In a time when travel was by horseback and sailing ship,
Masonry spread with amazing speed. By 1731, when Benjamin Franklin joined
the fraternity, there were already several lodges in the Colonies, and Masonry
spread rapidly as America expanded west. In addition to Franklin, many of
the Founding Fathers -- men such as George Washington, Paul Revere, Joseph
Warren, and John Hancock -- were Masons. Masons and Masonry played an
important part in the Revolutionary War and an even more important part in the
Constitutional Convention and the debates surrounding the ratification of the
Bill of Rights. Many of those debates were held in Masonic Lodges.
Source: The Masonic Information Center, 8120, Fenton Street,
Silver Spring, Md., a division of The Masonic Service Association.
