31 Facts About John Hanson

In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress after serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland.

John Hanson signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland joined the other states in ratifying them.

John Hanson was not the first person to hold the office.

John Hanson was born on a plantation called "Mulberry Grove" into a wealthy and prominent family.

Samuel John Hanson was a planter who owned more than 1,000 acres, and held a variety of political offices, including serving two terms in the Maryland General Assembly.

In 1876, a writer named George John Hanson placed John Hanson in his family tree of Swedish-Americans descended from four Swedish brothers who emigrated to New Sweden in 1642.

John Hanson followed his father's path as a planter, slave owner, and public official.

John Hanson was often referred to as John Hanson, Jr.

Maryland was a proprietary colony, and John Hanson aligned himself with the "popular" or "country" party, which opposed any expansion of the power of the proprietary governors at the expense of the popularly elected lower house.

John Hanson was a leading opponent of the 1765 Stamp Act, chairing the committee that drafted the instructions for Maryland's delegates to the Stamp Act Congress.

In protest of the Townshend Acts, in 1769 John Hanson was one of the signers of a non-importation resolution that boycotted British imports until the acts were repealed.

John Hanson changed course in 1769, apparently to better pursue his business interests.

John Hanson resigned from the General Assembly, sold his land in Charles County, and moved to Frederick County in western Maryland.

When relations between Great Britain and the colonies became a crisis in 1774, John Hanson became one of Frederick County's leading Patriots.

John Hanson chaired a town meeting that passed a resolution opposing the Boston Port Act.

Responsible for recruiting and arming soldiers, John Hanson proved to be an excellent organizer, and Frederick County sent the first southern troops to join George Washington's army.

John Hanson was elected to the newly reformed Maryland House of Delegates in 1777, the first of five annual terms.

When John Hanson was elected to Congress, Maryland was holding up the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.

In 1782, John Hanson proclaimed on behalf of the Continental Congress for a day of "Solemn Thanksgiving".

Under the Articles of Confederation, both legislative and executive government were vested in the Congress ; the presidency of Congress was a mostly ceremonial position, but the office did require John Hanson to serve as neutral discussion moderator, handle official correspondence, and sign documents.

John Hanson found the work tedious and considered resigning after just one week, citing his poor health and family responsibilities.

Out of a sense of duty, John Hanson remained in office, although his term as a delegate to Congress was nearly expired.

The Articles of Confederation stipulated that presidents of Congress serve one-year terms, and John Hanson became the first to do so.

John Hanson declined the office perhaps to make himself available for North Carolina's gubernatorial election.

John Hanson retired from public office after his one-year term as president of Congress.

John Hanson owned at least 223 acres of land and 11 slaves at the time of his death.

In 1975, historian Ralph Levering said that "John Hanson shouldn't have been one of the two Marylanders" chosen, but he wrote that John Hanson "probably contributed as much as any other Marylander to the success of the American Revolution".

The idea that John Hanson was the forgotten first president of the United States was further promoted in a 1932 biography of John Hanson by journalist Seymour Wemyss Smith.

In 1972, John Hanson was depicted on a 6-cent US postal card, which featured his name and portrait next to the word "Patriot".

Historian Irving Brant criticized the selection of John Hanson for the card, arguing that it was a result of the "old hoax" promoting John Hanson as the first president of the United States.

In 1981, John Hanson was featured on a 20-cent US postage stamp.