President of the Continental Congress

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The President of the Continental Congress was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress. He was elected by the delegates to the congress. After the Articles of Confederation were adopted on March 1, 1781, the office was known as the President of the United States in Congress Assembled.

The office of President of the Continental Congress is probably most analogous to the modern-day Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Like the Speaker, the President of the Continental Congress was expected to refrain from participating in debate, and was expected to vote last and only if his vote would be decisive. However, unlike the Speaker, the President of the Continental Congress had no power to assign delegates to committees.

The most famous President of the Continental Congress may be John Hancock, who presided over the Continental Congress when the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed. His large and bold signature on the declaration has led to his name becoming a slang term for a signature.

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[edit] Changes under the Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation replaced the Continental Congress and imposed a few changes on the office of the President. As mentioned before, the formal title of the presiding officer became “The President of the United States, in Congress Assembled”, reflecting the change in the name of the congress to “The United States, in Congress Assembled”. Except for John Hanson, most of the Presidents used this title only for treaties and on the diplomatic credentials for ministers.

In their only explicit mention of the office, the Articles also term limited the President of the Continental Congress. A delegate could not serve as President of the Continental Congress in more than one year out of any three.

[edit] “President of the United States”

The formal title of “President of the United States, in Congress Assembled” was often shortened to simply “President of the United States”. Prior to the Lee Resolution of independence, the position was simply the President of Congress for the United Colonies of America.

While the office of President of the Continental Congress had very little relationship to the office of President of the United States beyond the name, John Hancock did assume the position of Head of State when independence was declared. A key difference is that the President of the United States is the head of the executive branch of government, while the President of the Continental Congress was merely the chair of a body that most resembled a legislature, although it possessed legislative, executive, and judicial powers. While today's President can be seen as the most powerful single person in the country, the word president itself harkens back to this legacy of being merely one who presides over an assembly for a fixed time - the antithesis of a King.

[edit] List of Presidents

The following men served as the President of the First Continental Congress:

The following men served as the President of the Second Continental Congress:

The following men served as President of the United States in Congress Assembled:

Hancock was too ill to serve. The following two people acted as president in his absence:[1]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ On March 1, 1781 the title of the office changed, but Samuel Huntington remained president.
  2. ^ Continuation of term begun before official change of title.
  3. ^ Thomas McKean was the first President simply titled “President of the United States” in an official document.

[edit] References

Books
  • Klos, Stanley (2004). President Who? Forgotten Founders. Estoric.com. ISBN 0-9752627-6-9. 
Web

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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