Talk:President of the Continental Congress/Archive 1

Moved from Talk:President of the United States in Congress assembled
I plan to come back over Christmas as reduce the prominence of this office. Most of the biographies of the men listed have it noted in the first sentence of their entry. While important, it doesn't (IMHO) desrve that kind of prominence. I'll also add a bit here and restructure the end of the article. I've added this note as an advice and welcome comments from any interested parties. Thanks, Lou I 16:30, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay. I've been considering what to do with this article, and have finally reached a decision. I will eventually combine this article back into the President of the Continental Congress article. This will become a redirect.
 * First I need to expand the biographies of several men listed under each office, before updating the major articles. While doing this I'll usually reduce the prominence now given to this office.
 * Most discussion of the full title will go to the Hanson biography, he was the only one that used this as a title, and while frequent, the use wasn't even universal for him. Other letters of his are signed as President of the Continental Congress or President of the Congress of America.
 * Some of the style (or the name) of the United States in Congress Assembled discussion needs to go into an expanded Continental Congress article.

As always, discussion is welcome here or on my Talk page. Lou I 19:47, 15 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I oppose this move. Although similar functions, the two positions had different names and existed under different conditions. Why merge together two different offices? RickK 08:19, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)


 * For all practical purposes they were not two different offices. All the elements of government were conducted by the Congress, its standing committees, or its appointed agents, officers, and diplomatic ministers. The expanded title was only used in receiving foriegn diplomats, except by Hanson, who signed lots of letters that way (Pres of the US of A in Congress Assembled). When Congress was out of session he had NO authority to act. I plan to explain this better in a section of the combined article and the John Hanson article. Lou I 08:37, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)

The Albany and Stamp Act Congresses
The two congresses, while they took place well before the time of the revolution, were in fact the same kind of conclaves, and thus I've decided to stick their presidents on the list.

The First Continental Congress, in fact, took place well before the first shot was fired in Massachussetts.Ericl 15:48, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

United Colonies v. United States
There acutally is a difference in the concepts, one great enough to break the list into two separate lists on July 2, 1776 and differentiate the two roles of John Hancock. The Continental Congress had no political power, it was only called to discuss the common problems of the colonies, and it wasn't until the actual secession and declaration that it became a unified command for common army of the 13 states. However, being president of that body, with said command, is different from being president of a congress assembled for discussion. -- By user 129.198.241.67.


 * There are a number of issues involved here. I'd note that the President of the Congress (all versions) never had any unique role in relation to the Continental Army. That army itself was created in June of 1775. Congress (and Hancock) didn't seem to view itself differently before and after July 4, 1776. And lastly, we would be introducing the United Colonies of America as though it were a term with substantial meaning. The topic of the birth of the U.S., and its separation from Britain is already complex. I haven't seen the proposed term (United colonies) used in any histories, and don't think Wikipedia should try to inttroduce things like this. Let's continue talk here before reverting the article again. Comments welcome here or my user page. Lou I 16:38, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)

The Presiding Officer Presidency
There were three distinct Presidencies before the 2nd U.S. Constitution

President of the Continetal Congress of the United Colonies 1774 to July 1, 1776

President of the Continetal Congress of the United Staes 1774 to July 2, 1776 to February 28, 1781 (there was no Constitution nor a Perpetual Union called the United States. It was an association.

President of the United States in Congress Assembled March 1, 1781 to November 8, 1788

The later is a Presidency of the United States under the 1st Constitution and is not analgous to the Speaker of the House

The foundational proofs supporting official recognition of a pre-1789 U.S. Presidency by the 21st Century U.S. Congress, Supreme Court and President are summarized as follows:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. The First State to ratify The "Perpetual Union" of the United States was Virginia (not Delaware) on December 16 1777. However, it wasn't until March 1, 1781 when Maryland agreed to the mandatory unanimous ratification of the Articles of Confederation, that first “Constitution” of the United States legally bound the 13 States into one united country.

US Statehood Order Articles of Confederation - 1 to 13 States

US Constitution - 37 to 50 States

Sources: The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution: Vol. 1: Constitutional Documents and Records, 1776-1787, ed. Merrill Jensen, Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1976; Encyclopedia of American History: Bicentennial Edition, ed. Richard Morris, New York; Harper & Row, 1976; Documents of American History, ed. Henry Steele Commanger, Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Prentice-Hall, 1973

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. These ten 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

Clearly these ten points make a "stars and stripes" case that George Washington was not the 1st President of the United States nor is George Walker Bush the 43rd. They are the 11th and 53rd, respectively. The order or should we say the proper order of U.S. Presidency is as follows: —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.97.197.9 (talk) 11:44, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm going to have to risk agreeing with the "you're hiding something" conspiracy theorists on this one. The quote from Burnett's seems to protest a bit too much.

"scarcely", "almost"... But no definitive statement saying these positions were simply "NOT the same".

I would risk querying if this position was more like the current Vice Presidency (who is President of the Senate, after all), but is still considered a more eminent leader having been elected by their peers (of all stripes).

Just my humble two cents.

Herb Riede (talk) 21:25, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Head of state?
Shouldn't President of the Continental Congress be consider as a highest office and, therefore, head of state before the office of President of the United States was created? Also Congress President may not be chief executive, but surely was a presiding officer of the government Darth Kalwejt (talk) 23:04, 24 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Arguably, it wasn't a monolithic "state" as the term is commonly used, but a very loose collection. More like a chairman (but finding scholarly research which deals with the topic is the way to answer the question) Tedickey (talk) 23:23, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Your attention is requested
If you are so inclined, you may want to comment at Templates_for_discussion, a nomination for deletion of a navbox template that could potentially be used in all President of Congress and President of the United States biographies. Cheers! —Kevin Myers 14:57, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

First President?
The "History Channel" and Isaac Asimov in his history book gives John Hanson as the First President of the United States although qualified as "in Congress Assembled".

There has also apparently been a campaign to remove George Washington from the greenback as first president and replace this with a portrait of John Hanson.

At the time of of the Congressional Presidents and the American War of Independence, It was General George Washington so who was funding his army? This has to have been a proper Congress headed by a President.

However these details are interpreted, George Washington is certainly the first Constitutional President but not the first PresidentAT Kunene (talk) 10:02, 22 January 2011 (UTC)


 * This is covered in the article. The claim that Hanson was the "first President of the United States" is a historical old wives' tale that began with Hanson's grandson, and has been periodically revived by amateur historians over the years. The Internet has given it new life: see the Snopes article. Once upon a time, Wikipedia articles used some of the amateur history websites as sources, but we've mostly managed to upgrade to reliable sources over the years. —Kevin Myers 06:29, 23 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Edited that section a bit to further clarify. Even claiming Hanson is the first "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" (the official name for the government under the Articles) is dubious, as Huntington continued serving as president after the Articles were ratified, and McKean was elected and served before Hanson.Sgtbilko99 (talk) 20:10, 9 October 2019 (UTC)

AT Kunene, you are repeating the previous mistake of assuming that 'President of Congress' equals 'President of the United States'. The Constitution created the office of 'President of the United States' in 1789. There was no equivalent office before the Constitution. WCCasey (talk) 06:07, 3 May 2011 (UTC)