PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY.

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, widely considered to be the nation 's most prestigious honor society,  is the oldest rank organization that recognize excellence among peers for the liberal arts and science in the United States.
The Phi Beta Kappa Society was founded at the College of William and Mary, a research institute located in Williams'Burg, Virginia, on December 5, 1776.  The College was royally founded in 1693, by King William III and Queen Mary II. The group consisted of students who frequented the Raleigh Tavern. The Tavern was one of the largest in colonial Virginia. It gained some fame in the pre-American Revolutionary War Colony of Virginia as a gathering place for legislators after several Royal Governors officially dissolved the House of Burgesses, the elected legislative body, when their actions did not suit the crown. It was named after Walter Raleigh, an English landed man, writer, soldier, politician, courtier, and spy. He was a Protestant that became a landlord after confiscating lands from the native Irish. He rose rapidly in favor of Queen Elizabeth I and was knighted in 1585. He was instrumental in the English colonization of North America and was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, which paved the way for future English settlements.  A Masonic lodge also met at this tavern).
In the Phi Beta Kappa Initiation of 1779, the new member was informed, "here then you may for a while disengage yourself from scholastic care and communicate without reserve whatever reflections you have made upon various objects; remembering that every thing transacted within this room is transacted in secrecy and in confidentiality. Here, too, you are to indulge in matters of speculation that freedom of enquiry which ever dispels the clouds of falsehood by the radiant sunshine of truth..."
William and Mary, the founders of the College, were the co-regnants over the Kingdoms of Eng'Land, Scot'Land, and Ire'Land, namely the Dutch Prince of Orange King William III (&II) and his spouse (and 1st cousin) Queen Mary II. Their joint reign began in February 1689 after they were offered the Throne by the assembly of the Parliament of England irregularly summoned by William after his victorious invasion of England in November 1688, the Glorious Revolution.
The Glorious Revolution was the overthrown of King James II of England (James VII of Scotland) by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadholder William III of Orange. William invaded England with a Dutch fleet and an army led to his ascension of the English Throne, jointly with his protestant wife Mary II of England, James's daughter, in conjunction with the documentation of the Bill of Rights. This action signaled the end of several centuries of tension and conflict between the crown and the parliament, and the end of the idea that England would be restored to Roman Catholicism.
The Dutch Reformed Church was the largest denomination in the Netherlands. It spread to the United States, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and various other World regions through the Dutch colonization. With Dutch naval power rising rapidly as a major force from the late 16th century, they  dominated global commerce during the 2nd half of the 17th century known as the Dutch Golden Age.
There had been earlier Fraternal Societies in the College, including the well-known "Flat Hat Club, in allusion  to the mortarboard caps they wore, founded in November 11, 1750, and twice revived there in the 20th century. The initials of F.H.C. Society stand for a secret phrase, "Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio" (Brotherhood, Humanity, and Knowledge). The brotherhood devised and employed a secret handshake, wore a silver membership medal, issued certificates of membership, and met regularly for discussion and fellowship. William & Mary alumnus and 3rd American president Thomas Jefferson may be the most famous member of the F.H.C. Society. Other notable members of the original Society included George Tucker, professor of Law and Judge of the General Court of Virginia, and George Wythe, also professor of Law and a prominent opponent of slavery, and the 1st of the 7 Virginia signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence.