In this second of three issues celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the “birth” of our great nation, Fraternal Review now directs your attention to the Freemasons who helped to create and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and/or the U.S. Constitution is 1787. There is certainly a foundation of Authentic history supporting the prominent roles of many Freemasons in America’s Revolutionary war and the creation of its founding documents, as these men’s lives and contributions are supported by historical documents and confirmed facts. What is also quite common, however, is the presence of an array of exaggerations, suppositions, speculations, and aggrandizements. This is especially true of celebratory histories—especially those related to the founding of treasured institutions such as Freemasonry and American democracy—that are intended to idealize their principles and inspire their beneficiaries.

Beginning with our June issue’s treatment of the Masonic Patriots during the period leading up to the Declaration, Fraternal Review has sought to balance adulation for these revered Masons with recognition of the mythological aura that puts this history into the hybrid category known as “mythistory.” For this, I am extremely grateful to two Brothers of the Craft who have each agreed to write original articles for all three of these celebrational issues. First, in our Cover Story, Brother Michael Samu gives us “Benjamin Franklin, Grand Master of a New Republic,” a masterful expression of the Masonic influences in both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. [P.4] Then, Brother Chris Ruli, a stout Authentic historian of Masonry, counters with part 2 of his “Critical Assessment of the American FoundingDocuments Myth,” analyzing the methods used to attribute Masonic causality to theacknowledged contributions of Freemasons who were only a minority of those who signed the nation’s founding documents. [P.6]