it based on Masonic ideals? Business interests? Military? Politicians? Has it been used? Will it still be used today?

We still find today and in all religious, political, governmental and financial entities men who indulge in greed and corruption, without realizing that all our actions are carefully measured and weighed by the square and scale of the Great Architect of the Universe. The Masonic brethren enlightened by our ritualistic scriptures should be thirsty for the study of the teachings of our order and all others. For we are neither superior nor inferior to anyone. Within the Masonic bosom there should be an ambition for wisdom and for historical, scientific and spiritual knowledge of what lies behind the teachings. Teachings

that are simple to understand, but very difficult to achieve, for example, tolerance and perseverance can only be achieved through an attentive “look” at our own thoughts and conduct.

In this essay a lot of information and links was given, which requires effort from the reader for analysis and deduction, but the objective is not only the influence of Freemasonry in the independence processes of American and African countries, but also, when the revolution in Freemasonry?

Picture taken from East Palestine Masonic Lodge 417:

Freemasonry seeks the Truth and the Truth angles is found everywhere. What are our connections to Cainite Jews, to Gnosticism, the Egyptian Hermetic Tradition, to the canonical, dutra-canonical and apocryphal gospels, to the extinct Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon, to the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, to the pagans, to the Kabbalah, to spiritism, to sacred geometry, to Hinduism, etc. Does the Catholic Church have more knowledge than we do about our liturgy? Because they had to abandon our columns, in the 18th century, by the Bull that excommunicated us. Freemasonry seeks all parts of the Truth that sets us Free.

Our thirst cannot be for Power, for Material wealth, but for the wealth of the wise, altruistic and just spirit that overpowers matter and lasts for eternity in our soul. Losing Her is not a solution.

Human generations are born today freer than before, with access to information and knowledge, with practically everything done and offered, they grow up without great needs, without demands on the one hand and under enormous pressure to achieve successful goals. An education that will have to be rethought. Imagination must be stimulated and new generations dawn to invent and create a better quality of life in harmony with ourselves and with Nature. For all that we have comes from it; even our imagination and awareness of nature comes.

Industrial and technological revolutions were made and we will continue to experience them in the future, but everything is the same; was it worth the sacrifice? If bankrupt and corrupt government political systems were the motto of a new contemporary civilization, why are we all conformed today? We need to create government leaders with the ability to manage. This continues to be a very current need, given the new guidelines and specificities of the world reality and the particularities of each country.

We are all children of one Planet. A New World Order yes, but not as it is being prepared with models of modern slavery. A New World Order where we can all be respected.

Freemasonry will always have the obligation to create dungeons for psychological vices and to free the human condition from any form of austerity. Liberty, Equality and Fraternity are our daily struggle in Humanity, which cannot exist without Justice.

To the Glory of the Great Architect of the Universe.

I humbly thought this board was finished, but there are other plans for the end of this essay. How many times do brothers experience, in lodge session, events that seem connected? As if the sessions were alive and with a purpose of their own. Coincidences, accidents that connect and interconnect, without really having an intention to do so, as if it were a pre-destiny. The same happened in this work.

With this work, a donation was made to the Kogui – Wiwi indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada mountain of Santa Marta, Colombia, of children's games, medicines and work tools.

These people who took refuge in the mountains, due to the Colombian invasions, persisting in their customs, traditions and knowledge, are not just a simple agrarian society, they even have several things in common with Freemasonry. I will point out perhaps the most interesting; some members of the Kogui community are chosen to, at a few months of age, go to a cave, such as our Chamber of Reflections, and become Mamos initiates. Staying for at least 9 years in the darkness of the cave, VITRIOL, as apprentices to the elders until they can go out and see the Light. We find other similarities in the culture itself with ours, but with a reality very different from human generality, from which I emphasize philosophy without thought, nothing exists.

These community decided to send a message to the world that I put in the link below, such as Hanabiko's "Koko" (July 4, 1971 – June 19, 2018) message whose link also follows below. The message alerts to the disharmony between man and everyone's habitat, with unpredictable repercussions.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/koko-gorilla-cop21-environment-message-noe-video-a6800761.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=ftFbCwJfs1I

I end by recalling the responsibility, as Freemasons, to defend all forms of injustice.

Luís Cruz, KM.

As the imagination created the world, it governs it.

Charles Baudelaire.

Thanks:

This essay was also manifested in the physical world through a donation.

It was suggested by the dear sister professor Dr Maria H., editor of the Giordano Bruno Chair, that the offer be delivered to the Kogui – Wiwi indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain in Colombia, and I readily agreed. Thank you for letting me know these people, who carry out their mission with great responsibility.

Thanks to all the brothers. Special thanks to Andy P.D., Prince José C., and my dear wife, Natália Mey Lin

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Netgraphy

A:.R:.L:.S:. Fraternidade Acadêmica Irmão Otaíde Feltrim, do oriente de Formiga/MG. JESUS, Miqueas Libório de, http://academicaotaidefeltrim.blogspot.com/2011/10/importancia-da-maconaria-em-america.html

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_Miranda#Prisi%C3%B3n_y_muerte

https://www.profesorenlinea.cl/biografias/SanMartinJoseDe.htm

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn

https://www.ebiografia.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars#Latin_American_Revolutions

https://folhadolitoral.com.br/maconaria/a-maconaria-na-independencia-dos-paises-da-america-do-sul

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https://www.infoescola.com/historia/abolicao-da-escravidao-pela-inglaterra/

https://www.masonrytoday.com/index.php?new_month=5&new_day=3&new_year=2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Neuf_S%C5%93urs