“So far as I am acquainted with the principles & Doctrines of Free Masonry, I conceive it to be founded in benevolence and to be exercised only for the good of mankind.”

—  George Washington

Draft of a letter to the Grand Lodge of Free Masons of the State of Maryland (8 November 1798) http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mgw/mgw4/113/0400/0495.jpg
1790s
Context: So far as I am acquainted with the principles & Doctrines of Free Masonry, I conceive it to be founded in benevolence and to be exercised only for the good of mankind. If it has been a Cloak to promote improper or nefarious objects, it is a melancholly proof that in unworthy hands, the best institutions may be made use of to promote the worst designs.

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George Washington 186
first President of the United States 1732–1799

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