This book presents a summary of the known facts of the rise and progress of Scottish Rite Masonry in the Southern Jurisdiction through the first six decades of the nineteenth century, interacting with the social, economic and political forces prevalent in the United States in this period.
It is a story of the development of Order out of Chaos in the degree structure of the Rite, the evolution of an organized administrative body from a local to national significance, the creation of a body of jurisprudence from general philosophy; the probing for an adeguate system of propagation, and the erection of a sound fiscal structure. The background of these efforts is that of a growing sense of nationality, the expansion of national boundaries, the Westward Movement of population, the unstable national economy, the development of natural resources and internal improvements and the rising tide of sectionalism.
Survival was a very real problem at all times.