City-Wide Music Workshop
         Led By An Holy God
                 Sunday, March 2, 2008
                   3:15 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.

Since February is Black History Month, we wanted to share some little known facts about the first presidents of the United States of America.  Every year, we set aside this month to remember the Great Contributors from the African American.  Did you know that the first president of the U. S. was actually a Black man?  Read here and learn.

JOHN HANSON
The First President

John Hanson was the First President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D.???
George Washington was really the 8th President of the United States!

George Washington was not the first President of the United States. In fact, the first President of the United States was one John Hanson. Don't go checking the encyclopedia for this guy's name - he is one of those great men that are lost to history. If you're extremely lucky, you may actually find a brief mention of his name.

The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation.  This document was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland refused to sign this document until Virginia and New York ceded their western lands (Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much power in the new government from such large amounts of land).

Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington). In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress.  As the first President, Hanson had quite the shoes to fill. No one had ever been President and the role was poorly defined. His actions in office would set precedent for all future Presidents.

He took office just as the Revolutionary War ended. Almost immediately, the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after any long war, there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result, the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and put Washington on the throne as a monarch.
 

All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving Hanson as the only guy left running the government. He somehow managed to calm the troops down and hold the country together. If he had failed, the government would have fallen almost immediately and everyone would have been bowing to King Washington. In fact, Hanson sent 800 pounds of sterling silver by his brother Samuel Hanson to George Washington to provide the troops with shoes.

Hanson, as President, ordered all foreign troops off American soil, as well as the removal of all foreign flags. This was quite the feat, considering the fact that so many European countries had a stake in the United States since the days following Columbus.

Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States, which all Presidents have since been required to use on all official documents.  President Hanson also established the first Treasury Department, the first Secretary of War, and the first Foreign Affairs Department.  Lastly, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today.  (Continued in the next column)

There is a new look on the horizon for Jerusalem M. B. Church's website.  As changes are made, the new style sheet for the website will be applied.  Since it is so labor-intensive to change all the pages at once, they will be changed over the next few weeks.  Soon all pages will take on the new look.

Receive the  Bible Verse of the Day and commit them to memory.
 

Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March 2008 - 03/9/08 and reverts to Standard Time on the first Sunday in November 2008 - 11/2/08. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time.

See Daylight Savings Time Calendar