The EIGHT MISSING Presidents
Think back to your history books - The United States Declared its
independence in 1776, yet Washington did not take office until April 30,
1789. So who was running the country during these initial years of this
young country? It was the first eight U. S. Presidents.
In fact, the first President of the United States was one John Hanson.
I can hear you now - John who? John Hanson, the first President of the
United States . Don't go checking the encyclopedia for this guy's name - he
is one of those great men that are lost to history. If you're extremely
lucky, you may actually find a brief mention of his name.
The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of
The Articles of Confederation. This document was actually proposed on June
11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland
refused to sign this document until Virginia and New York ceded their
western lands ( Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much
power in the new government from such large amounts of land). Once the
signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the country.
John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George
Washington). In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run
against him, as he was a major player in the revolution and an extremely
influential member of Congress.
As the first President, Hanson had quite the shoes to fill. No one had
ever been President and the role was poorly defined. His actions in office
would set precedent for all future Presidents.
He took office just as the Revolutionary War ended. Almost immediately,
the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after any long war,
there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result, the soldiers
threatened to overthrow the new government and put Washington on the throne
as a monarch.
All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving Hanson as the
only guy left running the government. He somehow managed to calm the troops
down and hold the country together. If he had failed, the government would
have fallen almost immediately and everyone would have been bowing to King
Washington.
Hanson, as President, ordered all foreign troops off American soil, as
well as the removal of all foreign flags. This was quite the feat,
considering the fact that so many European countries had a stake in the
Unite d States since the days following Columbus . Hanson established the
Great Seal of the United States , which all Presidents have since been
required to use on all official documents. President Hanson also
established the first Treasury Department, the first Secretary of War, and
the first Foreign Affairs Department.
Lastly, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be
Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today. The Articles of Confederation
only allowed a President to serve a one year term during any three year
period, so Hanson actually accomplished quite a bit in such little time.
Seven other presidents were elected after him - 1. Elias Boudinot
(1782-83), 2. Thomas Mifflin (1783-84), 3. Richard Henry Lee (1784-85),
4. John Hancock (1785-86), 5. Nathan Gorman (1786-87), 6. Arthur St. Clair
(1787-88), and 7. Cyrus Griffin (1788-89) - .....all prior to Washington
taking office.
So what happened?
Why don't we hear about the first eight presidents? It's quite simple --
The Articles of Confederation didn't work well. The individual states had
too much power and nothing could be agreed upon. A new doctrine needed to
be written - something we know as the Constitution.
And that leads us to the end of our story. George Washington was definitely
not the first President of the United States . He was the first President of
the United States under the Constitution we follow today. And the first
eight Presidents are forgotten in history.
YOU HAVE TO BE A LOVER OF HISTORY TO APPRECIATE THIS!!
(It took 8 years to establish a successful government. You might just
remember this when you hear that so little progress has been made during
these last 3 years in establishing a Government in Iraq.)
There you are, another lesson in U.S. History and you may have learned
something new today.