Now
the history books tell us that George Washington was the first
president of the United States, however he wasn't the first but the
eighth.. The first seven presidents are hidden in time forever and
they have us to believe that Washington was indeed the first
president. Sadly that is false and I hope you find this interesting.
The
Articles of Confederation was actually propose on June 11 of 1776 but
it was not agreed upon by congress until November 15 of 1777 because
Maryland refused to sign until New York and Virginia ceded their Western lands
and once the signing took place in 1781 a president was needed to run
the country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by congress. ( George
Washington was involved). All other influential candidates refused to
run against him because he was a major player in the Revolution and a
key player in congress.
John
Hanson was the actual first black president and not Obama.
He
was an American Patriot and elected as president in 1781. As the
first president he had quite the shoes to fill. Since no one had been
elected President before the role was poorly defined. So his actions
in office set a precedent for the future presidents. He took office
just as the Revolutionary War ended and almost immediately the troops
demanded to be paid.
Since
this was a long war there were no funds to meet the salaries so as a
result the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and
put Washington on the thrown as a monarch.
This
made all the members of congress run and left Hanson to run the
government by himself. He somehow managed to calm the troops and hold
the country together.
Back
then since the Article of Confederation only allowed a president to
serve only one term in a three year period Hanson actually
accomplished a lot. He ordered all foreign troops off the American
as well as the foreign flags, which wasn't an easy task since so many
European countries had a stake in the United States following the
days of Columbus. He established the seal of the United States in
which all presidents are required to use. He declared that the fourth
Thursday of the month of November be set aside for Thanksgiving,
which is still honored today.
He
established the first Treasury Department, the First secretary of
war, and the first Foreign Affairs Department. There are another six
presidents who were after him and before Washington that I will write
about as well. He
served in that office from November 5, 1781 until November 3, 1782.
He was the first President to serve a full term after the full
ratification of the Articles of Confederation – and like so many of
the Southern and New England Founders, he was strongly opposed to the
Constitution when it was first discussed. He remained a confirmed
anti-federalist until his untimely death.
Why
don't we ever hear about the first seven Presidents of the United
States? 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.
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 seven Presidents
No comments:
Post a Comment