How did the transition from two to three degrees occur in Freemasonry?

In the early eighteenth century, Craft Masonry operated with a single form of initiation or two broad steps, in which the secrets of the present first and second degrees were communicated to the Entered Apprentice, and those of the third to the Fellow Craft or Master 125. Between 1717 and 1730, this arrangement was divided and expanded into the modern three-degree system through a gradual, imperceptible process rather than a single formal act 124. Hughan argues that this ceremonial expansion was a direct consequence of non-operatives assuming control of the Grand Lodge after 1717 5.

Evidence of three distinct degrees appears in lodge usage by 1724 4, with the titles of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason gaining formal recognition around 1725 to 1726 2. Findel suggests the second degree was intercalated to complete the three operative steps, while the Master Mason degree originated as an allegory or reward for brethren who had passed the chair 3. Oliver similarly attributes the creation of the third degree legend to Desaguliers and Anderson, who drew upon Jewish Targum tales published in 1715 3.

The adoption of the tri-gradal system varied widely by jurisdiction and lodge. While English lodges generally assimilated the expanded ceremonial between 1733 and 1740 2, Scottish lodges adopted it significantly later 3. The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) first recorded raising a Master Mason in 1738 3, Kilwinning enacted the step in 1736 3, and several Scottish lodges remained unacquainted with the third degree until the 1760s 3.