what did article 2 of the 1813 articles of union actually declare about the craft

Article II declared and pronounced that pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more: those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch 13. It included a further proviso stating that the article was not intended to prevent any lodge or chapter from holding a meeting in any of the degrees of the Orders of Chivalry, according to the Constitutions of those Orders 123.

By this declaration, the Royal Arch was formally recognized as an inherent part of Ancient Craft Masonry 13. Mackey observes that this marked a significant ritual concession by the Premier Grand Lodge, or "Moderns," who had long opposed the degree as an innovation 1. Following the Union, the Royal Arch came to be acknowledged within the English Rite not as a separate or additional degree, but as the complement and completion of the Master Mason degree 2.

Article II explicitly declared that pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch 131.

In the Craft, this clause formally recognized the Royal Arch as an inherent part or complement of the Master Mason degree rather than an extraneous system 31. Mackey points out that this marked a major ritual concession by the Premier Grand Lodge ("Moderns"), whose leaders had previously opposed the Royal Arch as an unauthorized innovation 1. An article on the United Grand Lodge of England's website notes that the specific phrasing of Article II was a negotiated compromise designed to facilitate the union of the two rival Grand Lodges without excluding the Royal Arch.

The article also contained a proviso specifying that this definition was not intended to prevent any lodge or chapter from holding meetings in the degrees of the Orders of Chivalry in accordance with the Constitutions of those Orders 13.

The Articles of Union of 1813 were signed by the two Grand Masters and six Commissioners 1. On behalf of the Antients Grand Lodge, the signatories were Edward, Duke of Kent, who served as Grand Master; Thomas Harper, the Deputy Grand Master; and James Perry and James Agar, both Past Deputy Grand Masters, as recorded by the United Grand Lodge of England.

The definition of pure Antient Masonry derived from Article 2 of the 1813 Act of Union forms the Preliminary Declaration printed at the front of the United Grand Lodge of England's Book of Constitutions. An article on the United Grand Lodge of England's website notes that while this declaration retains the core definition of the three degrees including the Holy Royal Arch, by 1853 it was included without its original second sentence regarding meetings of the Orders of Chivalry.