Who were the Freemasons, and why were they significant?

Freemasons were the members of the secret fraternal order of Free and Accepted Masons that is a worldwide secret society.

Many of the founding fathers were freemasons, like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, John Hancock, John Marshall. So nine of the 56 men that signed the Declaration of Independence were Masons and 13 of the 39 that signed the US Constitution were also masons.