President Who? Forgotten Founders

by Stanley L. Klos

Book Description In this landmark work on Early Presidential History, Historian Stanley L. Klos unravels the complex birth of the US Presidency while providing captivating biographies on the Four Presidents of the Continental Congress and ten Presidents of the United States before George Washington. The book is filled with actual photographs of Pre-Constitutional letters, resolutions, treaties, and laws enacted by the Confederation Congress and signed by the Presidents of the Confederation Congress as "President of the United States." From the United Colonies Birth in 1774 to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 the author clearly and concisely maps out the role and duties of the Presidents who led the fledging nation through the Revolutionary War and the formation of the United States under the Articles of Confederation. Accounts include the birth of the Presidency and the United Colonies in Philadelphia’s City Tavern (Yes the first "convening" of the Continental Congress occurred in a tavern), the US Capitol "road show" as it moved from town to town fleeing the British Military Forces, the 1781ratification of the Articles of Confederation in Philadelphia forming the first US Presidency, the entire US Government being held hostage in Independence Hall in 1783 by it own Military, the near collapse of Confederation Government in 1786 due to its failure to govern under the threat of Shay’s Rebellion, the rebirth of the United States under the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 called to revise the Articles of Confederation and finally President Abraham Lincoln’s use of the Articles of Confederation as his central legal argument to "Preserve the Perpetual Union of the United States of America" in 1861. President Who? Forgotten Founders brings to life the Presidential Personalities from 1774 to 1788 and most importantly sets the historical record straight on Who, Samuel Huntington not George Washington, was the First US President and which State, Virginia not Delaware, was the first to form the Perpetual Union of the United States of America.

247 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2004

Reviews

[Vincent T. Ciaramella · Rating 3 out of 5]

The central argument of his book is up for debate (were there 10 presidents before Washington). I really don't want to weigh in on that. But I will say that this book is a great reference for those that want to learn about some forgotten Founding Fathers. It's not a page turner by any means but you can read one at a time, put it down, come back to it later and never lose a beat.