Show as the S I 1 tat 4 of the U nite d N 00 X A gateso 1 oe I I 1 4 rt I 1 on af 11 14 V I 1 4 il lt 1 v t 1 OF ilk zd ls 9 J mr ue I 1 V aa 60 johnston ilka 2 f OL q I 1 J k I 1 eole aton tio g asam U el H son all pictures courtesy carnegie institution of washington 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HAT Is it we celebrate on the fourth of july I 1 why the signing of the declaration of independence I 1 I 1 you reply but why celebrate that I 1 you are asked because it Is the birthday of our nation aou ou answer and in both taw you youre re only partly right As a matter of fact face the declaration of independence was wall formally adopted on july 4 1776 by the continental tin congress but so many mem berg bers were absent on that day that no effort was made to secure their signatures to the immortal document that was not done until nearly a month later on august 2 1770 the final copy of the declaration was ready and the members then resent all whose names appear on 14 it except two no thomas and willam thoroton thornton who signed later affixed their signatures thus giving the document an authority which it lacked up to that time so go it depends upon a matter of later preta uon whether july 4 when the declaration was 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 come into existence obviously it must hare have a bead head or an executive officer it if it Is to be a going concern conc lern granted all right t of course we all know that the executive officer of this new nation cation of ours which came into existence years ago Is known as the president so there logically follow follows the question who was our first arst president I 1 why george wahington wa wo hington of course coursell I 1 you answer but are you sure of that for again its a matter of interpretation to be absolutely sure that youre right you should say george washington was the first president 0 of the united states be sure to put in of the united states for there wag was no such nation as the united states and no such office in it until it was created by the constitution framed in 1787 and adopted in 1783 1788 and george washington was the arst man to bold hold the office of president under the constitution in recent years attempts have been made to prove provo that several men who held the title of president I 1 and presided over the continental congress were presidents before Vas washington hIngton but those attempts have met what seems to be a final and answer farm dr ir edmund 0 burnett of the division of historical research at the carnegie institute of washington who has spent 25 years in exhaustive research of the work of the continental congress during the entire period of t its existence from 1774 to 1781 in it statement by doctor burnett issued by the carnegie institution recently he says in regard to the president before Vas washington hington theory in this year of exceptional grace the year of our lord one thousand U busand nine hundred and thir ty two and of the independence of the united states the one hundred bundred and fifty sixth when we are celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of george washington many old controversies revolving about the character and career of the father of his country have been revived controversies which seemed to have been permanently relegated to th the realm of tales that were acla and several new ones have bave pushed their way to the front to male malte their bids fot for a hearing among the themes which are not precisely new nor yet hoary with old age Is one which declares that the first president of the I 1 united states was not george washington but that this dIs distinction Unction belonga belongs to john hanson prest deat dent of the continental congress from novem ber 5 1781 to november 4 similar chime although on otter grounds havo have been pot put forth in behalf of other areail pre dents of congress con grese but only that la in behalf of liaison hanson has been pushed with great vehemence or has las attained any great vogue in good time the legend john hnnson hanson first ilent of the united states will also be assigned its appropriate niche in the hall of myths the plain truth of 0 the matter Is that not one of the presidents of the continental coD congress gress from froni peyton randolph to cyrus griffin was ever president of the united states either la in fact by title of courtesy or otherwise the first to hold bold that office the first to bear that title wai was george washington and all those who seok seek to bestow the title of first president of the unit ed states upon any president whomsoever eier ct the old Con congress grese are but chasing shadows ing will 0 th the hanan thesis which has had bad its own variations in the course of its career has now assumed substantially this forni form john hanson was the first president of the united states because he be was the airet president of congress under the articles ot of confederation the first con llon ution of the united states tills this Is the basic argument of the hanson proponents and it la 13 to this argument that we shall in the main devote our examination was john hanson actually the first dent of congress under the articles of er atlon those articles it should be recalled were adopted by congress on november 15 IM and two days later were sent forth to the ser eral states with a plea for their speedy adap tion some of the states readily assented others rati ratified fled with certain provisos provisor pro while still others led by maryland held back until their view with regard to the disposition of the western lands should be agreed to by july 1778 ill till the states except mary land new jersey and nd delaware had bad ratified the articles as they stood and a few months later new jersey and delaware also came for ward with their ratifications but maryland stood stoutly by her demand respecting the wert west era em lands and a most I 1 praiseworthy demand it was and not until her demands had been essentially senti ally complied compiled with alth did that state agree to ratify the final step was taken on the first of march 1781 when the delegates of 31 maryland aryland la in congress john hanson and dinael carroll appended their signatures to the articles of con federation at the time of Uary maryland lanus s of be tue confederation samuel huntington of connecticut was wa president of congress and had been since september 28 1779 there was no new election of a president of the body at that time but on july 0 1781 president huntington gave give notice to congress that the state of his health would not permit him to continue longer in the exer dee ciao of the duties of the presidency and on oil july 0 congress chose as his successor samuel johnston of north carolina on the following day however johnston presented his declination offering such reasons as were satisfactory whereupon thomas mckean of delaware was elected president july 10 mckean served ai as of congress until the election of john hanson on monday no vember 6 5 I 1 it la Is to be observed then that two dents huntington and mckean had served between march 1 and alid november 6 5 1781 and an other had been chosen but had declined the office A chief question therefore K Is whether the presidents between march 1 and november 6 5 1781 served under the articles of confederation or whether john banson was the first to serve under and by virtue of that instrument the question hinges on whether the articles of confederation were in force during that interval doctor burnett declares that they were actu atti ally in force he continues to contend as do the protagonists in behalf of john hanson as 11 the first president of the united states that the tho articles of confederation did not come into force until the first monday in november 1781 Is to contradict official record and official interpretation aa As an instance of the lengths to which this contention hue been carried a recent blagra pher of john hanron after asserting that the election of john hanson of maryland was the first net act of congress of ue oe united states on ite its first day of existence proceeds to lay down this strange doctrine between the signing of the articles and this th first monday in november no to government wag was actually in existence though congress continued to transact business simply because there was a great deal of creasing pr easing business to tran transact sapt lie ile then remarks that during those few months there was a provisional visional president called thomas rhomas SIc Kean who was elected with the definite understanding that he was to retire with the for formation matlon of the first government november 51 5 jt it Is scarcely necessary to point out that aside from the evidences of 0 fact already ad deuced the argument that DO no government was actually in existence from march 1 to novem ber 6 5 1781 Is fallacious and entirely contrary to long accepted legal interpretation it 71 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 state states but numerous govern berte have bare flouri hed bed and do flourish without any such I 1 written instrument it may not be amiss in this connection to point out that the congress itself on the thirteenth of c september 1779 laid down the doctrine that these states now are as fully Jo legally gally and aliso absolutely lately confider con feder abed as it Is to possible for alem to be le I 1 the articles of con aeration de ration so far as the main essentials of the instrument are concerned did little acre more than put into definite nIte written form the principles on which the government of the unite united state states had bad theretofore been conducted at all erent create it ie Is not to be gainsaid that even at the time when jachn haneon hanon was elected president of congress these united states were dating their national cil existence stence froni from the fourth of july 17 1778 76 they have continued to do so and that assertion responding the date of the nations cat ions birth has held good both in vt V t and in law after dis cumIng the conditions under which nanson hanson wae was elected president doctor burnett says in any event jon join hanson dos dois have the distinction if it be a distinction of being he the first president to be chosen for the definite term of one year beginning on the first monday of november but this Is very tery far from making him president of the united states the evidence it must be repeated Is conclusive elusive that no president of the continental congress by whatever name it may be designated whether the congress as it first called itself or tre itle united states in congles con gres assembled aisem bled as it came later to be called va w as ever president Ident of the united states and this Is true for this best of reasons among others because no ucb such office as president of the united states exi ells ed until it wag was created by the federal cons titu tion framed in and adopted in 1788 the office of president of tho the united states which that constitution created Is an omee wholly different in character from that of pros dent of the eld cid congress whether before or after the adoption of the articles of confederation so di different lerent in tart fact that almost the goto sole thing in common ie to the word Tres president ident in ir th their el r respective titles the president of congress was merely a it presiding officer and he was wa a member of tho body over which he presided he neither possessed nor exercised any executive authority the pres pree dent of the united states Is almost solely an executive of officer fleer he Is not a niema nie mb of the national legislature and his contacts with the national legislative body the congress of the united ft mates ates are of a definitely limited character chEr acter there li Is therefore only one zi conc lus ln lon that can caa be b reached and alt I 1 that geirge washington was the first president ident of the united states 1 D by bastam Wt re N celoa |