Spanish-Language Masonic Books Printed in the Early United States

The philosophy's language of universal brotherhood had helped to bridge Catholic/Protestant divisions in Europe, but in the Americas it served to heal the wounds of recent colonial wars with European powers as it posited a larger union; its acknowledgment of God introduced a religious consideration into secular humanism, thus facilitating modernization in both Catholic and Protestant societies; its vocabulary of "freemasons" gave new elites alternative status to a court aristocracy and taught lessons of egalitarianism. While political materials were considered seditious by Spanish officials, Masonic titles were another matter because Spain had not yet figured out what to do with Masons in its midst.\n Looking again at American Masonry, historians can appreciate that the movement, with its program of expansion and networking, facilitated hemispheric decolonization and development in both Anglo and Spanish America; Masonry's language of fraternity and universal union helped those areas to transcend colonial identities.