The modern fraternity movement in the United States began with Phi Beta Kappa, a scholastic honor society, signifying academic achievement in the liberal arts and sciences. It was founded on December 5, 1776, at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Predecessors[]
FHC Society[]
The first collegiate organization was a Latin-lettered organization, FHC Society, which was founded as a secret society at the College of William and Mary in 1750. The organization was literary and social in nature, but not Greek. Its initials is believed to be a backronym for Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio, a Latin phrase, meaning brotherhood, humanity, and knowledge. Publicly, the organization was known known as the Flat Hat Club, a tribute to the square hats worn at graduation. Among its members was Thomas Jefferson, a drafter of the Declaration of Independence and future president of the United States. The student members of FHC suspended activities in 1781 during the buildup to the Yorktown campaign of the American Revolution.
PDA Society[]
Within a few years, a second Latin-lettered organization emerged. PDA Society was founded as a secret society at the College of William and Mary in 1773. No reference is given regarding the organization's initials but when asked, members were known to offer a "Please Don't Ask" response. John Heath, a student at William and Mary sought, but was refused, admission to PDA Society. He was among the founders of Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Founding[]
The new society was established during the buildup to the American Revolution, and was intended to be a domestic manufacture, without any connection to anything British or German. Like the older, Latin-lettered fraternities, Phi Beta Kappa was a secret society. The society was formed for social as well as literary purposes and held regular meetings in which members discussed highly charged and controversial subjects such as taxation and freedom. To protect members and instill a sense of solidarity, it had the essential attributes of most modern fraternities including an oath of secrecy, a badge (or token), a diploma (or certificate) of membership, a motto, a ritual of initiation, and a handclasp of recognition.
To these, the Phi Beta Kappa would add another attribute, branches or "chapters" at other colleges. In December 1779, chapters were established at Harvard University and Yale University, the oldest and third-oldest universities in the New World. In January 1781, as the British and American armies battled along the Virginia peninsula, classes were cancelled at William and Mary and Phi Beta Kappa ceased operations.
Expansion[]
A second chapter was established at Yale College in late 1780; a third, at Harvard College in 1781; and a fourth, at Dartmouth College in 1787. At the end of the war, the original chapter at William and Mary was re-established, and the organization evolved from a fraternity with principally academic and some social purposes to an entirely honorary organization recognizing scholastic achievement. Further chapters were established at Union College in 1817, Bowdoin College in 1825, and Brown University in 1830.
In 1826, anti-Masonic sentiment was at its height, culminating in the disappearance of William Morgan, a bitter Freemason who threatened to expose its secrets. Owing to the public prejudice against secret societies, the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa revealed its secrets in 1831. Soon afterward, the organization became the most prestigious honor society in North America.
Social Movement[]
While Phi Beta Kappa developed some of characteristics of fraternity, membership was bestowed during senior year, leaving little time for lasting bonds to form. This left a void which was filled by modern Greek-letter social fraternities, which offered fellowship and social bonding among underclassmen.
The first Greek-letter social fraternity was Chi Phi, which was established at Princeton University in 1824. The organization promoted social bonds and thought leadership in the fields of religion, morality, and education. The first American sorority was Alpha Delta Pi (Wesleyan College, 1851), a secret society which focused on fellowship and scholarship for college women. By 1900, there were 44 fraternities and 18 sororities on undergraduate campuses nationwide.
Legacy[]
Phi Beta Kappa remains the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in the United States, with 286 active chapters. Since inception, its members include 17 United States Presidents, 38 United States Supreme Court Justices, and 136 Nobel Laureates. Widely considered to be the nation's most prestigious honor society, it aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and to induct the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at American colleges and universities.