The Presidents of the USA Before Washington
What?
But George Washington was America's first president.
Everyone knows that. He was the leader of the American
Revolution, the 'first citizen', the father of his country. He
was the Virginian on top.
Well, no. Based on how certain titles and job descriptions
are interpreted, many historians consider the original George-Dubya
to be a middle president, leaving to the bookshelf presidents
as Peyton Randolph or John Hanson (see below) and whoever the
US president is when you're reading this.
Washington may have been, according to whom you ask, the
eighth or fifteenth President. He wasn't even the first Virginian
President of the US.
The questioning of such a basic 'fact' in American history
does require some explanation. The government under which
America lives is based on its Constitution. However, this
wasn't always the case. First, the same government which
declared the United States to be a free and independent nation
- the Continental Congress - was the only legitimate
government of the nation. Seven men served as Presidents of
the Continental Congress (if you count these men as President
- see below). Later, the Articles of Confederation were
adopted, and seven more men took the office of President
before Washington.
Some say that Washington must have been the first President
because America wasn't a single nation before the
Constitution. Some set the creation of the nation at an
earlier date. Some are less interested in pedantry and go read
a different Entry.
Continental Congress Presidents
During the course of its existence, the Continental
Congress had seven men serve as its presiding officer;
sometimes this earned them the title of President of the
United States.
Really, the job of President of the Continental Congress was
more of a premiership than a presidency. They had no special
executive powers and this led to a big grey area. The question
must be asked - Are they Presidents because they had the
title or do they need to have the executive powers too? -
to which an answer must inevitably be given: How should I
know? You decide.
Here is a list of the Presidents of the Continental
Congress:
- Peyton Randolph was a Virginian
revolutionary, elected as President of the Congress on
September 5, 1774. He resigned the next month to go back
to Virginia for political purposes. He came back to
Congress and on 10 May and was re-elected President. He
left on 24 May again, and didn't return as President.
- Henry Middleton was a conservative
South Carolinian who served as President for four days
in-between the terms of Peyton Randolph. During his short
tenure, however, Middleton managed to have an obsequious
letter sent to King George on October 22, 1774, before
Congress dissolved itself. If you consider him to be a
President of the US, he would hold the record for the
shortest presidency.
- John Hancock was a Massachusetts man,
and assumed the Presidency after Peyton Randolph left the
office. Hancock served in the office from May 1775 to
October 1777. During his time as President, he oversaw the
adoption of the Declaration of Independence and its
signing. His famous signature on the Declaration is what
he is best known for. He also commissioned George
Washington be Commander-in-Chief of the colonial forces.
He would later serve as President of the United States in
Congress Assembled from 1785 to 1786. His name would also
be put onto a famous Chicago tower.
- Henry Laurens was a moderate South
Carolina man, who owned one of the largest slave
plantations in the state. He was a revolutionary leader in
the Carolinas, though his state was among the most loyal
to the King. He was elected to the Continental Congress,
and after Hancock resigned, Laurens became its president
in November 1777. During this time, he recognized
Thanksgiving as a holiday and tried to help the
Continental Army through its war, as all good leaders
should.
- John Jay was a prominent Federalist,
later going on to contribute to the Federalist Papers
with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. He was elected
as a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York in
late 1778, and was made president of the body shortly
after he arrived. He would go on to become the first Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of
America.
- Samuel Huntington, a Connecticut man,
was one of the first prominent revolutionaries to speak
out against Britain. He was elected to the Continental
Congress in 1775. He remained a delegate for a while, and
was elected to its presidency in 1779. He was very popular
in his state, and was actually elected to the Congress
after his retirement in 1781, against his will. Some very
pedantic people call him the First President of the United
States, because he presided over Congress while the
Articles of Confederation were ratified. After this, he
was given the title of President of the United States in
Congress Assembled. However, he never really took on any
powers exceeding those of his predecessors.
- Thomas McKean was a Delaware man who
must have liked titles. He held numerous posts throughout
his life, and the title of President of the United States
in Congress Assembled must have been one of his favorites.
He was elected to the Congress in 1774 and became its
President in 1781. He was one of those who helped draw up
the Articles of Confederation.
Presidents Under the Articles
Eventually, a government was constructed, which gave the most
power to the individual states instead of to the federal
government. This government was outlined with the Articles of
Confederation. It stood as the national authority in America
from March 1, 1781, when it was ratified by the states, until
1789, when the Federalists got the Constitution adopted
officially. The Articles of Confederation weren't what the
country needed. They didn't work well. This is one of the
reasons that the Articles were replaced, and one reason why
its presidents are largely forgotten.
Though most of the power was handed to the state
governments under the Articles of Confederation, there was a
national government that had an office of 'President'.
Basically, the job of this man was not to do too much while
also not letting the country fall apart. Officially, the man
was 'President of a Committee of the States' or 'President of
Congress of the United States, Assembled', and was only
allowed a one-year term every three years.
He was given some executive powers, similar to those of the
Constitutional Presidency, but on a much smaller scale.
Presidents under the Articles of Confederation can therefore
be considered presidents of the United States; only less
powerful than the presidents we are familiar with.
John Hanson
To those who do not consider Presidents of the Continental
Congress to be Presidents of the United States and Presidents
of the Articles of Confederation to be the holders of that
office, John Hanson was the first President of the United
States. Some have devoted their lives to recognizing the man
as the first President. For instance there is a Presidential
Museum in a small town in Ohio devoted to the man they
consider to be the first President.
Hanson was from Maryland. His state was extremely key to the
adoption of the Articles of Confederation. It had refused to
agree to them until New York and Virginia gave up claims to
their western lands, as it felt that they would become too
powerful with them. This was agreed to, and Maryland signed
the Articles of Confederation. Shortly afterwards, the
Congress unanimously elected John Hanson, who was one of their
number and highly respected, as President. He took the office
on November 5, 1781.
Hanson had to deal with an unruly group of soldiers who
demanded payment and threatened to install George Washington
as a monarch. The President dealt with this, and managed to
avert rebellion. It was quite something to be proud of,
really. He also ordered European nations out of America and
established a system of government, complete with a Treasury
Department, a Secretary of War and a State Department. Perhaps
the greatest evidence that Hanson was the first president is
that he established the Great Seal of the United States, which
all following presidents have used on their documents.
After one year, Hanson resigned the office, and assumed a
relatively quiet life. He disliked the idea of a Constitution,
and remained opposed to the Federalist ideals until his death
in 1783.
Elias Boudinot
One of the most powerful revolutionaries in New Jersey, Elias
Boudinot was born in 1740 in Philadelphia. He was one of the
benefactors of Alexander Hamilton when Hamilton was a young
immigrant. A lawyer and a highly religious man, Boudinot
quickly established himself as one of the most powerful men in
the colonies.
He was elected to the New Jersey assembly in 1775, and helped
promote enlistment into the army to fight Britain. In 1777, he
was made Commissary General of Prisoners, and accordingly, he
was made a Colonel. Later that year, he was made a Delegate to
the Continental Congress, as well as being in charge of
prisoners. In 1778, he resigned his prisoner post because its
responsibilities barred him from attending Congress. He was
re-elected to Congress in 1781, and was made President of
Congress in 1782. During his term, the Treaty of Paris was
signed, in which Britain recognized American independence.
Some people put Boudinot down as the first President, arguing
the US wasn't a true nation until Britain recognized its
independence. His term as President ran out shortly after this
was signed.
After the Constitution was ratified, Boudinot was a
Representative for the state of New Jersey in 1789. He served
two more terms, and was appointed by George Washington as
Director of the US Mint from 1795 - 1805. He was an excellent
director, and produced the first coins in the history of the
nation. He died in 1821.
Thomas Mifflin
Thomas Mifflin, born in 1744 in Philadelphia, was one of
Pennsylvania's founding fathers. He went to the University of
Pennsylvania, and then joined the legislature of his colony,
before being elected to the Continental Congress in 1774. He
worked for George Washington as an aide and then for the army
in general. He was made a Major General in 1777 and then a
member of the Board of War. He rejoined the Congress in 1782,
and was made its President in 1783. He also was the Speaker of
the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and then a delegate
to the Constitutional Convention.
In 1788, Mifflin took an important statewide post as President
of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. He also took
a leading role in the State Constitutional Convention, making
a Pennsylvania government based on the national government.
Benefiting from the design he helped create, Mifflin was
elected Governor of Pennsylvania and to the House of
Representatives, until his death in 1800.
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee was in fact the first Virginian President of
the United States. His family was a noble one, and he fought
in the French and Indian War on the British side. He returned
home, and became a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses,
becoming familiar with many of the great men who would become
leaders in the Patriot cause during the American Revolution.
In 1774, Lee was appointed to the First Continental Congress,
and was one of its best speakers. He helped lead the Congress
into declaring independence. He served in Congress throughout
the war, while retaining his post in the House of Burgesses.
In 1783, as one of the most senior members, he was made
President of the Congress. Though he was opposed to the
Federalist system of government, Lee took a post as a Senator
in the new post-Constitution government. Interestingly, his
descendant Robert E Lee would become the leader of the
Confederate forces during the American Civil War.
John Hancock
For biographical information on John Hancock, see the above
section on Presidents of Continental Congress.
Hancock served as President under the Articles from 1785 -
1786. If you consider his earlier 'presidency' of the
Continental Congress to be a true presidency, then the
oft-repeated fact that Grover Cleveland was the only man to
serve two non-consecutive terms is false.
Nathaniel Gorham
Nathaniel Gorham was a Massachusetts man from a normal family.
In 1771, he was elected to the State Legislature and served in
many, many statewide offices during the Revolution. He was a
delegate to the Constitutional Convention. In 1782, he was
elected to Congress, and then again in 1785. In 1786, he
earned the office of President of the Congress. He also helped
Massachusetts ratify the US Constitution.
Gorham fell from the heights of Massachusetts society after a
financial mistake from buying land that led to his losing his
fortune. He died in 1796.
Arthur St Clair
Arthur St Clair was born in 1736 in Scotland. If he were born
today in Scotland, he would be ineligible for the Presidency
of the USA under the Constitution. He served in the French and
Indian War, retiring as a lieutenant. He gained experience
with the frontier lands and worked for the British governor of
Pennsylvania with the frontier lands the state controlled.
During the American Revolution, St Clair backed the Patriots
and held various administrative posts before being appointed
as a colonel for the Continental Army. He was one of those who
attacked Canada in 1775 and supported General Washington in
the great victories of Trenton and Princeton. He was put in
charge of Fort Ticonderoga, an important strategic location
for the Americans to hold, but abandoned it. in 1785,
Pennsylvania elected St Clair as a delegate to the Continental
Congress, and he served as President of the Congress in 1787.
After this, he was appointed Governor of the Northwest
Territories and he worked on opening it up further to white
settlers. St Clair saw quite a bit of Indian resistance
because of the way he treated them.
When the territory of Ohio tried to gain admittance to the
Union, St Clair notoriously opposed its entrance as one state
and hoped to have it split up, because that would help the
waning Federalist party (which he backed) to maintain control
of the Senate. Eventually, he lost most of his money and died
in 1818. Ohio was admitted as one state.
Cyrus Griffin
Cyrus Griffin was the last President before the Constitution
allowed George Washington
to become America's first President. He was born in 1749 in
Virginia and was a
noteworthy lawyer of the Patriot cause. He took part in the
Virginia state government
and, in 1778, was elected as a delegate to the Continental
Congress. He was elected as a
Member of the US Congress in 1787 was elected as its President
in 1788 and served until
the government was replaced the next year.
|
