American Freemasonry, Its Development and Character

American Freemasonry, Its Development and Character. The articles AMERICA, INTRODUCTION OF FREEMASONRY INTO; AMERICA, MODERN AND ANCIENT INFLUENCES IN; and AMERICAN DOCTRINE and the articles under the names of the several States are introductory to, and, in some respects, necessary for an understanding of the present article.

By the middle of the 18th century, lodges had been warranted by the Modern Grand Lodge of England in all of the Colonies, except New Jersey and Delaware, in which latter Colonies there was a lag of ten to fifteen years. By the outbreak of the Revolution, the Ancients, either the Ancient Grand Lodge of England or the Grand Lodge of Scotland, had warranted lodges in all the Colonies, except Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Georgia, and had established Provincial Grand Masters in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, the former having jurisdiction over North America. It is estimated that, in 1776, there were approximately 100 lodges in the Colonies, an increasing proportion of which were of Ancient allegiance.

In England, there was later, in 1813, a union of the two factions into a United Grand Lodge, but in America, there were various adjustments by several methods, a disappearance of one with the elimination of the other, or the amalgamation of the two in various proportions as dictated by each set of local conditions. Preston’s lectures, which formed so large a part of the work of the Moderns in England, were issued only four years before the Revolution. After the War, the British Grand Lodges had no more jurisdiction in the new States, all of which erected new and independent Grand Lodges. Yet, American lodges came to have the Prestonian work, and this came about largely through the agency of lecturers. The premier of these was Thomas Smith Webb who published his Freemason’s Monitor; or Illustrations of Masonry at Albany, N. Y. in 1797, which was, so far as the Craft degrees were concerned, a working arrangement of Preston’s lectures. English Masons, upon visiting American lodges and noticing the differences, have sometimes been wont to call these differences Americanisms, on the assumption that the changes had been made here, whereas, the American working is in most features the older, the English having become accustomed to think of their own innovations as the original form.

The example for the formation of independent Grand Lodges in the United States was set by the Scotch Provincial Grand Lodge at Boston, which, after the death of Joseph Warren, met on March 8, 1777 and elected his Deputy, Joseph Webb, Grand Master. This new body became known as Massachusetts Grand Lodge. John Blair was elected Grand Master of Virginia, October 13, 1778, thus, instituting the second independent Grand Lodge and now actually the oldest in this country. The continuity of existence was broken in Massachusetts when the present Grand Lodge of that State was formed in 1792 by the two prior rival bodies. It seems, however, that, at the time the original thirteen independent Grand Lodges were formed, it was the intent to terminate the prior bodies and start new ones with new natal dates, because there was a great deal of doubt as to the right of those British Masonic bodies to revolt from the British Mother Grand Lodges. Therefore, the former establishments were closed or dissolved and the State Grand Lodges were intended to be new organizations.

No such growth of Freemasonry occurred in any other country, nor was there ever such a rapid economic development of such a large area of land, with the creation of so much wealth in an equal period of time. The result was to place in this country about half of the Grand Lodges and about three-fourths of the Freemasons of the world. Notwithstanding the many opportunities for conflict among Grand Lodges, these were held to a minimum largely due to the early development of the American Doctrine of exclusive jurisdiction. But many novel situations arose which called forth numerous decisions by Grand Masters and Grand Lodges until a sort of Masonic common law grew up and became generally recognized.

All forms of, and all additions to Freemasonry have been popular in the United States, so that there is probably no country that exceeds it in diversification and multiplicity of rites and orders. Besides the 3 degrees of Blue Masonry and the 9 additional degrees of the York Rite, and the 30 of the Scottish Rite, there are no less than 40 other orders claiming to be Masonic or limiting their membership to Master Masons or their relatives. The following table shows the principal or standard degrees conferred in English-speaking countries and also the principal differences among them:

Macoy Collector's Note: This entry is a foundational text for understanding how American Freemasonry broke from British control and developed its own unique ritual, jurisprudence, and complex degree systems.