The Second Grand Arch Council of Phi Kappa Psi was held Aug.

4-8, 1856, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, with the following minutes taken by Thomas C. Campbell dated Aug. 8.
*** The G. A. C. convened last Monday and closed at five oclock this morning, having sat up all night. There were delegates from every chapter in the Fraternity. The following is the roll: Geo. H. Kennedy, Thomas C. Campbell, delegates from Pennsylvania Alpha; James P. Hassler, Odell S. Long, delegates from Pennsylvania Beta; Lewis K. Evans, delegate from Pennsylvania Gamma; F. P. Fitzwilliams, J. F. Magill, delegates from Pennsylvania Delta; Adam Hoy, delegate from Pennsylvania Epsilon; James W.. Morgan, S. M. Reed, delegates from Virginia Alpha; Charles A. Ballou, delegate from Virginia Beta; J. B. McPhail, delegate from Virginia Gamma. The G.A.C. sat for five days and produced a splendid Constitution for subordinate chapters, the Grand Chapter, and the Grand Arch Council, and a complete set of forms and ceremonies. These all comprise about forty pages and are called the Grand Book of Constitutions. We have established two degrees in the Fraternity called the degrees of Socrates and Plato.We made a new and beautiful ceremony with new grips and passwords. We initiated a brother into both these degrees before the G.A.C., and the Council seemed well pleased. Upon motion of Brother Kennedy, the Grand Chapter was established until 1861 at the University of Virginia. We have in the new Constitution centered a great deal of power in the Grand Chapter. (Our chapter has been heartily sick and tired of having the G.A.C. here, as it is an immense bore and the Virginia Alpha will soon tire of it, I think.) We established a Grand Treasury. Every brother in the Fraternity will pay to the G.C. one dollar per annum, to defray the expenses of the G.C. and the Fraternity. We gave the making of badges to another jeweler, who will not impose upon us as McFadden has done. E worked five days at the rate of fifteen hours a day and have put business through. I do not think there will be any need for change in the laws and the ceremonies for twenty years, at least. The Constitution we have adopted is far superior to that miserable trash we have had heretofore.

The following were the officers of the G.A.C. J. W. Morgan, President; T.C. Campbell, Recording Secretary; G. H. Kennedy, S. M. Reed, and Charles A. Ballou, Assistant Secretaries. That concluded the minutes. The above was taken from the Centennial History of Phi Kappa Psi, Volume 1, pages 66-67. This transcription was prepared by Michael H. McCoy, Historian of Phi Kappa Psi. For more on the Second Grand Arch Council, see pages 66-71.