President of The Continental Congress - List of Presidents

List of Presidents

"Hardly youthful revolutionaries, their average age at the time of election to the presidency was forty-seven."

# Name State/colony Age Term start Term end Length in days Previous Experience
1 Peyton Randolph Virginia 53 September 5, 1774 October 22, 1774 700147000000000000047 Speaker, Va. House of Burgesses
2 Henry Middleton South Carolina 57 October 22, 1774 October 26, 1774 70004000000000000004 Speaker, S.C. Commons House of Assembly
3 Peyton Randolph Virginia 54 May 10, 1775 May 24, 1775 7002379000000000000379 Speaker, Va. House of Burgesses
4 John Hancock Massachusetts 38 May 24, 1775 October 29, 1777 7002889000000000000889 President, Mass. Provincial Congress
5 Henry Laurens South Carolina 53 November 1, 1777 December 9, 1778 7002403000000000000403 President, S.C. Provincial Congress, Vice President, S.C.
6 John Jay New York 32 December 10, 1778 September 28, 1779 7002292000000000000292 Chief Justice, N.Y. Supreme Court (subsequent)
7 Samuel Huntington Connecticut 48 September 28, 1779 July 10, 1781 7002651000000000000651 Associate Judge, Conn. Superior Court
8 Thomas McKean Delaware 47 July 10, 1781 November 5, 1781 7002118000000000000118 Chief Justice, Pa. Supreme Court
9 John Hanson Maryland 66 November 5, 1781 November 4, 1782 7002364000000000000364 Member, Md. Senate
10 Elias Boudinot New Jersey 42 November 4, 1782 November 3, 1783 7002364000000000000364 Commissary of Prisoners, Continental Army
11 Thomas Mifflin Pennsylvania 39 November 3, 1783 June 3, 1784 7002213000000000000213 Quartermaster General, Continental Army Member, Board of War
12 Richard Henry Lee Virginia 52 November 30, 1784 November 4, 1785 7002339000000000000339 Member, Va. House of Burgesses
13 John Hancock Massachusetts 48 November 23, 1785 June 5, 1786 7002194000000000000194 Governor, Mass.
14 Nathaniel Gorham Massachusetts 48 June 6, 1786 November 3, 1786 7002150000000000000150 Member, Board of War
15 Arthur St. Clair Pennsylvania 52 February 2, 1787 November 4, 1787 7002275000000000000275 Major General, Continental Army
16 Cyrus Griffin Virginia 39 January 22, 1788 November 15, 1788 7002298000000000000298 Judge, Va. Court of Appeals

Table data compiled from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989. There are some date discrepancies based on differing interpretations of when a president's term effectively ended.

Table notes
a Start of the First Continental Congress
b Middleton only served as president for the last few days of the First Continental Congress (Jillson and Wilson, Congressional Dynamics, 51, 77), though his entry in the Dictionary of American Biography says that his term lasted until May 10, 1775, counting the months that Congress was not in session as part of his term.
c Start of the Second Continental Congress
d Secretary Charles Thomson fulfilled presidential duties from October 29, 1777, to November 1, 1777.
e Articles of Confederation were ratified during term
f First president elected under the Articles of Confederation
g Daniel Carroll acted as chairman from November 3, 1783, to December 13, 1783.
h Hancock did not report to Congress for his second term, so David Ramsay (November 23, 1785 – May 12, 1786) and Nathaniel Gorham (May 15, 1786 – June 5, 1786) acted as chairmen.
i After Griffin's resignation, the presidency was vacant.

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