| Show W h as the F arst resident f the 0 IT we V A 4 ac tes L N johnston samuel 0 4 h ON i 4 00 X q ivy 1 1 tx ji 4 M I 1 M M 1 I 1 TT 7 aa t cleor e ton com n 5 0 all Plo pictures tures courtesy carnegie institution of washington by ELMO SCOTT WATSON OAT LIAT Is it we celebrate on the fourth ot iwig nt hy by the signing of the declara pan 1 ww tion of independence you reply asked but why celebrate that you are because it Is the birthday of our nation you answer and in both cases youre only partly right As a matter of tact fact the declaration of independence was formally adopted on july 4 1770 1776 by the continental tin congress but so many members were absent on that day that no BO effort was made to secure their signatures to the immortal docu document meriL that was not done until nearly a month later on august 2 1776 the final copy of the declaration was ready and the members then present all whose names appear on it except two thomas mckean and william thornton who signed litter later affixed their signatures thus giving the document an out authority hority which it lacked up cp to that time so go it depends upon a matter of interpretation 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 have a head bead or an executive officer it if it Is to be a going concern granted all right of course we 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 course you answer but are you sure of 0 that for again a matter of interpretation to be absolutely sure that youre right you should say george washington was the first president of the united states be sure to put in of the united states for there was no such nation as the united states and no such office in it until it was wag created by the constitution framed in 1787 and adopted in 1788 and george washington was the first man to hold bold the office of president under the constitution in recent years attempts haie hae been made to prove that several men who held the title of president VI and presided over the continental congress were presidents before washington but those attempts have met what seems to be a final anal and decisive answer from dr edmund C Q burnett of the division of historical research at the carnegie institute of washington who has bas spent 25 years in exhaustive research of the work of the continental congress during the entire period of its existence from 1774 to 1781 in a statement by doctor burnett issued by the carnegie institution recently he says in regard to the president before washington theory in this year of exceptional grace the year of our lord one thou thousand rand nine hundred and thir ty two and of the independence of the united states the one hundred 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 the realm of tales talea that were told and several new ones have pushed their way to the front to make their bids tor for a hearing bearing among the themes which are not precisely new nor yet hoary with old age Is one which declares that the first president of the united states was not george washington but that this distinction belongs to john nanson hanson president of the continental congress from november 5 1781 to november 4 1782 1792 similar claims although on other grounds have bare been put forth in behalf of other presidents of congress but only that la in behalf of hanson hansbo has been pushed with groat great vehemence or has attained any great vogue in good time the legend john hanson first president of the united states will also be b assigned its appropriate niche in the hall of myths the plain truth of the matter is that not one of the presidents of te cie continental congress from peyton randolph to cyrus griffin was ever president of the united states either in fact by title of courier courle r or otherwise the first to hold that office the first to bear that title was george washington Washing toD and all those who seek to bestow the title of fir birti i president of the united states upon any president deit whomsoever of the old congress are but chasing shadows pursuing willo will o th the hanson thesis which has had cad its own variations in the course of its career has now assumed substantially this form john nanson hanson 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 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 nanson hanson actually the first president of congress con ress under the articles of confederation er era tion those articles it should be recalled were adopted by congress on november 15 1777 and two days later were sent forth to the several states with a tilea plea 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 1773 1778 all the states except maryland new jersey 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 bad been essentially senti ally complied with did that state a agree gree to ratify the final step was taken on the first of march 1781 when the delegates of maryland in congress john hanson and daniel carroll appended their signatures to the articles of confederation at the time of Ma rylands ratification of the confederation samuel huntington of connecticut was president of congress and had been since september 28 23 1770 1779 there was no new election of a president of the body at that time but on july 6 1781 president huntington gave notice to congress that the bbate of his health would not permit him to continue longer in the exercise of the duties of the presidency and on july 9 congress chose as his successor samuel johnston of north carolina on the fol follow loIn log day however johnston presented his declination offering such reasons as were satisfactory whereupon thomas mckean of delaware was elected president july 10 mckean served as president of congress until the election of john hanson on monday november 5 it Is 14 to be observed then that two presidents huntington and mckean had bad served between march 1 and november 5 1781 and another had been chosen but had declined the office A chief question therefore Is whether the presidents between march I 1 and november 5 14 81 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 hadges on whether the articles of confederation were actually in force during that interval doctor burnett declares that they were actually in force ile he continues to 10 contend as do 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 athla contention has been carried a recent biographer of john hanson after asserting that the election of john hanson of maryland was the first act of congress of the united states on its first day of existence proceeds to lay down this strange doctrine betheen Bet Been meen tile the signing of the articles and this first monday in november no government was actually in existence though congress continued continue d to transact business simply because there was a great deal of pressing business to transact lie ile then remarks that during those few months there was a provisional president called thomas 31 mckean acken n who was elected with the definite understanding that he was to retire with mith the for formation madon of the first government november 5 it is scarcely necessary to point out that aside from the evidences of fact already adduced the argument that no government was actually in existence from starch march 1 to november 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 connection 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 19 possible fur for them to be the articles of confederation so far as the main essentials of the instrument are c concerned ned 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 ven at the time when john hanson was elected resident of congress these united states were lating their national existence from the fourth of df july 1776 they have continued to do so BO and that assertion respecting the date of the nations birth has held good both in tact fact and in law after discussing the conditions under which hanson was elected president doctor curnett burnett says in any event john hanson does have the distinction if it be a distinction of being the first president to be chosen chosed for the definite term of one year be beginning inning on the first monday of november cut but this is very far from making him president of 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 congress as it first called itself or the united states in congress assembled as it came later to be called was ever president of the united states and this Is true for this best of reasons among others because no such office as president of the united states existed until it was created by the federal constitution framed lo in 1787 and adopted in 1783 1788 tile the office of president of the united states which that constitution created Is an office wholly different in character from that of president of the old congress whether before or after the adoption of the articles of confederation so different in fact that almost the sole thing in common Is the word president in their respective titles the president of congress was merely ft a presiding officer and he was a member of the body over which he presided he be neither possessed nor exercised any executive authority the president of the united states Is almost solely art an executives executive 7 officer he 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 only one rational conclusion ion that can be reached and that Is that george washington was the first president of the united states Q by western newspaper union |
