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The Secret Founding of America: The Real Story of Freemasons, Puritans, and the Battle for The New World
Ask most Americans where the country’s origins lie and they’ll point to the Mayflower and its settlers?whom we often think of as the earliest arrivals to our shores. But something existed even before Jamestown. Its founders had thoroughly different values than the Puritans, and their Masonic beliefs indelibly shaped America’s future. This authoritative, accessible, and absorbing history takes a fresh look at the past to reveal the truth about why the United States is now run by Freemasons who are Christians, too. Drawing on original findings, and exhibiting a rich, in-depth understanding of the political and philosophical realities of the time, acclaimed author Nicholas Hagger argues that the new nation, conceived in liberty, was the Freemasons’ first step towards a new world order. He charts the connections between secret societies and libertarian ideals, explains how the influence of German Illuminati worked on the framers of the new republic, and shows the hand of Freemasonry at work at every turning point in America’s history?from the Civil War to the Cold War to today’s global struggles for democracy. It’s a fascinating subject, and one that will also be at the center of Dan Brown’s next book?so interest is sure to be high and the tie-in potential immense.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Nicholas Hagger
75 books23 followerswriter, poet, man of letters, philosopher, historian
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 3, 2024
I am not going to even try and demolish this books wild take on history - if you imagine that 'The Illuminati' was, or is, a powerful group of individuals who have been plotting behind the scenes to set up a world government for over two hundred years then you are an idiot who knows no history and almost certainly has never seen the inside of an archive or read in any other language then English. People who read this trash don't want the truth, they want a conspiracy, but not the real conspiracies that are destroying our governments and world but fantasy ones.
I, nor anyone can disprove this sort of twaddle, because for its believers truth is what cannot be disproved. That truth is found through disproving what was wrong is something they will never understand.
I, nor anyone can disprove this sort of twaddle, because for its believers truth is what cannot be disproved. That truth is found through disproving what was wrong is something they will never understand.
August 12, 2018
It’s important to study history, but it’s perhaps even more important to know through which lens history is being viewed. Facts matter, but historical accounts are always filtered through a set of ideological biases. No account of history is going to be completely neutral. Establishment historians will generally emphasize the significance of events as they relate to their political beliefs. Libertarians and other historical revisionists are also analyzing history through the lens of fidelity to or deviance from their own ideological orthodoxies. What most conventional readings of American history overlook is the role of secret societies, specifically Freemasonry, in the formation of the American republic. This perspective alone makes Nicholas Hagger’s Secret Founding of America an especially fascinating and essential read.
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June 20, 2013
I struggled with this book as it was mostly suppositions. "Couldn't it be possible that ?" with minimal evidence. And I have to say I'm a big fan of a good conspiracy theory. But this book never really GAVE me anything. I can ask myself the questions.
August 15, 2012
This book is a real eye opener, not the kind of history taught in most schools, public or private. America is not a Christian nation, as is popularly believed, to rather an amalgam of both religious and non-religious influences.
Engaging and nicely paced, the book covers in significant detail the settlement and founding of the country called America from the Spanish in St. Augustine to Jamestown and Plymouth and into the time of the American Revolution. The author also touches on the influence of free-masonry during the Civil War and into the early 20th century, largely in summary format.
In short, Hagger shows that there were several competing ideals that went into the founding and growth of America, and that a deist/freemasonry (i.e., non-Christian) faction had a much greater influence than is generally believed from the popular history books.
Any serious student of American History should read this book, if he/she is not already aware of its contents.
Engaging and nicely paced, the book covers in significant detail the settlement and founding of the country called America from the Spanish in St. Augustine to Jamestown and Plymouth and into the time of the American Revolution. The author also touches on the influence of free-masonry during the Civil War and into the early 20th century, largely in summary format.
In short, Hagger shows that there were several competing ideals that went into the founding and growth of America, and that a deist/freemasonry (i.e., non-Christian) faction had a much greater influence than is generally believed from the popular history books.
Any serious student of American History should read this book, if he/she is not already aware of its contents.
June 1, 2011
I liked this book in that it totally offsets the view in the book, The Light and the Glory. This volume shows that Freemasonry and other secret groups went back much further than the mid-1700s and that America was not as "christian" as the Light and the Glory crowd want everyone to think. Do I trust this book empathically? No. Do I think the author reached a little bit? Yes. However, Hagger is not a hack and he provides a lot of information. I enjoyed the book as "light reading."
Did Not Finish
March 26, 2026DNF 38%
This is dry as dust. So far there is nothing "secret" about the founding fathers being Freemasons and Deists. The facts are obvious, and the amount of uncited and speculative information about certain people and groups peppered in is annoying. You can't just declare something is so. Wikipedia does a better job on a lot of this "research."
I don't need to spend my whole time reading this book and fact checking everything myself. I can find much better sources, and not waste my time on this.
Sorry Nicholas Hagger, I can't hang. I'm moving on.
This is dry as dust. So far there is nothing "secret" about the founding fathers being Freemasons and Deists. The facts are obvious, and the amount of uncited and speculative information about certain people and groups peppered in is annoying. You can't just declare something is so. Wikipedia does a better job on a lot of this "research."
I don't need to spend my whole time reading this book and fact checking everything myself. I can find much better sources, and not waste my time on this.
Sorry Nicholas Hagger, I can't hang. I'm moving on.
June 29, 2013
Facinating, but ridiculously hard to follow. The ultimate conspiracy theory, Freemasons control everything! We've heard all this before but, this is over the top. I would not recommend this book to anyone I know....
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April 11, 2026Points of Interest:
Kabbalah is connected to the origins of freemasonry.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) started freemasonry by combining mystical traditions, including Kabbalah.
His cousin was Bartholomew Gosnold (1602 voyage to America).
Bacon is listed in 1609 charter as shareholder of Virginia Company of London and on the board of directors of the Virginia Council.
The Catholic Church knew the dark history of freesmasonry and to this day, the Catholic Church does not accept freemasons. Thus, while different groups were staking ground in the New World, the freemasons actively worked against the Catholics.
The Shakespeare conspiracies are apparently not just about how a lower-class man could write at his level, but also about the symbolism used in the colophons of his folios.
First masonic lodges were established in America in the 1720s.
Relationship between rosacruciansim and Puritanism.
Puritanism 1630s, they wanted to rebuild society in a revolutionary way, on similar principles as Rosacrucianism. (Bacon had founded a Rosacrucian college as an inner rite of the freemasonic brotherhood.)
In 1733, the first freemasonry lodge (St John’s Lodge) in America was established in Boston. The goal of the lodges was to implement Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis in America.
Templars altered the Christian mass, rejected Christ and the cross, worshipped the baphamet and practiced homosexuality.
Masonic Congress of 1663, rosicrucianism was accepted into English Freemasonry. Rosicrucianism had the eastern influences (Kabbalah, worship of Osiris, etc).
Big picture takeaway… the passing down of ideas, philosophies and worldviews. How it travels among nations and is passed down through teachers and books. Eg, Influence of the Scottish Enlightenment on people like Jefferson and Paine.
By the midway of this audiobook, I gave up taking notes because of all of the information being dumped.
It does talk about the illuminati belief that man can get back to his perfect pre-fall state. Where everybody loves each other and gets along. How the birth of nation states and the ownership of property work against this idea. Hence why the illuminati desire to abolish private property, the nuclear family, sovereign nation states and strive towards a one-world government.
Details the illuminati symbolism of the pyramid with the all-seeing eye of Osiris and the phoenix, the significance of the number 13 and points out that the year 1776 is also the year the illuminati was officially started (later merged with freemasonry).
Reading this, one can either believe that the founding fathers (especially Jefferson and Franklin, Thomas Paine) were too stupid and/or naïve to understand the significance of the symbols and the numbers they chose to represent the state they were founding. (Symbols that were in widespread use at that time and clearly associated with the newly-formed Illuminati. Franklin had lived in France for years. If he was familiar with the symbol, he would have known what it represented.) Or you can believe that these classically trained men (Jefferson being regarded as one of the most well-read men of his time) knew exactly what they were doing. That the United States of America was birthed as an Illuminati/Freemasonry project to bring about the New Atlantis. A New World Order. (Novus ordo seclorum… it’s actually written there on the dollar. No secret.) So which makes more sense?
Thanks to movies like The Da Vinci Code, the mainstream / politically correct view is that this is all myth. Funny how we consider these founders to be some of the most well-educated men of their time… but they used all the symbols and language of what we today call a “myth” and a “hoax”. 🧐 Make that make sense.
So many things I didn’t take notes on, but interesting how many freemasons were involved in states succeeding the Union in order to kick off the Civil War. Hmmmm……
He has plenty to say about the Rothschilds influence in European politics, but I learned that the Rockefeller family or « banking syndicate » financed Stalin. Was expecting Google to deny that, but apparently everyone already knows. Apparently John D Rockefeller had a lot of influence over Soviet politics. This corroborates with what I’m learning about in Tower of Basel about the banks being « above » politics and funding all sides in every war, with the aim of increasing chaos on a lower level while maintaining order at the top in preparation for the New World Order.
I’m anxious to get my hands on a physical copy of the book to see his sources. Assuming he has a bibliography considering all of the assertions he’s making, including lodge names, years and ranks. It’s very specific information. Some of this could very well not be true, but the overall patterns are worth looking for now in current events.
Another takeaway… the frequent use of a veneer of Christianity. (And their Masonic edition of the Bible used to swear in politicians.) Freemasons and Illuminati will easily call themselves Christians (as well as any other religion). They believe in « God ». Just like a Kabbalist will call themselves a « Messianic Jew ». If you want to know where a person stands, it comes down to Jesus. They will deny that Jesus is God.
Kabbalah is connected to the origins of freemasonry.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) started freemasonry by combining mystical traditions, including Kabbalah.
His cousin was Bartholomew Gosnold (1602 voyage to America).
Bacon is listed in 1609 charter as shareholder of Virginia Company of London and on the board of directors of the Virginia Council.
The Catholic Church knew the dark history of freesmasonry and to this day, the Catholic Church does not accept freemasons. Thus, while different groups were staking ground in the New World, the freemasons actively worked against the Catholics.
The Shakespeare conspiracies are apparently not just about how a lower-class man could write at his level, but also about the symbolism used in the colophons of his folios.
First masonic lodges were established in America in the 1720s.
Relationship between rosacruciansim and Puritanism.
Puritanism 1630s, they wanted to rebuild society in a revolutionary way, on similar principles as Rosacrucianism. (Bacon had founded a Rosacrucian college as an inner rite of the freemasonic brotherhood.)
In 1733, the first freemasonry lodge (St John’s Lodge) in America was established in Boston. The goal of the lodges was to implement Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis in America.
Templars altered the Christian mass, rejected Christ and the cross, worshipped the baphamet and practiced homosexuality.
Masonic Congress of 1663, rosicrucianism was accepted into English Freemasonry. Rosicrucianism had the eastern influences (Kabbalah, worship of Osiris, etc).
Big picture takeaway… the passing down of ideas, philosophies and worldviews. How it travels among nations and is passed down through teachers and books. Eg, Influence of the Scottish Enlightenment on people like Jefferson and Paine.
By the midway of this audiobook, I gave up taking notes because of all of the information being dumped.
It does talk about the illuminati belief that man can get back to his perfect pre-fall state. Where everybody loves each other and gets along. How the birth of nation states and the ownership of property work against this idea. Hence why the illuminati desire to abolish private property, the nuclear family, sovereign nation states and strive towards a one-world government.
Details the illuminati symbolism of the pyramid with the all-seeing eye of Osiris and the phoenix, the significance of the number 13 and points out that the year 1776 is also the year the illuminati was officially started (later merged with freemasonry).
Reading this, one can either believe that the founding fathers (especially Jefferson and Franklin, Thomas Paine) were too stupid and/or naïve to understand the significance of the symbols and the numbers they chose to represent the state they were founding. (Symbols that were in widespread use at that time and clearly associated with the newly-formed Illuminati. Franklin had lived in France for years. If he was familiar with the symbol, he would have known what it represented.) Or you can believe that these classically trained men (Jefferson being regarded as one of the most well-read men of his time) knew exactly what they were doing. That the United States of America was birthed as an Illuminati/Freemasonry project to bring about the New Atlantis. A New World Order. (Novus ordo seclorum… it’s actually written there on the dollar. No secret.) So which makes more sense?
Thanks to movies like The Da Vinci Code, the mainstream / politically correct view is that this is all myth. Funny how we consider these founders to be some of the most well-educated men of their time… but they used all the symbols and language of what we today call a “myth” and a “hoax”. 🧐 Make that make sense.
So many things I didn’t take notes on, but interesting how many freemasons were involved in states succeeding the Union in order to kick off the Civil War. Hmmmm……
He has plenty to say about the Rothschilds influence in European politics, but I learned that the Rockefeller family or « banking syndicate » financed Stalin. Was expecting Google to deny that, but apparently everyone already knows. Apparently John D Rockefeller had a lot of influence over Soviet politics. This corroborates with what I’m learning about in Tower of Basel about the banks being « above » politics and funding all sides in every war, with the aim of increasing chaos on a lower level while maintaining order at the top in preparation for the New World Order.
I’m anxious to get my hands on a physical copy of the book to see his sources. Assuming he has a bibliography considering all of the assertions he’s making, including lodge names, years and ranks. It’s very specific information. Some of this could very well not be true, but the overall patterns are worth looking for now in current events.
Another takeaway… the frequent use of a veneer of Christianity. (And their Masonic edition of the Bible used to swear in politicians.) Freemasons and Illuminati will easily call themselves Christians (as well as any other religion). They believe in « God ». Just like a Kabbalist will call themselves a « Messianic Jew ». If you want to know where a person stands, it comes down to Jesus. They will deny that Jesus is God.
Currently Reading
December 20, 2016(p.21) "This meant that the Connecticut Puritans had established their Congregational churches as the official religion of Connecticut, which from 1639 became a Christian state supported by taxes and defended by the law: blasphemy was punished with execution, and citizenship depended on religious faith. Religious freedom meant freedom from error, Church and State working together to protect true faith."
February 16, 2026
Five stars. Not because every footnote will satisfy every academic but because this book dares to say what polite history books won’t. If you’ve ever had the nagging sense that the story we were handed about America’s founding feels… curated… this book will not feel crazy to you. Hagger argues that powerful philosophical and esoteric currents especially Freemasonry and Enlightenment rationalism were not side notes in America’s birth but central forces shaping its vision.
And honestly? Catholics shouldn’t be shocked. The Church has long warned about systems built on secretive power structures and ideologies that sideline revealed truth in favor of human self-construction. When you read this book through that lens, it doesn’t feel sensational — it feels historically plausible. Of course competing spiritual worldviews were battling over what the “New World” would become. Of course ideas about God, authority, and human autonomy would matter.
Is the system neat and transparent? Hardly. Power rarely is. That doesn’t make everything a cartoon conspiracy — but it does mean we shouldn’t be naïve. What I appreciated most is that this book invites Catholics to remember something important: history is spiritual as well as political. Nations are shaped by ideas about God, man, freedom, and truth. If those ideas drift from Christian foundations, the culture eventually reflects it.
Not a mainstream take but sometimes mainstream takes are the most managed stories of all.
And honestly? Catholics shouldn’t be shocked. The Church has long warned about systems built on secretive power structures and ideologies that sideline revealed truth in favor of human self-construction. When you read this book through that lens, it doesn’t feel sensational — it feels historically plausible. Of course competing spiritual worldviews were battling over what the “New World” would become. Of course ideas about God, authority, and human autonomy would matter.
Is the system neat and transparent? Hardly. Power rarely is. That doesn’t make everything a cartoon conspiracy — but it does mean we shouldn’t be naïve. What I appreciated most is that this book invites Catholics to remember something important: history is spiritual as well as political. Nations are shaped by ideas about God, man, freedom, and truth. If those ideas drift from Christian foundations, the culture eventually reflects it.
Not a mainstream take but sometimes mainstream takes are the most managed stories of all.
July 24, 2019
Hagger lays out the Freemason's (and other groups') influence on the US founding, origin story, and leadership from the 15th century through to today. Heavily researched and footnooted with an extensive bibliography and index, this book is filled with human interest stories and narratives that kept me interested and informed. The Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620 and their rural ethic from Elizabethan England actually had a very narrow influence on the US. The author shows persuasive evidence that the rationalist, Deist ideals of Freemasonary and its secret society off-shoots (eg the Council on Foreign Relations) were an opposing worldview ascribed to and pledged by most founders, presidents, congressmen, governors, jurists and military leaders. I hope you enjoy the revelations in this book as much as I did.
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March 19, 2026Secret societies - their founders, aims, members, and current status - are by definition deliberately difficult to pin down in history and the present day. This book is an attempt to do so. If there wasn't some truth to the assertion that there are secret forces at work behind the scenes of our international theater....why the vitriol against such a claim? If this was truly a dusty niche dispute with no bearing on the present moment there would be no heat about it.
May 23, 2020
If I could rate this book lower, I would. Every single person and event during the Revolutionary era was supposedly linked to either the Freemasons or the Illuminati. Every symbol, every piece of literature was somehow linked to these "organizations". This book would appeal only to the hardcore conspiracy theorist.
June 6, 2020
At least a 3, probably a 3 1/2. Good information. Stuff not talked about in public schools or in Christian schools. Recommended for people who want to know real history without simply wanting to be accepted as "history buffs" with the common and accepted narrative.
December 13, 2025
It was a little bit difficult to read bc the print was so small but that could be due to the edition of the book I had.
April 12, 2026
listened to the audiobook, so it was basically an early american history lecture with a focus on religion and other social or commercial groups. nothing really secret or shocking
February 3, 2026
His facts are completely skewed. For instance, it is known that Thomas Jefferson was not a freemason but he continually posits that he is. If I had a dollar for everytime he say "possible" connection, or "maybe" a connection, I could get a new car. We could go on about no point to the book etc but I've got other books to read.
January 16, 2017
*I won this in a GoodReads Giveaway*
I picked up this book and I didn't know what to expect - In the first few chapters the author explains the founding of America and the first colonies were founded out there, So I was really pleased to be learning something new! He expresses several thought-provoking ideas on Deism and I really liked that he used quotes from Jefferson and Franklin to illustrate his point of view. By the time I got to the end of the book, I was getting a little confused with the Masonic Conspiracy Theory, But overall, It was a very interesting read!
I picked up this book and I didn't know what to expect - In the first few chapters the author explains the founding of America and the first colonies were founded out there, So I was really pleased to be learning something new! He expresses several thought-provoking ideas on Deism and I really liked that he used quotes from Jefferson and Franklin to illustrate his point of view. By the time I got to the end of the book, I was getting a little confused with the Masonic Conspiracy Theory, But overall, It was a very interesting read!
September 11, 2025
I don’t know what I just read. This progressed from a typical history book in the beginning to a rant that the world is controlled by Freemasons. Maybe this book makes more sense to people versed in Freemason theories; I found it very confusing. The author threw in terms without defining them and went through certain topics with little detail. This book was really only 200 pages and read more like a long essay.
June 9, 2017
I really wanted this book to be readable because the subject seemed so interesting. Unfortunately, it read more like a list of things that happened with little context or analysis of why those things were significant. Maybe someone who has a stronger background in this subject will appreciate it, but it just made me angry.
September 12, 2009
Long long read but interesting at the end. Easier to just read Dan Brown.
November 5, 2010
Interesting book about how Freemasons and the Illuminate founded and shaped the US and the rest of the world.
June 20, 2011
Took awhile to get into the groove of his writing style, but then I was hooked.
The information changes your perspective on literally everything!
The information changes your perspective on literally everything!
December 3, 2012
Good informative book. It's not a fast or easy read unless you love history. But it is full of great information about how America was founded and the part that the freemasons played.
April 15, 2017
GADZOOKS! CONSPIRACY EVERYWHERE! ITS BEEN GOING ON FOR CENTURIES! WAKE UP!
May 23, 2018
Here and there, the author accidentally had some correct comments about Freemasons. Still, it was a fun story.
July 11, 2024
I would have liked some more up to date info like the role of Klaus Schwab, etc. case is compelling but still left wanting more.
May 27, 2025
EVERYONE (not just Americans) should read this book! Because wow! This is the first history book I’ve read that actually makes sense…
October 31, 2025
Slow, tedious, didn't grab me. Read about half. Meh.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews