It is conceded by all the authorities on Scottish Rite Masonry, that the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established by the Ancient Council of the Emperors of the East and West, an organization created in Paris in 1758, having a Chamber in the old Grand Lodge of France.  In 1761, that Council of Emperors of East and West appointed Bro. Stephen Morin as Grand Inspector, giving him certain powers over the then known twenty-five degrees.

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The first Scottish Rite organization among African-Americans was the African Grand Council of 1820 in Philadelphia, which was referred to as a Council of Princes of Jerusalem.  This Council "arose through migration of black men known as the West Indies or Caribbean".  The Council was known as "The African Grand Council", later the African Council Bro. Baron Auguste Hugo DeBulow, a French Nobleman, voted a Sovereign Grand Inspector on June 9, 1860 by the Supreme Council of France, and named representative of the Hayes Council.  During his visit to America, he conferred the 33 degree on African-American Masons, to include Bro. Dr. Peter Ray of New York; Bro. Jonathan Miller of Pennsylvania; Bro. Levi Anderson of Delaware; and Bro. Lemuel G. Griffin of Maryland.merged with the King David Council of Philadelphia.

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In 1850, Count St. Laurent, Grand Commander of Spain, an Inspector General and a Deputy of the Supreme Council of France, with proper authority conferred the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite degrees upon Bro. David Leary, a prominent Black American from Philadelphia, PA.  Subsequently, the Supreme Council of France granted him a patent of power and authority to establish a Supreme Council among men of "coloured" Masons in the United States of America.

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August 18, 1988, The Imperial Supreme Council of Grand Council of Grand Inspector General of the Thirty-Third and Last Degree of the United States of America, Its Territories and Dependences, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons, International Jurisdiction, Incorporated by Founder