Things National Treasure Gets Right About History

John Adams Gates' (Christopher Plummer) claim that at least some of the Founding Fathers were moonlighting as Freemasons on a quest to protect a priceless hoard of treasure from the British isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. At least in some respects. First, the Freemasons are real. According to the BBC, the world's largest secret organization started out in Scotland and England in the Middle Ages as many small associations — or lodges — of stonemasons, which eventually became a national network and later spread around the world. There are supposedly six million members today.

Second, some of the Founding Fathers were almost certainly Freemasons. We say "almost" because the thing about people in secret organizations is that they don't typically broadcast their participation. But, as John Adams tells his grandson, we know that George Washington, Paul Revere, and Benjamin Franklin were definitely Freemasons, as well as John Hancock and Chief Justice John Marshall. However, while Ben Gates asserts that at least nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons, we don't know that for sure.

Ironically, given the role he plays in National Treasure, the Founding Father who definitely wasn't a Freemason was Charles Carroll. He was Catholic, and the Catholic Church has condemned the Freemasons since 1738, and still forbids membership.

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