Free Born

Minute Fact: The Free-Born Reversion

In 1815, after the Union with the “Antients”, the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) added the term “Free by Birth” to its Constitution.

In 1847, after the abolition of slavery, the UGLE removed the terms “free by birth” and “free-born” from its Constitution and Ritual. This was then the law for the Canadian UGLE lodges.

In 1855, the mostly UGLE-derived new Grand Lodge of Canada (GLC), adopted the UGLE Constitution “mutatis mutandis”.

In 1856, at the height of the Underground Railroad, the GLC amended its new Constitution, changing “a free man” back to “free by birth”, and inserting the term “free-born” into the Constitution Regulations, where it had never been before.

In 2009, Grand Master Daniels wrote: "When the Grand Lodge of Canada was formed in 1855, English Emulation Ritual was adopted and it has been maintained in its purity with very minor alterations in the subsequent one hundred and fifty-four years."

Actually, English Emulation Ritual complied with the law of 1847, whereas the GLC deviated from this law in both its constitution and its ritual, and it still deviates today.