The First Executives

This book, The First Executives: Lives and Events in the Shadow of the American Revolution, presents a view of American history that has been almost completely forgotten. It is about a period of American history that has almost been obliterated by the focus on the events surrounding the Revolutionary War. During this time America had a guiding leadership in place that was responsible for forming many of the structures and procedures that we have in our government today. These early chief executives were the visionaries and originators of many of our ideas that we take for granted today. Through their contributions the development of the Presidency took placeand with it the destiny of the United States.

The position of a President was initiated from precursor intercolonial gatherings that were conducted under the Albany Congress of 1754 and the Stamp Act Congress of 1765. In the Albany Congress Benjamin Franklin made a formal presentation of a plan for creating a union to the colonial delegates. Franklins plan was a design of a union of all of the colonies under a single government, with each colony preserving its right of local independence and separate sovereignty of each colony. The plan included the provision of a single president to be in charge of this union.

The Stamp Act Congress was called to support an intercolonial meeting on the issue of the Stamp Act. Nine colonies assembled as an intercolonial congress to deal with the agenda of the Stamp Act of 1765, the Currency Act of 1764 which forbade the colonies to issue any new paper currency and the loss of the right to trial by jury in the Vice-Admiralty courts. When the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York City, New York on October 7, 1765, the first event associated with this meeting was that a President of this body, Timothy Ruggles, was elected to preside over the affairs that were to be conducted by this congress. Ruggles thus became the precursor chief executive of a set of Presidents who were subsequently to lead both the First and Second Continental Congresses a decade later.

A formally elected President of the United States, Peyton Randolph, came into being when the first functioning central government started with the First Continental Congress that convened in September 5, 1774, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The purpose of the First Continental Congress was to debate the issues that were confronting the colonies under British policies. The intent of the sessions was to propose a plan of action in response to the British activities.

The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 10, 1775, for the purpose of discussing the sovereignty of America. In its first action the delegates unanimously elected Peyton Randolph again to be the chief executive of the body. The Second Continental Congress was formed for the purpose of obtaining redress from Great Britain of American grievances and to both recover and establish American rights and liberties that would be recognized by England.

More Presidents were elected in the Second Continental Congress with John Hancock following as the next President. The formal sessions ended in October 1788 with Cyrus Griffin being the last elected President of the Continental Congress. An interim caretaker government continued under the Secretary of Congress, Charles Thomson, until March 2, 1789. Since George Washington was not inaugurated as the first Constitutional President until April 30, 1789, there is a fifteen-year period in which the President of the Continental Congressor the Chairman in the role of President pro temporeacted as the chief executive officer and as head of state of the government of the United States.

Too little credit has been given to the creation of the executive functions and the role of each of the chief executives during this Revolutionary War and post-revolutionary period.