Many of the men at the centre of the Enlightenment and engaged in creating our Republic were, like me, Freemasons. There is a lot of "conspiracy theory" about that which is, I assure you, totally without foundation. Jefferson, as far as I know, was not a Mason but many of his compatriots were including Washington, Franklin, and many of the men they might have come to know in France.
I am not suggesting that Masonry shaped the Founders exclusively--let us not forget that King George the Third was also a Mason--but that it was a movement which was very much founded in the Enlightenment very much the way the United States was.
Torture, I can imagine, was something these men would certainly have discussed when trying to found a new nation.
Many of the men at the centre of the Enlightenment and engaged in creating our Republic were, like me, Freemasons. There is a lot of "conspiracy theory" about that which is, I assure you, totally without foundation. Jefferson, as far as I know, was not a Mason but many of his compatriots were including Washington, Franklin, and many of the men they might have come to know in France.
I am not suggesting that Masonry shaped the Founders exclusively--let us not forget that King George the Third was also a Mason--but that it was a movement which was very much founded in the Enlightenment very much the way the United States was.
Torture, I can imagine, was something these men would certainly have discussed when trying to found a new nation.