List of Presidents
"Hardly youthful revolutionaries, their average age at the time of election to the presidency was forty-seven."
# | Name | State/colony | Age | Term start | Term end | Length in days | Previous Experience |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Peyton Randolph | Virginia | 53 | September 5, 1774 | October 22, 1774 | 700147000000000000047 | Speaker, Va. House of Burgesses |
2 | Henry Middleton | South Carolina | 57 | October 22, 1774 | October 26, 1774 | 70004000000000000004 | Speaker, S.C. Commons House of Assembly |
3 | Peyton Randolph | Virginia | 54 | May 10, 1775 | May 24, 1775 | 7002379000000000000379 | Speaker, Va. House of Burgesses |
4 | John Hancock | Massachusetts | 38 | May 24, 1775 | October 29, 1777 | 7002889000000000000889 | President, Mass. Provincial Congress |
5 | Henry Laurens | South Carolina | 53 | November 1, 1777 | December 9, 1778 | 7002403000000000000403 | President, S.C. Provincial Congress, Vice President, S.C. |
6 | John Jay | New York | 32 | December 10, 1778 | September 28, 1779 | 7002292000000000000292 | Chief Justice, N.Y. Supreme Court (subsequent) |
7 | Samuel Huntington | Connecticut | 48 | September 28, 1779 | July 10, 1781 | 7002651000000000000651 | Associate Judge, Conn. Superior Court |
8 | Thomas McKean | Delaware | 47 | July 10, 1781 | November 5, 1781 | 7002118000000000000118 | Chief Justice, Pa. Supreme Court |
9 | John Hanson | Maryland | 66 | November 5, 1781 | November 4, 1782 | 7002364000000000000364 | Member, Md. Senate |
10 | Elias Boudinot | New Jersey | 42 | November 4, 1782 | November 3, 1783 | 7002364000000000000364 | Commissary of Prisoners, Continental Army |
11 | Thomas Mifflin | Pennsylvania | 39 | November 3, 1783 | June 3, 1784 | 7002213000000000000213 | Quartermaster General, Continental Army Member, Board of War |
12 | Richard Henry Lee | Virginia | 52 | November 30, 1784 | November 4, 1785 | 7002339000000000000339 | Member, Va. House of Burgesses |
13 | John Hancock | Massachusetts | 48 | November 23, 1785 | June 5, 1786 | 7002194000000000000194 | Governor, Mass. |
14 | Nathaniel Gorham | Massachusetts | 48 | June 6, 1786 | November 3, 1786 | 7002150000000000000150 | Member, Board of War |
15 | Arthur St. Clair | Pennsylvania | 52 | February 2, 1787 | November 4, 1787 | 7002275000000000000275 | Major General, Continental Army |
16 | Cyrus Griffin | Virginia | 39 | January 22, 1788 | November 15, 1788 | 7002298000000000000298 | Judge, Va. Court of Appeals |
Table data compiled from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989. There are some date discrepancies based on differing interpretations of when a president's term effectively ended.
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- Table notes
- a Start of the First Continental Congress
- b Middleton only served as president for the last few days of the First Continental Congress (Jillson and Wilson, Congressional Dynamics, 51, 77), though his entry in the Dictionary of American Biography says that his term lasted until May 10, 1775, counting the months that Congress was not in session as part of his term.
- c Start of the Second Continental Congress
- d Secretary Charles Thomson fulfilled presidential duties from October 29, 1777, to November 1, 1777.
- e Articles of Confederation were ratified during term
- f First president elected under the Articles of Confederation
- g Daniel Carroll acted as chairman from November 3, 1783, to December 13, 1783.
- h Hancock did not report to Congress for his second term, so David Ramsay (November 23, 1785 – May 12, 1786) and Nathaniel Gorham (May 15, 1786 – June 5, 1786) acted as chairmen.
- i After Griffin's resignation, the presidency was vacant.
Read more about this topic: President Of The Continental Congress
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