David Ramsay
Chairman of the United States
in Congress Assembled
November 23, 1785 until May 12, 1786
Students and Teachers of US History this is a video of Stanley and Christopher Klos presenting America's Four United Republics Curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. The December 2015 video was an impromptu capture by a member of the audience of Penn students, professors and guests that numbered about 200.
Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to March 3, 1789
March 1, 1781 to March 3, 1789
March 1, 1781
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July 6, 1781
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July 10, 1781
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Declined Office
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July 10, 1781
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November 4, 1781
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November 5, 1781
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November 3, 1782
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November 4, 1782
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November 2, 1783
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November 3, 1783
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June 3, 1784
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November 30, 1784
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November 22, 1785
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November 23, 1785
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June 5, 1786
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June 6, 1786
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February 1, 1787
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February 2, 1787
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January 21, 1788
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January 22, 1788
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January 21, 1789
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David Ramsay ( April 2, 1749 – May 8, 1815 ). Historian, surgeon, delegate from Charleston, South Carolina to the Continental Congress, 1782-3, and the United States in Congress Assembled (USCA), 1785-6. Ramsay was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1765 and went on to study medicine. He received his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1773, and relocated to Charleston South Carolina. He opened a practice as a physician and prospered.
In 1776, at the out break of the Revolutionary War, he was elected to the South Carolina Legislature. In 1780, with the British invasion Ramsay enlisted in the South Carolina militia as a field surgeon. He was captured in the Siege of Charleston and imprisoned for just under a year in St. Augustine, Florida. In a prisoner exchange he was released in 1781, and after the following year he was elected a South Carolina Delegate to the USCA. By 1785, Ramsay was was considered one of the outstanding USCA delegates and was a considered for its Presidency. It was, however, the north's turn to field an acceptable candidate for President after the tenure of Richard Henry Lee. Earlier in the year John Hancock had resigned as Governor of Massachusetts assigning ill health as the cause for retirement. By June, Hancock's health was returning, and on the 16th, he was elected as delegate to the the USCA. Young John Quincy Adams wrote his father on August 3rd
"It is generally supposed here that Mr. Hancock will next year be seated in the Chair of Congress." [1]
John Quincy Adams wrote his sister on July 17th:
“Mr. Hancock, being too infirm to act as Governor of Massachusetts, is chosen a member of Congress … and will probably take his rest in the President's seat next November. This is escaping Scylla to fall into Charybdis or is rather like a man I have read of, who being asked if he would take a glass of wine, answered he could not take a glass, but would take a bottle” [2]
John Hancock was unable to attend the first session of the Sixth USCA in November 1785 due to his illness. Despite the absence, Hancock was elected President but never reported for duty. The Journals report on November 23, 1785 that:
Due the absence of Hancock and the USCA's earlier refusal to create an office of Vice President under John Hanson, Congress turned to electing a Chairman. The November 23, 1785 USCA Journals report:
Unknown to the delegates at that time, all of the Hancock presidential work would be performed by two USCA chairmen - David Ramsay who would serve as Chairman until his State credentials expired on May 12, 1786 and Nathaniel Gorham who was elected Chairman on May 15, 1786 and served in that position until June 5, 1786. On that date the USCA Journals record:
Congress proceeded to the election of a president; and, the ballots being taken, the honble. John Hancock was elected.
Due the absence of Hancock and the USCA's earlier refusal to create an office of Vice President under John Hanson, Congress turned to electing a Chairman. The November 23, 1785 USCA Journals report:
The president not being present, Congress proceeded to the choice of a chairman; and, the ballots being taken, the honble. D[avid] Ramsay was elected.
Unknown to the delegates at that time, all of the Hancock presidential work would be performed by two USCA chairmen - David Ramsay who would serve as Chairman until his State credentials expired on May 12, 1786 and Nathaniel Gorham who was elected Chairman on May 15, 1786 and served in that position until June 5, 1786. On that date the USCA Journals record:
The Secretary laid before Congress a letter of the 29th May, from Mr. Benjamin Hichborn, in behalf of Mr. Hancock, stating that, "as Mr. Hancock is still confined to his bed, and unable to write himself, he has requested him to inform Congress, that he has long flattered himself with the prospect of better health, the want of which alone, has prevented his attending Congress; but his disorders at present wearing no appearance of leaving him soon, he is induced, from a consideration of the great inconvenience Congress is exposed to in such frequent temporary appointments to fill the chair, as well as from the total uncertainty of his future health, to request their acceptance of his resignation of the Office of President; that Mr. Hancock is truly sensible of the singular marks of the favourable sentiments of Congress in his appointment, and most sincerely regrets that he has it not in his power personally to acknowledge them;" Whereupon, Resolved, That Congress proceed to the election of a president.
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| USCA Resolution Recording Nathaniel Gorham as Chairman "in the absence of his excellency, John Hancock, our President" date May 17, 1786 five days after Ramsay's resignation as Chairman. |
The following day the USCA Journals report that Chairman Nathaniel Gorham was elected President:
This peculiar turn of events gives ample testament to the power of the executive departments and USCA committees that, since Hanson, performed many important duties of the President. This turn of executive events dashed the hopes of many delegates who had hoped John Hancock would report to New York and re-establish the presidency as a position of national leadership and substantial federal influence. This following letter of Delegate John Bayard to James Hutchinson provides an account of the election of John Hancock and the work that followed immediately thereafter with a spotlight on the delegates inability to fill their respective seats to form the necessary nine States quorum to conduct “business of the utmost consequence.” President Hancock's failure to report for duty had a rippling effect on the USCA whose ability to form a governing quorum sank to all time national lows in 1786.
Congress assembled. Present, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; and from New Hampshire, Mr. [Pierse] Long, and from Delaware, Mr. [William] Peery. Congress proceeded to the election of a president, and the ballots being taken, the honble. Nathaniel Gorham was elected.There were numerous men elected the Chairman of the Continental Congress and the USCA (Daniel Carol, Thomas Jefferson etc...) before David Ramsay and numerous men elected USCA Chairman after Ramsay. Ramsay, however, was the longest serving USCA Chairman and had his credentials not expired in May of 1786, there would have been no doubt that he would have been elected President when John Hancock's resignation was received by Congress on June 5, 1786. This author, therefore, has included the webpage of Chairman Ramsay in the grouping of USCA as a sub-heading under John Hancock.
This peculiar turn of events gives ample testament to the power of the executive departments and USCA committees that, since Hanson, performed many important duties of the President. This turn of executive events dashed the hopes of many delegates who had hoped John Hancock would report to New York and re-establish the presidency as a position of national leadership and substantial federal influence. This following letter of Delegate John Bayard to James Hutchinson provides an account of the election of John Hancock and the work that followed immediately thereafter with a spotlight on the delegates inability to fill their respective seats to form the necessary nine States quorum to conduct “business of the utmost consequence.” President Hancock's failure to report for duty had a rippling effect on the USCA whose ability to form a governing quorum sank to all time national lows in 1786.
On January 2nd, 1786, Chairman Ramsay convened the USCA with a British complaint on treatment of loyalists. On the 4th they took up the very important matter on the States' response to Federal appeals to grant Congress authority to raise revenue and regulate trade. The month concluded with Congressional appeals to six unrepresented states to send delegates and a January 24, 1786 protest letter for Court of Appeals Judge Cyrus Griffin. The judge’s letter filed a formal protest against the USCA and its July 1, 1785 resolution to discontinue the Court of Appeals judges’ salaries without vacating their commissions. The Secretary of the United States, Charles Thomson responded to Judge Griffin on February 13, 1786 as follows:
Your letter of the sixth of January was duly received and communicated to Congress, in consequence of which they passed a resolution a copy of which I have the honor to enclose.[1]
The resolve reasserted that it was "necessary that the salaries of the said judges should cease," but in an appeasing gesture Congress also avowed "That Congress are fully impressed with a sense of the ability, fidelity and attention of the judges of the court of Appeals."[2] With a family to support and no means of doing so Griffin resigned his commission and returned to Virginia.
February and March were also uneventful months for the USCA. Quorums were the exception rather than the rule. The States' responses to federal fiscal appeals were defiant and Ramsay’s attempt to gain the authority to regulate trade measures also failed to garnish enough State support. Congress did standardize the required Oath of Fidelity for Federal officeholders. In an effort to streamline the federal government's finances, the USCA appointed a single commissioner to consolidate settlement of accounts of the five major departments; clothier, commissary, hospital, marine, and quartermaster. Delegate attendance still hampered the USCA from conducting any sweeping reforms to the ailing federal government.
March, however, did usher in free enterprise Company that would play a major role in shaping new States and real estate development for the next 200 years. The Ohio Company of Associates was formed on March 1, 1786, by General Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Samuel Holden Parsons[3] and Manasseh Cutler. They initially met at The Bunch-of-Grapes tavern in Boston to discuss the settlement of the territory around the Ohio River. Dr. Neu reports:
In the course of a year 250 investors acquired shares in the Ohio Company. On 8 March 1787, the Company appointed three associates, Putnam, Samuel H. Parsons, and the Reverend Manasseh Cutler to apply to the Congress for 600,000 acres “northwest of the River Ohio,” to be paid for in depreciated continental currency or in military rights, that is, land bonuses to which veterans were entitled. Acting for the committee, Parsons presented the Ohio Company’s proposal to Congress, without success.[4]
April passed with no appearance by President Hancock and Ramsay, as Chairman, focused on rallying support to establish a continental impost to raise revenue for the federal government. Connecticut’s delegates, in an effort to aid the federal government settlement of the lands north and west of the Ohio River offered its resolution for the secession of their State’s claims to the territory. May was the half point of John Hancock's term as President and still no word of appearance or resignation. John Jay, the U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, was wrote John Adams on the 4th:
Mr. Hancock is still at Boston, and it is not certain when he may be expected; this is not a pleasant circumstance, for though the chair is well filled by a chairman, yet the President of Congress should be absent as little and seldom as possible.[5]
David Ramsay Defends Free Franking
"It is a matter of doubt whether the privilege of franking letters extends to the members of Congress on their way to or from public business. I have put my name on the outside of this on purpose that you may claim this as a matter of right. So few are the privileges and so limited the powers of that body, that I note it a kind of treason to give up any that they may possess by fair or liberal constitution… "
On the 12th of May, the USCA resolved:
That the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same be, and are hereby declared to be common highways, and be forever free, as well to the Inhabitants of the said territory, as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other States, that may be admitted into the confederation without any tax, Impost or duty therefor.
This was the boldest move of the Sixth USCA and no one even knew President Hancock’s position on the edict. On May the 15th Ramsay was forced to resign as Chairman of Congress because his term as a South Carolina delegate had expired. Secretary Thomson wrote to John Hancock:
Sir, In Obedience to the Order of Congress I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency herewith enclosed an Act of the United States in Congress assembled passed the 15 instant and their proceedings thereon.[6]
Secretary Thomson enclosed the proceedings related to the election of Nathaniel Gorham as chairman of Congress, "to serve until the first Monday in June next," succeeding David Ramsay. Ten days later, a sickly Hancock, who was unable to write, had his clerk draft his letter of resignation for his signature. It was presented to the Congress on June 5th, 1786 and the resignation was accepted. This ended the unprecedented six-month tenure of John Hancock, a U.S. President, who never took his seat in the Federal Capitol of New York City.
Ramsay is best known as a historian and author who wrote prolifically on the Revolutionary War. In 1785, as a USCA Delegate, he published the History of the Revolution of South Carolina reportedly the first book to receive a copyright in the United States. In 1789, after loosing his bid for the U.S. House of Representatives, he published the History of the American Revolution in two volumes.
While in South Carolina he served in the State Senate, 1801 to 1815, as its President. In the senate Ramsay continued to write publishing a Life of Washington in 1807, and in 1809 the History of South Carolina. David Ramsay also authored in 1812 a memoir of Martha Laurens Ramsay, daughter and political hostess of former Continental Congress President Henry Laurens.
In 1815 the South Carolina Circuit Court had ordered that a William Linnen be examined by Dr. Ramsay as a condition of his incacertion. Ramsay reported that Linnen was "deranged" and it would be "dangerous to let him go at large." Once released, Linnen shot Ramsay twice in the back and hip. Ramsay, with a bullet lodged in his intestines, died the following day on May 6, 1815.
The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America
Continental Congress of the United Colonies Presidents
Sept. 5, 1774 to July 1, 1776
September 5, 1774
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October 22, 1774
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October 22, 1774
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October 26, 1774
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May 20, 1775
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May 24, 1775
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May 25, 1775
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July 1, 1776
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Commander-in-Chief United Colonies & States of America
George Washington: June 15, 1775 - December 23, 1783
Continental Congress of the United States Presidents
July 2, 1776 to February 28, 1781
July 2, 1776
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October 29, 1777
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November 1, 1777
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December 9, 1778
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December 10, 1778
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September 28, 1779
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September 29, 1779
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February 28, 1781
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Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to March 3, 1789
March 1, 1781 to March 3, 1789
March 1, 1781
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July 6, 1781
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July 10, 1781
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Declined Office
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July 10, 1781
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November 4, 1781
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November 5, 1781
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November 3, 1782
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November 4, 1782
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November 2, 1783
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November 3, 1783
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June 3, 1784
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November 30, 1784
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November 22, 1785
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November 23, 1785
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June 5, 1786
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June 6, 1786
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February 1, 1787
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February 2, 1787
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January 21, 1788
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January 22, 1788
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January 21, 1789
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Presidents of the United States of America
D-Democratic Party, F-Federalist Party, I-Independent, R-Republican Party, R* Republican Party of Jefferson & W-Whig Party
(1789-1797)
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(1933-1945)
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(1945-1953)
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(1869-1877)
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(1801-1809)
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(1953-1961)
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(1877-1881)
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(1809-1817)
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(1961-1963)
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(1881 - 1881)
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(1817-1825)
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(1963-1969)
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(1881-1885)
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(1825-1829)
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(1969-1974)
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(1885-1889)
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(1829-1837)
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(1973-1974)
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(1889-1893)
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(1837-1841)
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(1977-1981)
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(1893-1897)
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(1841-1841)
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(1981-1989)
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(1897-1901)
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(1841-1845)
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(1989-1993)
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(1901-1909)
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(1845-1849)
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(1993-2001)
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(1909-1913)
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(1849-1850)
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(2001-2009)
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(1913-1921)
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(1850-1853)
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(2009-2017)
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(1921-1923)
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(1853-1857)
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(20017-Present)
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(1923-1929)
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*Confederate States of America
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(1857-1861)
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(1929-1933)
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(1861-1865)
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United Colonies Continental Congress
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President
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18th Century Term
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Age
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Elizabeth "Betty" Harrison Randolph (1745-1783)
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09/05/74 – 10/22/74
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29
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Mary Williams Middleton (1741- 1761) Deceased
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Henry Middleton
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10/22–26/74
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n/a
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Elizabeth "Betty" Harrison Randolph (1745–1783)
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05/20/ 75 - 05/24/75
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30
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Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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05/25/75 – 07/01/76
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28
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United States Continental Congress
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President
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Term
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Age
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Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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07/02/76 – 10/29/77
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29
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Eleanor Ball Laurens (1731- 1770) Deceased
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Henry Laurens
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11/01/77 – 12/09/78
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n/a
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Sarah Livingston Jay (1756-1802)
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12/ 10/78 – 09/28/78
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21
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Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
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09/29/79 – 02/28/81
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41
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United States in Congress Assembled
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President
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Term
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Age
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Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
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03/01/81 – 07/06/81
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42
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Sarah Armitage McKean (1756-1820)
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07/10/81 – 11/04/81
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25
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Jane Contee Hanson (1726-1812)
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11/05/81 - 11/03/82
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55
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Hannah Stockton Boudinot (1736-1808)
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11/03/82 - 11/02/83
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46
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Sarah Morris Mifflin (1747-1790)
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11/03/83 - 11/02/84
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36
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Anne Gaskins Pinkard Lee (1738-1796)
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11/20/84 - 11/19/85
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46
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Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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11/23/85 – 06/06/86
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38
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Rebecca Call Gorham (1744-1812)
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06/06/86 - 02/01/87
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42
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Phoebe Bayard St. Clair (1743-1818)
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02/02/87 - 01/21/88
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43
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Christina Stuart Griffin (1751-1807)
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01/22/88 - 01/29/89
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36
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Constitution of 1787
First Ladies |
President
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Term
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Age
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April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
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57
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March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
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52
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Martha Wayles Jefferson Deceased
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September 6, 1782 (Aged 33)
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n/a
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March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817
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40
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March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825
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48
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March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
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50
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December 22, 1828 (aged 61)
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n/a
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February 5, 1819 (aged 35)
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n/a
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March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841
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65
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April 4, 1841 – September 10, 1842
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50
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June 26, 1844 – March 4, 1845
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23
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March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849
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41
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March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850
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60
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July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853
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52
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March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857
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46
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n/a
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n/a
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March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
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42
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February 22, 1862 – May 10, 1865
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April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869
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54
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March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877
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43
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March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881
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45
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March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881
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48
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January 12, 1880 (Aged 43)
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n/a
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June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
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21
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March 4, 1889 – October 25, 1892
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56
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June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
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28
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March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901
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49
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September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909
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40
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March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913
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47
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March 4, 1913 – August 6, 1914
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52
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December 18, 1915 – March 4, 1921
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43
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March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923
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60
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August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929
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44
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March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933
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54
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March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
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48
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April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953
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60
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January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
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56
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January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
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31
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November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
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50
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January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974
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56
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August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977
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56
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January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
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49
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January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
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59
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January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993
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63
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January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
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45
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January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009
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54
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January 20, 2009 to date
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45
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Capitals of the United Colonies and States of America
Philadelphia
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Sept. 5, 1774 to Oct. 24, 1774
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Philadelphia
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May 10, 1775 to Dec. 12, 1776
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Baltimore
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Dec. 20, 1776 to Feb. 27, 1777
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Philadelphia
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March 4, 1777 to Sept. 18, 1777
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Lancaster
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September 27, 1777
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York
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Sept. 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778
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Philadelphia
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July 2, 1778 to June 21, 1783
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Princeton
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June 30, 1783 to Nov. 4, 1783
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Annapolis
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Nov. 26, 1783 to Aug. 19, 1784
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Trenton
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Nov. 1, 1784 to Dec. 24, 1784
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New York City
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Jan. 11, 1785 to Nov. 13, 1788
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New York City
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October 6, 1788 to March 3,1789
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New York City
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March 3,1789 to August 12, 1790
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Philadelphia
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Dec. 6,1790 to May 14, 1800
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Washington DC
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November 17,1800 to Present
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The United Colonies of North America Continental Congress Presidents (1774-1776)
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The United States of America in Congress Assembled Presidents (1781-1789)
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