Scottish Rite

The four concordant Bodies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry sitting in the Valley of Jacksonville, Orient of Florida, derive their charters from and acknowledge and yield allegiance to the Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commanders of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America whose See is at the Grand Orient of Charleston, in the state of South Carolina, now sitting in Washington, D.C.

What is the Supreme Council?

There are two Scottish Rite Jurisdictions in the United States. Each has its own governing body known as a Supreme Council. The headquarters for the Southern Jurisdiction is in Washington, D. C. at 1733 Sixteenth Street N. W. . The Grand Constitutions of 1786, the earliest known text in the possession of John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho, provided for two Supreme Councils in the United States. The Supreme Council at Charleston sent one of its Active Members to New York and authorized him to establish in 1813 a Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States of America. With this accomplished, The Supreme Council at Charleston in 1827 ceded to the Northern Supreme Council the 15 states north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi Rivers. The Southern Supreme Council retained jurisdiction over all other states and territories (at home and abroad) of the United States. The headquarters for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction is located at Lexington, Massachusetts. The Sovereign Grand Commander, is Ill John Wm McNaughton 33°. The Northern Jurisdiction covers 15 Northeastern states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.