Presidents of the Continental Congress

The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates that assembled in Philadelphia as the first transitional national government of the United States during the American Revolution. The president was a member of Congress elected by the other delegates to serve as a neutral discussion moderator during meetings of Congress. Designed to be a largely ceremonial position without much influence, the office was unrelated to the later office of President of the United States.

Fourteen men served as President of the Continental Congress (1774 - 1788) in the order shown below. We have been to the gravesite of ten of the fourteen presidents.

An excellent source of information about the Presidents of the Continental Congress can be found at website: President of the Continental Congress

Presidents of the Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas was formed in 1836. In the midst of the Texas Revolution, Texan settlers elected delegates to the Convention of 1836, which issued the Texas Declaration of Independence and elected David G. Burnet as interim president of the new country. In May 1836 Burnet and Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna, who was at the time a Texan prisoner-of-war, signed the Treaties of Velasco officially recognizing Texas's break from Mexico.

The president of the Republic of Texas was the head of state and head of government while Texas was an independent republic between 1836 and 1845. The president served as the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Four men served as President of the Republic, and one, Sam Houston, served two nonconsecutive terms.

President Graves

As you can tell from this website, we are a real fan of history, and especially American History. Many of our family trips centered around people, places and historical sites across the United States. One of our first trips took us from Houston to Washington DC via Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and finally Washington DC. During this trip we visited, among other things, the Tennessee Capitol Building, Hermitage, Monticello, Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetery. As a result, we had unintentionally visited the final resting places of six United States Presidents (Polk, Jackson, Jefferson, Washington, Taft and Kennedy).

It wasn't long after our trip we realized we had visited 1/6th of the US Presidents graves, and we made it a priority to visit Presidential sites (grave sites, homes, birthplaces, libraries etc.) on our future trips. Therefore, in 2007 we planned a trip to New England, and the trip would include seven states, seven capitols and seven US President grave sites. The trip also included two President Libraries, and six President's homes.