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.