Freemasonry: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Also Known As	Free and Accepted Masons • Freemasons, order of
Date	1717 - present
Related People	Nikolay Ivanovich Novikov • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • Montesquieu • Pierre-Eugène-Marcellin Berthelot • John Davis Pierce

Some conspiracy theorists claim that the Freemasons are a cult with connections to the Illuminati or with the fabled Elders of Zion as part of an anti-Semitic claim that Jewish bankers control the world's governments.
Fourteen of the first 43 presidents of the United States were Freemasons.
There is a Masonic Grand Lodge in every one of the U.S. states as well as in the District of Columbia.
The Freemasons have no historical connection to the Knights Templar; no Templars were left when the organization formed.