Masonic Gavel Used By George Washington For Capitol Cornerstone At Tonight's State of the Union Address

Allyn Cox 1955 mural at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial

by Christopher Hodapp

President Donald Trump's State of the Union message is taking place tonight, and there will be an important Masonic artifact there for this special occasion. 

The famous gavel used by George Washington at the Masonic cornerstone ceremony for the new U.S. Capitol building in 1793 will be displayed on the Speaker's podium in the House of Representatives tonight during the joint session of Congress.

Speaker Mike Johnson requested the gavel be present at the State of the Union address for the first time in history. The gavel is owned by Potomac Lodge No. 5 in Washington, DC.

The ceremony has been depicted several times by artists. The image at the top of this article was painted by Allyn Cox as a massive mural at the George Washington Masonic National Monument in Alexandria, Virginia. Installed in 1955, the mural underwent careful restoration in 2017. Cox also painted another version of the ceremony that is in the Cox Corridor of the U.S. Capitol.

From a press release on the Capitol History website:

 

Today, the U.S. Capitol Historical Society proudly announced that Speaker Mike Johnson will become the first House Speaker in history to display George Washington’s Gavel during the State of the Union Address to Congress. The historic Gavel was first used in 1793 to lay the cornerstone of the United States Capitol building: “The People’s House” and the physical manifestation of our democracy. Since that ceremony, the Gavel has been in the care of Potomac Lodge No. 5, the oldest Masonic Lodge in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Capitol Historical Society worked diligently with the Lodge and Speaker’s Office to enable the Gavel to rest on the rostrum during this year’s Address—marking the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.

“The U.S. Capitol Historical Society would like to thank Speaker Johnson and Potomac Lodge No. 5 for working with us to ensure the display of a historic treasure for this year’s historic Address,” said Roswell Encina, President & CEO of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. “Complementing the State of the Union with George Washington’s Gavel beautifully reflects the importance of preserving and sharing the Capitol’s history; helping Americans connect with the people, places, and traditions that continue to shape our nation. A significant part of the Society’s mission is to bring Congress to the People. During America250, it is especially satisfying to have helped bring the People to Congress.”

In 1793, U.S. President and Master Mason, George Washington, laid the cornerstone of the United States Capitol Building. At the time, a growing schism between “Federalists” and “Republicans” threatened the American experiment in its infancy. Washington therefore lent his prestige to such events as the laying of the Capitol cornerstone to give credence to the new U.S. Government: established in 1789 after our Constitution was ratified.

Allyn Cox painting of the Masonic cornerstone ceremony in the Cox Corridor
of the U.S. Capitol. 

On the morning of September 18, 1793, Washington and a procession of artillery and Masonic lodges crossed the Potomac River to the new Federal City. They did so, a newspaper reported, “with music playing, drums beating, colors flying, and spectators rejoicing.” At the Capitol site, Washington stepped into a dug trench, laid a silver plate onto the ground, and set the cornerstone atop it. He was accompanied by brethren who conducted a Masonic ritual with corn (a symbol of nourishment), wine (a symbol of refreshment), and oil (a symbol of joy). Witnesses then chanted and celebrated until night.

After the ceremony, Washington bestowed the Gavel to Valentine Reintzel, the head of Potomac Lodge No. 5, who assisted that day and cared for the artifact until his death. In the two centuries since, Potomac Lodge No. 5 has been the Gavel’s custodian, loaning it to other cornerstone ceremonies, including the Washington Monument, National Cathedral, and Smithsonian Institution.

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As Washington himself told Congress in his first State of the Union Address:

“Knowledge is in every Country the surest basis of public happiness…To the security of a free Constitution it contributes in various ways: By convincing those, who are entrusted with the public administration, that every valuable end of Government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people: And by teaching the people themselves…to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness, cherishing the first, avoiding the last, and uniting a speedy, but temperate vigilence against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws.”

In addition to the gavel, another artifact from that same ceremony is owned by Virginia's Alexandria-Washington Lodge 22: a large silver trowel used to symbolically spread the cement of Brotherly Love.

Prince Hall Grand Master of South Carolina Makes Joe Biden Freemason "At Sight"

Photo: MWPHGL of South Carolina

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATED MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025, 4:15PM: A previous version of this story erroneously stated this ceremony took place in Washington D.C. It was, in fact, in South Carolina.

UPDATED FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2025, 6:00AM: Added information regarding conflict over Biden’s Catholicism and Masonic membership; and information regarding a vacation property in South Carolina used by Biden.

On Sunday, January 19, 2025, MW Victor C. Major, Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of South Carolina, made then-President Joe Biden a Master Mason in a private ceremony "in recognition of his outstanding service to the United States of America."

It would seem that this extraordinary action makes Joe Biden officially the 15th American President who has received the degrees of Freemasonry, as well as the first Prince Hall Affiliated U.S. President.

Photo: MWPHGL of South Carolina

Photo: MWPHGL of South Carolina

This private meeting took place backstage at the opening of the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina while Mr. Biden was visiting on his last full day in office, the day before the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Online discussions among Masons have been heated all week over this story, and unfortunately, most have improperly revolved around diametrically opposed political opinions concerning Mr. Biden himself, rather than any possible Masonic jurisprudence discussions. 

Making a Mason "at sight" (or "on sight" as it is sometimes expressed) is a right of grand masters dating to at least as early as the 1730s and was defended by Laurence Dermott when the so-called 'Antients' grand lodge was formed in England in the 1770s. The details even then were undefined, but it is generally interpreted as a method of conferring the degrees of Freemasonry in an accelerated manner. In most cases, that means the candidate witnesses each of the three degrees, performed in full in a temporary or 'occasional' lodge, without having to demonstrate his proficiency before continuing on to the next. 

However, none of the information released by the MWPHGL of South Carolina indicates that this particular incident was conducted in this manner.

According to Chris Ruli, author of The White House and the Freemasons, "This 'private meeting' to confer honors occurred during a 3-4 minute public photo opportunity. No resolutions of membership were exchanged, no formal acknowledgement received." It would seem that Grand Master Major did little more than shake hands with Mr. Biden and inform him that he was now a Master Mason. There simply wasn't more time. 

Some have speculated that this event may have been arranged by U.S. Representative James E. Clyburn, who is a Prince Hall Freemason in South Carolina, but there is no evidence of that at this time. He and Biden have known each other for many years. But because there have been no details given, the question lingers: did Biden actually express a desire to be a Mason, or even formally give his consent? Or did he merely regard it as just one more honorary award given to Presidents in the course of their time in office, like a key to the city or an honorary Boy Scout, after which he shook hands, said thank you, and moved on to the next dignitary that day? Was this just sprung on him that day, or did he know in advance? So far, neither Biden himself nor Grand Master Major have provided any further information.

Interestingly, when Albert Mackey first baked up his list of so-called 'landmarks' that were never widely adopted in or outside of the U.S., he made 'making a Mason at sight' his 8th landmark. But because the actual practice itself has never been widely accepted, nor uniformly defined, there is obviously great leeway in what a grand master can and cannot do, based on the limitations of the laws within his own jurisdiction. The practice has been hotly debated in Masonic jurisprudence for almost three centuries, and is, at the very least, controversial.

Another question that arises is whether Joe Biden could even remotely be considered under the jurisdiction of South Carolina - mainstream, Prince Hall, or otherwise. He's never lived there in his life, and certainly isn't currently a resident. During his presidency he has sometimes stayed at a $20+ million vacation home on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, but neither he nor anyone in his family actually own that property. It belongs to Maria Allwin, widow of the late Aetos real estate hedge fund founder, James Allwin.

And finally, of course, is a topic I hesitate to mention because of the highly charged partisan fights going on in the country right now. But as more and more episodes occur that seem to show Mr. Biden to be having periods of serious lapses of memory and physical infirmity, and given his advanced age in the first place, it must be asked: is he "an old man in dotage" (the dictionary definition being "the period of life in which a person is old and weak; synonymous with elderliness, senescence, and senility")? If this is, in fact, the case, the vast majority of obligations taken by Freemasons the world over forbid us from taking part in conferring Masonry on such persons. So did Grand Master Major violate his own obligation by doing this?

(Getty/Realtor.com)

With all of those qualifiers out of the way (and disregarding any possible partisan political objections to Mr. Biden by Masons among the rank and file members of the MWPHGL of South Carolina), this development presents a curious problem for Masonic chroniclers. Namely, the MWPHGL of South Carolina is not recognized by any so-called mainstream U.S. grand lodge, the United Grand Lodge of England, or any other major regular, recognized Masonic jurisdiction. So, the semantic (and arguably technical) question is, does this really count as legitimate? (See the national joint recognition map below.) It's been several years since I've heard any South Carolina mainstream Masons weigh in on the possibility of Prince Hall recognition in the near future, and I've never heard any PHA Masons in that state raise the possibility (not that either side has any reason to alert me for any reason). Could happen, but let's just say it doesn't seem imminent.

The Conference of Grand Masters Prince Hall Masons (which does count the MWPHGL of South Carolina as a recognized member of their conference) posted this story and photos on their website shortly after the event. So as far as the Prince Hall Affiliated world is concerned, Mr. Biden is legitimately a Prince Hall Mason. But outside of their Conference, it's doubtful any regular Masons would accept this action and confidently list him as the 15th Masonic President of the United States. At the very least, it will likely require an explanatory footnote.

There is also a religious issue that exists. Biden has long been known to be a practicing Roman Catholic, and the Church has forbidden its global flock to join the Freemasons, a prohibition that has been in place since 1738. Despite removal of the word ‘Freemason’ from Canon Law under the Vatican II revisions, subsequent rulings have reaffirmed the prohibition, stating that Catholics who DO become Masons are in a ‘state of grave sin.’ Catholic Masons are to be denied sacraments such as holy communion. (The most detailed exploration of this issue with Biden I’ve seen is on The Pillar website: see ‘Did Joe Biden join the Freemasons? by Ed. Condon). 

It should be noted that, despite the Church’s longstanding position on Masonic membership, it is estimated that almost 25% of all American Freemasons today are Roman Catholics, based on several non-scientific polls taken in the last decade. So, if Biden voluntarily sought Masonic membership in spite of the Church’s prohibition (which is not clear at this time), he’d certainly be in good company. But his archbishop may be less than happy about it. 

If the PHA Grand Master or any other Mason connected with this event didn’t mention this well-known religious conflict to Biden ahead of time, they did a serious disservice to him that would be extremely irresponsible.

All of this notwithstanding, below is the official wording of the Resolution of Membership issued by MW Victor C. Major, Grand Master of the MWPHGL of South Carolina:

It is with great pleasure that I, Victor C. Major, 27th The Most Worshipful Grand Master, welcome our newest member to the Prince Hall Family. On Sunday, January 19, 2025 at a private event, Master Mason membership with full honors were conferred upon President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. in recognition of his outstanding service to the United States of America.

RESOLUTION OF MEMBERSHIP

To be a Freemason is to be part of a brotherhood dedicated to personal growth, service to others, and the pursuit of knowledge and truth. It is an honor to belong to an organization that promotes these timeless values:

WHEREAS, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has demonstrated exceptional dedication and service to the United States of America.

WHEREAS, his service reflects the core values of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina, including brotherly love, relief, and truth.

WHEREAS, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. contributions have significantly benefited the citizens of the United States of America;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that I, 27th Most Worshipful Grand Master, Victor C. Major, on behalf of the members of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina, hereby confer membership upon President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. in recognition of his outstanding service to the United States of America.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution of Membership be recorded in the archives of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina.

GIVEN THIS 19th DAY OF January A.D. 2025

Victor C. Major
27th Most Worshipful Grand Master
Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of South Carolina

One final note. At the beginning of February, the story and photographs disappeared from the Conference of Prince Hall Grand Masters website and were moved to the website of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of South Carolina HERE.

(NOTE: As of April 17, 2025, the story has also disappeared from the MWPHGL of South Carolina website, with no explanation.)

The Late President Jimmy Carter & Masonic Membership

President Carter with Imperial Sir Gary Bergenske and Anne Bergenske,
was an honorary ambassador of Hasan Shriners. (Photo: Shriners)

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATED Tuesday, 12/31/2024, 3:30PM - This story has been updated to include more information concerning the Carter's involvement with Shriners Hospitals)

(Thanks to Chris Ruli, author of The White House and the Freemasons for originally posting a story about this on Facebook.)

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter passed away over the weekend at the amazing age of 100. Almost immediately upon the announcement early Sunday morning of Carter’s death, several social media posts made the erroneous claim that he had been both a Freemason and a member of the Shriners.  

Whatever your political opinions or historical estimations may have been of President Carter, there can be no denying his dedication to service and philanthropy, and his lifetime of living by the tenets of his faith. His single term of office in the White House between 1977-81 was merely the beginning of another four and a half decades of serving countless causes and missions, all over the world.

He took on one such cause in 2016. That year, Shriners Hospitals named Jimmy Carter as an honorary Shriner and an Ambassador for their program that operates 22 hospitals in North America for treating disabled children. In the photograph above, you can see Carter wearing the signature headgear of the Shriners, the red fez. But you can also see that the normally black tassel dangling from the fez of the Shriner on his right differs from Carter’s yellow/gold tassel, signifying his Honorary Ambassador position.

That same year, he appeared in a TV commercial for Shriners Hospitals, and continued to be an enthusiastic supporter for the rest of his lifetime (the press release can be seen below). 

But Carter's association with the Shriners did not involve him being initiated, passed and raised as a Mason, nor was he ever made a Noble in the Shrine. Somewhere, someone made the claim online that he had been a member of our fraternity. And then A.I. algorithms immediately grabbed it and went to work. 

Several A.I.-generated posts circulated the misinformation, and even went so far as to embellish the story. 'Poe,' the A.I. assistant on the Quora site, stated that Carter had become a member of “Tatum Lodge 333 in Plains, Georgia" in 1946; that Freemasonry had been "part of his public persona throughout his presidency"; and that “Carter is one of the few U.S. presidents known to have been a Freemason.” (See image below.)

There's a reason the Poe app is free. ALL of these statements are false. 

Jimmy Carter was neither a Freemason nor a Shriner; there is no “Tatum Lodge 333” in the state of Georgia, or anywhere else, for that matter*; and he is not among the 14 U.S. Presidents known to have been a member of the Masonic fraternity. His father, James Earl Carter Sr., was a Georgia Mason, but not his son Jimmy.

(For the non-Masons in the crowd, a man must first be elected into a local Masonic lodge and complete the three degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason before he can proceed to join the Shriners. There is no known record that Carter did any of this.)

By Sunday afternoon, numerous Masons were forwarding this incorrect story around social media, and A.I. – being a sophisticated, computerized plagiarist – went right on repeating it, “verifying” the story with its very own A.I.-generated story as its source.

To clarify, Jimmy Carter did meet with groups of state grand lodges and Prince Hall Masons during his presidency, just as all presidents meet officially or unofficially with hundreds of groups throughout out their terms in the Oval Office. But none of those groups of Masons ever claimed him as a member, nor did any grand lodge make him a Mason "at sight" (a controversial shortcut used by some jurisdictions to confer the lodge degrees on candidates – frequently celebrities).

None of this detracts from Jimmy Carter's lifetime of accomplishments, and as Masons we should both respect his devotion to his fellow men, and honor his memory. But it's important to keep the record straight when it comes to the true history of our fraternity. Gerald R. Ford, Carter's predecessor, is the last U.S. president at this time to have been a Freemason (and also a Shriner). Please don't rely on Artificial Intelligence to research factual information.

 

*Just to be as thorough as possible, there is a Tatum Lodge 1386 in the town of Tatum, Texas, not Georgia, and Jimmy Carter never joined it. Georgia has a lodge numbered 333 — Winder Lodge 333, located in the town of the same name. There’s no record of Carter joining it, either.

UPDATE

Despite many Masons attempting to correct Quora's Poe AI assistant, it continues to stubbornly allege that Carter was a Mason as of today, December 31 at 5:00PM EST, though it grudgingly admits the facts are disputed. Nobody seems to dispute it besides the AI bots.

Below are excerpts from a pair of long posts on the Shriners website that appeared yesterday. President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, were both enthusiastic supporters of Shriners Hospitals and its mission of providing life-changing medical care for disabled children. The original posts can be seen HERE:

In 2016 the Carters appeared in a Valentine’s-themed public service announcement for the healthcare system, saying our greatest legacy is “what we can do to help the next generation” and encouraging viewers to refer children who could benefit from Shriners Children’s care. President Carter said then, “We have been following the philanthropic efforts of Shriners Hospitals for many years, and we look forward to helping people understand they are a resource available when seeking medical care for their children."

Gary Bergenske, former head of the fraternity and former CEO of Shriners Children’s, recalled that President Carter made the PSA because of his passionate belief in the mission. “He donated his time and image to do this for Shriners Children’s out of the goodness of his heart,” Bergenske said. “He did that because he wanted to help the children we take care of.”

Later the same year, members of the Carter Center traveled with a Shriners Children’s medical team for an outreach clinic at St. Boniface hospital in Haiti. The Carter Center helped organize the medical mission, working directly with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Disabilities of the Government of Haiti for approval.

President Carter began working with Shriners Children’s to expand access to medical care for children around the world, and he was named Honorary Ambassador of Hasan Shriners at a ceremony in Albany, Georgia, in 2014. The honor was particularly meaningful, President Carter said, because his father (James Earl Carter, Sr.) was a Mason and a Shriner.

In 2018, President Carter and the Carter Center assisted Shriners Children’s in transporting children who were critically injured in a volcanic eruption in Guatemala, helping to arrange military transport – the U.S. Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster III aircraft – and military medical teams to help transfer the children to our Galveston hospital.

Both the healthcare system and the fraternity honored President Carter in 2018. Shriners Children’s bestowed the Humanitarian Award in recognition of his service on behalf of our mission and patients. The award was presented by that year’s Imperial Potentate, Imperial Sir Bergenske, who also presented President Carter with one of the fraternity’s most special honors, the Imperial Potentate’s Medallion.

President Carter once said, “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something... My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

Shriners Children’s and Shriners International are proud to have been singled out and supported by President Carter, and deeply appreciate his efforts to help the world’s children have access to the life-changing care that Shriners Children’s provides.

Former Imperial Potentate Shares Fond Memories of the Carters

Imperial Sir Gary Bergenske, who served as Imperial Potentate 2017-2018, was privileged to meet and work with President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, an association that he treasures.

Bergenske said he first met the Carters in 2014, when the former president supported the philanthropy by making a Valentine’s-themed public service announcement. Bergenske said he was struck by President Carter’s commitment to Shriners Children’s. “He did that out of the kindness of his heart, and he said we could use it anytime we wanted,” Bergenske recalled.

President Carter asked what he could do for Shriners Children’s, “and I gave him a whole wish list,” Bergenske said. The commercial was just the start of the association between the former president and the Shriners organizations. President Carter went on to fulfill nearly every item on Bergenske’s list, supporting an outreach clinic in Haiti, helping arrange military transport for volcano victims in Guatemala and more.

The only thing he was never able to do was accept an invitation to attend Imperial Session. So in 2018, Imperial Sir Bergenske went to the Carter home in Plains, Georgia, to present him with the Imperial Potentate’s Medallion and the Humanitarian Award from the philanthropy.

Bergenske and his wife, Lady Anne, visited with the Carters several times. “What an experience, to just sit and have dinner with them as friends,” Bergenske said. “It was our joint love of helping others that drew us together.”

Bergenske said that although the two men were very different, they had an important thing in common. “He wanted to help Shriners Children’s, and we wanted to help him and the Carter Center too. We were both working together to help kids. It was a really great relationship.”

Bergenske said he looked to President Carter as a mentor and an example. “He set the bar high, but he was very humble in what he did.”

No He Isn't, And No It's Not

This photo has been flying around social media all weekend, and already the howling has begun.

Yes, I know, it looks like President Trump is holding a white lambskin Masonic apron.

No, Donald Trump is NOT a Freemason. 

(And no, former president Barack Obama is NOT one either.)

And no, it's NOT an apron, but a diplomatic envelope being delivered to the President by North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol.

And while it's remotely possible that there is a minuscule handful of Freemasons alive in North Korea these days, it's NOT likely, and Kim Yong Chol in particular is one of the last guys on Earth who would be associated with it.

And no, it's NOT "significant" that Thomas Jefferson's photo is hanging in the background, because no, Thomas Jefferson (the THIRD President!!!) was NOT provably a Freemason — much less a 33rd degree one (however, if anybody can dig up an authentic record saying otherwise either from his days in Paris or the lodge in Charlottesville, you'll get extra green beans with your steak dinner).

But for those of you who still believe this nonsense, here you go. The generic foil works just as good as the expensive Reynolds Wrap.

Once your hat is ready, everybody sing along: