Evening star., 1923-06-03

ords Of the Congress, and its com
Guiding paragraph is:
Done at Philadelphia the A2sth day
of November. in the year of our Lord
| 1881, and in the sixth year of our
independence. By the United States
in Congress assembled. Your faithful
friends and allies. John Hanson.
President"
| Besides Samuel Huntington of Con-
necticut. Thomas Mexican of Della
ware. John Hanson of Maryland. the
seven others who served as President
before Washington became the first
| President under the present constitu-
tional government were: Elias Bou-
dinot Of New Jersey. Thomas Miffiin
of Pennsylvania, Richard Henry Lee
of Virginia, John Hancock of Massa-
chusetts, Nathaniel Gorham Of Massa-
chusetts, Arthur st. Clair of Penn
sylvania and Cyrus Griffin of Vir-
gInia.
The distinction between the presi-
dency in the days OF Thomas Mexican,
John Hanson and those seven others
| who intervened before Washington
| and the presidency in the days of
Peyton Randolph of Virginia, Henry
| Middleton of South Carolina, John
| Hancock of Massachusetts, Henry
| Laurens of South Carolina and John
Jay of New York. who were the
earlier presidents of the Continental
| Congress from September 5, 1774, to
| 1881, lies in the fact that the Ameri-
| can revolution was fought under a
| sort of gentlemen's agreement in lieu
of a legally organized government.
The distinction between the presi-
| dency of Mexican and Hanson. and
that of Washington and the others
who have since served as chief execu-
tive IS that Mexican and Hanson were
presidents of the government under
| the Articles of Confederation and
agreed to by the thirteen then exist
ing states, while Washington and his
| twenty eight SUCCESSORS have served
under the Constitution.
Solicitorl General Beck. in his re-
| cent book on the Constitution of the
! United States, is a witness regarding
the fact that the Continental Con-
| gress, when Thomas Mexican and
John Hanson were elected president
of the United States in Congress AS
| sembled," had more responsible
standing than previous sessions of
| the Continental Congress under their
predecessors as presidents. Mr.. Beck
| points out that "the so-called Articles
| of Confederation, which were drafted
in 1875. were never finally adopted by
the requisite number of states until
March, 1881. when the war was near
| ly over" Then he goes on to ex-
plain that "by the Articles of Con-
| federation, which. as stated became
effective in 1881, the conduct of
| foreign affairs was vested in the new
| government, which was also given the
| power to create admiralty courts,
| regulate coinage, maintain an army
bills of credit; but the great limita-
bills of credit, but the great limita-
ton was that in all other respects
| the constituent states retained alb
| solute power, especially with refer
ence to commerce and taxation"
WOODROW WILSON, who is one of
w the greatest authorities on
American history, explains that 1.-The
Articles of Confederation proposed at
the heart of the wartime November
Is, 1877, had at last been adopted
March l, 1881, in season to create at
least government which could sign
treaties and conclude wars, but neith-
er soon enough nor wisely enough to
/ hi
glad to think the war over, would do
| nothing for the Army, nothing for
| the public credit. nothing even for
| the maintenance OF order. and the Ar
| ticles Of Confederation only gave the
Congress written warranty for offer
| ing advice: they did not make its
| shadowy powers real"
That Thomas Mexican and John
Hanson in assuming the presidency
found themselves at the head of an
authoritative government is clearly
defined by James A. Garfield in one
of his works:
BY the Declaration of Independ-
ence the sovereignty of the colonies
was withdrawn from the British
| crown and lodged in the Continental
Congress. No one of the colonies was
| ever independent or sovereign. No
| one colony declared itself independ-
ent of Great Britain; nor was the
Declaration made by all the colonies
| together as colonies. 1t was made in
the name and by the authority Of the
good people OF the colonies as one
| nation. BY that act they created. not
| Independent states. but an independ-
ent nation, and named it The United
states of America; and, by the con-
| sent Of the people, the sovereignty
OF the new nation was lodged in the
| Continental Congress. This is true
not only in point of law, but as
historical fact. The Congress became
the only legislative, executive and
judicial power of the nation: and the
Army became the Army of the Conti
mental Congress. One OF its regiments.
which was recruited from the nation
generally, was called Congress own.
as a sort of reply to the Kings own
royal regiment stationed at Bos-
ton. Officers were commissioned bv
Congress. and were sworn to obey it's
orders. The President of Congress
was the chief executive officer of the
nation. The, chairmen of committees
! were heads Of the executive depart
mnts. A committee sat as judges in
admiralty and prize cases. The power
OF Congress was unlimited by any law
or regulation. except the consent of
the people themselves"
| y n
TOHN HANSON was the ra.,,,, ~,