John Hanson (myths)

John Hanson, occasionally called the "First President of the United States", was the President of the Continental Congress in 1781–1782. There may be more untrue tales circulating about him than almost any other figure in American history.

Background

The myths and tales that surround Hanson stem from a tendency in the 19th century for authors to be more concerned with creating inspirational history than an accurate reflection of people and events. Parson Weems' biography of George Washington was the most prominent early example.

In Hanson's case, the core of these errors is a book about Maryland's early settlers written by George A. Hanson in 1876. [citation
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=n-z22MtDeokC&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq=%22george+a+hanson%22&source=web&ots=Bbc-d5ipu8&sig=6bjKUYCJOkDyD2u86CeYNItEaS8
title=Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland
last=Hanson
first=George Adolphus
publisher=John P. Des Forges
date=1876
accessdate=2008-01-02] He paid particular attention to enhancing the careers and background of his ancestors, and by extension, anyone named Hanson. In the 1930s most of his material was treated as fact by Seymour Wemyss Smith in his book "John Hanson, Our First President". Reprints and paperback editions of this book have remained available. The existence of these stretches to the truth should not be used to detract from Hanson's right to be considered as an important member of the founders of the United States.

pecific myths

First president

The most common myth about Hanson was that he was the first President of the United States.

The origin of the claim that Hanson is the "forgotten" first President stems from a 1932 book by Seymour Wemyss Smith titled "John Hanson – Our First President". Officially Hanson was the third President of the Continental Congress, and he considered himself a successor to the first two men to hold the office, Samuel Huntington and Thomas McKean. He was the first to serve a full one-year term, and the first to formally use the title "President of the United States in Congress Assembled".

The office of the President of the United States in Congress Assembled was, despite the name, not an executive post. It bears a closer resemblance to the modern Speaker of the United States House of Representatives or Vice President of the United States. The office was in existence from 1781 to 1788, under the Articles of Confederation, and was replaced by the modern office of President of the United States when the Constitution took effect in 1789. The modern office is significantly more powerful as an executive position.

Hanson the Swede

As recently as 2003-07-04 U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Charles A. Heimbold, Jr said in an address:

...but not enough people know that the first chief executive of America was actually a Swedish-American named John Hanson. John Hanson's family had a long and distinguished tradition of government service, first in Sweden and later in the United States. His great-grandfather had died at the side of Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Lutzen. His grandfather was one of the founders of the New Sweden colony along the Delaware River.

The entire tale was created in 1872 by connecting some dots that were very far apart. There was an "Anders Hansson" among the Swedish colonists of Delaware. There was also a Hanson on the staff of Gustavus Adolphus. But neither of these had any relation with this John Hanson. A Swedish periodical examined this myth in "Släkthistoriskt Forum 2000:4", and an English version is available online [cite web
url=http://www.genealogi.se/roots/hanson.htm
title=Was the First President of the United States a Swede?
author=Elisabeth Thorsell
publisher=The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies
date=December 30, 2002
accessdate=2007-10-01] .

How many John Hansons?

The Hanson family had a habit of repeating names. This John Hanson had a grandfather, an uncle, a nephew, and two sons also named John. This doesn't even start to look at second cousins. The result is that even well-meaning genealogists come across a small record for one, and assume the data to another. One example is the resulting uncertainty about birth dates. Some report our John Hanson as born in 1712, not 1715 which is a switch between cousins.

Several authors report that he moved to Frederick County. Well, his nephew John did. Another contributing factor was that he himself was Treasurer of Frederick County for several years. But early Maryland, like several other states, allowed a property-owner to hold office regardless of residence. Like many planters of his time, he accumulated tenant farms and extended property for his own development. This John Hanson owned land in Charles, Prince George's, and Frederick Counties.

He kept a ferry to Mount Vernon

The myth here is that he lived directly across the Potomac River from George Washington, and that they ran a ferry between the two estates. There was a ferry operated as described. But the plantation in question was owned by Thomas Hanson Marshall, [cite web
url=http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/maps/mtvernon/growth.html
title=The Papers of George Washington — Maps
publisher=Alderman Library, University of Virginia
accessdate=2007-10-01] a lifetime friend to Washington [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=uB03SZbLGwoC&pg=PA412&lpg=PA412&dq=%22thomas+hanson+marshall%22&source=web&ots=a583JodqIC&sig=-81f8OY2ahutaKxKZhORf8OGmpU
title=The American Monthly Magazine
author=Daughters of the American Revolution
publisher=R.R. Bowker Co
date=1895
pages=412] [cite web
url=http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/will/mansion.html
title=The Papers of George Washington — The Will of George Washington
publisher=Alderman Library, University of Virginia
accessdate=2007-10-01] [cite web
url=http://www.marshallhall.org/history.html
title=Marshall Hall on the Potomac
author=M. E. Marshall
date=1997
accessdate=2007-10-01] and a distant cousin to John Hanson. [cite web
url=http://www.elohi.com/photo/longstreet/
title=The Longstreet Connection: A Brief History of Marshall Hall
author=Jay J. Pulli
coauthors=Peggy Marshall
date=July 3, 1998
accessdate=2007-10-01] Hanson's home was on the Maryland bank of the Potomac, but it was 30 miles downstream from Mount Vernon, near Port Tobacco.

Hanson was black

Dick Gregory, comedian and black activist, publishes an on-line column called "Global Watch". In one of his columns he repeated most of the myths and added a new one, that John Hanson was the descendent of a black slave. [cite web
url=http://www.dickgregory.com/dick/14_washington.html
title=DG-1st President was Black
author=Dick Gregory
publisher=Theodore Myles Publishing
accessdate=2007-10-01]

There are two possible origins for this belief. The first is that Hanson's grandfather, another John Hanson, was an early English immigrant to Maryland; as was common at the time, he worked as an indentured servant on his arrival in the New World. In 1661, his first master, William Plumley, sold his contract to Edward Keene and recorded the contract with the court of Calvert County, Maryland; similar court records were also used to transfer title to land and slaves. But, in six years, the immigrant John had worked his way out of debt, and a few years afterwards had purchased his own small farm. There is no record that the grandfather was black, but if indentured servitude was confused with chattel slavery, it is easy to see where this belief would have appeared.

Another may be a simple case of confusion with Senator John Hanson, a politician from Liberia, who was involved with the resettlement of freed slaves in that country. Whilst this Hanson was indeed black, he also lived a hundred years too late.

peech of the Unknown

The fictitious Speech of the Unknown is sometimes attributed to John Hanson. The speech is another example of 19th century glorification of the previous century, and the story appears in George Lippard's 1847 piece entitled "Washington and His Generals: or, Legends of the Revolution".

As the story goes, the speech was given at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was the final motivation to spur the delegates to sign it. In Lippard's version of the fable -- and in most retellings -- the speaker is anonymous. In the last few years (and perhaps earlier) the speech has been attributed to Hanson to make it appear as if it were an actual event in history. This is on the same level as the spurious speech attributed to Chief Seattle, which was actually written approximately 120 years after the fact. Luckily, the "Speech of the Unknown" has not, as yet, appeared in high school textbooks.

To clarify, Hanson wasn't present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, nor was he invited. Hanson was not selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress until four years later. This speech is obvious fiction. For perspective, the speech has also been attributed to the Comte de Saint-Germain, a man alleged by fringe spiritualists to be immortal.

Probably the most famous person to quote the speech as fact is the late President Ronald Reagan, in his commencement address at Eureka College on June 7, 1957.

Miscellaneous reports

*Articles of Confederation: The primary major mover who finally got the articles ratified was Samuel Huntington. Maryland was the last state to ratify the Articles, and Hanson was one of their congressman when they did. It was a fairly simple shift to attribute Huntington's actions to Hanson. But a careful examination of correspondence kept at the Library of Congress and in state archives clears this up.
*Hanson was unanimously elected President: The journal of the congress for November 5, 1781 reports simply that "Their credentials being read, Congress proceeded to the election of a President; and the ballots being taken, the honble. John Hanson was elected." There is no record of nominations, votes, or debate.
*Hanson served in the Maryland Senate: Hanson's U.S. congressional biography even repeats this one. But, the dates given match his service in the Colonial Assembly. For the years noted, there was no Maryland Senate. There was a Governor's Council that functioned as an upper house for legislation, but Hanson wasn't on the council. But Senate sounds more impressive than the House of Delegates.
*Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States: He was president when the seal was first used, but not when it was ordered, and he never used it himself. "See: Great Seal of the United States."
*Hanson established the first Secretary of War: As the active phase of the American Revolutionary War ended, Congress reduced the work of the Board of War, and their committees by hiring several secretaries: war, marine, and finance. But the secretary reported to the committee, not the president. The final resolution of congress creating the job dealt with the secretary's pay, and was passed on October 1, 1781 before Hanson was President.
*Thanksgiving: Hanson declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be Thanksgiving Day. Congress did declare a day of thanksgiving and prayer the day they learned of the victory at Yorktown. Other than as a delegate, Hanson wasn't involved. The fourth Thursday standard started with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. "See: Thanksgiving."

References