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PRESIDENT WHO?
FORGOTTEN FOUNDERS
by: Stanley L. Klos
Published by: ROI.us Corporation
Palm Harbor, Florida
For my Mother
Elizabeth R. Klos who is gently caring for her eight grandchildren
ROI.US
Corporation
Suite 308 –
2708 Alternate 19
Palm Harbor, Florida 34683
Copyright 2004 and 2008 by Stanley L. Klos
All Rights Reserved, including the right
Of reproduction in whole or in part in any form
2nd Edition Edited by:
Draft
Manufactured in the United States of America
Now
Available in Paperback
President Who?
Forgotten Founders
Click Here
Part I: The Historical Record
Introduction
The Father of Our
Country
Chronology
North America
1774 – 1789
Chapter One
George Washington
11th President
of the United States
Part II: The Continental
Congress of the United Colonies
Chapter Two:
Peyton Randolph
1st President
of the Continental Congress
of the United Colonies of America
Chapter Three:
Henry Middleton
2nd President
of the Continental Congress
of the United Colonies of America
Part III: The
Continental Congress of the United States
Chapter Four:
John Hancock
1st President
of the Continental Congress
of the United States of America
Chapter Five:
Henry Laurens
2nd President
of the Continental Congress
of the United States of America
Chapter Six:
John Jay
3rd President
of the Continental Congress
of the United States of America
Part IV: The United
States in Congress Assembled
Chapter Seven:
Samuel Huntington
1st President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Eight:
Thomas McKean
2nd President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Nine:
John Hanson
3rd President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Ten:
Elias Boudinot
4th President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Eleven:
Thomas Mifflin
5th President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Twelve:
Richard Henry Lee
6th President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter
Thirteen:
John Hancock
7th President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Fourteen:
Nathaniel Gorham
8th President of
the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Fifteen:
Arthur St. Clair
9th President
of the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Sixteen:
Cyrus Griffin
10th President of
the United States
in Congress Assembled
Chapter Seventeen:
“FIRST”
Chapter
Eighteen:
“Proclamations”
Appendix
Article of Confederation –
Northwest Ordinance
U.S. Constitution of 1787
Bibliography
Is Mint
snubbing real 1st president?
Rob Varon
rvarnon@ctpost.com
Introduction
The First Chapter of this book provides a brief history of the American Presidency from 1774 to 1779 making the case that ten men served as President of the United States under the Constitution of 1777 before George Washington. This work advocates that these men be recognized for what they are: Presidents of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Association of 1774 and Presidents of the United States under the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution of 1777. They were all true presiding officers. Although the ten men who served under the Constitution of 1777 were true U.S. Presidents, this book does not seek to displace George Washington as "The First President" under the current U.S. Constitution of 1787. The scholarship attempts not to re-write history but right it.
The following chapters in this work are brief biographies on each of the Continental Congress and United States in Congress Assembled Presidents with autographs, letters and key Historical Documents from their Presidency.
The written word, especially in the great works[1], is often misquoted in the media, on the internet and in many secondary sources. This work, therefore, relied heavily on the primary letters, documents, journals, diaries and other manuscripts that formed the verbal foundation of the United States of America. These founding documents provide a convincing record that there were, among other realizations, ten men serving before George Washington under the Articles of Confederation as Presidents of the United States of America. Additionally, there were six men who served as Presidents of the Continental Congress of the United Colonies and United States. Only John Hancock and Samuel Huntington served in both capacities in U.S. History. These men, who were all Judeo-Christian theists, presided as presidents over the colonial and federal governments of the United States.
In this founding period of 1774-1788, Church and State were not separated in this era of Divine Providence.[2] The written record, consequently, is peppered with theological axioms, proclamations of thanksgiving and appeals to God as well as Jesus Christ for divine intercession during the invention of the United States of America. These founders clearly held that God played an active role in their struggle for Independence. The Presidents were clearly theists, as opposed to deists[3], as they believed God did intervene with the affairs of humanity and the laws of the cosmos.
The presidential stories in this work began as 1998 edits to Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography to accompany The Rebels with a Vision Historical Documents of Freedom touring exhibit (rebelswithavision.com). The research was intensified on each President to prepare for Samuel Huntington’s, the first President under the Articles of Confederation, re-entombment on November 24, 2003 in Norwich, Connecticut. President Who? Forgotten Founders was hastily written in 60 days and rushed to print in February 2004, primarily, to make a case for a Presidential Library being established at Huntington’s former home in Norwich, Connecticut. The Library’s mission was to honor the ten Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled (1781-1788) as well as the four Presidents of the Continental Congress (1774-1780). The book printed 1000 copies and sold out early in 2005. No reprints were ordered due to the author’s dissatisfaction with the work.
In this Second Edition, all Presidential biographical chapters are designed to stand alone so they can be posted at the Founders individual websites (i.e. johnhancock.org, samuelhuntington.org etc…). Consequently, there is redundancy in the biographical narratives. For instance, Presidents Elias Boudinot and Arthur St. Clair share similar paragraphs on the Military Mutiny that held the members of Congress hostage at Independence Hall as the former was President of the United States while the later a Major-General who negotiated his release.
The Presidents' brief biographies are written plainly and are heavily end noted. The chapters on the founders are written in the historical context of their times and do provide insights into solving the 21st century challenges of the massive U.S. Federal System. In refining this book, the author could not ignore the Christian components of the founding record that are so hotly contested by the current secular scholarship movement. The primary U.S. source letters, journals, resolutions and proclamations issued from 1774-1788 were the result of a governmental mindset that allowed, if not encouraged, the merging of church and state. It wasn’t until 1789, a full 15 years after the First Continental Congress convened, that government was conducted outside the Divine Providence mold as it was finally broken by second U.S. Constitution in 1787.
Theology aside, this work contains some romance that was spurred on by the discovery of a legal document that sought the arrest of future President Cyrus Griffin, in 1776, while a law student in London, England. The ensuing research uncovered some interesting facts about Griffin’s forbidden pursuit of a noble lady in 1775 and his efforts to dodge English authorities. The book‘s value, however, lies in the compilation of evidence that accurately illustrates the birth and evolution of the U.S. Presidency from Peyton Randolph in 1774 to George Washington in 1789.
Oil Painting by
Franklin Courter
courtesy of the Author
Probably the best summary of the U.S. Founding by a scholar was given by Abraham Lincoln on Monday March 4, 1861. Hoping to preserve an already torn “Perpetual Union”, President Lincoln stated this in his First Inaugural Address:
"The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was 'to form a more perfect Union.' " [4]
Above is an excerpt from Lincoln's Address with changes in his hand summarizing the birth, formation and the establishment of a “more perfect” Constitution of the Perpetual Union of the United States. - Courtesy of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.[5]
Lincoln was correct on all accounts except on the year, 1778, which he maintained formed the Perpetual Union of the United States. The Articles of Confederation were actually approved by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. The Constitution of 1777, unlike its successor the Constitution of 1787, required the ratification of all thirteen States before it became the governing law and formed the “Perpetual Union of the United States of America”. The Continental Congress accepted Maryland’s ratification, the final holdout state, on March 1, 1781 and thus adopted the Articles of Confederation four years and three months after it was authored. These Articles or the Constitution of 1777 formed a new federal governing body called “The United States in Congress Assembled.”
In composing his first inaugural address, delivered March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln focused on preserving the Union by building on his strengths in the North without alienating the South. Above is an excerpt from Lincoln’s Inaugural Address stating "The express plighting faith, by each and all the thirteen, in the Articles of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall be perpetual, is most conclusive. Courtesy of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.[6]
In these Chapters, particular attention is paid to detail pinpointing when the Continental Congress of the United States was dissolved and replaced with the United States in Congress Assembled. It is a unique journey into an era of U.S. Founding history steeped in secrecy and plagued with confusion. Complex, yes, but its record is vital to understanding of how delicate the formation of the United States of America truly was and what mechanisms remain intact today to protect the rights of the States that form the Union. Philosopher George Santayana wrote,
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." [7]
This view of history, as astute as it may be, is the classic example of seeing the glass half empty. Words like DOOMED and NOT LEARNED have echoed through the classrooms long enough, enveloping HISTORY with a negative aura. A new approach to the historical adventure is blossoming as John Adams is launched on HBO. This book’s second edition is merely an attempt to be small part of the metamorphosis.
At the signing of the Second U.S. Constitution, with the Confederation government virtually crumbling around the Delegates, Benjamin Franklin just before he signed pointed to the President's Chair, which had a sun carved on it and said:
I have often...in the course of this session...looked at that...without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.[8]
This positive "Rising Sun" philosophy is something all should embrace in life. We are all what we think about all day long and the Founders, above their adversaries, understood this fact and conquered immeasurable challenges on the road to independence. So in this adventure into the lives of the forgotten presidents of the United States please open your mind and know that
Journal of the Continental Congress and United States in Congress Assembled (two different entities) used by the author to corroborate the Library of Congress Online Journals. This combined Journal was published by John Patterson of New York in 1787 by order of the United States in Congress Assembled while the 2nd Constitutional Convention was in session. – Courtesy of the Author [9]
It is this author’s sincere wish that you will discover, in "President Who? Forgotten Founder's", bursts of historical light that will clarify the past and thereby enhance the quality of your understanding of the birth and evolution of a bold republic. The United States founders constructed a dynamic form of government as a beacon of self-determination.. Their triumphs, as well as their mistakes, are valuable lessons to all who champion the cause of freedom.
This author was fortunate enough to be born in the United States of America whose founders' deeds and laws circle above like majestic eagles. This book is merely a product of taking the time to look-up and point. Always remember that History is the Crystal Ball to the Future; all you have to do is examine it!
[1] The I Ching, Bible, Rosetta Stone, Lex Duodecim Tabularum, Koran, Magna Carte, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution of 1787, etc.)
[2] In this era, Divine Providence is the sovereignty, superintendence, or dominion of God, typically through Royalty, over human events.
[3] Merrian-Webster Dictionary on Deism: “a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe”
[4] Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Transcribed and Annotated by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois. First Inaugural Address, Final Version, March 1861.
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Santayana, George, A The Life of Reason: Or, The Phases of Human Progress, published 1905 (public domain!), C. Scribner's Sons, Boston.
[8] American Philosophical Society and Yale University, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin - http://franklinpapers.org/franklin
[9] Klos, Stanley L, “Rebels With A Vision - Historical Documents of Freedom” 1999-2008, rebelswithavision.com.