The Force of 1776 Enlightens Graduates Choosing New Paths

To the Class of 2025: Congratulations, you’ve just inherited the most powerful force in human history! As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, let us also honor your passage into self-determination. Like our Founding Fathers in 1776, Enlightenment principles guide you.

Of course, you might not think the Enlightenment is particularly relevant today, or to you personally. The dazzling philosophy that once sparked revolutions seems dated by today’s standards. However, your enlightenment is real, very personal, and no less profound.

Consider those graduating with you. The moment you share isn’t just about the diploma a school administrator hands you. It’s about the door that’s opening to reveal a brilliant light, beaming with a sudden surge of knowledge, freedom, and potential.

Sound familiar? It should.

The Light Side of 1776 Enlightenment

If you see why America’s 250th excites us, you’ll recognize the same ideals that powered our nation’s founding in 1776. The Enlightenment fueled this promise. It coursed through the veins of those who risked the most to create the freedoms we have today. What you might not know is that, like the Force in Star Wars, the Enlightenment had a Dark Side.

Montesquieu, a leading Enlightenment thinker, developed the idea of separation of powers, which America’s Founders incorporated into the United States Constitution. Montesquieu warned, however, that democracy required not only an educated citizenry but a virtuous one.

You can see how that Dark Side looms over us, no matter the hopeful intentions of our Founders. Montesquieu believed that knowledge is a force. And like the Force in Star Wars, it had two sides.

Our nation emerged from a rich blend of Enlightenment ideas. Most notable of these are reason, liberty, and self-government, wrapped around the concept of universal equality. Read the opening line of the Declaration of Independence’s second paragraph:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote these words after Benjamin Franklin stylized the ultimate form of the sentence. But these weren’t original words. Enlightenment philosopher John Locke famously advocated for “life, liberty, and estate” in his Second Treatise of Government.

When George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence read in Manhattan’s Bowling Green Park on July 9, 1776, he affirmed these shared rights. His call for self-determination also meant the creation of a new form of government that would later (via Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address) be labeled as one “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Washington knew, as he’d later say, “Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”

Freemasonry and Virtue

The Enlightenment inspired these early American leaders. Yet, their application of this philosophy of equality based on unity, merit, and peaceful civic progress proved less experimental than it would seem. Many of them were already experiencing it. Washington, Franklin, John Hancock, James Madison, and others were all Freemasons.

These Enlightenment principles guided Freemasonry’s evolution in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. The British form of Freemasonry, which American Freemasonry adopted, championed constructive compassion, self-improvement, and the belief that all were “on the level” (i.e., equal).

When colonial biases threatened his militia’s morale, George Washington established military lodges. He used Freemasonry’s ideas to emphasize the commonality between his troops. Beyond helping to improve self-esteem, it also conditioned colonists to accept the ideals on which America would be founded.

There are many examples of the brotherhood bonds within Freemasonry. During the American Revolution, these bonds extended across enemy lines, saving lives on both sides. Arguably, the commonality emphasized in the fraternity may have led to quicker, friendlier relations between Britain and its former colonies following the War of 1812.

A Caution from France

We’ll call the American Revolution the “Light Side” of the Enlightenment.

What happened, then, with the French Revolution? Why didn’t it experience the same success as the 1776 Enlightenment in America?

The evolution of Masonic tradition in Continental Europe provides a hint. Unlike British Freemasonry, Continental Freemasonry was marked by conspiracy and intrigue. It began with the same ideals rooted in the Enlightenment, but ultimately ended in a reign of terror.

European Masons used their lodges to plot for revolution. They often rejected tradition, the ruling monarchy, and even the Church. In contrast, British lodges included royalty, promoted unity, and required religious affiliation.

Continental Freemasonry and the radicals of the French Revolution shared the same faults. They succumbed to the Dark Side of the Enlightenment. While George Washington shared peace pipes with former enemies, Robespierre and his allies executed the King and Queen.

The American Revolution ended with the most significant human achievement to date: a thriving system of self-government. The French Revolution ended in tears.

Enlightenment with virtue embodied John Winthrop’s ‘Shining City on a Hill.’ Enlightenment without virtue devolved into murderous chaos.

Your Graduation Crossroads And The 1776 Enlightenment

You, the Class of 2025, mirror that Class of 1776. You stand at a crossroads on the edge of a new beginning. You may soon be tempted to rail against order, demand change without consequence, or follow the crowd, believing there’s safety in numbers.

Unfortunately, too many people view defending law and order, advocating for true liberty and equality, and promoting self-responsibility as boring, uncreative, and simply uncool. They’ll instead fall to the crowd’s Dark Side, choosing convenient fictions over inconvenient facts.

If there’s one thing the Founding Fathers taught us, it’s that the 1776 Enlightenment isn’t just a compilation of facts. It’s what you make with those facts.

They debated ideas, not canceled them. They built on the past’s best parts, not burned it down. They embraced their enemies, not purged them.

America surpassed Europe and rose to become the greatest nation in the world because it embraced disciplined Enlightenment, placing compassionate reason over raw emotion.

Today, social media often rewards heat over light, at least in the short term. If there’s one lesson we’ve learned from America, it’s that history rewards light. America’s Enlightenment wasn’t entirely new. It stood on the shoulders of those influential thinkers of the previous generation. America, however, demanded one thing its European forbears didn’t: virtue.

Compared to the French Revolution, the American Revolution wasn’t loud, but it lasted. It stuck with the Light Side of the Enlightenment Force, while the French became consumed by the Dark Side.

You have that Force now. How will you use it? Will you emulate George Washington? His true legacy starts with his quiet strength, stoic resolve, and thoughtful deliberation.

Alas, here’s where the world begins to get tricky. What seems to make sense on the surface can lead to disaster if you fail to consider the more profound meaning.

For example, Yoda once advised, “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense. Never for attack.”

Sounds straightforward, right? Consider the deeper reality of Captain Kirk’s advice in Star Trek’s “The Empath”: “The best defense is a good offense, and I intend to start offending right now.”

Kirk sounds more like Thomas Jefferson. In a letter to James Madison responding to Shays’ Rebellion, Jefferson famously wrote: “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”

Who was Daniel Shays? He’s a Revolutionary War hero who took heart in the meaning of liberty by leading a rebellion against an oppressive Massachusetts governor. Lauded today for his brave efforts, he was vilified in his own time. He’s a great example of how close even early Americans were to going over to the Dark Side.

He’s also closer to you than you think. Look him up and see why.

Consider it your first post-graduation homework assignment.