American History Urban Myths

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A common claim that has mushroomed into a factoid: When John Hancock affixed his famously large signature to the Declaration of Independence, he proclaimed, "There, I guess King George will be able to read that! Hancock is also said to have exclaimed, "There! John Bull can read my name without spectacles and may now double his reward of £500 for my head. That is my defiance."

The above is false

The Historical Truth: The delegates to the Continental Congress did not sign the Declaration of Independence the day it was adopted, July 4, 1776, and thus there was no need for Hancock to spur them on by being the first to take that bold step. Hancock typically signed his name in the fancy, large script so familiar to us, and the reason his name appears in the middle of the top row of the Declaration is because, as president of the Continental Congress, he was the only delegate to affix his signature to it on July 4, on behalf of Congress. Moreover, despite the impression created by John Trumbull's famous painting of the event, Hancock did not sign his name amidst a crowd of other delegates.

When Congress adjourned on July 4 after having debated the Declaration for three days and having voted to adopt the document with some revisions, Hancock was charged with authenticating the revised document, signing it, and sending copies to the colonial legislatures for approval as well as the army. Thus, when Hancock finally put his name to the Declaration, he did so in an empty chamber; the only other person present was Charles Thomson, a Pennsylvanian who was serving as the secretary of Congress. It's unlikely Hancock would have spoken any of the defiant phrases attributed to him, as no one was there to hear his words but Thomson. Thomson himself never claimed Hancock said anything about "King George" or "John Bull" as he signed — the legendary phrases didn't appear in histories and biographies until well after the fact and were then picked up and reprinted in book after book by writers who didn't risk ruining a good story by verifying their authenticity.

The first printed copies of the Declaration bore the names of Hancock and Thomson only. The rest of the delegates did not sign until August 2 or later, and Congress kept the identities of the signatories secret for several months to protect them from being charged with treason, so Hancock initially ran an especially great risk for being the only known signatory. (Some writers maintain that both Hancock and Thomson signed the Declaration on July 4, but Thomson was never a signatory — his name merely appeared on printed copies of the document due to his position as secretary of Congress.)

John Hancock was much more than a man with a fancy signature, and his legend is a fascinating and admirable story even without embellishment.

A common claim that has mushroomed into a factiod:John Hanson was the first President of the United States of America.

The above is false

The Historical Truth: A prime example of why history is best learned from history books, not comic books (or the modern equivalent, web sites of dubious validity). John Hanson was not the "first president of the United States." John Hanson has not been purged from history books by a wave of revisionist historians who refuse to acknowledge his true importance to American history. The plain truth is that John Hanson was never considered "the first president of the United States," even in his own time. And John Hanson couldn't possibly have been the "first president of the United States," because neither the office of President of the United States nor the nation known as the United States of America was created until after he was dead.

When representatives of thirteen British colonies in North America, assembled in an organization known as the Continental Congress, declared in July 1776 that those colonies would henceforth be independent of Great Britain, they realized that unity would be necessary in order to sustain and win a war of independence (and to maintain that independence afterwards). Accordingly, they soon began debating the Articles of Confederation, a plan for a permanent union, which was approved and sent to each of the states (as the former colonies now called themselves) for ratification. Disputes over the several issues (including the western boundaries of some states) delayed the approval of the Articles of Confederation until 1781.

It is important to note that although both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation used the phrase "united states of America," neither of those documents was intended to create a single, unified country out of the thirteen former British colonies. Colonial leaders feared the creation of a too-powerful national government dominated by factions and so specifically refused to create a unified nation or to transfer sovereignty to a central government. Instead, they in effect created a national Congress to whom they could subcontract administrative tasks performed on behalf of all thirteen states: conduct foreign affairs, make war and peace, deal with Native Americans living outside the states, coin and borrow money, supervise the post office, and negotiate boundary disputes. Congress could not, however, raise money to carry out these tasks by levying taxes on the states, nor could it raise troops in order to defend the country or wage war, or even compel states to comply with the laws it passed. In short, the Articles of Confederation created a Congress extremely limited in authority, with insufficient power to carry out the duties assigned to it. Inevitably, Congress could neither pay off the war debt (because it could only print more paper currency, not raise money through taxation) nor protect the states' territories from encroachment by the Spanish and British (because it could not compel states to provide troops for the common defense); eventually the Confederation Congress lost much of what authority it had, often could not take legislative action because representatives had stopped attending meetings (thereby preventing the attainment of a quorum), and finally — out of money itself — transferred reponsibility for the national debt to the states in 1787. The Confederation government had been, in the words of George Washington, "little more than the shadow without the substance."

The key point here is that the Articles of Confederation did not create a nation called "the United States of America." They created, as stated in the first two articles, an alliance of thirteen independent and sovereign states who had agreed to "enter into a firm league of friendship with each other" while retaining their "sovereignty, freedom, and independence." The title of the confederacy so created was designated "The United States of America," but no nation with that name was created by the Articles of Confederation, any more than the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization resulted in the establishment of a nation known as "NATO."

The failure of the Articles of Confederation led to calls for establishment of a centralized federal government with much broader powers than the Congress of the Confederacy, a task accomplished through the drafting and ratification of a new Constitution in 1787-88. It was this Constitution, not the Articles of Confederation, that created the office of a chief executive as part of a truly federal government for the United States — an office bearing the title "President of the United States of America" and first filled by George Washington, unanimously selected as the first President in February 1789.

Sometimes historical figures are relegated to the background because societal attitudes have led to a minimalization of their accomplishments, leaving future generations to re-discover and re-emphasize their contributions. Sometimes, however, they're relegated to the background simply because they were minor figures to begin with. John Hanson was far from an insignificant figure in American history, but if few Americans know that he was the first person chosen to preside over Congress under the Articles of Confederation, the primary reason is that the office wasn't one of much importance. Claiming that John Hanson was the first President of the United States doesn't help to preserve the memory of his real accomplishments — it merely perpetuates historical misinformation for trivia's sake.

A common claim that has mushroomed into a factiod: David Rice Atchison served as President of the United States for one day in 1849.

The above is false

The Historical Truth:Some claim that Atchison technically was President of the United States for one day—Sunday, March 4, 1849. Outgoing President James Polk's term expired at noon on that day, and his successor, Zachary Taylor, refused to be sworn into office on the sabbath (Sunday). Taylor's Vice Presidential running mate, Millard Fillmore, likewise was not inaugurated. As President Pro Tempore of the Senate from the prior U.S. Congress, under the presidential succession law in place at the time, Atchison is thought by some to have been next in line.

While it is true that the offices of President and Vice President were vacant, however, Atchison in fact was not next in line. While the terms of James K. Polk and Vice President George Mifflin Dallas expired at the first moment (midnight) of March 4, Atchison's tenure as President Pro Tempore did as well. He also never took the oath of office, although there is no constitutional requirement, then or now, for an Acting President to do so. No disability or lack of qualification prevented Taylor and Fillmore from taking office, and as they had been duly certified as President-elect and Vice President-elect, if Taylor was not President because he had not been sworn in as such, then Atchison, who hadn't been sworn in either, certainly wasn't.

Atchison was sworn in for his new term as President Pro Tempore minutes before both Fillmore and Taylor, which might theoretically make him Acting President for at least that length of time; however, this also implies that any time the Vice President is sworn in before the President, the Vice President is the de facto Acting President. Since this is a common occurrence, if Atchison is considered President, so must every Vice President whose inauguration preceded that of the President. Obviously this is not the case. Therefore, while one could argue that Atchison was legally President for a few minutes (though even this much is highly debatable), claims that he should be considered an "official" President are surely incorrect.

When asked what he did on March 4, 1849, Atchison replied, "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." He jokingly boasted that his "presidency" was the "most honest administration this country ever had."

Atchison was 41 years and 6 months old at the time of his "presidency," which, if it had been official, would still make him the youngest President in American history. Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest to serve, was 42 years and 11 months old when he was sworn in following the death of William McKinley in 1901, and John F. Kennedy, the youngest to be elected, was 43 years and 7 months old when he was inaugurated in 1961.

Despite this, a museum exhibit in his honor (claiming to be the country's smallest "presidential library") opened in February 2006 at the Atchison County Historical Museum in Atchison, Kansas