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Show By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 5ft; "t?t" ou may be one oi those AS Americans so well-versed M I ta Hie history of your l& ijyJ country tlmt you can cSEAfl name all of the Presidents of fle United States in tlie order of their administrations admin-istrations and can tell something about each one of them. But If some one finld to voir "Whnt rio vnn Lthip about the following Presidents of thi United States: John Hanson, Ella; Boudinot, John Hancock, Nuthanie Gorham and David B. Atchison 7' you'd probably exclaim, "Why, the; never were Presidents of the Unitet States!" And therein you might. b wrong, for there are those who saj that those five men should be includet In the list of our Presidents, ever though such a statement would havt to be made with certain qualifications. qualifica-tions. In the case of the first four, thelt right to be known as President is based upon the following facts which have to do with the evolution of the office of President of the United States : The First Continental congress met In Philadelphia September 5, 1774, and the delegates to It elected Peyton Randolph of Virginia, president. But he was only president of the congress, not President of the United States, for there was then no United States. The Second Continental congress met In Philadelphia May 10, 1775, and John Hancock of Massachusetts was elected president. But he, too, was president only of the congress. Then on August 2, 177C, the delegates to this congress signed the Declaration of Independence which brought Into being the United States of America. But they were United States more In name than in actual fact of a strong, well-organized government. In 1777 a plan for the union of the states was proposed and within 15 months, twelve of the states had agreed to form the new nation In accordance with a proposed plan, drawn up under the name of the Articles of Confederation. The only state which opposed It at that time was Maryland. Under the original Articles of Confederation Con-federation each of the states made claims to extensive western lands. John Hanson and Daniel Carroll, of the Maryland delegation, refused to enter the new country under the above existing conditions and Hanson suggested sug-gested the alternate plan. Maryland offered to give up forever Its claim to western lands and to sign over its territories ter-ritories to the federal government if the other states would follow suit. One by one they fell into line and finally, on March 1, 1781, there was dopted a constitution called the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Per-petual Union Between the States." However, the confederation thus formed had no executive officer, no Judiciary and the sole governmental body was a single house of congress, made up of delegates elected by the legislatures of the states. On November 5, 1781 John Hanson was elected president of the congress, his formal title being "President of the United States in Congress Assembled." Assem-bled." Thus the title "President of the United States" came into being and Hanson's right to be Included In the list of our Presidents rests upon that fact that he not only presided over congrc s but was In fact as well as in name the country's Chief Executive. It Is also asserted by Hanson proponents, pro-ponents, chief of whom is Seymour Wemyss Smith, editor of the Financial Digest of New Tork city, who has striven for three years to wh, national recognition for Hanson and who is planning to carry his tight to the floor of the United States senate, that Hanson, rather than George Washing- AA ' V " ' 1 ( Lit ?J--ii,f . e ton, was the first President of the 3 United States. J In proof of ids assertion, Mr. Smith offers the following facts: 7 l On November 21, 1781, the congres-; congres-; sional committee on "Arrangement of j, the President's House," consisting of Joseph Montgomery, Samuel Osgood and Edmund Randolph, introduced the 1 following resolution In congress: : "Resolved, That the attendants of the President's house consist of one steward and such others as may be found necessary, not exceeding eight." A residence had been leased a few days ; previously as President Hanson's home. , The steward was required to deliver an t accounting of expenses to the Presi-' Presi-' dent's secretary each month and the I President was authorized by a resolution resolu-tion to draw on the public treasury for the proper amount. On November 28, 1781, Gen. George Washington was summoned before congress and officially thanked by President Hanson for his victory at Yorktown. "Mr. President,". Washington replied to President Hanson, "I feel very sensibly sensi-bly the favorable declaration of congress con-gress expressed by your excellency. This fresh proof of their approbation cannot fail of making a deep impression impres-sion upon me, and my study shall be to deserve a continuance of it." In the meantime, before Washington Washing-ton became the "first President under the Constitution," the United States had three other "Presidents" under the Articles of Confederation. In November, No-vember, 1782, Hanson retired from the Presidency and died the following year. On November 4. 17S2 Elias Boudinot Bou-dinot of New Jersey, who had served as a delegate to congress from 1778 to 1779 and had again been chosen in 1781, was chosen "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" and became the Chief Executive of the nation. As such he Issued the proclamation announcing the end of the Revolution on April 19, 17S3, and another announcing the signing of the treaty of peace on September 3. Elias Boudinot has also been called the "first President of the United States," his right to that title being based upoi the fact that it was not until England had signed the treaty of peace and thus acknowledged the independence of her former colonies that the free and Independent United States of American actually existed. In 17S5 the seat of government was changed to New York city and John Hancock of Massachusetts was elected elect-ed "President." Owing to ill health, however, he did not actively serve In that position and on May 29, 17SG, he resigned. So another "President" was chosen Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts. Massa-chusetts. On May 14, 17S7, a convention of delegates from all states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia "to form a more perfect union" and after a stormy session of four months adopted a new Constitution. It provided for a new method of choosing a President and under its provisions an election was held in which George Washington of Virginia was unanimously elected President. From contemporary documents, docu-ments, it is evident that the Chief Executive of the nation was referred to then as the "President of the United Unit-ed States Under the New Constitution" Constitu-tion" whereas before that official had been called the "President of the United States in Congress Assembled." Later that portion of the title. "Under the New Constitution," was omitted as being too cumbersome and there- after he was referred to as the "President "Pres-ident of the United States." In view of these facts it seems that John Hanson, Elias Boudinot, John Hancock, and Nathaniel Gorham are as much entitled to being called "President "Pres-ident of the United States" as are any of the men from George Washington to Herbert Hoover who have borne that title, and that in listing our Presidents, Pres-idents, we should divide them into two classes, those who held office under the Articles of Confederal ion and those who ha.ve held office under the Constitution. The right of David B. Atchison of Missouri to be included in our list of Presidents is a fertile subject for dispute. dis-pute. He is called "President for a Day," and the whole question of whether or not he actually was President Pres-ident depends upon whether or not a man can be President without taking the oath of office or actively administering admin-istering the affairs of the nation. Atchison's "Presidency" came about in this way: March 4, 1S49, came ou Sunday. Technically, President James K. Polk's term of office expired March 3, 1S49, and his successor, Zachary Taylor, should have been inaugurated on March 4. But March 4. 1849, came on Sunday and Taylor did not take the oath of office until Monday, March 5, 1849. On March 3, George M. Dallas, vice president under Polk, announced an-nounced in the senate, over which he was presiding, "The close of my official offi-cial term being near at hand, I conform con-form to an established and convenient practice by withdrawing from the deliberations de-liberations of this body." On the motion mo-tion of Senator Benton of Missouri, his colleague, Senator David B. Atchison, Atchi-son, was appointed president of the senate pro tem. Since the terms of President Polk and Vice President Dallas expired on March 3 and the term of President-Elect President-Elect Taylor did not begin until March 5, when he was inaugurated, It is contended that David B. Atchison was President of the United States for one day, Sunday, March 4, 1849, even though he never took the oath of office. The biographical congressional congres-sional directory, 1774-1911, an official senate document, backs up that claim, although some historians contend that Taylor was President de facto on Sunday, even though he was not sw'orn in, and tha? Atchison was not sworn in as President and never pretended pre-tended to exercise any duty or prerogative pre-rogative of the office. But the state of Missouri honors him as the only Missourian who has so far served as President of the United States and on October 27 of last year it paid tribute to its "President for a Day" when a $15,000 memorial statue of Atchison was dedicated at Platts-burg, Platts-burg, Mo., with impressive ceremonies at which the governor of Missouri was the principal speaker. He is further remembered in his home state by a county which Is named for him and Missouri's sister state, Kansas, has a city which bears his name, although it is more famous because It is the home town of a famous country editor, Ed Howe of the Atchison Globe, than It is because it was Darned for a "President "Presi-dent for a Day." |