Arthur St. Clair elected President of the Congress of the Confederation
- When
- 2 February 1787
- Where
- Philadelphia, meeting place of the Confederation Congress
After months without a quorum, Confederation Congress delegates elected Arthur St. Clair president on 2 February 1787, amid Shays's Rebellion and state refusal to fund the federal government.
The delegates finally gathered into a quorum on 2 February 1787 and elected St. Clair, who had served as a delegate to the Confederation Congress from 2 November 1785. The election followed months of delay after Gorham's November 1786 resignation, with Shays's Rebellion in full force and states refusing to settle disputes or contribute to the six-year-old federal government. The presidency was a largely ceremonial presiding office, distinct from the later presidency of the United States.
Sources
- Arthur St. Clair Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-25
- President of the Continental Congress Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-07
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.