E.2.4 Free and Accepted

The term “free and accepted” appeared in 1722, five years after the creation of the first Grand Lodge. These two words came into use because the early lodges accepted members who were known, in some lodges, as accepted masons” and, in others, as “Freemasons” although they were one and the same thing. To avoid the confusion the two words “free and accepted” were used to cover the two groups and fuse them into one.