Posted on 02/23/2005 7:23:09 AM PST by Happy Life
Typo...
Garfield
So, President Gamaliel was our 29th President?
Now there's a President you don't read about every day!
Perhaps you would like to join the Norway ping list...
I thought Gamaliel fought Bilbo Baggins at some bridge.
Your list left out the "other" 12th President. Read on.
President for a Day
David Rice Atchison: few people know the name. Yet some claim that David Rice Atchison was a president of the United States, and that history books should recognize him as such.
The claim is made on the basis of this evidence:
Zachary Taylor won the presidential election of 1848. The four-year term of the outgoing President, James K. Polk, and his Vice President, George Mifflin Dallas (for whom the City of Dallas, Texas, is named), was to end at noon on March 4, 1849. Zachary Taylor was scheduled to take the presidential oath of office that same day.
But Taylor decided that he didn't want to take the oath of office on March 4 because it was a Sunday. He announced he would wait until the next day, Monday, March 5.
That mean that from noon on March 4, 1849, when Polk's term expired, until noon of March 5, when Taylor would be sworn in, there would be no elected President or Vice President in office.
A law had been enacted by Congress on March 1, 1792, that provided that "in case of the removal, death, resignation or disability of both the President and Vice President of the United States, the President of the Senate Pro Tempore shall act as President." (The Vice President resides over the Senate. The Senate selects a President Pro Tempore, a temporary President, who presides during the absence of the Vice President.)
The President of the Senate Pro Tempore at the time that Polk's term of office came to an end was David Rice Atchison. He served from noon on March 4, 1849, until Zachary Taylor took the oath of office at noon on March 5.
David Rice Atchison was President for a day.
Although Atchison was never actually sworn in as President, never signed any legislation, and never lived in the White House, some people think that he deserves to be listed with Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, Reagan and all the others.
This historical quirk raises an interesting question. If you were President for a day, what would you do? Declare war on some dinky little nation? Bomb your enemies? Appoint your friends to office? Make some weird executive decision?
Atchison did none of these things. When asked what he did on this day, he commented "I went to bed. There had been two or three busy nights finishing up the work of the Senate, and I slept most of that Sunday."
Atchison died in 1886. The state of Missouri erected a monument in his honor. It bears this inscription: "David Rice Atchison. President of the U.S. for one day. Lawyer, statesman and jurist."
No President has ever declared war on any nation, dinky or otherwise, so Atchison can hardly be faulted for his indolence in that regard.
No President has ever declared war on any nation, dinky or otherwise, so Atchison can hardly be faulted for his indolence in that regard.
I was reading through the thread, hoping to find a comment referring to moose bites, but you win the grand prize!
Warren Gamaliel Harding
Paul's teacher and a prominant Jewish leader in 1st Century Judea
Maybe Warren Harding was really Warren Gamaliel and he didn't tell anyone?
*snicker*
Peyton Randolph - served in 1774 from September 5th to October 21st and then again for a couple of days in 1775 from May 10th to May 23rd. He died before he saw independence.
Henry Middleton - He served as president from October 22, 1774 until May 10, 1775. He also served as an English prisoner of war and was twice elected Governor.
John Hancock - His first term was from May 24, 1775 to October 30, 1777, and the second from November 23, 1785 to June 1786. Hancock was the presiding officer when the members approved of the Declaration of Independence.
Henry Laurens -Served November 1, 1777 to December 9, 1778. His first official act as the President was to preside over and vote for a Day of Thanksgiving and “to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God”.
John Jay - He served a term from December 10, 1778 to September 27, 1779.
Samuel Huntington - He served as President from September 28, 1779 until July 9, 1781.
Thomas McKean - McKean helped draft the Articles of Confederation during his tenure of service as President, from July 10, 1781 till November 4, 1782.
Presidents of the United States
Under the Articles of Confederation.
John Hanson - He served in office from November 5, 1781 until November 3, 1782, making him the first President under the Articles of Confederation. He was elected unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington).
Elias Boudinot - He served from November 4, 1782 until November 2, 1782. Elias was a classically trained scholar of the Reformed faith, and an anti-federalist in political matters an had a grandchild that became a leader of the Cherokee nation.
Thomas Mifflin - He was a member of the first Congress in 1774. He took arms, and was among the first officers commissioned on the organization of the continental army, being appointed quartermaster general in August, 1775. For this offence he was read out of the Society of Quakers. He served as President from November 3, 1783 to June 3, 1784.
Richard Henry Lee - He was elected President from November 30, 1784 to November 22, 1785. He was the great uncle of Robert E. Lee.
John Hancock - On July 4, 1776, Hancock signed his name in giant strokes on the Declaration of Independence. The boldness of his signature struck Americans of the perfect expression of the strength, freedom, and defiance of an individual named John Hancock. His first term was from May 24, 1775 to October 30, 1777, and the second from November 23, 1785 to June 1786. Hancock was the presiding officer when the members approved of the Declaration of Independence. Because of Hancock’s position he had to sign the document first.
Nathaniel Gorham -On May 15, 1786 he assumed the Chair of Congress in the absence of President John Hancock. On June 5th he was elected President of the United States in Congress Assembled. He presided over the United States at a most perilous time in US History as the Articles of Confederation had failed to provide the Federal Government with the necessary authority to govern. His term ended on November 13th, 1786
Arthur St. Clair - He was born and educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, making him the only President of the United States born and bred on foreign soil. He helped to organize both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania militias, led the Continential Army's Canadian expedition, and was elected Congress. In 1787 he was elected President and served from February 2 of that year and until January 21 of the next. St. Clair lived to see the hated English tyrants who destroyed his homeland defeated.
Cyrus Griffin - He was anti-federalist, though he eventually accepted the new Constitution. He worked with George Washington, who thought he was very talented. He served as the nation's chief executive from January 22, 1788 until George Washington's inauguration on April 30, 1789.
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