The first constitution of the USA was titled “Articles of Confederation” and was in force between 1781 and 1788. It created a single house of Congress and no executive – but for one year during this period (1781-2), John Hanson served as “President of the United States in Congress Assembled.” Hanson was followed by Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788). George Washington was the first President under the Constitution of June 21, 1788, ratified by 1790.
John Hanson – painting attributed to John Hesselius, c. late 1760s
Portrait of Elias Boudinot by Thomas Sully
Thomas Mifflin
Richard Henry Lee. Portrait by Charles Willson Peale.
Nathaniel Gorman. Portrait by Charles Willson Peale.
Arthur St. Clair – painting by Charles Wilson Peale.
Cyrus Griffin
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Why is today Flag Day?
Because 236 years ago TODAY, the Second Continental Congress finally decided on a flag:
“Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
They did not specify the number of points on the stars, nor the arrangement of those stars. However, Francis Hopkinson, a member of the Congress, designed a flag and then actually billed the Congress for the design! They did not pay the bill. This flag is assumed to have first been raised at the 1777 Middlebrook encampment in New Jersey. A flag with this design still flies in Middlebrook today!
A Hopkinson Flag still flies daily over the site of the encampment of the Continental Army in 1777 and 1778.
Francis Hopkinson portrait by Robert Edge Pine.
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US Flag: The First
National Flag Day
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Edgar Parker painted the portrait in 1878 based on an original by Gilbert Stuart.
John Adams (1735 – 1826)
The 2nd President of the United States, 1797 – 1801
AKA: His Roundity, The Atlas of Independence, The Colossus of Independence, Bonny Johnny, The Duke of Braintree
From: Massachusetts
College: Harvard
Married to: Abigail Smith
Children: Nabby, John Quincy, Susanna, Charles, Thomas, Elizabeth
Party: Federalist
Previous Job: Teacher, lawyer, Colonial legislator to the Massachusetts General Court, Delegate to the First Continental Congress, Delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Ambassador, Vice President
In His Words: “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with the power to endanger the public liberty.”
This 2 cent stamp was introduced in 1938.
“There is something very unnatural and odious in a government a thousand leagues off. A whole government of our own choice, managed by persons whom we love, revere, and can confide in, has charms in it for which men will fight.”
“Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”
“Since the decay of the feudal system, by which the public defense was provided for chiefly at the expense of individuals, the system of loans has been introduced, and as no nation can raise within the year by taxes sufficient sums for its defense and military operations in time of war the sums loaned and debts contracted have necessarily become the subjects of what have been called funding systems. The consequences arising from the continual accumulation of public debts in other countries ought to admonish us to be careful to prevent their growth in our own. The national defense must be provided for as well as the support of Government; but both should be accomplished as much as possible by immediate taxes, and as little as possible by loans.”
“Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right.”
“I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.”
“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.”
Not true: It’s a quote often attributed to John Adams:
“I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm; and that three or more become a Congress!”
Just one problem: John Adams didn’t say it. It’s a line from the 1969 Broadway music comedy, 1776!
True:The Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Members included Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R Livingston and Roger Sherman. The committee apparently wanted Adams to write the document, but he persuaded the committee to have Jefferson write the first draft. In later years, Jefferson would say that Adams was “the pillar of [the Declaration’s] support on the floor of Congress, its ablest advocate and defender against the multifarious assaults it encountered.”
Adams was appointed our first Ambassador, traveling with his son and future President, John Quincy Adams, to France in 1777.
In our first Presidential election, George Washington was unanimously elected by our electors. The race was for 2nd place, and 11 candidates split the 69 available votes. Adams received the most, so he became our first Vice President.
Unfortunately, Mr. Adams didn’t like his position, saying, “My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived. . . .” However, he did win the 1797 election, only to lose in 1800 to his Vice President, Thomas Jefferson. Adams thus became our first one term President.
Adams kept a horse named Cleopatra.
The Official Portrait: Portrait of John Adams by John Trumbull, c. 1792-93.
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Big Mo
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