Book Description

In most history textbooks, compilers do enumerate the differences between the current executive office of U.S. President and Commander-in-Chief with the presidential office that once presided over the Continental and Articles of Confederation Congresses. The opinion, however, that these “Presidents of Congress” were actually United States “Heads of State” is not addressed in American history texts. Moreover, the examination of the similarities and differences between the Continental Congress, United States in Congress Assembled and the current United States Congress is also deficient of thoughtful studentship. The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America (CEUS) curriculum has been specifically designed to address these and key 1774-1790 political incongruities, which ultimately gave rise to the Congressional call for “…a Convention of delegates … to be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation ...” The curriculum also addresses the Delegates decision to scrap the Articles of Confederation, frame the current United States Constitution and Congress proposing, on September 25, 1789, twelve constitutional amendments for States’ ratification consideration. The CEUS Curriculum was developed on the datum that there were three different congresses that preceded the current United States House of Representatives and Senate in Congress Assembled:United Colonies of North America Continental Congress (UCCC) United States of America Continental Congress (USCC) United States of America in Congress Assembled (USCA)The examination of the United States under the lens of its Congressional progression provides students with a pedagogy that can help them understand numerous founding inconsistencies like United States officials heralding the nation’s birthdate as July 4, 1776, while the United States Mint produces Delaware “First State” quarters based the State’s 1787 ratification of the current United States Constitution. Were there not member states in the United States of America Republic between 1776 and 1787? The CEUS curriculum addresses this contradiction in its module titled: Debate: Which State is the first U.S. State? Here, students are provided with primary sources demonstrating that New Hampshire’s United Colonies Continental Congress Delegates were the first to vote for Independence on July 2, 1776, while Virginia was the “First State” to ratify the Articles of Confederation on December 16, 1777,” and Delaware was the “First State” to ratify the current U.S. Constitution on December 7, 1787. Students are then asked: Was Delaware the First State? If not which State do you think is the first U.S. State? What historical evidence can be used to support your position? Work with your classmates to come to a consensus on which State was the “First U.S. State.”In addition to releasing the Congressional Evolution of the United States curriculum, we are in the process of creating 20 new CEUS Presidential Series videos for www.uspresidency.com. Four of the videos, First UCCC President Peyton Randolph, Second UCCC President Henry Middleton, Third USCA President John Hanson and Fifth USCA President Thomas Mifflin are completed and posted on this website. Finally, many of our former visitors may be wondering what happened to the America’s Four Republics concept unveiled at the Annapolis Continental Congress Festival in 2012. No reservations, the scholarship is sound but the pedagogy was too controversial for the primary and secondary educational systems in the United States. The Congressional Evolution of the United States Curriculum does address the possibility of different U.S. republics in its second module Challenge: Did the United Colonies Continental Congress govern as a Republic?, which provides ample primary sources for students to arrive at their own conclusions.