did the master mason degree exist when the 1723 constitutions were published or was it just two degrees then

When James Anderson published the Constitutions in 1723, Freemasonry recognized only two degrees: Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft/Master 1. An article on Quatuor Coronati Lodge's website confirms that the 1723 Constitutions acknowledged only this two-degree structure, with the distinct Third Degree of Master Mason introduced later, around 1727.

In the Craft during this early period, the essentials of the modern First and Second Degrees were communicated together to the Entered Apprentice, while the secrets later assigned to the Third Degree were given to the Fellow Craft or Master 1. Although evidence of a tri-gradal degree system appears in records as early as 1724, Grand Lodge only gradually sanctioned the expansion, and the majority of lodges continued conferring secrets under the two-step system until roughly 1733 1.

The United Grand Lodge of England notes that Pure Antient Masonry as defined in its Constitutions today consists of three degrees—Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason—representing the settled evolution of the system after the 1723 Constitutions were issued.

Douglas Knoop and G. P. Jones deduced that eighteenth-century ceremonies derived from two main sources: the Manuscript Constitutions, which supplied the traditional history, charges, and opening prayer, and the early catechisms associated with the impartation of the Mason Word, as recorded in an article on the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon's website. They demonstrated that early practice utilized a two-degree system consisting of the Entered Apprentice, and the Fellow Craft or Master, as recorded in early manuscript catechisms such as the Edinburgh Register House Manuscript (1696) and the Chetwode Crawley Manuscript (c. 1700).

Their findings established that the modern three-degree system did not exist in ancient operative Masonry, but developed gradually in the early eighteenth century between 1720 and 1730, a timeline corroborated by an article on the Grand Lodge of Greece's website. Furthermore, an article on the website of Lodge Verity No. 59 observes that the adoption of the trigradal system proceeded slowly even after 1730, with many lodges continuing to confer two degrees during a single meeting well into the eighteenth century. This fits the broader historical account of early ritual evolving incrementally from a single form of initiation into separate degrees over the first decades of the grand lodge era 2.

The Premier Grand Lodge of England did not adopt the three-degree system on a single, specific date through a formal decree; rather, official recognition developed gradually through tacit consent and approval during the mid-1720s 21.

Following the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717, the Craft operated primarily under a single form of initiation or a two-part system 213. Evidence indicates that a tri-gradal system was worked with the tacit consent of Grand Lodge following November 27, 1725 1. The governing body approved or recognized the three titles—Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason—in their modern signification possibly in 1725 and almost certainly by 1726 1.

Despite this sanction, the assimilation of the three-degree system across private lodges was gradual and imperceptible 21. In many lodges, the older practice of communicating the system's esoteric content in two steps persisted, and the English Craft as a whole only became generally instructed in the expanded three-degree ceremonial between 1733 and 1740 1.