George Washington

Washington as a Freemason, published in 1867 and associated with Strobridge & Co. This posthumous print depicts him in Masonic regalia. Library of Congress.

George Washington (1732–1799), commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States, became a Freemason at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1752. His membership is documented by lodge records, correspondence and participation in public Masonic events.^[1]

Fredericksburg and Alexandria

Washington joined the Fredericksburg lodge on 4 November 1752, aged twenty. He received the Fellowcraft degree on 3 March 1753 and the Master Mason degree on 4 August that year. The surviving minute book records two further attendances, on 1 September 1753 and 4 January 1755.^[1]

Alexandria Lodge No. 39 elected him an honorary member in 1784. In 1788 he agreed to serve as its charter Master when it transferred from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania to the Grand Lodge of Virginia. After his death it became Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22.^[1]

Correspondence and public activity

On 18 August 1790 Washington replied to a welcome from the members of King David's Lodge in Newport, Rhode Island. He associated Masonic principles with “private virtue and public prosperity” and expressed his wish to be regarded as a deserving member. The George Washington Masonic National Memorial publishes transcriptions of both the lodge's address and his reply, with the locations of the surviving documents.^[2]

As president, Washington laid the cornerstone of the United States Capitol on 18 September 1793 in a public Masonic ceremony. The Architect of the Capitol records the event as part of the building's construction history.^[3]

Commemoration

Alexandria Lodge members took part in Washington's funeral in 1799. The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association was formed in 1910, and its memorial in Alexandria was dedicated in 1932.^[1]

Nineteenth-century prints also commemorated his membership. The Library of Congress dates the illustration shown here to 1867, long after Washington's death. It is evidence of his later representation in Masonic art rather than a portrait made during his lifetime.^[4]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Mark A. Tabbert, Freemasonry, Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington, George Washington's Mount Vernon. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, President Washington Receives a Welcome Address from King David’s Lodge, 1790, transcriptions of 17–18 August 1790. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ Architect of the Capitol, History of the U.S. Capitol Building. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ Library of Congress, Washington as a freemason, catalogue record, 1867, LC-DIG-pga-04176. Accessed 30 September 2026.