President of the Continental Congress

Common card · No. 203364

The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates that assembled in Philadelphia as the first transitional national government of the United States during the American Revolution. The president was a member of Congress elected by the other delegates to serve as a neutral discussion moderator during meetings of Congress. Designed to be a largely ceremonial position without much influence, the office was unrelated to the later office of President of the United States. Upon the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, which served as the new first constitution of the U.S. in March 1781, the Continental Congress became the Congress of the Confederation, and membership from the Second Continental Congress, along with its president, carried over without interruption...

Read on Wikipedia · Image David McNeely Stauffer (1845-1913), Public domain