John Hanson:

[sleepyjeff]

My Son came home from school Friday all excited about knowing a bit of history that he was just sure his old man wouldn't know.

Seems that some guy named John Hanson, and not George Washington was really the first President of the United States. Furthermore he was unanimously elected President, established the Great Seal of the US, created the first Sec. of War, and declared that the 4th Thursday of every Novemeber was to be Thanksgiving..........oh, yeah, he was Black too!

Ok. I got my History degree about a million years ago but thought I would remember something like this if it were really true. Did a little research and found:

1-John Hanson was the first Presiding officer of the US congress to be called President of the United States Congress; but that is a far cry from the Executive we now call President of the United States. Also, there were two other presiding officers of the US congress before Hanson(but they were titled a little differently) so even if we accept the leap that Presiding officeres under the Articles of Confederation were "Presidents" it would be false to call Hanson the first.

2- The congressional record for 11-5-1781 reports that "ballots being taken, the honorable, John Hanson was elected"...nothing in the record mentions the vote tally whatsoever; where did the Unanimous come from?

3- Hanson was "President" when the Great Seal was first used but not when it was oredered. He never used it himself.

4- Sec of War was created 10-1-1781; a good Month+ before Hanson was elected "President"; how did he create something as President before he even was?

5- Thanksgiving was not established for the fourth Thursday of November until the 20th century by FDR.

6- Somewhere along the line someone mistook the grandson of an indentured servant for the grandson of a slave. The John Hanson who Presided over congress durring the early years before our Constitution was as white as George Washington and bears no resemblence to a picture my son brought home of a black man(that picture is clearly of a man who would find his contemporaries in the mid- 1850s; not the 1780s)


Do I confront my Son's teacher with my research or just let it alone(GW never chopped down a cherry tree like my 4th grade teacher said and I didn't suffer any harm from the myth)???

[Drince88]

That's a tough one.

I've been in a very confrontational mood lately, though, so I'd definitely bring it up to the teacher, but not with anyone else around, and in person. Most likely, it was in some curriculum stuff the teacher got and she/he just passed it on.

[Gemini Cricket]

I would talk to the teacher in person and compare notes. As D88 said, I would do it in a private setting.

[Scrooge McSam]

Hmmm Are you sure your son related this info exactly as it was related to him? Was this a hand out sheet? Or a student's recollection of a discussion?

In any case, the discrepancies should be addressed.

[sleepyjeff]

^Yes, it was a hand out sheet. His teacher has been excellent in other subjects but this whole thing baffles me.

[Alex]

It's a long-standing myth of historical bar-trivia. I was told the same thing by a middle school history teacher many years ago. It is actually much older than that, getting its lease on life from a work of popular history called John Hanson: Our First President published in the early 1930s.

As you state, he was the third person to hold the title he held, but it was common to refer to the position as "president" (both in official communications and general newspaper reporting at the time) and while there was no country called "The United States of America" the name of the body of which he was "president" was "the United States of America in Congress Assembled".

But it is definitely important to understand that Hanson's position in no way resembled the position of president of the United States of America as defined by the constitution. The important historical distinction to be made is that the Articles of Confederation that created Hanson's position was explicitly designed to not have a position like our presidency.

The twist on it here that I had never heard was that he was black. That's relatively new. Is this the picture that was included on the handout?

http://www.dickgregory.com/image/JohnHanson.gif

If so, then it looks like your son's teacher took the information directly from a column (http://www.dickgregory.com/index_hanson.html) by black comedian/social activist Dick Gregory. In it, he pretty much repeats every myth and misunderstanding about Hanson that I've ever seen. Weirdly, other than in the photograph attached and title he never mentions Hanson being black. This is somewhat amusing since another ethnic group mythologically claims Hanson as well, the Swedes. So, perhaps he was a black Swede.

A bit at Wikipedia about this suggests Gregory may have been confused by the fact that John Hanson's grandfather had been sold. But in actuality, his (white) grandfather had reached the new world as an indentured servant and had his contract sold (pretty much the same as slaves) to another before working off his term. Most people don't know that for a long time indentured servitude was a much more common method of arrival than slavery, was institutionally identical (except in that indentured servitude was for a set term rather than eternal) and was comprised almost entirely of poor white Europeans.

I would talk to the teacher but don't expect much to change. Odds are s/he has a whole collection of folk histories that she is sharing with her students.

[sleepyjeff]

^Yes, that is the picture. Wouldn't you say that the man in the picture is dressed more like someone who lived in the 1850s?

[Alex]

Yeah. Trying to track down who the picture is. Here is a full version of the image from the Library of Congress Web site:

http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3d00000/3d01000/3d01900/3d01924v.jpg

But I can't figure out the page its on to know the context. Odds are it is a different person named John Hanson. More to the point, though, is that it appears to be a photograph which, of course, is a technology that did not exist in the 1780s.

[Alex]

Ok, here is the context (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?dag:4:./temp/%7Eammem_gsw8::@@@mdb=mcc,gottscho,detr,nfor,wpa,a ap,cwar,bbpix,cowellbib,calbkbib,consrvbib,bdsbib, dag,fsaall,gmd,pan,vv,presp,varstg,suffrg,nawbib,h oryd,wtc,toddbib,mgw,ncr,ngp,musdibib,hlaw,papr,lh bumbib,rbpebib,lbcoll,alad,hh,aaodyssey,magbell,bb cards,dcm,raelbib,runyon,dukesm,lomaxbib,mtj,gottl ieb,aep,qlt,coolbib,fpnas,aasm,scsm,denn,relpet,am ss,aaeo,mffbib,afc911bib,mjm,mnwp,rbcmillerbib,mol den,ww2map,hawp,omhbib,rbaapcbib,mal,ncpsbib,ncpm, lhbprbib,ftvbib,afcreed,aipn,cwband,flwpabib,wpapo s,cmns,psbib,pin,coplandbib,svybib,mmorse,afcwwgbi b,mymhiwebib,uncall,mfd,afcwip,mtaft,manz,llstbib, fawbib,berl,fmuever,cdn,upboverbib,mussm,cic,afcpe arl,awh,awhbib,sgp,wright,lhbtnbib,afcesnbib,hurst onbib,mreynoldsbib,spaldingbib,sgproto,cola,tccc,c urt,mharendt,lhbcbbib,eaa,haybib,mesnbib,fine,cwny hs) of the photo.

It is from the 1856-1860 period and is a daguerreotype (also not available in 1781). He was part of the effort to relocate American slaves and freed-slaves to Liberia and later was a senator in that country. No relation to the John Hanson in question.

[Scrooge McSam]

Thanks, Sleepy... AND Alex! I never had anyone try to "teach" me these things about Hanson in school or afterward, so it was all new to me. It made for an interesting afternoon diversion.

Hehehe and does everyone have a clear picture in their head of Sleepy striding into Sleepyson Elementary Tuesday morning armed with "37 8x10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against" all this Hanson nonsense?

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Hehehe and does everyone have a clear picture in their head of Sleepy striding into Sleepyson Elementary Tuesday morning armed with "37 8x10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against" all this Hanson nonsense?

And a box fan under his arm, just in case he gets sleepy. :)

[sleepyjeff]

Hehehe and does everyone have a clear picture in their head of Sleepy striding into Sleepyson Elementary Tuesday morning armed with "37 8x10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against" all this Hanson nonsense?

I got cold feet. :blush:


Nio where's that box fan;)