President of the Continental Congress and Articles of Confederation Period Presidential Seal

Colorized Flag of the US Confederation President

Who was the leader of the United States on July 4, 1776?  Washington you might say?  Nope.  George Washington was the General of the Continental Army.  In fact, there was a rich 13 year period of US history that happened, before Washington became president in 1788.  So, for the span of one generation, who held the highest political office in the United States before Washington was unanimously elected?

This highest of political offices was known as the President of the Continental Congress or President of the Confederation.  Long before the Confederacy and Constitution, the legal document that glued the nation was the Articles of Confederation.  The President of Congress was the precursor to the official President of the US Constitution.  This 'President of the United States during the Confederation Period' was the face of the nation.  It partly explains why John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence so large.  It was not that he had a big ego, rather he was the President of Congress.

Further, this highest of American political offices had an official seal.  The US President was the final secretary who signed congressional documents to make them official, like modern Constitutional Presidents. But the Confederation President did not have any veto power nor a cabinet.  But it is likely it is likely that he had assistants, which would be more like a small drawer than an official cabinet.   Because these older pre-Constitutional US Presidents had to sign papers and such, an official seal was created to make it official.  The seal would go on to live in the official seal of the nation.  Just look above the bald eagle, and you can see the remnant of these overlooked American Presidents.

The Seal of the Pre-Constitutional US Presidents featured an oval design with thirteen six pointed stars arranged in the outline of a six pointed Star of Solomon on a disc.  Outside of the disc was a burst of rays is all directions within a cloud.  Further out was a space, within that space was the Latin phrase E PLURIBUS UNUM.  Finally the outer ring had a fanciful border that had halved rings of glory.

For historical contrast, the US Confederation lasted three years longer than the US Confederacy.  The US Confederacy existed for four years from 1861 to 1865, while the US Confederation existed for seven years from 1781 to 1788.

Historians keenly remember Confederate President Jefferson Davis, but hardly any can recall any of the US Confederation Presidents. They were:

1. John Hanson of Maryland
2. Elias Boudinot of New Jersey
3. Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania
4. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia
5. John Hancock of Massachusetts
6. Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts
7. Arthur St. Clair of Scotland
8. Cyrus Griffin of Virginia