Instead of the
grim visage of George Washington staring out from the hard metal of the new $1
presidential coins, imagine the face of one-time cooper's apprentice — and
Connecticut native — Samuel Huntington.
That, according to
historian Stanley Klos, is who should have been on the coin that entered
circulation last week.
Klos, a Florida resident,
has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and threatened to file
for an injunction to stop the further distribution of the U.S. Mint's
presidential coins, unless the Mint acknowledges the 10 men who served as
president of the United States before Washington.
Klos' FTC complaint
charges the Mint with propagating myths as history. He said he is not looking to
stop the use of the coins, or even to get coins for the men who have been
slighted; he just wants this nation to acknowledge its past.
The controversy arose
because the Mint and Congress decided to honor the presidents who have served
the nation under its second Constitution, ratified in 1788. (That's the one that
starts, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect
Union&")
It starts with the bit
about a more perfect union because the states had already formed an imperfect
one under the first constitution, the Articles of Confederation.
The Articles said there
was only one branch of the federal government — the Congress — and its leader
was designated the "President of the United States in Congress Assembled."
Huntington was the first
man to have that title because he was president of Congress when it ratified the
Articles in 1781.
This all might sound like
a funny story about some historical nitpicking, but Klos and other historians
say by ignoring Huntington and the Articles of Confederation, the nation is
ignoring a key part of history.
"This was the government
that won the Revolutionary War," said Walter Woodward, Connecticut state
historian and an assistant history professor at the University of Connecticut.
When the Continental
Congress authorized the writing of the Declaration of Independence, which
Huntington signed, it also authorized the formation of a government and came up
with the Articles of Confederation. Although not formally ratified until 1781,
the Congress adopted the Articles in 1777 and ran the war and country under them
until adopting the new constitution in 1788.
Woodward said the Founding
Fathers were aware that representative governments had a sad history of
disintegrating or devolving into dictatorial empires — think Rome, for example.
Their greatest fear was of
being too weak or too strong, so they originally created a federal government
without taxing authority whose power was checked by the state governments, which
had the power to levy taxes and raise armies if called upon.
The government under the
Articles ratified the peace treaty with Great Britain to end the war and
established the procedures for adding states to the union.
Huntington was there for
most of this, serving — alongside Roger Sherman — as a delegate from
Connecticut.
"Huntington, by his own
admission, was not the smartest man in Congress. But clearly, he was one of the
really respected members of Congress," Woodward said.
According to
Huntingtonhomestead.org, the story of Huntington's life embodies the American
dream.
Born in what is now
Scotland, Conn., Huntington attended the common school for a brief period, but
was basically self-educated. He worked on the family farm, but was also
apprenticed to a cooper, or barrel maker. Despite this workload, he continued to
read and eventually won admission to the bar as a lawyer.
He moved to Norwich, where
he won election to the colony's legislature and also served as a superior court
judge. He represented the state in the Continental Congress and eventually rose
to its presidency when the articles were ratified.
Huntington stepped down as
president before his term ended in 1781, citing health problems. He returned to
Connecticut where he served as governor for 10 years, dying in office in 1796.
While he was governor, the state ratified the new Constitution.
U.S. Mint spokesman
Michael White said the agency would cooperate with the FTC if it makes any
rulings regarding the complaint. He said the Mint takes its orders from Congress
and is producing coins honoring the presidents who came after the Constitution
was adopted.
Bill Stanley, president of
the Norwich Historical Society, said his organization is also planning to file a
complaint against the Mint and has asked the Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
to review it.
No one, Stanley said, is
attempting to take anything away from Washington.
"Washington was the father
of the country. Without him, we wouldn't have a country," Stanley said Tuesday.
But maybe the United
States wouldn't have survived without Huntington, either.
According to Woodward,
Huntington was a guy who championed great ideas and made them come true. While
he might not have come up with an idea, he made it happen because he understood
the value of those ideas.
If Jefferson was the
idealist, Huntington and others were the pragmatists, Woodward said.
"I think America genuinely
owes the people who held the government together under the Articles a real debt
of gratitude and remembrance," he said.
Rob Varnon, who covers
business, can be reached at 330-6216.
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