Did the Freemasons consciously affect the geographical growth of the USA in order to invest the layout of the states with a deeper, symbolic meaning? The narrative concentrates on the development of Masonic ritual during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-especially their description of the 'ideal building' or Temple-the concurrent construction of America and the role Freemasons played in it, and the emergence of a simple but highly symbolic mathematical formula that recurs regularly throughout the history of the Republic. Maps and diagrams illustrate the surprising coherence of the theor.