No one knows exactly when the first Mason stepped foot on the shores of the new world, but Freemasonry’s journey in the British colonies of North America began sometime in the 1730s. During this early time of building a new country in a land that promised prosperity but often delivered a difficult living, Freemasonry was a welcome luxury for the men risking everything. The sanctuary provided by the Lodge to these Brothers must have been nothing less than God sent. There is an unmeasurable benefit to a man who can bring his troubles before a Lodge and receive help and in turn offer help to others in their time of need.

By the late 1730s, the colonies were close to being well-established and early tensions were already being felt between Britain and the early political, constitutional, and legal systems established in the colonies. Most Lodges in The Colonies operated under the provincial jurisdictions of the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, or Ireland. During this early time from around 1700 – 1783 of establishing Freemasonry in the colonies, Provincial Grand Masters were appointed by the Premier Grand Lodge of England. As tensions grew between Britain and the colonies if there were any tensions between the Grand Lodge of England and the newly Chartering Provincial Grand Lodges in the colonies, they remained relatively subdued.

The years following the Revolutionary War, began an era of building that would become the United States of America as we understand it today. Shortly after those early years as an independent nation, on June 6, 1787, the Grand Lodge of New York declared itself independent from the Grand Lodge of England.