The short answer is compassion and duty.Being a Freemason doesn't negate your obligations to humanity. The philosophy of Freemasonary actually stresses those obligations.
No, Freemasons are not related in any way to the Ku Klux Klan. The beliefs espoused by the Ku Klux Klan are antithetical and repulsive to the beliefs propounded by Freemasonry.
According to Masonic Tradition passed down through the lessons of the Scottish Rite
32-33 Degree Honorary Brotherhood of Free Masons
I will pass on according to that Tradition that:
Yes, Arron Burr...
It's unknown. There are clear references to the existence of lodges in England by the mid-seventeenth century. Some Freemasons text goes back as far as the 14th century but no one know for sure who...