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Samuel Huntington
 

Samuel Huntington and Independence Hall Medallion

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First President of the United States of America
in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to July 6, 1781
http://www.samuelhuntington.org

Stanley L. Klos Collection - CF-030

Huntington, Samuel - Engraved document, 10½” x 6½”, signed "Sam. Huntington, Prefident", as President of The United States Of America In Congress Assembled, Philadelphia, 1781 countersigned by Secretary of The Board of War, Benjamin Stoddert.  The Parchment document is accomplished in clerical hand, with embossed paper seal of the United States in upper left corner.   Samuel Huntington was the first President of the United States under the Constitution of 1777. This commission is just one of hundreds of documents (i.e. treaties, judicial decisions, resolutions …) he executed as President.

The ratification of the Articles of Confederation, the 1777 Constitution of the United States, was delayed until March 1, 1781 by Maryland due to border disputes and fears of forming a powerful central government. On March 1, 1781, with the 13^th state’s ratification, the Continental Congress ceased to exist and “The United States in Congress Assembled” was placed at the head of each page of the Official Journal of Congress. The New United States in Congress Assembled Journal reported on March 2, 1781:

“The ratification of the Articles of Confederation being yesterday completed by the accession of the State of Maryland: The United States met in Congress, when the following members appeared: His Excellency Samuel Huntington, delegate for Connecticut, President.”[i]

  AND

Stanley L. Klos Collection - CF-031

Huntington, Samuel - Autograph draft letter (unsigned), to Minister of France [Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes], Norwich, 7 November 1781. 1½ pages, folio, closed tear from acidity along a struck-out word, "Chesapeake."

CELEBRATING THE "GLORIOUS SUCCESS OF OUR COMBINED FORCES" IN CAPTURING "LORD CORNWALLIS AND HIS ARMY"

Huntington's two-year term as president of the Congress ended in July 1781, but the news of the Yorktown triumph compels him to draft this exuberant letter to the man who was crucial in bringing French aid to bear on the American war effort:

"I cannot deny myself the pleasure of Congratulating you Sir on the Important & Glorious success of our Combined Forces on the compleat capture of Ld Cornwallis and all his Army. The conduct of Comte de Grasse...Evinces that he possesd Tallents & accomplishments equal to his Station & worthy of so Important a Command in the Navy. May our Success this Campaign be proportionate to the Generous...aids received from his most Christian [Majesty] and prove eventually productive of the happiest consequences to the perpetual advantage of both nations."

Washington and his French allies were planning a move against British occupied New York City in May 1781 when news came from Lafayette of the exciting possibility of attacking and trapping General Cornwallis at Yorktown. The British commander moved his 7,000 tired and hungry troops to the Chesapeake in order to link up with supplies and reinforcements on the way from the Royal Navy. But Washington had his own powerful naval weapon, which Huntington mentions here: the 29 warships and 3,000 troops steaming towards the Chesapeake under Comte De Grasse. The French arrival off the coast of Virginia on 26 August 1781 was crucial to victory. A short contest sent a tardy British squadron under Admiral Graves limping back to New York for repairs, leaving Cornwallis without reinforcements or supplies. The combined British and Hessian forces were trapped, their escape routes blocked on the sea by De Grasse and on land by Lafayette, Rochambeau and Washington.

Books by Stanley L. Klos

Medallions of the United States Founding
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Size: 30 mm - 50 cents size   Types of Issue: Gold - Silver - Merlin Gold Bronze - Copper

© Stanley L. Klos has a worldwide copyright on the artwork in these Medallions not legal tender.
The artwork is not to be copied by anyone by any means
without first receiving permission from Stanley L. Klos.

 

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Samuel Huntington and The Pennsylvania State House
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Forgotten Founders Exhibit 
Minnesota Convention Center
August 29th - September 4, 2008

King George III                    Charles Thomson

Presidents of the Continental Congress

Declaration of Independence                  Continental Congress

Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled

United States in Congress Assembled

*Huntington was elected as President of the Continental Congress but
ascended to the United States Presidency on March 2, 1781
under the Constitution of 1777 -- The Articles of Confederation

Eight Capitol Coins of the United Colonies/States of America
1774 – 1789

Philadelphia	September 5, 1774 to October 24, 1774	City Tavern on September 4th and then Carpenters Hall
Philadelphia	May 10, 1775 to December 12, 1776	Pennsylvania State House
Baltimore	December 20, 1776 to February 27, 1777	Henry Fite House, Maryland
Philadelphia	March 4, 1777 to September 18, 1777	Pennsylvania State House
Lancaster	September 27, 1777	Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Court House
York	September 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778:	York, Pennsylvania, Court House
Philadelphia	July 2, 1778 to June 21, 1783	Philadelphia, College Hall, then Pennsylvania State House
Princeton,	June 30, 1783 to November 4, 1783	Prospect House and then Nassau Hall, New Jersey
Annapolis	November 26, 1783 to August 19, 1784	Maryland State House
Trenton	November 1, 1784 to December 24, 1784	French Arms Tavern, New Jersey
New York City	January 11, 1785 to November 13, 1788	New York City Hall
New York City	November 1788 - March 1789	Fraunces Tavern

© Stanley L. Klos

 

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