George Washington: The first president of The United States after the Continental Congress

He was born February 22^nd of 1732 in Westnoreland County, VA. He was one of the founding fathers of the United States and served as the first President after the Constitution was established. He served as President from April 30^th 1789-March 4^th 1797 but he served as commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

He presided over the committee that drafted the Constitution and established the position of President. He was elected President as the unanimous choice of the 69 electors in 1788 and served two terms in office. He oversaw the creation of a strong well financed national government. This government maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and was accepted among all types of Americans.

His leadership style established many forms and the rituals of government that had been used since such as a cabinet system and the delivery of the inaugural address. He was hailed as the “ father of his country.” George Washington never had any children of his own with his wife because after having a bout with small pox he was left sterile. He did have two step-children since Martha was a widow.

He opposed the 1756 Stamp Act, the first direct tax on the colonies, and began taking a leading role in the growing colonial resistance when protest against the Townshend Act ( enacted in 1767) became widespread. In May 1769 he introduced a proposal ,drafted by his friend George Mason, calling for Virginia to boycott English Goods until the acts were repealed,

When he was elected president he was paid $25.000 a year, but declined the salary because he valued his image as a selfish public servant. Plus he had came from a wealthy family since his father owned tobacco plantations and slaves. Also his marriage to Martha increased his property holdings and standings. And made him one of the wealthiest men in Virginia He acquired one-third of the 18,000-acre upon his marriage, worth approximately $100,000, and managed the remainder on behalf of Martha's children, for whom he sincerely cared for.

Some Myths about Washington:

He did not chop down the Cherry Tree. This story was just invented after his death and was intended to show school children how honest he was.

He did have false teeth but they weren't wooden. In fact they were made of cows teeth, one of his own teeth, hippo, ivory, metal, and springs. In fact they did not fit well which is why he never smiled.

He did not throw a silver dollar across the Platonic River because there were no silver dollars when he was a kid.

He never lived in the White House because the White House was not completed after his presidency. He did however help select the site of the capital and the executive mansion.

He never wore a wig but kept his real hair. He kept it pinned back as well as powdered it which was popular back in that time.

He never attended collage but he did find education important and helped established the country's first collage.

He was the first founding father to free his slaves. He inherited slaves from his father at age 11 and even though slavery had been around for thousands of years and was widely accepted he emancipated the slaves in his will and his estate paid pensions for their descendants. At the time of his death over 500 African Americans slaves lived at Mount Vernon and as he grew older his views on slavery changed.

He was the first man to sign the constitution.

He did introduce mules to the United States.

He declined the opportunity to be King.

Cyrus Griffin

Cyrus Griffin was born in Farnham,Virginia in 1749. He studied in England and Scotland at the University of Edinburgh. He was engaged in the private practice law in Lancaster,Virginia from 1774-1777.

He was a member of the the Virginia House of Delegates and a delegate to the Continental Congress from1778-1781and again from 1787-1788 serving as an appeals court judge in the interim.

He served as President of Congress from January to November of 1788. It was mostly a ceremonial position with no real authority. Some amateur historians later promoted Griffin and other Presidents of Congress as the original "Presidents of the United States", but the offices are unrelated.

He was president of the Supreme Court of the Admiralty from it's creation until the abolition and was commissioner to the Creek Nation in 1789 

Arthur St. Claire the sixth president

He was born in Scotland where he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War. He then settled in Pennsylvania where he held public office During the American Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of Major General in the Continental Army, but he lost his command after a controversial retreat.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania Council of Censors in 1783. He was elected to the Confederation Congress as a delegate on November 2^nd of 1785 and served until November 28^th of 1787

On February 2^nd of 1787 the delegates finally gathered into a quorum and elected St. Claire to a one year term as President of the Continental Congress. During his presidency congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance, it's most important piece of legislation.

However time was running out for the Continental Congress was running out.    

Nathan Gorman the fifth president of the Continental Congress.

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He was born in Boston, Mass and was a descendent of John Howland.

He started working at 15 when he served as an apprentice for a merchant house in New London, Connecticut in 1759. He took part in public affairs at the beginning of the American Revolution. He was a member of the Massachusetts General Court from 1771-1775. He was also a delegate to the provincial congress from 1774-1775. He was also a member of the Board of War from 1778 until it dissolution in 1781

In 1779 he served in the state constitutional convention. He was also a delegate to the continental congress from from 1782-1783 and then from 1785-1787. He served as it's president for five months from June 6 to November 5^th of 1786 after John Hancock resigned. He also served a term as a judge at the Middlesex County Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas.

For several months in 1787, he served as one of the Massachusetts delegates to the United States Constitutional Convention where he frequently served as chairman of the convention. He presided over the sessions during the delegates first deliberations on the structure of the new government in late May and June of that year. After the convention he worked hard to see that the constitution was approved in his home state.       

Richard Henry Lee.

He was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He left Virginia at sixteen to study in Yorkshire, England to complete his formal eduction.

In 1757 he was appointed as justice of the peace in Westmoreland County. In 1758 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgess where he met Patrick Henry. He was an early advocate of of independence and was the one of the first ones to create the the Committee of Correspondence.

In 1766, almost ten years before the American Revolutionary War, he was was credited with having authorized the Westmoreland County Revolution.

In August of 1774 he was chosen as a delegate to the first Continental Congress. He put forth the motion to declare independence from Great Britain. It read in part:

Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free, and independent states. That they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.

He had returned to Virginia by the time congress voted on and adapted the Declaration of Independence, but he signed it when he returned to congress. 

Thomas Miffin: The third President

He was born in Philadelphia, Pa on January 10^th of 1744. He graduated from the College of Philadelphia in 1760. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society. Early in the American Revolution he left the continental congress to serve in the continental army.

Although his family had bee Quakers for four generations he was expelled from the Religious Society of Friends because hie involvement of with a military force contradicted his his faiths nature.

He became a general than later became George Washington’s aide-de-camp and than in August 15^th of 1715 he was appointed by Washington to become the army's first Quartermaster General under order of congress. He was good at the job but preferred to be on the front lines.

Prior to independence he was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. He served two terms in the Continental Congress (1774-1775) and then from ( 1782-1784.) This included a seven month term from November 1783- June 1784) as that body's president. His most important duty as president was to accept George Washington on behalf of the Congress the commission of General George Washington who resigned in 1783.

The importance of the congress declined so precipitously that he found it difficult to convince the states to send enough delegates to Congress to ratify the Treaty of Paris, it finally took place on January 14^th of 1784.

He was a delegate of the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787 as well as a signer of the constitution. He served in the house of Pennsylvania General Assembly ( 1785-1788) and was a member of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and on November 5^th of 1788 he was elected President of Council replacing Benjamin Franklin.

He was unanimously reelected to the Presidency on November 11^th of 1789 and presided over the committee that wrote Pennsylvania's 1790 State Constitution. This document did away with the executive council and replaced it with a single Governor.  

Elias Boudinot: The Second President.

He was born May second in 1740 in Philadelphia, His father was a Merchant and a Silversmith and was a neighbor and friend of Benjamin Franklin. His mother was born in British Wales, Indies. He later became Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

He studied and was tutored at home and then went to Princeton to read law as an intern. He also argued for the rights of American Indian citizens. In 1760, He was admitted to the bar, and began his practice in Elizabeth. New Jersey and owned land adjacent to the road in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. In his later years he speculated and invested in land. He became a prominent lawyer and his practice prospered. As the revolution drew near, he aligned with the Whigs and was elected to the New Jersey provincial assembly in 1775. In the early stages of the Revolutionary War he active in promoting enlistment. He also helped support rebel spies.

From 1782 to 1783 he served as President of the Continental Congress. Although the position was mostly a ceremonial position with no real authority, it did require him to handle a good deal of correspondence and sign official documents. He signed the Preliminary Articles of Peace. He was also later appointed as Director of the United States Mint by George Washington in 1795.