History 4403

Formal Writing #2

For this essay, we will build on the previous set of skills that you used on the first assignment.  You are again to adopt a particular role in your writing of this essay, but in this case you will need to exercise some choice as to which role you wish to play.  You are to choose one of the lodges discussed in Living the Enlightenment other than the Grand Lodge in London and envision yourself as a senior member of this organization contemplating a revions of the constitutions and history of your organization sometime between 1760 and 1790.  You have decided that the template for your revision must be James Anderson's 1723 Constitutions, but that this work will need revision in several respects.  Specifically you want to adapt the rules to the social forces swirling around you at the time of your writing and you need at the very least to add to and possibly alter aspects of the history of the Freemasons as reconstructred by Anderson.  Thus, your paper should consist of three elements: a complete list of rules for behavior, a revision of the history of the Freemasons, and arguments that justify your decisions in terms of the social, political, and economic forces of your time.  You should use only Living the Enlightenment and the online version Anderson's work attached to this assignment description.

Here is the link for the portal to Anderson's 1723 Constitutions: http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/anderson/index.html
Your paper is to be 5-6 typed, double-spaced pages in length.  Papers are to be typed in Times Roman font with a 12-pt. pitch and must be appropriately footnoted (please see me before writing a paper if you have questions about these standards).  Good luck!

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