Editing Phi Beta Kappa (section)

===Secret fraternal society===
[[File:Phi Beta Kappa DC.JPG|thumb|Phi Beta Kappa national headquarters]]

The new society was intended to be "purely of domestic manufacture, without any connection whatever with anything European, either English or German."<ref name=Hastings/>{{rp|84}} The founders of Phi Beta Kappa declared that the society was formed for congeniality and to promote good fellowship, with "friendship as its basis and benevolence and literature as its pillars."<ref name=Hastings/>  Before the British attempt at reclamation of the sovereign American colonies, including Virginia, there was a temporary closure of the [[College of William & Mary]] and disbandment of Phi Beta Kappa in early 1781. Elisha Parmelee, an alumnus of [[Yale University|Yale College]] and [[Harvard University|Harvard College]], passed through Williamsburg and took charters from the Phi Beta Kappa to establish branches of the society at these schools. A second chapter was founded at Yale College in late 1780; a third, at Harvard College in 1781; and a fourth, at [[Dartmouth College]] in 1787.<ref name=Hastings/>

Phi Beta Kappa was a secret society to protect its members and to instil a sense of solidarity. The new society was given the motto, {{lang|grc|Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης}} or in Latin letters ''{{lang|grc-Latn|Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs}}'', which loosely translated to English means "Love of learning is the guide of life". [[Greek language|Greek]] was chosen because it was the language of science in [[Roman times]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}  Later, in May 1777, a new sign of recognition was devised: "A salutation of the clasp of the hands, together with an immediate stroke across the mouth with the back of the same hand, and a return with the hand used by the saluted". This new complex of gestures was created to allow the mutual recognition of members "in any foreign country or place."<ref name=Hastings/>{{rp|10}}