The forgotten first president

Many people have argued that John Hanson, and not George Washington, was the first President of the United States, but this is not quite true. Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States had no executive branch.

On November 5, 1781, Congress elected Hanson as its president. Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States had no executive branch; the president of Congress was a mostly ceremonial position, but the office did require Hanson to serve as neutral discussion moderator, handle official correspondence, and sign documents. Hanson found the work tedious and considered resigning after just one week. Colleagues urged him to remain because Congress at the moment lacked a quorum to choose a successor. Out of a sense of duty, Hanson remained in office, although his term as a delegate to Congress was nearly expired. The Maryland Assembly reelected him as a delegate on November 28, 1781, and so Hanson continued to serve as president until November 4, 1782. People may not understand why he didn’t want the position, being president back then didn’t hold much power and really didn’t get paid. In fact before the election it was hard to find someone to elect as no one wanted the roles.

While there, he served from November 5, 1781 until November 3, 1782, he was able to remove all foreign troops from American lands, as well as their flags. He also introduced the Treasury Department, the first Secretary of War, and the first Foreign Affairs Department. He led the flight to guarantee the statehood of the Western Territories beyond the Appalachian Mountains that had been controlled by some of the original thirteen colonies.

What's probably most interesting is that Hanson is also responsible for establishing Thanksgiving Day as the fourth Thursday in November. Which is crazy because I didn’t even learn that in grade school. When He took office just a month after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. On February 21, 1782, Hanson signed a resolution creating the US Mint. The next day, his administration formed a newly reorganized Department of Foreign Affairs, which would be integral to the negotiating of peace with Great Britain. It was at this crucial moment that Hanson and Congress stopped to reflect on the successful progress of the war, with Hanson issuing a proclamation of Thanksgiving, the first under his government and the first issued by a “President of the United States.” To formally notify the states, one fully executed original was sent to each of the 13 states in the Union.

Document Signed, March 19, 1782, Philadelphia, being that very proclamation, also signed by Charles Thomson in his role as Secretary of Congress. “Proclamation. The goodness of the Supreme Being to all his rational creatures demands their acknowledgments of gratitude and love; his absolute government of this world dictates that it is the interest of every nation and people ardently to supplicate his favor and implore his protection.

“When the lust of dominion or lawless ambition excites arbitrary power to invade the rights or endeavor to wrest from a people their sacred and inalienable privileges, and compels them, in defense of the same, to encounter all the horrors and calamities of a bloody and vindictive war, then is that people loudly called upon to fly unto that God for protection who hears the cries of the distressed and will not turn a deaf ear to the supplications of the oppressed.

“Great Britain, hitherto left to infatuated councils and to pursue measures repugnant to her own interest and distressing to this country, still persists in the design of subjugating these United States; which will compel us into another active and perhaps bloody campaign.

“The United States in Congress assembled, therefore, taking into consideration our present situation, our multiplied transgressions of the holy laws of our God, and his past acts of kindness and goodness towards us, which we ought to record with the liveliest gratitude, think it their indispensable duty to call upon the several States to set apart the last Thursday in April next as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, that our joint supplications may then ascend to the throne of the Ruler of the universe, beseeching him to diffuse a spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens, and make us a holy so that we may be a happy, people; that it would please him to impart wisdom, integrity, and unanimity to our counselors; to bless and prosper the reign of our illustrious ally, and give success to his arms employed in the defense of the rights of human nature; that he would smile upon our military arrangements by land and sea, administer comfort and consolation to our prisoners in a cruel captivity, protect the health and life of our commander-in-chief, grant us victory over our enemies, establish peace in all our borders, and give happiness to all our inhabitants; that he would prosper the labor of the husbandman, making the earth yield its increase in abundance, and give a proper season for the ingathering of the fruits thereof; that he would grant success to all engaged in lawful trade and commerce, and take under his guardianship all schools and Seminaries of learning, and make them nurseries of virtue and piety; that he would incline the hearts of all men to peace, and fill them with universal charity and benevolence, and that the religion of our Devine Redeemer, with all its benign influences, may cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.

“Done by the United States in Congress assembled this nineteenth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand sevent hundred & eighty two and in the sixth year of our independence. John Hanson President. Also Signed by the Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson.”

This document, acquired from the descendants of John Hanson, was the one sent to Rhode Island; it was re-acquired by the Hanson family in the 19th century. We could find record of only one other copy of this proclamation, which sold more than a decade ago to a major national institution. Thus, this may well be the only original of this proclamation in private hands. I hope you enjoyed this article. Let us know what your thoughts are on this this piece are. Thank you!