From the time of the American Revolution, up through the late 1850's, there was a significant movement to erect a National Grand Lodge for the United States. Of course, George Washington was proposed as the first National Grand Master.
However, key differences in governance prevented all of the state Grand Lodges from agreeing - most notably Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, two of the largest and oldest Grand Lodges at the time. Many attempts were made to form such a body, but it never came to fruition.
(Source: Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia. Image found on Flickr, taken at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.)
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