imported post
Lew wrote:
Hanson was, in fact, the third "President of the United States in Congress Assembled," (albeit the first to serve a full term). He was not a president of the United States. At the time, the office was merely a presiding officer of the legislature, not an executive of the State. The two title just, unfortunately, share a similar nomenclature - president. As for the details of his prestigious lineage, there's more debate to be found, but it's hard to sift through the accounts.
Samuel Huntington was the seventh president of the Continental Congress overall, and the second prior president to John Hanson. Huntington never used the title "President of the United States" (which was invented in 1787 and first used by
George Washington
The
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly known as the
Articles of Confederation, was the first governing document, or
constitution, of the
United States of America. It was written in summer 1777 and adopted by the
Second Continental Congress on
November 15,
1777 in
York, Pennsylvania after a year of debate. In practice it served as the de facto system of government used by the Congress ("the United States in Congress assembled") until it became de jure by final ratification on
March 1,
1781. At that point Congress became
Congress of the Confederation. The
Articles set the rules for operations of the United States. The confederation was capable of making war, negotiating diplomatic agreements, and resolving issues regarding the western territories; it could print money and borrow inside and outside the US. One major weakness was it lacked taxing authority; it had to request funds from the states. A second weakness was one-state, one-vote. The larger states were expected to contribute more but had only one vote. As
Benjamin Franklin complained, "Let the smaller Colonies give equal money and men, and then have an equal vote. But if they have an equal vote without bearing equal burthens, a confederation upon such iniquitous principles will never last long."
[1][/suP] The Articles created a weak national government designed to manage the
American Revolutionary War. When the war ended in 1783, its many inadequacies became glaringly obvious, and national leaders such as
George Washington and
Alexander Hamilton called for a new charter. The Articles were replaced by the much stronger
United States Constitution on
June 21,
1788.
The following list is of those who led the
Congress of the Confederation under the
Articles of Confederation as the
Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled. The "president" under the Articles was the presiding officer of Congress. He was not the chief
executive, as is the
President of the United States under the Constitution.
- Samuel Huntington (March 1, 1781 – July 9, 1781)
- Thomas McKean (July 10, 1781 – November 4, 1781)
- John Hanson (November 5, 1781 – November 3, 1782)
- Elias Boudinot (November 4, 1782 – November 2, 1783)
- Thomas Mifflin (November 3, 1783 – October 31, 1784)
- Richard Henry Lee (November 30, 1784 – November 6, 1785)
- John Hancock (November 23, 1785 – May 29, 1786)
- Nathaniel Gorham (June 6, 1786 – November 5, 1786)
- Arthur St. Clair (February 2, 1787 – November 4, 1787)
- Cyrus Griffin (January 22, 1788 – November 2, 1788)
For a full list of Presidents of the Congress Assembled and Presidents under the two Continental Congresses before the Articles, see President of the Continental Congress.
Even though the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution were established by many of the same people, the two documents were very different. The original five paged Articles contained thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a signatory section.
- Establishes the name of the confederation as "The United States of America" and says it is a "perpetual Union."
- Explains the rights possessed by any state, and the amount of power to which any state is entitled.
- Establishes the United States as a league of states united "... for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them ..."
- Establishes freedom of movement–anyone can pass freely between states, excluding "paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice." All people are entitled to the rights established by the state into which he travels. If a crime is committed in one state and the perpetrator flees to another state, he will be extradited to and tried in the state in which the crime was committed.
- Allocates one vote in the Congress of the Confederation (United States in Congress Assembled) to each state, which was entitled to a delegation of between two and seven members. Members of Congress were appointed by state legislatures; individuals could not serve more than three out of any six years.
- Only the central government is allowed to conduct foreign relations and to declare war.
- No two states can form an alliance without permission of Congress.
- No states may have navies or standing armies, or engage in war, without permission of Congress (although the state militias are encouraged)
- When an army is raised for common defense, colonels and military ranks below colonel will be named by the state legislatures.
- Expenditures by the United States will be paid by funds raised by state legislatures, and apportioned to the states based on the real property values of each.
- Defines the rights of the central government: to declare war, to set weights and measures (including coins)
- Congress serves as a final court for disputes between states.
- Defines a Committee of the States to be a government when Congress is not in session.
- Requires nine states to approve the admission of a new state into the confederacy; pre-approves Canada, if it applies for membership.
- Reaffirms that the Confederation accepts war debt incurred by Congress before the articles.
- Declares that the articles are perpetual, and can only be altered by approval of Congress with ratification by all the state legislatures.
Still at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, the colonists were reluctant to establish another powerful national government. Jealously guarding their new independence, the Continental Congress created a loosely structured unicameral legislature that protected the liberty of the individual states at the expense of the confederation. While calling on Congress to regulate military and monetary affairs, for example, the Articles of Confederation provided no mechanism to ensure states complied with requests for troops or revenue. At times, this left the military in a precarious position, as George Washington wrote in a 1781 letter to the governor of Massachusetts, John Hancock.
The Articles supported the Congressional direction of the Continental Army, and allowed the 13 states to present a unified front when dealing with the European powers. But as a tool to build an effective wartime government, they were largely a failure. Congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. A grave weakness was the requirement for unanimous approval before any modifications could be made to the Articles.
