President of the Continental Congress

President of the United States in Congress Assembled
Seal of the president of the Congress
Continental Congress
Style	Mr. President (informal) The Honorable (formal)
Status	Presiding officer
Appointer	Vote within the Congress
Formation	September 5, 1774 (1774-09-05)
First holder	Peyton Randolph
Final holder	Cyrus Griffin
Abolished	November 2, 1788 (1788-11-02)

The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, also called as the president of the Continental Congress and also the president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer in the Continental Congress. The Continental Congress was the convention of people in Philadelphia. They met to make the first transitional government of the United States. This was during the American Revolution. The president was a member of Congress elected by the members of the congress. The president would be a discussion moderator in the meetings. This position did not have much power. The office was also unrelated to the President of the United States.

14 men were the president of Congress from September 1774 to November 1788. They came from nine of the original 13 states: Virginia (3), Massachusetts (2), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (2), Connecticut, (1), Delaware (1), Maryland (1), New Jersey (1), and New York (1).

List of presidents

Terms and backgrounds of the 14 men who were the president of the Continental Congress:

Portrait	Name	State/colony	Term	Length	Previous position
	Randolph, PeytonPeyton Randolph (1721–1775)	Virginia	September 5, 1774 – October 22, 1774	47 days	Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses
	Middleton, HenryHenry Middleton (1717–1784)	South Carolina	October 22, 1774 – October 26, 1774	4 days	Speaker, S.C. Commons House of Assembly
	Randolph, PeytonPeyton Randolph (1721–1775)	Virginia	May 10, 1775 – May 24, 1775	14 days	Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses
	Hancock, JohnJohn Hancock (1737–1793)	Massachusetts	May 24, 1775 – October 29, 1777	2 years, 158 days	President, Massachusetts Provincial Congress
	Laurens, HenryHenry Laurens (1724–1792)	South Carolina	November 1, 1777 – December 9, 1778	1 year, 38 days	President, S.C. Provincial Congress, Vice President, S.C.
	Jay, JohnJohn Jay (1745–1829)	New York	December 10, 1778 – September 28, 1779	292 days	Chief Justice New York Supreme Court
	Huntington, SamuelSamuel Huntington (1731–1796)	Connecticut	September 28, 1779 – July 10, 1781	1 year, 285 days	Associate Judge, Connecticut Superior Court
	McKean, ThomasThomas McKean (1734–1817)	Delaware	July 10, 1781 – November 5, 1781	118 days	Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
	Hanson, JohnJohn Hanson (1721–1783)	Maryland	November 5, 1781 – November 4, 1782	364 days	Maryland House of Delegates
	Boudinot, EliasElias Boudinot (1740–1821)	New Jersey	November 4, 1782 – November 3, 1783	364 days	Commissary of Prisoners for the Continental Army
	Mifflin, ThomasThomas Mifflin (1744–1800)	Pennsylvania	November 3, 1783 – June 3, 1784	213 days	Quartermaster General of Continental Army, Board of War
	Lee, RichardRichard Henry Lee (1732–1794)	Virginia	November 30, 1784 – November 4, 1785	339 days	Virginia House of Burgesses
	Hancock, JohnJohn Hancock (1737–1793)	Massachusetts	November 23, 1785 – June 5, 1786	194 days	Governor of Massachusetts
	Gorham, NathanielNathaniel Gorham (1738–1796)	Massachusetts	June 6, 1786 – February 2, 1787	241 days	Board of War
	St.Clair, ArthurArthur St. Clair (1737–1818)	Pennsylvania	February 2, 1787 – November 4, 1787	275 days	Major General, Continental Army
	Griffin, CyrusCyrus Griffin (1748–1810)	Virginia	January 22, 1788 – November 2, 1788	298 days	Judge, Virginia Court of Appeals

Related pages

• Founding Fathers of the United States

References

Works cited

• Burnett, Edmund Cody (1941). The Continental Congress. New York City, New York: Norton. OCLC 1467233.
• Ellis, Richard J. (1999). Founding the American Presidency. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-8476-9499-2. OCLC 40856998.
• Fowler, William M. Jr. (1980). The Baron of Beacon Hill: A Biography of John Hancock. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-27619-5. OCLC 5493800.
• Jillson, Calvin C.; Wilson, Rick K. (1994). Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774–1789. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2293-5. OCLC 28963682.
• Morris, Richard B. (1987). The Forging of the Union, 1781–1789. New York City, New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0060157333. OCLC 1005621076.
• Sanders, Jennings Bryans (1930). The Presidency of the Continental Congress, 1774-89: A Study in American Institutional History. Chicago. OCLC 492768915.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Other websites

• Presidentsusa.net articles – "Other" Presidents Archived 2019-07-30 at the Wayback Machine
• United States House of Representatives article – The Articles of Confederation