The Pre-Washington U.S. Presidency
Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled
There were fourteen men who some may consider to have been America's first Presidents, even before the time of George Washington and the Constitution.
How many Presidents has the United States had in its relatively brief (compared to other countries) history? A quick look at any history book will give one a very common answer – one which is very much in vogue these days: George W. Bush is America’s 43rd President.
Naturally, this is a tally of all presidents since the time of George Washington. It is a reasonable number, to be sure and for the most part, quite accurate. There is also a line of reasoning which might think it more accurate to give the answer of 42, as Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, making him both the 22nd and the 24th presidents. The question, therefore, is that of whether to count him once or twice. Most historians opt for the latter.
Pre-Constitutional Government
Still another way of posing this question is by asking whether or not George Washington should really be considered the first president. The question at that point becomes an entirely different one altogether – perhaps trivial, but certainly rather interesting.
Many casual students of history fail to realize that Washington, the universally accepted first President of the U.S., did not become so until 1788, after the American Constitution was first ratified by the states – almost seven years after America had become an officially independent nation under the imperfect Articles of the Confederation and twelve years after the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent war with England.
And so, during these seven years, was there no president? There was a government, to be sure – composed of a federal congress and strongly independent state governments. So who was in charge of the whole affair until George Washington came along? Who supervised congress?
The President of the United States in Congress Assembled.
The position was not altogether very powerful to be sure. It was more a title than anything else. Technically speaking, however, the person who held it could indeed, using a certain form of logic, be considered The President of the United States.
So who was this man whom history has so unfairly forgotten?
Actually, it was fourteen men.
The First Fourteen Presidents
That's right, there are fourteen Presidents prior to George Washington who don't get any respect, historically speaking. How could we have overlooked so many? Obviously, none of them served for very long – every time congress convened during this time, they elected a new president, which gave these men very little time to have any affect. Popular history very well may have forgotten them simply because they didn't really do anything of great value.
Nevertheless, just for all of our mutual benefit, these are the very first presidents of The United States (actually, the official title of the first three was “Presidents of the Continental Congress as The United Colonies of America,” just for the sake of completion):
1. Peyton Randolph: September – October 1774, May 10-24 1775
2. Henry Middleton: October 22-26 1774
3. John Hancock: May 24th, 1775 – November 1, 1777, November 23 1785 – May 29 1786 (that's right, the same John Hancock whose signature may be the most famous of all time, though during this last term as President, Hancock never even showed up, due to illness; he was somewhat of a “President in Name Only”)
4. Henry Laurens: November 1 1777 – December 10, 1778
5. John Jay: December 10 1778 – September 28 1779 (This is the same John Jay who later became the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court)
6. Samuel Huntington: September 28 1779 – July 10 1781
7. Thomas McKean: July 10 1781 – November 5 1781
8. John Hanson: November 5 1781 – November 4 1982
9. Elias Boudinot: November 4 1782 – November 3 1783
10. Thomas Mifflin: November 3 1783 – November 30 1784
11. Richard Henry Lee: November 30 1784 – November 23 1785
12. Nathaniel Gorham: June 6 1786 – February 2 1787
13. Arthur St. Clair: February 2 1787 – January 22 1788
14. Cyrus Griffin: January 22 1788 – March 2 1788
Notes on the First Presidents
There are a couple things one may gather from this list.
First, without engaging too terribly much in the details of the sessions of the Continental Congress, it is clear that, what started out as a somewhat disheveled government (having Presidents serving terms as short as only a few days) eventually became a bit more organized, by the end having Presidents serving regular terms of around a year at a time (from November to November).
Second, it becomes clear why, after 6 years of this foolishness, it was obviously time for this “loose confederation” of states to find something a bit more concrete with which to weave together the fabric of national unity. Hence the Constitutional convention of 1787.
So, regardless of the fact that most people have never heard of these people, they were an important stepping stone in moving America from the post-colonial, pre-constitution period to the more well-regulated government that would follow.
So, if anyone ever asks: Peyton Randolph may have been the real first president of the United States.
References:
“President Who?” Virtualology.com.
“United States of America: Congress 1776-1789.”
