Which signers of the U.S. Constitution were Freemasons and how certain are those attributions?
Executive summary
At least nine signers of the U.S. Constitution can be documented as Freemasons, but historians disagree about additional names because of gaps in lodge records, varying definitions of “Mason,” and later claims that conflate family members or unverified local lists [1] [2] [3]. Other reputable compilations push the count higher—sometimes to a dozen or more—so the safest claim is: nine certain, several more plausible but disputed [1] [4] [5].
1. Which signers are on the most defensible list
A careful inventory offered by the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library names nine Constitution signers whose Masonic membership is supported by documentary evidence: Gunning Bedford Jr., John Blair, David Brearly, Jacob Broom, Daniel Carroll, John Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, Rufus King, and George Washington; that list is presented as “conclusively documented” by the museum and repeated in affiliated Masonic publications [1] [2]. These names appear across multiple institutional Masonic sources and museum scholarship, which anchors the minimum count historians are comfortable asserting [1] [2].
2. Why other lists claim higher totals
Several popular and Masonic-friendly compilations expand the roster to a dozen or more signers—naming figures such as Jonathan Dayton, Nicholas Gilman, and James McHenry—based on lodge rolls, newspaper notices, or later lodge histories that treat oral tradition as evidence [4] [6]. Mainstream histories and museum analyses caution that such additions often arise from inconsistent recordkeeping, the loss of early lodge minutes, or misattribution of relatives’ memberships to prominent fathers—problems explicitly noted in state lodge materials and local Masonic writeups [3] [7] [6].
3. The definitional and documentary traps
Scholars emphasize three decision points that change any tally: whether to count men who took only an Entered Apprentice degree, whether membership had to be held at the moment of signing, and how strictly to require surviving lodge documentation rather than later testimony; the Scottish Rite museum highlights these methodological choices as drivers of disagreement [1] [2]. Compounding that, eighteenth‑century lodge records are uneven—some were destroyed, others never centralized—and lodges sometimes recorded common names without unique identifiers, producing confusion between signers and their sons or namesakes [3].
4. What is uncontested and why it matters
Certain high‑profile cases are uncontested: George Washington’s long, well‑documented Masonic involvement and Benjamin Franklin’s lodge memberships are supported by preserved records, artifacts, and contemporary notices, making their affiliation certain [1] [8]. Establishing these core examples matters because Masonic membership shaped social networks and civic culture in the Revolutionary era, even if it did not amount to a uniform “Masonic agenda” driving constitutional language—historians caution against overstating causation from shared membership alone [8] [9].
5. Bottom line and responsible phrasing
The best-supported statement is that at least nine signers of the Constitution were Freemasons; additional names have been proposed and appear on various lists, but those attributions range from plausible to doubtful because of missing or ambiguous records and differing standards for who counts as a Mason [1] [4] [2]. Any definitive count beyond the nine requires explicit claims about evidentiary standards—whether one accepts later lodge histories, family lore, or only contemporaneous lodge minutes—and readers should treat larger totals as contingent, not settled [1] [3].