Was George Washington The First President of the United States? Ramona Cook S.S. Fair Project Ms. Gnann’s Class December 2005 also see: http://www.no-debts.com/anti-federalist/page2.html Was George Washington the First President? When you ask most people who the first president of the United States was they will respond “George Washington!” What most people do not know is that the United States had fourteen presidents before George Washington. The list of leaders of the United States began with Peyton Randolph of Virginia on September 5, 1774, twenty-five years before George Washington took the oath of office under the Constitution in 1789. When the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on September 4, 1774, all colonies were represented except Georgia and each colony had a vote. A Declaration of Rights was adopted by the Continental Congress on October 14, 1774, and claimed that the assembly of each colony had the right to make laws governing everything in their colony except foreign trade. On October 20, 1774 the Continental Congress voted to stop trading with Great Britain and the West Indies. It also voted to discontinue the slave trade and stop consuming foreign products. Peyton Randolph resigned as president on October 21, 1774 due to poor health. The second president was Henry Middleton of South Carolina who served from October 22, 1774 until May 10, 1775. The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775 and Peyton Randolph became president again but only served until May 23, 1775 due his poor health. Peyton Randolph died on Oct. 22, 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Peyton Randolph Henry Middleton The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, not quite a month after the battles at Lexington and Concord and adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776. They then wrote the Articles of Confederation which were the operating basis for government during the Revolution. The Articles of Confederation were not fully ratified until February, 1781 due to disagreements over the boundaries between the states. The third president was John Hancock of Massachusetts from May 24, 1775 to October 30, 1777. Hancock promoted resistance to England. In 1775, Gen. Thomas Gage issued a warrant for Hancock’s arrest, but he escaped. Hancock was president of the Continental Congress twice. First from 1775 through 1777 and again 1785 through 1786, but the second time he never actually served due to continued illness. John Hancock The fourth president was Henry Laurens of South Carolina from November 1, 1777 to December 9, 1778. Laurens was captured by the British in 1780 and imprisoned in the Tower of London until he was exchanged for General Cornwallis in 1783 as part of the prisoner exchange following the Battle of Yorktown. Henry Laurens John Jay John Jay of New York was the fifth president from December 10, 1778 to September 27, 1779. In 1783 he was Secretary of Foreign Affairs, which is the same as the office now called Secretary of State, and he was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Samuel Huntington from Connecticut was the sixth president and he served from September 28, 1779 to July 9, 1781 when he resigned due to illness. Thomas McKean of Delaware was elected the seventh president on July 10, 1781 to complete the Huntington’s term which ended on November 4, 1781. McKean was in office when the British surrendered at Yorktown. He was a supporter of the Articles of Confederation, which he signed. McKean was the only person to serve in Congress from its start in 1774 until the peace treaty was signed in 1783. Samuel Huntington Thomas McKean The Articles of Confederation were in force from March 1, 1781 until the Constitution went into effect on March 4, 1789. The Articles state that "The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint ... one of their members to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years ...." A starting date for the office of president was not defined in the Articles of Confederation and many resigned before completing a full year in office. The eighth president, John Hanson from Maryland was elected on January 5, 1782 and served the first full one-year term under the official Articles of Confederation from November 5, 1781 to November 3, 1782. Since he was the first President to serve under the Articles of Confederation, Hanson is sometimes referred to as the first President of the United States. He was an anti-Federalist and opposed the proposed Constitution until his death in 1783. John Hanson Elias Boudinot of New Jersey served a full term as the ninth president from November 4, 1782 to November 2, 1783. Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania served as tenth president from November 3, 1783 to November 29, 1784. As president he signed the treaty with Great Britain that formally ended the war. Elias Boudinot Thomas Mifflin Richard Henry Lee of Virginia served as eleventh president from November 30, 1784 to November 22, 1785. He was also vigorous in arguing for independence and wrote the resolution approved July 2, 1776 "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states". He later wrote the Northwest Ordinances, which provided for the formation of new states from the Northwest Territory. As a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 through 1779, he promoted a non-importation agreement. Lee was a member of the committee that placed George Washington in command of the Continental Army. Lee served again in the Continental Congress from 1784 through1787. He opposed the U.S. Constitution because he feared that it would destroy states' rights. Richard Henry Lee John Hancock of Massachusetts was elected to the twelfth term of president which began November 23, 1785 but because of poor health he was unable to complete his full term in office. Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts completed Hancock's term from June 6, 1786 to February 1, 1787. Gorham’s term was several months longer than a year because the date of inauguration was changed. Nathaniel Gorham Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania served as the thirteenth president from February 2, 1787 to January 21, 1788. He was an anti-Federalist and feared that the proposed Constitution would allow the intrusion of government into our private lives. Arthur St. Clair The nation's fourteenth president was Cyrus Griffin of Virginia who served from January 22, 1788 until George Washington's inauguration on April 30, 1789. Griffin started out an anti-Federalist, but he eventually accepted the new Constitution with the promise of the Bill of Rights as protection. Cyrus Griffin According to stanklos.com the information supporting that George Washington was not the first president includes the following: “The Journals of Congress clearly indicate that there were six Presidents of the Continental Congress and ten Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled before George Washington's Inauguration in 1789. Two of the Presidents, John Hancock and Samuel Huntington served in both offices.” “These fourteen Presidents, aside from Secretary Charles Thomson, were the only members of the confederation freely elected by Congress to represent the United Colonies/States in their entirety.” “ The President of the United States in Congress Assembled on March 1, 1781 was Samuel Huntington of Connecticut who by virtue of the Articles' ratification became the 1st President of the United States in Congress Assembled.” “ Nine more Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled under the Articles of Confederation were duly elected after Samuel Huntington. The Presidents on many occasions used their office to exercise much influence on United States public affairs and legislation.” “ These 10 US Presidents in Congress Assembled presided over the unicameral government of the United States of America from 1781 to 1788 under the Articles of Confederation. The word “President” is derived from “to preside” which was just one function of the US Presidency under the Articles of the Confederation.” “ The Presidents signed congressional laws, treaties, and military orders. They called for Congressional assembly and adjournment. Presidents signed military commissions including George Washington’s commander-in-chief appointment, received foreign dignitaries, received, read, answered, and at their own discretion held or disseminated the official mail addressed to Congress and the President of the United States in Congress Assembled. The Presidents each had one vote in the Unicameral Congress. The Presidents presided, much like the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, over judicial Congressional Cases. The current US President conducts many of the same duties today but is not permitted, under the 1787 Constitution, to vote, act as a presiding judge or to receive, open, and hold Congress' mail or serve as a judiciary official of the United States.” “ The government of the United States provided for the President’s expenses, servants, clerks, housing, and transportation. Their home state was expected to provide for their salary.” “ In 1788 the President of the United States in Congress Assembled official duties were replaced by President George Washington (executive branch), Chief Justice John Jay (judicial branch), President of the US Senate John Adams and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg (legislative branch) under the new US Constitution.” “ In 1861 President Abraham Lincoln refused to recognize the secession of South Carolina and the other Southern States claiming they were legally bound to the United States not by the US Constitution but by the "Perpetual Union" they ratified under the Articles of Confederation in 1781.” "The express plighting of faith by each and all of the original thirteen in the Articles of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall be perpetual is most conclusive." – (Abraham Lincoln's Address to Congress in Special Session 4 July 1861.) My conclusion is that the Articles of Confederation created the “Perpetual Union” and established the office of the President of the United States in Congress Assembled. George Washington, who was the 1st President of the United States under the Constitution of 1787, was not the 1st President of the United States. Presidents of the Continental Congresses Name Elected Birth and death dates Peyton Randolph, Va. Henry Middleton, S.C. Peyton Randolph, Va. John Hancock, Mass. Henry Laurens, S.C. John Jay, N.Y. Samuel Huntington, Conn. Thomas McKean, Del. John Hanson, Md. Elias Boudinot, N.J. Thomas Mifflin, Pa. Richard Henry Lee, Va. John Hancock, Mass.1 1. Resigned May 29, 1786, never having served, because of continued illness. Nathaniel Gorham, Mass. Arthur St. Clair, Pa. Cyrus Griffin, Va. Bibliography Written Sources Grant, George. The Patriots Handbook Cumberland House, Nashville TN, 1996 pp 225ff. “National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Our Forgotten Presidents” http://www.sar.org/history/forgpres.htm Latest changes: 99Jul23 - created "Presidents of the Continental Congresses." Infoplease. © 2000–2005 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease. 30 Nov. 2005 . Klos, Samuel, L. President Who? Forgotten Founders http://stanklos.com/virtualmuseumofhistory/rebelswithavision.com/uspresidency.com/ Image Sources Boudinot, Elias http://www.eadshome.com/images/foundingfathers/Elias%20B.jpg Griffin, Cyrus http://www.russpickett.com/ushist/uscont.htm Randolph, Peyton http://www.history.org/foundation/general/patriot_cast.cfm Gorham, Nathaniel http://www.teachingamericanhistory.com/convention/delegates/gorham.html Hancock, John http://earlyamerica.com/portraits/hancock.html Hanson, John http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/000500/000587/html/msa00587.html Huntington, Samuel http://history.rays-place.com/governors/huntington-samuel.htm Jay, John http://www.constitution.org/cs_image.htm Maintained: Jon Roland of the Constitution Society Original date: 1995 September 25 — Updated: 2005 November 3 Laurens, Henry http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/RevoltBIOS/LaurensHenry.html Lee, Richard Henry http://www.constitution.org/cs_image.htm Maintained: Jon Roland of the Constitution Society Original date: 1995 September 25 — Updated: 2005 November 3 Middleton, Henry http://www.sciway.net/hist/governors/middleton.html McKean, Thomas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_McKean Mifflin, Thomas http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/nn/Mifflin.html St Clair, Arthur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_St._Clair