The Flat Hat Club (as it was known outside its membership) or F.H.C. Society was the first of the collegiate secret societies or fraternities founded in the present United States. It was established at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia on November 11, 1750. The organization's initials likely stand for the Latin phrases "Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio" or "Fraternitas Humanitas Cognitioque" (two different renderings of "Brotherhood, Humanity, and Knowledge"). As members of the first American collegiate fraternity in the modern sense, the "brothers" of the F.H.C. devised and employed a secret handshake, wore a silver membership medal, issued certificates of membership, and met regularly for discussion and fellowship. The Society became publicly known as the "Flat Hat Club," in probable allusion to the mortarboard caps then commonly worn by all students at the College (now worn at graduation by students at most American universities). A secret society is a social organization that requires its members to conceal certain activities—such as rites of initiation or club ceremonies—from outsiders. ... The College of William and Mary in Virginia is a public, liberal-arts university located in Williamsburg, Virginia. ... Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events March 2 - Small earthquake in London, England April 4 - Small earthquake in Warrington, England August 23 - Small earthquake in Spalding, England September 30 - Small earthquake in Northampton, England November 16 – Westminster Bridge officially opened Jonas Hanway is the first Englishman to use an umbrella James Gray reveals her sex... Graduation portrait of Linus Pauling, 1922 The square academic cap, very commonly called a mortarboard (from the French mortier, a type of toque) or Oxford cap, is an item of academic headgear consisting of a horizontal square board fixed upon a skull-cap, with a tassel, or liripipe, attached to...

Another Latin-letter society, the P.D.A. Society (publicly known as "Please Don't Ask"), was founded at William and Mary early in 1773 in imitation of the F.H.C. John Heath, a student at William and Mary who (according to tradition) sought but was refused admission to the F.H.C., in retaliation established the first Greek-letter fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa Society. John Heath (May 8, 1758– October 13, 1810) was an American lawyer and politician from Northumberland County, Virginia. ... The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an honor society which considers its mission to be fostering and recognizing excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences. ...

The F.H.C. remains active today yet most of their activities are veiled in absolute secrecy.

The F.H.C. Society numbers among its members many notable Virginians of the late colonial, Revolutionary, and early federal periods. Perhaps the most famous was Thomas Jefferson, who late in life wrote an enquiring member of Phi Beta Kappa that the Society had "served no useful object." ^[1] Whether Jefferson genuinely lost interest in the F.H.C. in his old age is doubtful, for his friends in the society had remained confidantes for life. Thomas Jefferson (13 April 1743 N.S.–4 July 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–09), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. ... The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an honor society which considers its mission to be fostering and recognizing excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences. ...

The Flat Hat is also the twice-weekly student newspaper of The College of William and Mary, taking its name from the nickname of the society. The Flat Hat is the student newspaper of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. Currently, it prints Tuesdays and Fridays during the Colleges academic year. ...

References

Bibliography

• Robert W. Storm, "In Token of Friendship: Early Fraternity Medals at the College of William and Mary"; 1973. Typescript in university archives, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia).

See also

• List of collegiate secret societies

There are numerous collegiate secret societies at American and Canadian colleges and universities. ...

External links

• Flat Hat History from the William and Mary newspaper