secret society

An organization, such as a lodge, that requires its members to conceal certain activities, such as its rites of initiation, from outsiders.

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secret societies became a common feature of Irish rural life in the second half of the 18th cent. Commencing with the Whiteboy movement in Tipperary and adjoining counties in 1761-5, there were major outbreaks of rural protest in every decade up to the 1840s. Such protest was generally the work of small local groups, linked by no more than the adoption of a common name—Whiteboys, Oakboys, Steelboys, Threshers, Carders, Cravats, Rockites, Terry Alts—or at most by the transmission from place to place of an oath of association. Rival Protestant and Catholic secret societies, the Peep o'Day Boys and the Defenders, emerged in south Ulster in the 1780s. After 1795 the Peep o'Day Boys were replaced, and to some extent absorbed, by the Orange Order. Ribbonism, emerging around 1812, was a direct successor to Defenderism. Appealing mainly to wage-earners and petty traders, it kept alive something of the nationalist and Republican sentiments of the 1790s. The great age of the secret societies ended with the Famine. Traditional techniques of protest did not disappear: Parnell, in 1881, could still warn that if he were arrested ‘Captain Moonlight’ would take his place.

Secret Societies are voluntary associations possessing arcane knowledge known only to their exclusive initiates. Alexis de Tocqueville got it wrong when he proclaimed that American society brooked no cabals or conspiracies. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography (unfinished) first presented the concept of a network of secret cells used to influence public opinion.

Secret societies claim glamorous genealogies to enhance their sense of deep purpose. The Improved Order of Red Men (1834, Baltimore) traces itself to the Boston Tea Party. Rosicrucians, the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, or AMORC (1915, New York City) claim a pedigree going back to Benjamin Franklin. The Cheyenne tribes of the Great Plains take their societies back to the mystical teachings of an orphaned boy named Sweet Medicine about 1000 B.C. Freemasons claim they go back to Solomon's temple.

Indigenous American tribes maintained secret societies. The men formed societies for warriors, religious societies, and hunting clubs. Women formed agrarian societies, often centered on the buffalo and corn, and crafts guilds. Both sexes joined mystery cults utilizing dreams and hallucinations. Initiates freely traveled from band to band and even between tribes for society meetings.

The importance of British freemasonry to American secret societies cannot be overemphasized. In 1730 Daniel Coxe became the first provincial grand master for New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Masonry grew to a national membership of two million men by 2000.

The golden age of fraternal and secret societies lasted until the 1960s. Several hundred societies existed during this period. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, founded in Baltimore by Thomas Wildey in 1819, and the Knights of Pythias, founded in Washington, D.C., by Justus H. Rathbone in 1864, rivaled the Masons. Other "friendly" societies allowed only one nationality. They included the German Sons of Hermann (1852, New York City, by Dr. Philip Merkel), the Irish Ancient Order of Hibernians (1836, New York City), and the Hebrew B'nai B'rith (1843, New York City, by Henry Jones). In 1900 over 40 percent of all white males in America belonged to one or more of the freemasonry-based societies.

Those generally denied membership in these societies found others to join or created their own. Women joined the "Order of the Eastern Star" (1853, by Dr. Robert Morris) and the Order of Rebekah for female Odd Fellows (1851, Washington, D.C., by Schuyler Colfax). Prince Hall and fourteen other blacks in Boston received a freemason lodge charter from the Grand Lodge of England in 1784. E. A. Lightfoot, T. W. Stringer, and others founded the Knights of Phythias of North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa for blacks (1869, Philadelphia). The Reverend Michael J. McGivney and others incorporated the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus (1882, New Haven, Connecticut). American-born Chinese began forming Tong (assembly hall) societies for mutual protection in San Francisco in 1874.

Popular twentieth-century fraternal orders stressed tangible benefits for members and civic benevolence rather than secrecy. Such societies as the Fraternal Order of Eagles (1898, Seattle, by John Cort), the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks (1868, New York, by Charles Vivian), and the Loyal Order of the Moose (1888) became immensely popular because they stressed family social events and public benevolence. In 2000 more than nine million people belonged to one or more American secret or fraternal societies worldwide.

Bibliography

Mails, Thomas E. Dog Soldiers, Bear Men, and Buffalo Women: A Study of the Societies and Cults of the Plains Indians. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973.

Stevens, Albert C. The Cyclopedia of Fraternities. 2d ed. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1966.

Whalen, William J. Handbook of Secret Organizations. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Bruce Publishing, 1966.

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