Over the centuries, in Europe, a large number of Masonic degrees had developed, particularly in France, where Masonry assumed a more dramatic and colorful ceremonial form. Eventually these degrees were organized into a more formal group of degrees constituting the Scottish Rite. Although it may have been influenced by Scottish Masons who had fled to France during strife in the British Isles, the Scottish Rite did not develop in Scotland, nor come to America from there. It was brought from France to the French possessions in the West Indies, and then to America by authority of a patent granted in 1763 to Stephen Morin. In 1767, a lodge of Perfection was organized in Albany, New York, and over the next thirty years various other bodies were formed and were conferring degrees under the patent from Morin.

   In 1801, the first Supreme Council was formed in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1813, the Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction was founded, and so today we have two Supreme Councils in the United States. The Southern Jurisdiction is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and the Northern Jurisdiction is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.

   Our Northern Jurisdiction is composed of the fifteen states east of the Mississippi river and north of the Ohio River, including Delaware.

   The remainder of the United States and territories compose the Southern Jurisdiction.