It’s a pretty impressive line-up. When we speak about Masons in Colonial America, we’re talking about some of the greatest Americans who ever lived. Men like George Washington … Benjamin Franklin … Thomas Jefferson … and Paul Revere. But how and why did Freemasonry come to North America in the first place?
A Scotsman in New Jersey
As it turns out, Freemasonry came to North America early in our history because it was such a “natural fit” for the type of thought that was powerfully circulating around the American settlers. Coming out of the Reformation in Europe, Freemasonry was the first widespread organization to espouse religious toleration and liberty—precious principles that we now think of as “American principles.” So in 1682, when Scotsman John Skene came to New Jersey, he was one of thousands of settlers who brought those values with him. And he soon became recognized as the first Freemason resident of America.
Rapid Spread Through the Colonies
After that—and with the passionate work of Skene and many others—Freemasonry began its steady ascent in America. In 1733, Henry Price, the Provincial Grand Master over all of North America for the Grand Lodge of England, granted a charter to a group of Boston Freemasons. This lodge was later named St. John’s Lodge and was the first duly constituted lodge in America. Then, between 1733 and 1737, the Grand Lodge in England warranted Provincial Grand Lodges in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. Thus, fully 40 years before the Revolutionary War, Freemasonry was firmly entrenching itself in America.
Unexpected Impact of Masonic Ideals
In that very young America, Masonic ideals powerfully took flight—sometimes in unexpected ways. In 1775—just before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and fully 85 years before the Civil War—a British garrison granted local freemen of color the right to affiliate as Masons under the banner of African Lodge No. 1, a.k.a. Prince Hall Masonry. The order’s founder, Prince Hall, a freed slave, became America’s first African-American named a Grand Master. And under his leadership, African Lodge No. 1 became the first Black-led abolitionist movement in American history.
Religious Tolerance and Freedom
When we look at the grand sweep of thought in early America, we see that our Founding Fathers were rejecting a European past in which one all-powerful authority controlled everything from religion to personal expression. So it’s not hard to see why Masonic values often were inextricable from American values. Consider, for example, one of the greatest symbols associated with Freemasonry: the Great Seal of the United States, which we see on the back of our one-dollar bills. And consider how much its Masonic motto was part of the dream of America: Annuit Coeptis Novus Ordo Seclorum, which means “God Smiles on Our New Order of the Ages.”
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