Show ho vas the F arst resident U af pf the n unia 71 ed C t states N G K 07 z samuel thannas fa R A 11 an washing ton cao hn lel hanso to all pictures courtesy carnegie institution of washington by ELMO SCOTT WATSON VATSON BAT Is a it we ve celebrate on the fourth of jysk lly why liy the signing of the file declaration of independence cel 1 you QU reply but why celebrate celebi ate that youage asked because it Is the birthday of our n nation at ton you sou answer and in both cases youre oure only partly right As a matter of fact the declaration of independence was formally adopted on july 4 1770 1776 by the con tin congress but so many members were absent on that day that no eff effort ort w was 1 made to secure their signatures to the linnio immortal r ta I 1 document that was not done until nearly a month liter later on august 2 1770 the final copy of the declaration was ready and the members then present nil all whose elioe names ap appear P ear on it except two thomas mckean and william thornton who signed later affixed their signatures thus giving the document an authority which it lacked up to that time so it depends upon a matter of interpretation t i on whether july 4 when the declaration was fo formally adopted or august 2 when it was signed shall be considered as the birthday of a new nation but now that this new nation has hag come into existence odiously obviously it must have hae a hend head or an executive officer it if it Is to be a going concern granted all right of course ve ire nil all know that the executive officer of this new nation of ours which came into existence years ago Is known as the president so there logically follows the question who was our first president why george washington of coursel course 1 you answer but are you sure of that for again its a mitter matter of 0 interpretation to be absolutely iniss ure sure that youre right you ou should siy say george washington was the first president of the united states estates be sure to put in of the united states for there was wa no such nation as the united states and no such office in it until it was created by tile the constitution framed in iest and adopted in 1783 find and george washington was the first ninn mail to hold the office of president under the constitution in recent years ears attempts have hae been made to prove that several wen men who ft ho held tile the title of president and presided over the continental congress were presidents before washington cut but those attempts have met what flint seems to be a final and decisive answer from dr edmund 0 burnett of the division of historical research at the carnegie institute of washington who has spent 23 25 years ears in ili exhaustive eha ustle research of the work of the continental congress during the entire period of 0 its existence from 1774 to 1781 in a statement by doctor burnett issued by the carnegie institution recently lie says sas in regard to the president before washington theory in this year of exceptional grace the year of our lord one thousand nine hundred and thir ty two and of the independence of the united states the one hundred bundled and fifty sixth when we are celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of george washington ninny many old controversies revolving about the character ond and career of the rather of his country have been revived controversies which seemed to have been permanently relegated to the realm of t tales ales that were told and several new ones one have shave pushed their way to the front to make their bids for a hearing among the themes theme which ore are not precisely new nor yet hoary with old age Is one wb which ch declares that the first president of the united states was not george WaR washington hington but that this distinction belongs to john hanson president of the continental congress from november 5 1781 to No november milber 4 1782 similar claims although on other grounds have been put forth in behalf of other presidents of congress con eress but only that in behalf of hanson hns has been pushed with great vehemence or has attained any grent great vogue ogue in good time the legend john hanson first president of tile the united states will also b assigned its appropriate niche in the hall ball of myths iltha the plain iaan truth of the matter s that not one of the presidents of the continental congress from peyton pe ton randolph andolph It to cyrus crus griffin Griff ln was ever eer president of the united states either in fact by title of courtesy or otherwise the first to hold bold that office the first to bear that title was george washington and all those who seek to bestow the title of first president of tile the united states upon any president whomsoever of the old congress Con giess are but chasing shadows pursuing willo will 0 th the hanson thesis which has had its own variations in the course of its career has now assumed substantially this form john hnnson was the first president of the united states because he was the first president of congress under the articles of confederation the first constitution ution of the united states this la Is the basic argument of the hanson proponents and it Is to this argument that we shall in the main devote our examination was john hanson actually the first president of congress under the articles of confederation era tion those articles it should be recalled were adopted by congress on november 15 1777 and two days dais later were sent forth to the several states with a plea i for their speedy adoption some of the states readily assented others ratified with certain provisos provisor pro while still others led by maryland held back until their views with regard to the disposition of the western lands should be agreed to by july 1778 all the states except maryland new jersey terse and delaware had ratified the articles as they stood and a few months later new jersey and delaware also came forward with their ratifications but maryland stood stoutly by her demand respecting the western lands and a most praiseworthy demand it was and not until her demands had been essentially senti sent ally lally compiled with did that state agree to ratify the final step was nas taken on the first of march 1781 when the delegates of Maryin maryland ild in congress john hanson and daniel carroll appended their signatures to the articles of confederation at the time of rylands Ma ratification of the confederation samuel huntington of connecticut was wa president of congress con giess and had find been since september 28 1779 1770 there was no new election of a president of tile the body fit at that time but on july 0 1781 president huntington gave gae notice to congress that the state of his health would not permit penult him to continue longer in tile the exercise of tile the duties of tile the presidency and on july 0 9 congress chose as his successor samuel johnston of north carolina on the following day however johnston presented its his declination offering such reasons as were satisfactory 1 whereupon thomas mckean of delaware was elected president july 10 mckean served ns as president of congress until the election of jolin john hanson on monday no ember 5 it Is to be observed enod then that two presidents huntington and merean mckean had served between march I 1 and november not ember 5 1781 and another had been chosen but had find declined tile the office A chief question therefore Is whether the presidents between march 1 and november 5 1781 served under the articles of confederation or whether john hanson was the first to serve under and by virtue of that instrument the question hinges on whether the articles of confederation were actually in force during that interval doctor burnett declares that they were actually in force lie ile continues to contend as do tile the protagonists in behalf of john hanson as the first president of the united states that tile the articles of confederation did not come into force until the first monday in november 1781 Is to contradict official record and official interpretation As an instance of the lengths to which this contention has been carried a recent biographer of john hanson after asserting that the election ot of john hanson of maryland MaryIn nd was the first act of congress of the united states on its first day of existence proceeds to lay down this strange doctrine between the signing of the articles and this first monday in november no nn government was actually in existence though congress continued to transact business simply because there wa was s a great deal of pressing business to transact lie ire then remarks that during those few months there was a provisional president called thomas mckean SIc Kenn who was elected with the definite understanding that he was to retire with the formation of the first government november 5 1 it Is scarcely necessary to point out that aside from the evidences of fact already adduced the argument that no government wa was 9 actu actually nIly in existence from march I 1 to november ber 5 1781 Is fallacious and entirely contrary to long accepted legal interpretation it Is true enough that prior to the adoption of the articles of confederation there was no written document accepted as a constitution or fundamental instrument of government of the united states but numerous governments have flourished and do flourish without any such written instrument it may not be amiss in this connect connection ilin to point out that the congress itself on the thirteenth of september 1779 laid down the doctrine that these states now are as fully legally and absolutely confider abed as it Is possible for them to be the articles of confederation so BO far as the main essentials of the instrument are concerned did little more than put into definite written form the principles on which the government of the united states had theretofore been conducted at all events it Is not to be gainsaid gain said that yen even at the time when john ilanon ilan on was elected wes president ident of congress these united states were lating their national existence from the fourth of july 1770 they have haie continued to do so and that assertion respecting the date of the nations birth has held good both in fact and in law after discussing the conditions under which hanson was elected president doctor burnett says in any event jolin john hanson does have the distinction it if it be a distinction of being the first president to be chosen for the definite term of one year beginning on the first monday of november hut but this Is very ery far from making him president of oe the united states the evidence it must be repeated Is conclusive that no president of the continental congress by whatever name it may be designated whether the eon congress gress as it first called itself or the united states in congress con giess assembled as it came later inter to be called was ever president of the united states and this Is true tor for this best of reasons among others because no such office as president of the united states existed until it was created by tile the federal constitution framed in 1787 and adopted in 1788 the elie office of president of the united states which that constitution created Is an office ft wholly holly different in character from that of president of tile the old congress whether before or after the adoption of the articles of con federa tion eo BO different in fact that almost the sole thing in common Is the word president in their respective titles tile the president of congress was merely a presiding officer and he was wag a member of the body over 01 er which lie he presided lie he neither possessed nor exercised any executive authority the president of the united states Is almost solely an executive officer lie la Is not a member of the national legislature and his contacts with the national legislative body the congress of the united states are of a definitely limited character there Is therefore clr one rational conclusion that can be reached and that Is that george washington was the first president of the united unitt t states Q by western newspaper union |