By: Michael Totten
Saco Lodge #9
From the first American lodge meeting in Philadelphia in 1731, Freemasons have been closely associated with the birth of the United States and the writing of the Declaration of Independence. However, Lodge membership records are rarely public. Unless the member himself makes his affiliation known or all his private correspondence becomes public, membership may always be a mystery.
The opportunity was there. Freemasonry proliferated quickly in the American colonies. Libre B, the St. John’s lodge in Philadelphia, first met on June 24, 1731, just 14 years after the premier Grand Lodge was formed in London, England. Boston’s first lodge was constituted two years later, on July 30, 1733. By 1739, Masonic lodges had been opened in all 13 American colonies
The association was there. Freemasons have long seen themselves as philosophical builders rather than physical layers of stones. In the young United States was the opportunity to put theory into practice. After the hard decision had been taken to declare independence, the United States was seen as the grand experiment, built upon the principles of equality, freedom, and enlightened reason. This symbolism resembles the threefold lesson of Freemasonry, “Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.” In fact, early arguments for independence were often worded as “relief” from an infringement of human rights.
Of the Committee of Five set up to draft the Declaration of Independence, 2 were certainly Freemasons. There is no evidence that Thomas Jefferson, who actually wrote the Declaration of Independence, was a Freemason, although some circumstantial evidence does point at least to Masonic connections. John Adams was not one either, although he is recorded as having spoken favorably of Freemasonry.
Benjamin Franklin, who made several small draft changes into the copy sent to him by Jefferson, was inducted into the Philadelphia St. John Lodge in 1731, becoming its Grand Master in 1734 and Grand Master of what was then the province of Pennsylvania in 1749. Robert Livingston is the other known Freemason on the Committee of Five. He would become the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York in 1784. The other suspected Freemason on the Committee of Five is Roger Sherman.
Robert’s cousin Philip Livingston, who signed the Declaration on behalf of the Livingstons of New York, is not known to be a Freemason. However, it is obvious that he worked closely with his Masonic cousin, since one helped write the Declaration of Independence and the other signed it.
Among the 56 signers of the Declaration, 9 are known to have been Freemasons, 1 is recorded as having visited a lodge, while as many as another 18 signers are suspected Freemasons based upon circumstantial nonLodge evidence. The president of the Congress, John Hancock, was a known Freemason in Merchants Lodge No. 277, Quebec, which was affiliated with St. Andrew’s Lodge in Boston. Benjamin Franklin has already been mentioned. Thomas McKean is recorded as having visited the Perseverance Lodge, Harrisburg, but no membership is known. Robert Treat Paine attended the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. Other known Freemasons among the signers were:
- William Emery, First Lodge of Boston
- Joseph Hewes, Unanimity Lodge No.7
- William Hooper, Hanover Lodge
- Richard Stockton, St. John’s Lodge in Princeton NJ, Charter Master
- George Walton, Solomon’s Lodge No.1
- William Whipple, St. John’s Lodge in Portsmouth
Masonic influence was much stronger in the American Constitution, in the early American army, and possibly in the symbology of the Great Seal of the United States, but those are stories for other articles. the saintly men who have taught of the Father of all mankind.
Unity Lodge No. 146 