I recently learned of the presidents previously elected into office before George Washington, of which nearly half were Free Masons. Not forgetting Washington himself, as well as Benjamin Franklin, and even Hoover & FDR.
Is it just by coincidence that many of these men joined their local lodge, or is there something inherent in the Mason traditions that drew men of their stature towards joining? Is there any historical context as to why it's gone so far as for George Washington to preform "Mason Rights" on the Capitol building?
(Just for clarification, I'm not looking for conspiracy driven connections, just if there's a historically legitimate reason.)
Request for clarification:
the presidents previously elected into office before George Washington
Presidents before the first president?
It's not a matter of conspiracy, it's a mix between philosophical ideas and social connections. Member of a same social class at a certain time would share a same vision of the world, and in the upper society of the second half of the 18th and even more in the 19th century, freemasonry was one of those shared experience. Everyone was not a freemason, but if you knew one (and more likely many) among your friends, you might be initiated too. Moreover, as the lodge reunited in secret, it was a space were everyone knew each other and all were bound to not reveal activities within the lodge. In consequence it created a space of free speech outside of possible censorship. Such a place was thus a great occasion to spread philosophical ideas of the enlightenment, wich would spark the revolution in the United States and then in Europe. Once those ideas triumphed a great number of freemasons became in power and as a consequence the elite of the society was globally in the free masonry. But of course this tendency of the lodge as a space of free speech made it safer for "subversive ideas", wich could be opposed to reactionnary/religious tendencies. The history of freemasonry in varied and complex but this general commentary should give you a basic explanation.