Maryland acknowledges that John Hanson was the third, not the first, to serve as President of the United States in Congress Assembled under the Articles of Confederation.
MD Official footnote: “John Hanson served as the first president of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to 1782” is removed from the Maryland's official Commemorative days listings.
America's Four United Republics requests that John Hanson's plaque at the Maryland State House also be corrected:
The
Honorable Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr.
Governor
of the State of Maryland
Maryland
State House
100
State Circle
Annapolis,
MD 21401 December
17, 2015
Dear Governor Hogan,
First let me congratulate you
on your remission, this is extremely good news for you, your family and the
people of Maryland.
Second, please accept our
thanks for removing the footnote reference that John Hanson was the first
President to serve under the Articles of Confederation, from Maryland's
official Commemorative Days online listings.
This, along with the letter from Director Emily Oland Squires persuaded
us to remove the Samuel Huntington vs. John Hanson First USCA President Module
from America’s Four United Republics discovery based curriculum (enclosed)
which, was released in November at the National Council for Social Studies
Convention.
Finally, I thought it would
be prudent to notify you that the excellent Maryland State House Exhibit
overlooked the John Hanson painting plaque pictured below:
Due to the fact that the
Articles of Confederation Republic is now defunct, it is seemingly a minor
error but in the context of Maryland State House and U.S. Founding History,
this pronouncement is mistake akin to the Virginia State Capitol displaying a
painting of Thomas Jefferson claiming he was the first President of the United
States under the Constitution of 1787. We respectfully request the plaque be changed
to state that “John Hanson was the third President of the United States in
Congress Assembled to serve under the Articles of Confederation.” He was not the first or the first elected but
he was the first to serve the 1 year maximum limit.
Best wishes to you and your
family this holiday season.
Sincerely,
Stanley Yavneh Klos, Visiting
Professor
University Honors Program
Loyola University New Orleans |
| U.S. Dollar Presidential Coin Mr. Klos vs Secretary Paulson - Click Here |
Emily Oland
Squires, Director
Research and Educational Outreach
Maryland State Archives
Edward C. Papenfuse State Archives Building
350 Rowe Blvd., Annapolis, MD 21401
Dear
Director Squires,
Thank you
for your kind letter on behalf of Gov. Hogan of July 13th, 2015. I am pleased that the Maryland State Archives
is in agreement that President John Hanson was not the first USCA President but
the third to serve under the Articles of Confederation. Moreover, I am pleased to learn that the
State of Maryland did not fund the statue and plaque in Fredrick, Maryland that
proclaims John Hanson was the first President of the United States.
http://johnhansonmemorial.org/The_John_Hanson_National_Memorial/The_John_Hanson_National_Memorial.html
The history,
however, of the Maryland Legislature maintaining that “John Hanson served as the first president of
the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to 1782”
is well documented and can even be found in your “2015 Official Commemorative Days and Months in
Maryland,” which I have attached. In
my 2008 book, “The Rise of the U.S. Presidency & Forgotten Capitols,” I
cite similar references in: Maryland Department of Legislative Service, 2006
and 2007 House Bills 202, 209, 418, 614, 895, 957 Senate Bills 5, 240, 477,
546.
In addition
to the error of citing John Hanson as “First” the official Maryland documents
keep referring to the United States in Congress Assembled (so named by the Articles
of Confederation) as the Continental Congress, which was named by the Articles of Association in 1774 and expired
on February 28, 1781 with the enactment of the Articles.
As you know
our previous regular mail correspondence and the 20th Century model of
education is quickly being marginalized by email and the internet. On the subject of John Hanson, students all
over the world look to the State of Maryland as the authority on his Presidency
under the Articles of Confederation. It
would be most advantageous to all if Maryland acknowledged the errors in its
past rhetoric and corrected the 1903 Statuary Hall record and subsequent
pronouncements by clearly stating that
John Hanson was the third President of the United States in Congress
Assembled to serve under the Articles of Confederation.
With best
wishes and admiration for your good work at the Maryland State Archives I am,
Sincerely
yours,
Stan Klos
Stanley Yavneh Klos, Visiting Professor
University Honors Program
Loyola University New Orleans
6363 St. Charles Ave.
Campus Box 75
New Orleans, LA 70118-6195
Phone: (504) 864-7331
Fax: (504) 864-7275
syklos@loyno.edu
cc: Speaker
of the House, Governor, President of the Senate, Maryland State Archivist
July 2nd, 2015
Dear Honorable Governor and Maryland State Legislators:
On July 6th, 1781, Samuel Huntington, the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled (USCA) to serve under the Articles of Confederation, resigned his office in Philadelphia due to ill health. On July 9th, 1781, the USCA Delegates all chosen after their respective States had ratified Articles of Confederation Constitution elected Samuel Johnston from North Carolina, President. The following day, President-elect Johnston refused the office and the first USCA then elected Thomas McKean of Delaware, President and he accepted the office. President McKean served until the Second United States in Congress Assembled convened on November 5th, 1781, and elected Maryland Delegate John Hanson as the third USCA President to serve under the Articles of Confederation.
It would not be until January 31, 1903, that the United States Congress would disregard these historic facts and officially proclaim John Hanson as the first USCA President to serve under the Articles of Confederation. This official Congressional acknowledgement occurred at the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall Reception and Acceptance Ceremonies honoring inductees, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and President John Hanson. Since these ceremonies, the myth of John Hanson serving as the first President under the Articles of Confederation has been perpetuated by books, articles, and U.S. Postal FDCs, in voluminous Maryland State House legislation; and in Smithsonian Institute, National Archives, and Library of Congress exhibits. Recently, your state has bloviated this myth even further with a bill funding the effort to acknowledge Jane Hanson as the first “First Lady” of the United States of America -- The Jane Hanson National Memorial - General Assembly
Since my keynote address at the November 24th, 2003, re-entombment ceremonies of President Samuel and First Lady Martha Huntington, our team has been trying to right this 1903 fallacy perpetrated by Congress and at the State House in Maryland. In an effort to awaken Maryland legislators to the misnomers created by their predecessors, we brought our Historic.us primary source America’s Four Republics Exhibit to the 2012 Annapolis Continental Congress Festival, which featured the 1784 Treaty of Paris Ratification Broadside signed by USCA President Thomas Mifflin and Secretary Charles Thomson at the Maryland State House. Additionally, we brought in an original 1781 Journals of Congress issued by the USCA in 1782; letters and documents from the Presidents, Maryland Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and Constitution of 1787; and a 1786 printing of the Annapolis Convention’s Report to the USCA. When this effort to educate Maryland Legislators with primary source facts failed, we turned our attention to Capitol Hill. It has been a long battle but our determination finally blossomed and the federal government has begun to reverse its 1903 Articles of Confederation error. Specifically:
The Smithsonian Institute has removed The American Presidency, A Glorious Burden exhibit’s plaque reporting that John Hanson was the first President to serve under the Articles of Confederation. Additionally, on its website in April 2015, the Smithsonian Institute changed: “John Hanson served as the first president of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to 1782” --TO-- “John Hanson served as an early President of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to 1782.”
The National Archives, in May 2015, changed its website from: “When all the states ratified the Articles of Confederation in 1781, they voted for the first President. John Hanson from Maryland was the first man to serve as the elected President of Congress under the Articles of Confederation, thus making him acting President of the United States” --TO-- “When all the states ratified the Articles of Confederation in 1781, they voted for the first President. John Hanson from Maryland was the first man to serve a full, one year term as the elected President of Congress under the Articles of Confederation, thus making him (the third*) acting President of the United States. … *Although John Hanson was the first elected to the position to serve a full 1 year term, two other individuals were elected President during or after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation: Samuel Huntington (1779) and Thomas McKean (1781).”
The Library of Congress, in May 2015, changed its website from: “John Hanson (1715-1783), a delegate from Maryland, was electedthe first President of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. ... Some people claim that John Hanson rather than George Washington should be considered the first president." --TO-- "Between March 1, 1781, when the Articles of Confederation were enacted,and November 5, 1781, when a new Congress convened, Samuel Huntington andThomas McKean served briefly as presidents of the body. Samuel Johnston had declined the presidency when elected. When Congress met on November 5, 1781, it elected John Hanson (1715-1783), delegate from Maryland, as its president. In this letter, Charles Thomson (1729-1824), secretary of the Continental Congress informs George Washington of Hanson's election. According to the Articles, the president of Congress presided only over Congress; George Washington, chosen after the ratification of the Federal Constitution, was the first president of the United States."
To view the correspondence and web page images noted above as well as other federal government changes, please visit www.JohnHanson.org.
Now our attention has turned back to the People of Maryland and their elective Representatives. We respectfully request that that Governor and legislature cease and desist funding the promotion of:
1. The Articles of Confederation’s first congress commencing November 5, 1781, as opposed to March 1, 1781;
2. John Hanson serving as the first President of the United States of America;
3. John Hanson serving as the first President of Congress to serve under the Articles of Confederation;
4. John Hanson serving as the first President of Congress to be elected under the Articles of Confederation;
5. Jane Hanson serving as the first “First Lady” of the United States;
6. Jane Hanson serving as the first “First Lady” under the Articles of Confederation.
Be assured that if you persist in this folly, we will file for relief in your third branch of government.
Sincerely,
Stanley Yavneh Klos
Author and Independent Scholar
2000 Louisiana Avenue - Venue 15696
New Orleans, LA 70115
tel: 202-239-1774 | stan@historic.us
http://www.historic.us/
PS - We contemplated sending this letter back in late May when all three federal institutions finally corrected these historical errors but thought it was best to wait until after the July 2nd and 4th Independence Day festivities.
To view Mr. Klos' correspondence with the Library of Congress, National Archives, and Smithsonian Institute Click Here
Middle and High School Curriculum Supplement
For More Information Click Here
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