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| In the United States, a multitude of ethnic groups and members of different religions and social classes live together in relative peace and harmony in a multicultural society. In general we do not have the sectarian friction which afflicts many other countries. Many different religious beliefs and modes of worship coexist peaceably in our society, and the Orange Order fits into this mosaic. Therefore, while we share the same basic principles, there are significant differences between how these principles are worked out in the United States and how they may be applied elsewhere. To a greater and lesser extent, this is also true for all Orange jurisdictions. One of the glories and strengths of Orangeism is how it has been adapted locally to suit the cultures of a diverse and worldwide following. |
| The Orange Order in the United States is a religious, charitable and patriotic American fraternity. The Grand Orange Lodge of the United States was organized in 1868, less than eighty years after the formal institution of the Orange Fraternity in Loughgall, Northern Ireland, in 1795. However, the spirit of Orangeism was planted in the United States as soon as the first groups of Ulster immigrants began arriving in significant numbers after 1719. This stream of pioneers, arriving as soon as thirty years after the Battle of the Boyne, brought with them the knowledge that they owed their very existence to Prince William of Orange. Their first settlement was in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Fresh arrivals throughout the 1700s spread quickly along the frontier and left their mark on the American landscape with hundreds of places named after towns and regions they had left in Ulster. At a very early stage these immigrants from Ulster were given the name Scotch-Irish. While they had embarked on ships leaving ports such as Larne and Derry, it was obvious to the colonial authorities that they were not Irish. So they were called Scotch-Irish, and this name is proudly borne by Ulster-Americans to the present day. |
| Some of these early settlers were known as Hillbillies because of their veneration and respect for William of Orange. So far as we know, the Hillbillies did not have organized lodges, but lodges began to appear in the United States in the early 1800s and resulted in the formation of the Grand Lodge of the USA in 1868. |
| Over the past 150 years of independent growth, the formative experiences of United States Orangeism have been different from those elsewhere and this can sometimes be confusing for new members who have been active in foreign Orange jurisdictions before coming to the United States. The Loyal Orange Institution of the United States is an independent entity making its own rules and setting its own standards: it is not an overseas branch of any other Grand Lodge. Friendly fraternal communication and consultation with foreign Grand Orange Lodges is maintained through our affiliation with the World Orange Council. |
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