These people were the President of  the Congress, sort of like being
Speaker of the House but they used the term president instead, as in
"presiding officer" of the Congress under the articles; they had much
less power than the speaker does today or the senate majority leader
does today.

Who ran the country under the articles.  The federalists (supporters of
a new Constitution) like Madison, Washington, Hamilton, John Jay, James
Wilson, and the Pinckneys would all have said "NO ONE" was running the
Country which is why we needed a new government.

The anti-nationalists (Pat. Henry, George Mason, Gov. Clinton of NY,
R.H. Lee) would have said that the Congress collectively passes laws
that are useful for all the states, but that "government" as we need it
is found in the states; and where necessary the states will implement
the few laws Congress needs to pass and that all Congress really needs
to do is to maintain a small army ( to fight some Indians on the
frontier and protect the nation from invansion until the state militias
can step in and defend the nation); sell public land on the frontier;
run the post office; and a few other things like that, and let the
states run themselves.

I have cartooned these different views a little, but not much I think.

Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York   12208

518-445-3386 (office)
518-605-0296 (cell)

[log in to unmask]



Trenton Hizer wrote:

>I don't know if this answer will satisfy, but I remember in a history
>class that the professor explained it thusly.  Congress ran the country
>under the Articles
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lonny J. Watro
>Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 6:56 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Off Topic - lost Presidents
>
>The uneducated mathematician wants to know if this is true.... Please
>respond off list, unless of course you think others need an education,
>too. <wink>
>
>See article below...
>
>Thanks,
>Lonny
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>LOST HISTORICAL TID-BITS
>
>Who was the 1st President?   I'm sure that George Washington was your
>first and best guess.  After all, no one else comes to mind.
>
>But 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
>United 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...
>
>Elias Boudinot (1782-83),
>
>Thomas Mifflin (1783-84),
>
>Richard Henry Lee (1784-85),
>
>John Hancock (1785-86),
>
>Nathan Gorman (1786-87),
>
>Arthur St. Clair (1787-88), and
>
>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!!
>
>NOTE:  It took 8 years for us to establish a successful government.
>Remember this when you hear that so little progress has been made during
>these last 3 years in establishing a Government in Iraq.
>
>
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>

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