John Hanson | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Hanson attributed toJohn Hesselius, c. late 1760s | |
| 3rdPresident of the Confederation Congress | |
| In office November 5, 1781 – November 3, 1782 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas McKean |
| Succeeded by | Elias Boudinot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1721-04-14)April 14, 1721 nearPort Tobacco,Province of Maryland |
| Died | November 15, 1783(1783-11-15) (aged 62) Oxon Hill,Prince George's County, Maryland |
| Spouse | Jane Contee (m. ~1744) |
| Children | 8, includingAlexander |
| Parent(s) | Samuel Hanson Elizabeth Storey |
| Occupation | Merchant, politician |
| Signature |  |
John Hanson (April 14 [O.S. April 3] 1721 – November 15, 1783) was an AmericanFounding Father, merchant, and politician fromMaryland during theRevolutionary Era. In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to theContinental Congress after serving in a variety of roles for thePatriot cause in Maryland. He signed theArticles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland joined the other states in ratifying them. In November 1781, followingratification of the articles, he was electedPresident of the Confederation Congress—a mostly ceremonial and clerical position, sometimes styledPresident of the United States in Congress assembled—by his fellow delegates.
He was not the first person to hold the office.Samuel Huntington andThomas McKean had each preceded him under the Articles of Confederation, as had five other men asPresident of the Continental Congress before ratification. Some Hanson descendants and biographers have falsely claimed that he was actually the first holder of the office ofPresident of the United States, an unrelated executive position created in 1789 by theConstitution of the United States.[1]
Hanson was born inPort Tobacco Parish inCharles County in theProvince of Maryland on April 14, 1721. Sources published prior to a 1940 genealogical study[2] sometimes listed his birth date as April 13[3] or his year of birth as 1715.[4] Hanson was born on aplantation called "Mulberry Grove" into a wealthy and prominent family.[5] The Hanson Family was of English descent.[6][failed verification] His parents were Samuel (c. 1685–1740) and Elizabeth (Storey) Hanson (c. 1688–1764).[7] Samuel Hanson was aplanter who owned more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km2),[1] and held a variety of political offices, including serving two terms in theMaryland General Assembly.[3]
Hanson's grandfather, also named John, came to Charles County, Maryland, as anindentured servant around 1661.[8] In 1876, a writer named George Hanson placed Hanson in his family tree of Swedish-Americans descended from four Swedish brothers who emigrated toNew Sweden in 1642.[8][9] This story was often repeated over the next century, but scholarly research in the late 20th century showed that Hanson was not related to those Swedish-American Hansons.[8][10]
Little is known about Hanson's early life; he was presumably privately tutored as was customary among the wealthy of his time and place.[11] He followed his father's path as a planter, slave owner, and public official. He was often referred to asJohn Hanson, Jr., to distinguish him from an older man of the same name.[12]
Hanson's career in public service began in 1750, when he was appointed sheriff of Charles County.[1] In 1757, he was elected to represent Charles County in the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, where he served for twelve years, sitting on many important committees.[1] Maryland was aproprietary colony, and Hanson aligned himself with the "popular" or "country" party, which opposed any expansion of the power of the proprietary governors at the expense of the popularly elected lower house. He was a leading opponent of the1765 Stamp Act, chairing the committee that drafted the instructions for Maryland's delegates to theStamp Act Congress. In protest of theTownshend Acts, in 1769 Hanson was one of the signers of a non-importation resolution that boycotted British imports until the acts were repealed.[1]
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Hanson changed course in 1769, apparently to better pursue his business interests. He resigned from the General Assembly, sold his land in Charles County, and moved toFrederick County inwestern Maryland. There he held a variety of offices, including deputy surveyor, sheriff, and county treasurer.[1][7] When relations betweenGreat Britain and the colonies became a crisis in 1774, Hanson became one of Frederick County's leadingPatriots. He chaired a town meeting that passed a resolution opposing theBoston Port Act.[1] In 1775, he was a delegate to theMaryland Convention, an extralegal body convened after the colonial assembly had beenprorogued. With the other delegates, he signed the Association of Freemen on July 26, 1775, which expressed hope for reconciliation with Great Britain but also called for military resistance to the enforcement of theCoercive Acts.[3]
With hostilities underway, Hanson chaired the Frederick CountyCommittee of Observation, part of the Patriot organization that assumed control of local governance. Responsible for recruiting and arming soldiers, Hanson proved to be an excellent organizer, and Frederick County sent the first southern troops to joinGeorge Washington's army.[1][14] Because funds were scarce, Hanson frequently paid soldiers and others with his own money.[15] In June 1776, Hanson chaired the Frederick County meeting that urged provincial leaders in Annapolis to instruct Maryland's delegates in theContinental Congress to declare independence from Great Britain.[16] While Congress worked on theDeclaration of Independence, Hanson was in Frederick County "making gunlocks, storing powder, guarding prisoners, raising money and troops, dealing with Tories, and doing the myriad other tasks which went with being chairman of the committee of observation".[16]
Hanson was elected to the newly reformedMaryland House of Delegates in 1777, the first of five annual terms.[1] In December 1779, the House of Delegates named Hanson as a delegate to theSecond Continental Congress; he began serving in Congress inPhiladelphia in June 1780.[17][7] "Hanson came to Philadelphia with the reputation of having been the leading financier of the revolution in western Maryland, and soon he was a member of several committees dealing with finance."[17]
When Hanson was elected to Congress, Maryland was holding up the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. The state, which did not have any claims on western land, refused to ratify the Articles until the other states had ceded their western land claims.[18] When the other states finally did so, the Maryland legislature decided in January 1781 to ratify the Articles.[17] When Congress received notice of this, Hanson joinedDaniel Carroll in signing the Articles of Confederation on behalf of Maryland on March 1, 1781. With Maryland's endorsement, the Articles officially went into effect.[17] Many years later, some Hanson biographers claimed that Hanson had been instrumental in arranging the compromise and thus securing ratification of the Articles, but according to historian Ralph Levering, there is no documentary evidence of Hanson's opinions or actions in resolving the controversy.[17]
In 1782, Hanson proclaimed on behalf of the Continental Congress for aday of "Solemn Thanksgiving".
On November 5, 1781, Congress elected Hanson as its president. Under the Articles of Confederation, both legislative and executive government were vested in the Congress (as it was and still is in Britain); the presidency of Congress was a mostly ceremonial position, but the office did require Hanson to serve as neutraldiscussion moderator, handle official correspondence, and sign documents.[19] Hanson found the work tedious and considered resigning after just one week, citing his poor health and family responsibilities.[7] Colleagues urged him to remain because Congress at that moment lacked aquorum to choose a successor.[7] Out of a sense of duty, Hanson remained in office,[1][20] although his term as a delegate to Congress was nearly expired. The Maryland Assembly re-elected him as a delegate on November 28, 1781, and so Hanson continued to serve as president until November 4, 1782.[7]
The Articles of Confederation stipulated that presidents of Congress serve one-year terms, and Hanson became the first to do so.[1][21][22] Contrary to the claims of some of his later advocates, however, he was not the first president to serve under the Articles nor the first to be elected under the Articles.[23] When the Articles went into effect in March 1781, Congress did not bother to elect a new president; instead,Samuel Huntington continued serving a term that had already exceeded a year.[24] On July 9, 1781,Samuel Johnston became the first man to be elected as president of Congress after the ratification of the Articles.[25] He declined the office, however, perhaps to make himself available for North Carolina's gubernatorial election.[26] After Johnston turned down the office,Thomas McKean was elected.[27][24] McKean served just a few months, resigning in October 1781 after hearing news of the Britishsurrender at Yorktown. Congress asked him to remain in office until November, when a new session of Congress was scheduled to begin.[21] It was in that session that Hanson began to serve his one-year term. A highlight of Hanson's term was whenGeorge Washington presentedCornwallis's sword to Congress.[28]
Hanson retired from public office after his one-year term as president of Congress. In poor health, he died on November 15, 1783,[1] while visitingOxon Hill Manor inPrince George's County, Maryland, the plantation of his nephewThomas Hawkins Hanson. He was buried there.[7] Hanson owned at least 223 acres of land and 11 slaves at the time of his death.[7]
About 1744, he married Jane Contee (1728–1812), daughter of Alexander Contee (1692–1740). They had eight children, including:[1][7]
In 1898, Douglas H. Thomas, a descendant of Hanson, wrote a biography promoting Hanson as the first true President of the United States. Thomas became the "driving force"[30] behind the selection of Hanson as one of the two people who would represent Maryland in theNational Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C.[30][1] Hanson was not initially on the shortlist for consideration, but he was chosen after lobbying by theMaryland Historical Society.[31] In 1903,bronze statues of Hanson andCharles Carroll by sculptorRichard E. Brooks were added to Statuary Hall; Hanson's is currently located on the 2nd floor of the Senate connecting corridor.[32] Small versions of these two statues (maquettes) sit on the president's desk in the Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House.[33]
Some historians have questioned the appropriateness of Hanson's selection for the honor of representing Maryland in Statuary Hall. According to historian Gregory Stiverson, Hanson was not one of Maryland's foremost leaders of the Revolutionary era.[1] In 1975, historian Ralph Levering said that "Hanson shouldn't have been one of the two Marylanders" chosen,[30] but he wrote that Hanson "probably contributed as much as any other Marylander to the success of the American Revolution".[34] In the 21st century, Maryland lawmakers have considered replacing Hanson's statue in Statuary Hall with one ofHarriet Tubman.[31][35]
The idea that Hanson was the forgotten first president of the United States was further promoted in a 1932 biography of Hanson by journalist Seymour Wemyss Smith.[36] Smith's book asserts that the American Revolution had two primary leaders: George Washington on the battlefield and John Hanson in politics.[37] Smith's book, like Douglas H. Thomas's 1898 book, was one of a number of biographies written seeking to promote Hanson as the "first President of the United States".[38] Regarding the opinion, historian Ralph Levering stated: "They're not biographies by professional historians; they aren't based on research into primary sources."[30] According to historianRichard B. Morris, if a president of Congress were to be called thefirst president of the United States, "a stronger case could be made forPeyton Randolph of Virginia, the first president of the first and second Continental Congresses, or forJohn Hancock, the president of Congress when that body declared its independence."[23] The claim that Hanson was a forgotten president of the United States was revived on the Internet, sometimes with a new assertion that he was actually a black man; an anachronistic photograph of SenatorJohn Hanson of Liberia has been used to support this claim.[39]
In 1972, Hanson was depicted on a 6-cent U.S.postal card, which featured his name and portrait next to the word "Patriot".[40] HistorianIrving Brant criticized the selection of Hanson for the card, arguing that it was a result of the "old hoax" promoting Hanson as the first president of the United States.[41] In 1981, Hanson was featured on a 20-centU.S. postage stamp.[42] U.S. Route 50 between Washington, D.C., and Annapolis is named theJohn Hanson Highway in his honor. There are also middle schools located inOxon Hill, Maryland, andWaldorf, Maryland, named after him. A former savings bank named for him was merged in the 1990s with Industrial Bank of Washington, D.C.
In the 1970s, a descendant of Hanson, John Hanson Briscoe, served asSpeaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, which passed "a measure establishing April 14 as John Hanson Day."[35] In 2009, the John Hanson Memorial Association was incorporated in Frederick, Maryland, to create the John Hanson National Memorial and to educate Americans about Hanson as well as to educate people about the many myths written about him.[43]
Books, journals, and encyclopedias
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Newspapers and online sources
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of the Continental Congress November 5, 1781 – November 3, 1782 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
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