[JRFF 2.1 (2011) 144157] doi: 10.1558/JRFF.v2i1.

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ISSN (print) 17572460 ISSN (online) 17572479

The Reverend, the Bluestocking, and Freemasons Behaving Badly: An Exploration and Close Reading of A Series of Letters on Freemasonry by a Lady of Boston Mary Copeland1
University of California, Los Angeles, CA USA Email: mcopeland@ucla.edu

Abstract
In Boston, 1810, the Reverend Dr. Thaddeus Harris solicited the aid of Mrs. Hannah Crocker in answering the anti-masonic sentiments of the day, especially those of women. The resulting exchange of letters was published in the local newspaper, the Columbian Centinel. The letters provide a window on anti-masonic sentiments; attitudes towards women; the question of the purpose of societies, secret or otherwise and their place in the community; and the integration of Christian morals, values and principles into the daily life of New England at that time. Harris choice of Crocker initially seems straightforward, based on her position as a Boston bluestocking, but her letters are ambiguous in their endorsement of freemasonry, and when read closely, bring into question Harris motivations for publishing the exchange of letters. One of those motivations may have been to use the public forum for a private rebuke to masons behaving badly in the public arena. In contrast, Crockers motivation seems straightforward: her views on the education of women and the exclusion of women from masonry are clearly stated. She discussed her own foray into an institution similar to freemasonry. She presented herself as a highly intelligent and educated woman, with an extensive knowledge of theology, religion and history, and did so without appearing as anything other than properly womanly by the definitions of the day. We thus have another interesting possible motive for Harris publication of the letters: to allow Crocker this public forum for her views. Crocker emerges as a special kind of feminist: one who is not afraid to express her opinions, and is able to do so in a way appropriate to the ideas of womanhood at the time, while harsher or more confrontational statements would likely have been disregarded by the very people they were meant to reach.

1. Mary Copeland is completing her BA degree in History at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the Liev Blad Scholarship Recipient for a Senior Thesis for History Honors, 20102011.

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Keywords: anti-masonic, freemasonry, Gender Studies, American History

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In 1810, the Reverend Dr. Thaddeus Mason Harris (17681842) solicited the aid of Mrs. Hannah Mather Crocker (17521847) in an attempt to pour oil on the troubled waters that were the anti-masonic sentiments of the day, especially those objections of women. The resulting exchange of letters, between Enquirer, and A.P. Americana,2 spaced roughly a week apart, were published that year, in the Boston-based Columbian Centinel.3 The letters were later collected in a pamphlet entitled A Series of Letters on Free Masonry by a Lady of Boston, published in 18154 that publication included a preface by T.M. Harris. A close reading of these letters provides a revealing window on some of the anti-masonic sentiments of the time, as well as the attitudes of the day towards women; the question of the purpose of societies, secret or otherwise, and their benevolent place in the community. That close reading also calls into question Harris motivations for publishing what can be understood ultimately as statements by Crocker not just ambiguously supporting freemasonry, but unambiguously in favor of education for women and the re-examination of the status of women in post-Revolutionary War America. The letters can be seen to have served a number of possible and obvious purposes from Harris point of view. Harris may have used them to present a public rebuke to masons who had not behaved properly, according to masonic principles of morals and ethics. He may have tried to draw attention to the detrimental effects the behavior of some masons was having on the reputations of all masons and freemasonry itself. The letters were presented on an additional platform, a public platform, one outside the lodge, the church, and the home, to encourage those badly behaving freemasons to correct their behavior in public. As the behavior was in the public sphere, the choice of Harris to deal with resultant
2. Crocker used both A Lady of Boston, and A. P. Americana (Aurelia Prudencia Americana) as pen names; it was a common practice of the time to write under a pen name, especially for women, or those writing about womens rights. Aurelia translates from the Latin as golden. Prudencia translates from the Latin as wisdom. Americana translates as pertaining to America. One translation of the full pen-name may be Golden Wisdom of America. (Latin translations found in Wheelocks Latin.) 3. From a biographical dictionary in progress, Le Monde Maconnique; edited by Charles Porset and Cecile Revauger, Paris, Editions Champion, forthcoming 2011 2012; section on Hannah Mather Crocker, prepared by John Slifko; note that there are yet no page numbers, so future citations will be noted only as Slifko, Crocker, Hannah Mather. 4. By John Eliot, with the notation printed for the author

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anti-masonic sentiment in the public sphere of the newspaper, rather than the private sphere of the lodge, can be seen as an appropriate one. That public platform also allowed him to reach a wider audience of masons than he could otherwise, including those masons who recognized themselves as one of those masons behaving badly, who may have already been spoken to and perhaps disregarded those admonitions; this public rebuke could have been a powerful additional admonition. He may indeed also have hoped to encourage all masons to examine their own behavior carefully to see that they were on the square, that they were holding to the standards by which they had sworn to live their lives, both public and private. Crockers motivation for not just responding to the solicitation of Harris for her assistance, but in agreeing to the publication of the letters in a newspaper, is obvious in her use of the public platform to plead her case for the education of women. With her references to Jewish mysticism, history, and Judeo-Christian theology, she showcased her own intellectual powers and grasp of history, her ability to reason critically, and to use information in a reasoned argumentall qualities and abilities women were not supposed to possess. She used the public podium of the newspaper to express her radical private opinions, and did so in a way carefully calculated to be as unthreatening and nonconfrontational as possible. The Individuals behind Enquirer and A.P. Americana Dr. Harris was a public, religious and scholarly figure, and an active, highly placed freemason. Born in Charlestown in 1768 to a wealthy, educated family; his father graduated from Harvard and his mother was a woman of great worth, of a highly intellectual and religious character.5 At the age of nine, just before the Battle of Bunker Hill, the family fled the city; with the subsequent death of his father they were reduced to poverty. Working for his living, Harris impressed scholarly men with whom he came into contact, and they underwrote his attendance at Harvard. At a moment of personal financial crisis, he found a gold ring, and the finding of this ring impressed him so profoundly that it led to his life-long religious calling. After graduating from Harvard in 1787, he turned to the study of divinity at Cambridge; he graduated just shy of his 21st birthday,
5. Nathaniel L. Frothingham, DD, Memoir of Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, DD. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. II of the fourth Series (Boston, MA: Crosby, Nichols and Company, 1854), 131; Note that the biographical information of Harris comes from this memorial, written by Frothingham. Specific quotes will be identified by page number, but the general information will not be footnoted.

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and began preaching immediately. In 1793, he was ordained as pastor of a church in Dorchester, encompassing most of what was then known as South Boston, where he remained for many years. Harris service to the community included membership in and serving as the Librarian for the Massachusetts Historical Society, superintendence of public schools, election into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and membership in many associations which promoted the objects of natural science, or any good learning, or social improvement, or religion, or charity.6 He was a historian, a divine and a scholar, writing and publishing numerous works, many of which were masonic in nature. He was the first to hold the title of Grand Chaplain in the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. He also served as Secretary of the Grand Lodge. In the eulogy given for Harris, at his funeral services at the Masonic Temple in 1842, the Reverend Benjamin Huntoon notes that Harris work constituted a large part and valuable portion of the Masonic, classic literature of America.7 Reverend Harris was a devoted Masonic historian, speaker and pamphleteer.8 Harris and Crocker moved in the same circles in Boston.9 Crockers stature as a Boston bluestocking,10 as a Christian woman from a prominent,
6. Frothingham, Memoir, 144. 7. Frothingham, Memoir, 144. 8. Dorothy Lipson, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut, 17891835 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977). 197. 9. Slifko, Crocker, Hannah Mather. 10. Bluestocking is a term used to describe a woman who shows a taste for learning, given as one (and the shortest) of the definitions in the Oxford English Compact Dictionary (p. 150). But the term bluestocking has its origins in the English Bluestocking Society which met from approximately 1750 to 1800, composed of both women and men; the term has since come to be used exclusively in reference to women, although it was originally coined by Admiral Boscawen, from the stockings of Benjamin Stillingfleet, who, too poor to buy evening dress, attended gatherings in his daytime blue worsteds. See. Moyra Haslett, Pope to Burney, 17141779: Scriblerians to Bluestockings (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003) 9). The Society centered around Elizabeth Montagu; some of its members were published writers or poets, some were not. Some were overt feminists, some were not. All were women who were educated, who read, who were hungry for a place to use their minds; who had grown tired of the endless round of whist, parties, dances, pointless activities and even more pointless conversation which was the lot of the upper-class Englishwoman of the day. In her poem, The Bas-Blue, written about the Bluestockings (of which she was a member), Hannah More decried those pursuits: Long was society oer-run, By Whist, that desolating Hun; Long did Quadrille despotic sit, That Vandal of colloquial wit; And Conversations setting light Lay half-obcurd in gothic night. (lines 4247), Where point, and turn, and equivoque, Distorted every word they spoke. (lines 7475). She bless[ed] the liberated ground, (line 178) of Montagus house, in which the group of kindred souls [who] demand alliance, (line 359) often gathered. She Hail[ed], Conversation (line 254), wisdoms friend (line 324). A more in-depth description and

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scholarly Puritan family, and her familys and her own involvement in the Revolutionary War, made her a woman of high position, much respected: a product both of the Evangelical community and cosmopolitan Boston.11 What suited her even more particularly to answer objections against masonry was her own close contact with it: she had formed a female lodge (St. Anns Lodge), on the same principles as male masonic lodges, and so was familiar with the symbolism and language of masonry. She was well-known in the masonic community in Boston: the dedication to her pamphlet referred to the protection and patronage of the M.W. (Most Worshipful) Past Grand Master, the Past Grand Chaplain, and the present Officers and Members of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.12 As is evidenced by this dedication, she had a debt of obligation to these highlyplaced masons in Boston, most probably occurring with their assistance in the formation of her lodge. Crockers pedigree went back to her grandfather, Cotton Mather, a public religious figure, intensely dedicated to the Calvinist evangelical theology and teachings which held New England in its grip for decades. Mather was also one of the great readers of his day, and it is reasonable to conclude that his love for reading and learning formed one of the reasons for his belief in education for women. While the ability to read scripture for themselves was essential for every Puritan, Mather went beyond simply being able to read the Bible: in his work A Fathers Resolutions, he resolved to educate his sons and daughters alike, so they could read and write, to introduce them to such higher knowledge as he deemed appropriate, to inculcate them with reason and honor, and to ensure that they had skills necessary with which to make their own ways in the world.13 Crocker was born in 1752 at the place later described as the birthplace of the American Revolution (Moon Street in the North end of Boston).14 In keeping with her grandfathers principles, she was educated in religion, languages, literature, history, and politics. She and her family were, like
analysis of the Bluestocking Society can be found in Moyra Hasletts work; she places the Society within the womens literary and feminist movements, as well as the trend of the times towards clubs and societies of all types, literary in particular. 11. Slifko, Crocker, Hannah Mather. 12. Hannah Mather Crocker, dedication, A Series of Letters on Free Masonry by a Lady of Boston (Boston, MA: John Eliot, printed for the author, 1815). NOTE: italics, capitalization, spelling and punctuation are hers, and are so throughout whenever a direct quote is made. 13. Cotton Mather, A Fathers Resolutions by Cotton Mather 2009. The Hall of Church History, the Spurgeon Archives. Accessed 31 May 2010 <http://www.spurgeon. org/~phil/mather/resolvd.htm> 14. The Boston Directories of 1798 and 1800 both list a Crocker, Hannah as living on Moon Street; the listing for 1798 referenced her as a widow, while the listing for 1800 simply gave her name.

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Harris, caught up in the Revolutionary War: during the British siege of Boston, while her father was held prisoner as a rebel, she smuggled war plans out of Boston and through enemy lines, to be delivered to Joseph Warren, military commander and freemason.15 Her husband (Reverend Joseph Crocker, a Harvard graduate) was a captain in the Revolutionary War;16 they married in 1779, and their marriage produced ten children before he died in 1797. Crocker was a passionate advocate for the rights of women; she believed that education was the key to emancipation for women, and that this constituted the true meaning of democracy as it applied to women. She accepted the ideas of womens physical weakness and inherent differences between the sexes,17 but believed that reason and virtue were intellectual and moral traits, not physical ones, and women were certainly capable of attaining these traits.18 Crockers writings (her literary career began after the death of her husband), while clearly evidencing her beliefs in the education of women and womens rights, also evidence her perception of the need to present those beliefs in an non-confrontational, almost submissive manner. This was likely due to the criticism leveled against women writing about womens issues, who were described as masculine, as robust, as being ill-suited to arousing the tenderer emotions in the male, as losing skill at dress once their heads are filled with ideas, and being neither male nor female, ultimately, a misfit in both genders.19 Crocker makes her point that a woman could be educated, could use her mind for something besides choosing her dress for an evenings entertainment, and could still be feminine and womanly, by the definitions of the day. Crocker died in 1847; she is now considered one of the founding mothers of the Revolution.20 Freemasons Behaving Badly The most important issue brought up by Harris and addressed by Crocker was the conduct of masons in public, especially unseemly or
15. Slifko, Crocker, Hannah Mather. 16. Marion Ann Taylor and Heather E. Weir (eds), Let Her Speak for Herself: Nineteenth-Century Women Writing on the Women of Genesis (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006), 24. 17. Sharon M. Harris (ed.), Womens Early American Historical Narratives (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), xvi. 18. Harris, Womens Early American Historical Narratives, xvi. 19. Linda Kerber, Toward an Intellectual History of Women (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 33. 20. Slifko, Crocker, Hannah Mather.

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disorderly behavior in the streets after lodge meetings. Crockers first letter mentions that there is some reason to fear, that many young masons grasp the shadow only we may in theory be a Mason, Philosopher, or a Christian, but if we do not practice all the moral virtues Her second letter referred to the immorality the imprudence of some who style themselves masons as being
a stumbling block to many if the members would retire as soon as the lodge was closed, as many worthy members do, there would be nothing unseemly or disorderly heard or thought of Some of your jolly souls take the advantage of being assembled, to carry their mirth to an unreasonable degree though I am of the opinion that some classes of men would form a circle for riot and dissipation, if no lodge had been formed.

The Letters The letters between Harris and Crocker appeared under the pen-names (respectively) of Enquirer and A.P. Americana. Enquirer presented himself as being interested in becoming a freemason, and eliciting A.P. Americanas opinion of the masons. The first letter in the collection is A.P. Americanas, ostensibly answering a letter from Enquirer (which was not included); the exchange of letters closed with Enquirer expressing himself satisfied with her evaluation of freemasonry, and stating that he has enlisted his name in records of masonry.21 In the course of those letters, specific questions were raised by Enquirer regarding the immoral public behavior of Masons; freemasonrys role in that behavior (How far such an institution may tend to promote a life of dissipation?);22 and its effect on the religious beliefs of masons (Can Masonry have any good effect on our religious sentiments, and from what source?).23 From these questions, we can infer that these are the issues which were raised in the churches and at the supper tables of the day. Anti-masonic sentiments expressed by the church arose from their perception that masonry was usurping its role as a religious and charitable institution, and as primary arbiter of morals and virtues. Those expressed by women arose from freemasonrys exclusion of women, and from the divergence of family resources of money and time to masonry. Masonic dues and fees were high enough to be out of the reach of the common laborer, and could have represented a considerable portion of a familys financial resources, especially if there was more than one mason
21. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 1920. 22. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 11, 23. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 16.

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in a family (relatives tended to follow each other into lodges). Time spent at lodge meetings, which sometimes lasted a few days, was time spent away from the family; it was also time spent in potentially bad company. The evenings at masonic lodges were known for conviviality, without the restrictions of the manners required of a gentleman in the company of ladies. Included in these evenings were songs, drinking and socializing. With freemasonry of the time being very much a young mans club, attracting young men in their twenties or early thirties,24 it is not surprising that conviviality carried out into the streets after the lodge meetings were over. Crocker answered those questions both directly and indirectly. In her first letter, she discussed how at a previous point in her life, she:
did investigate some of the principles of Masonry; not from any wish of prying into hidden mysteries, but from motives of benevolence, if possible, to quiet the minds of several of my female friends, who were very anxious, on account of their husbands joining a lodge, lest it should injure their moral and religious sentiments; and as the hour of their retiring to rest was much later than usual, and infringed on domestic quiet and happiness.25

She restored peace of mind to my anxious friends; and satisfied them respecting the value of the Institution, if supported on the original plan.26 With regard to the inappropriate conduct of some of the members of the brotherhood, she later stated:
I think the foundation good, the chief corner stone is laid with WISDOM, STRENGTH and BEAUTY, and ought to be adorned with honor, truth, and justice, and universal benevolence. The principles, well improved, might lead the mind to the most sublime contemplations of the great architecture of the universe. It is however, to be feared, that the members, like those of many other institutions, have deviated from their original plan, and many errors have crept into the system.27

The issue of the public bad behavior of some masons was discussed again in her second and third letters. In response to a direct question by Enquirer, (who himself used the words imprudence and dissipation in connection with masonic behavior)28 she also used the words imprudence, unseemly, disorderly, unreasonable, riot and dissipation29 in describing the behavior of masons who did not make
24. Paul Goodman, Towards a Christian Republic: Antimasonry and the Great Transition in New England, 18261836 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 16. 25. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 7. 26. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 7. 27. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 10. 28. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 11. 29. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 18.

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improvement.30 She very specifically stated that this behavior was not the fault of freemasonry. She compared freemasonry to the church, stating that if a member of her church did not behave properly she would not leave the church, or blame it, she would blame the individual for not having availed himself of its improving moral principles, and the same holds true for freemasonry. This leads directly to her view of the purpose and function of societies, secret or otherwise: that was to create better men, to promote moral and ethical behavior, to raise the minds of members to higher, spiritual matters and higher standards of behavior; a good mason ought to be a good man.31
The truth is, I do not think the institution of masonry tends more to produce immorality than any other society formed for social intercourse; on the contrary, from the universal benevolence it extends to the Brotherhood, it has a tendency to make man, mild, and sociable to man The more we form circles if only for benevolent purposes, it has a tendency to enlarge the mind and expand the heart, and by that means promotes the happiness of mankind in general. Every humane, charitable, religious, political or literary society, if founded on a rational plan has a tendency to promote the general utility and happiness of our fellow creatures.32

Crockers own agenda, that of promoting the education and rights of women, is also clearly in evidence. She set herself up as an example: to emphasize the wide range of her intellectual abilities, she fluently and knowledgably discussed Judaism, Christianity, theology, and history. She linked the Jews with masonry, likening the rabbis during the Diaspora to the original stonemasons (operative masons), as well as freemasons (speculative masons):
and tis plain from some of the rabbinical writings that the rabbis did meet in consultation and formed a plan or lodge, long before their dispersion; and gave each other certain signs and tokens. This was of great advantage to them after their dispersion, when scattered among strangers and in different parts of the world.33

The use of certain signs and tokens corresponds to the signs and tokens used by the stonemasons of operative masonry when they would appear at a job site, by which they proved their claim to rank, their knowledge and experience. As were the Jews during the Diaspora, stonemasons were a mobile brotherhood, moving from jobsite to jobsite, city to city, country to country. Signs and tokens enabled them to recognize each
30. 31. 32. 33. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 18. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 7. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 14. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 6.

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other, and be accorded and acknowledged at their appropriate rank. The use of signs and tokens was carried into speculative freemasonry, as well. This was not Crockers first or only reference to the Jews. She stated, earlier in the same letter:
The old Jewish rabbis did believe the three Sephiroths, or Splendors, to shine with intrinsic luster. From whence perhaps may originate the ancient Masonic light and knowledge which few Masons of the present day know much about. The names of the Sephiroth, are GEDULAR, Strength or Severity; GEBUTAH, Mercy or Magnificence; THIPHERATH, Beauty; NERSAH, Victory or eternity; HOD, glory, JEHOD, the foundation; MELCUTH, the kingdom.34

She referred in this quote to the Tree of Life, part of the body of Jewish mysticism known as the Kabala, and linked it with the three pillars of freemasonry: Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. In the same letter,35 she attributed to the Jews the invention of the rule of three; the number three is also very important in masonry,36 and Crocker used it constantly. For example: A good mason ought to be three times more circumspect in his life.37 That masons, with regard to their behavior, should be thrice times more vigilant than those who have never bent the knee within due square.38 Her frequent mention of the Jews is in keeping with their appearance in Andersons Constitutions,39 which set down the history, principles and rules of freemasonry; indeed, Andersons Constitutions begins with Adam, continues throughout Jewish history to the building of Solomons Temple, and into the Diaspora of the Jews after its destruction. Crocker obliquely asked the question of why women are not allowed to be freemasons. She discussed the womans lodge she formed herself, referring to it specifically as an educational endeavor:40 The prime inducement for forming the lodge, was a desire for cultivating the mind in the most useful branches of science, and cherishing a love of literature.41 She
34. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 5. 35. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 6. 36. Some examples are: the three grades of masonry (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craftsmen, Master Mason), the three Great Lights of the Lodge (the Sun, the Moon, the Worshipful Master). 37. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 6. 38. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 8. 39. James Anderson, The Constitutions of the Freemasons, Philadelphia, PA: reprinted in Philadelphia by special order, for the Use of the Brethren in North-America), 722. The document was first published in England and subsequently printed in Philadelphia in 1734. 40. St. Anns Lodge. 41. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 8.

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discussed the woeful standards of education for women, saying that it was conceived to be enough for them to be able to even read and badly write their own names;42 that women by some were esteemed as only domestick animals.43 She stated her belief, referring to St. Anns Lodge, that this institution gave the first rise to female education in this town,44 and further stated that the women in her lodge learned that they could function as not only help-meet, but associates and friends, not slaves to man.45 With these statements, she was making her plea for the education of women, and a re-examination of their status. Throughout Crockers letters were sprinkled masonic terms, symbols and ideas, proving her fluency in the language of masonry and illustrating her status as a masonic insider. The pamphlet began with the dedication: that every worthy member may square his conduct by the line of integrity.46 In her first letter, Crocker referred to the cornerstone welllaid, supported by WISDOM, STRENGTH and JUSTICE.47 Discussing her own lodge, she stated that it was founded on the original principles of true ancient Masonry. She began the closing paragraph of her first letter with Let me entreat you my friend, if you join a Lodge to square your conduct by the plumb line of the ancient principles.48 Crocker constantly mentioned masonry and Christianity together; she does not say that masonry was a Christian institution, but the constant mention of the two in close proximity creates the subliminal linkage (even though Freud hadnt yet invented the subconscious, Harris would have recognized the linkage simply by the effect it would have had on him). Conclusion We can draw several conclusions from this close analysis of these letters. Each writer seems to be operating under his/her own agenda, at his/ her own purpose, while collaborating together at the ostensible and obvious intention, that of publicly answering some of the objections to freemasonry. Crocker spoke approvingly of masonry itself, but she reproved some of its members for their inappropriate and immoral behavior. However, although she seemed to be excusing the organization for the faults of a few of its members, her approval loses some of its strength with the
42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 8. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 8. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 8. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 8. Crocker, dedication. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 7. Crocker, A Series of Letters, 11.

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continued and strong language used to describe that bad behavior. Coupled with her discussion of her own female lodge, and her subtle questioning of why women are not allowed to be masons, what comes across is a lessening of support for freemasonry, and her disapproval of the exclusion of women from freemasonry. While Crocker did constantly mention Christianity and masonry together, freemasonry suffers by that close proximity. Her comparison of errant masons to errant members of the church actually seems to point out a shortcoming of masonry, in that it was not successful at instilling morals, as the church might have been. Her background as a Christian woman, first and foremost, is evident here. But could this also be a subtle reminder that women, at least, are allowed in church? Crocker devoted much space in this public platform to her belief in the education and rights of women. She displayed the positive results of education for women by using herself as an example. But she has not been considered an early feminist because of the moderation of her stance, and her deliberately non-confrontational approach. She is overshadowed by more obvious feminists like Mary Wollstonecraft; but it is in the hostile backlash against those more obvious feminists, and in the diminishing of womens rights in post-Revolutionary War America, that she saw the need to express her own beliefs so carefully, in a way appropriate to the ideas of womanhood of the day. Harris ostensible purpose with regard to freemasonry seems to have been achieved. Crocker has given Harris her approval of freemasonry, and her absolution of the association for the behavior of some of its members. She quieted the objections of women to their male family members becoming masons. His less obvious agenda has also been served: Crocker has provided Harris with a public rebuke to those freemasons behaving badly, and a warning of the effect of that behavior on the image of freemasons as individuals and the association as a whole. There is another purpose that can be said to have been served by Harris publication of the letters: providing Crocker with a public platform for her views. The simple fact of the publication of the letters, at his instigation, indicates his tacit support of Crockers agenda. If we look at his own dedication to education, and couple that with his actions with regard to Crockerthat she, as a woman, is his choice to respond to antimasonic sentimentswe catch a glimpse of an individual who does not seem to ascribe to the prevailing ideas of the day on the inferiority of womens intellectual processes, or their inferior standing. What remains in the mind after reading the letters is Crockers staunch defense of womens rights, her erudition and intellectual abilities and the non-confrontational stance she takes while at the same time refuting
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the theories of the day of womens inherent inferiority and limited capabilities. And it is Harris who has provided the platform from which she does this. What seemed at first glance a straightforward exchange of letters, intended to quiet anxieties about freemasonry, on close reading takes on a very different appearance. Enquirer and A.P. Americana: two individuals committed to the betterment of man (and woman) and society, using the public platform to express their private beliefs about the efficacy of freemasonry to further that goal. A snapshot of the issues of the day revolving around masonry, its function in society as a vehicle for the elevation of its members, and through them, society itself. Hannah Mather Crocker, an early feminist, voicing radical views in a way calculated to reach the people who would not have heard a more confrontational voice. References
Anderson, James, The Constitutions of the Freemasons (Philadelphia, PA: 1734). Crocker, Hannah Mather, A Series of Letters on Free Masonry by a Lady of Boston (Boston, MA: John Eliot, printed for the author, 1815). Accessed 3 May 2010 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2000/20001018001se/20001018001se. pdf Frothingham, Nathaniel L., DD, Memoir of Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, DD Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. II of the fourth Series (Boston, MA: Crosby, Nichols and Company, 1854). Goodman, Paul, Towards a Christian Republic: Antimasonry and the Great Transition in New England, 18261836 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988). Harris, Sharon M. (ed.), Womens Early American Historical Narratives (New York: Penguin Books, 2003). Haslett, Moyra, Pope to Burney, 17141779: Scriblerians to Bluestockings (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003). Kerber, Linda, Toward an Intellectual History of Women (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997). Lipson, Dorothy, Freemasonry in Federalist Connecticut, 17891835 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977). Mather, Cotton, A Fathers Resolutions by Cotton Mather 2009. The Hall of Church History, the Spurgeon Archives. Accessed 31 May 2010 <http://www.spurgeon. org/~phil/mather/resolvd.htm> More, Hannah, The Bas Bleu: or Conversation (1787), University of Pennsylvania, English Department. Accessed 12 January 2011 <http://www.english.upenn. edu/~curran/25096/Sensibility/morebas.html> Simpson, J.A. and E.S.C. Weiner, preparers. Compact Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press for Oxford University Press, 1989). Slifko, John, Hannah Mather Crocker Le Monde Maconnique. eds Charles Porset and Cecile Revauger (Paris: Editions Champion Paris, Forthcoming 20112012). Taylor, Marion Ann and Heather E. Weir (eds), Let Her Speak for Herself: NineteenthCentury Women Writing on the Women of Genesis (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006).

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Wendell, Barrett, Cotton Mather: The Puritan Priest, (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1891). West, John, The Boston Directory (Boston, MA: Rhoades and Laughton, 1798). The Boston Directory (Boston, MA: John Russell, 1800). Wheelock, Frederic M., Wheelocks Latin, 6th Edition, revised by Richard A. Lafleur (New York: Collins/Harper Collins Publishers, 2005). Zagarri, Rosemarie, The Rights of Men and Women in Post-Revolutionary America, The William and Mary Quarterly 55, No. 2 (April 1998), 203230. doi:10.2307/2674382

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