This essay is a critique of the Supreme Court of the United States and a discussion of how the court has clearly deviated in its decisions on the intent of our founding fathers in their experiment in establishing a democractic republic, in drafting the Declaration of Independence of America,and the Constitution of the United States. The essay also includes a critique of Congress and discusses the undue delegation of legislative power to the executive department.The problem facing American democracy here is not the failure of the Supreme Court to live up to its responsibilities but the surrender by the Congress of legislative responsibilities to the executive branch of government. Thus, the crisis facing American democracy results not only from the failure of the Supreme Court to recognize the Constitutional privileges and rights that we American have under our constitution but also the assumption of legislative and judicial powers by the executive branch. Along with surrendering leglslative power to the executive branch, the Congress has put many adjudicative tribunals under the executive branch,and not under the judicial branch, with the result that the executive branch exercises legislative and judical powers that under our constitution should be exercised by either the legislative or judical branch.

Considerable confusion exists among politicans, news media and popular historians in their setting forth the number of persons who have held the office of president of the United States. The confusion is generally based upon ignorance of the provisions of the Articles of Conferation and of the Constitution of the United States. This ignorance is generally harmless but does mislead the American public on the effect of constitutional provisions relating to the American presidency. It is generally stated by politicians that George W. Bush is the 43rd president of the United States, but counting the ten presidents before George Washington, he would be the 53rd person who have held that office. Counting Grover Cleveland as one president instead of as two presidents, Bush would be the 52nd person unless President Atchinson is recognized as the 22th U.S. President, which would make Bush properly the 53rd president. The United States has had four persons acting as presidents who never under the Constitution of the United States became Presidents of the United States, Before the adoption of the 22nd amendment in 1951, upon the death of the president, the vice president did not become president of the united states but only became acting president. Thus, Presidents Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Arthur only served as acting presidents and did not under the Constitution became entitled to hold the office of president of the United States. They did not need to take oaths as president since their oaths as vice president allowed them to assume the role of acting president. Upon the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841, Vice President John Tyler decided to take an oath as President of the United States, thereby indicating he wanted to be called President Tyler and not Vice President Tyler, or merely as a person acting as president. Not counting these four presidents, Bush would be the 49th person that held under the constitition the office of president of the United States. Counting six American presidents of the continental congresses, who were presidents of the United American colonies before they became the United States of America, Bush would then be the 55th American president.

One president of the United States did not meet under the Constitution the qualifications of holding the office of president. According to Chester Alan Arthur III, the grandson of President Arthur, generally considered our 21st President, his grandfather was born in 1827 in Canada, a mile from the the border between Canada and Vermont. His granfather had a younger brother, born in Vermont, close to the Canadian border. The younger brother died he was about ten years of age and his brother, the future president was about 12 years of age. Since his grandfather wanted to have the advantages of being a native born American, he decided to take on the identity of his younger brother, using his name and birth records. Thus, even though records of the Library of Congress treat the year 1829 as the date of birth of Chester Alan Arthur, President Arthur was really born in the year 1827 in Canada and not in the year 1829 in Vermont. Even though under the Constitution a president of the United States must be a native born American citizen, and Chester Alan Arthur was not, it would not be feasible to establish the fact that under the constitution he was not legally president of the United States; and all acts of Chester Alan Arthur as President of the United States would necessarily need to be treated as lawful acts. Presidential records state that President Arthur was born on October 5, 1829. His grandson, an astrologer, recognizes that the records would treat his granfather as a Libra, but his grandson insists that his grandfather was a Pisces, born during March 1827. I have read correspondence between Chester Alan Arthur III and the Librarian of Congress, who refused to change the Presidential records even after being notified that family records showed that they were incorrect. Independence from Great Britain was declared on July 2, 1776, and not on July 4, 1776, with July 4, 1776 being the date the Declaration was signed by most delegates. After independence, the United Colonies formed a Confederation to govern and conduct the war against England. The Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation of the United States of America on November 15, 1777. Unlike the Constitution of 1787 the confederation charter required the ratification of all 13 states before it would become the first "Constitution" of the United States of America.

It was Maryland who held out ratifying the Articles of Confederation until 1781 due to border disputes with neighboring states. On March 1, 1781 with this 13th state ratification the Continental Congress ceased to exist and "The United States in Congress Assembled" was placed at the head of each page of the Official Journal of Congress. The United States in Congress Assembled Journal reported on March 2, 1781:

The ratification of the Articles of Confederation being yesterday completed by the accession of the State of Maryland: The United States met in Congress, when the following members appeared: His excellency Samuel Huntington, delegate for Connecticut, President ...

Mr. Samuel Huntington served as President of the Continental Congress from 1779 to 1781, which was well beyond the one-year term limitation now mandated by the ratified Articles of Confederation . Despite this Huntington was recognized as President of the United States in Congress Assembled during the ratification celebration of March 1781 and presided over the new Government until the election of President Thomas McKean. Contrary to popular belief, Samuel Huntington actually became the first President of the United States on that day. There were nine more Presidents of the United States who served under the Articles before George Washington`s inauguration in 1789 making him the eleventh president (see http://www.uspresidency.com).

There were many interesting and noteworthy provisions in this new Constitution. Article XI, however, most Americans find astonishing because of the automatic admission provision of a 14th state with a simple letter to the United States in Congress Assembled:

XI. Canada acceding to this confederation, and adjoining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States.

Canada, of course, never sought admission and the carte blanche invitation expired in 1788.

The United States Congress passed numerous laws and resolutions under the new Constitution of 1781. Clearly, it was President Arthur St. Clair's 1787 administration that passed the most significant piece of legislation under the Articles of Confederation: An Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio. The Northwest Ordinance had lingered in Congress since 1784 until President St. Clair championed the measure before Congress. Daniel Webster described the Northwest Ordinance as follows: "We are accustomed to praise lawgivers of antiquity ... but I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced the effects of more distinct, marked, and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787" This ordinance was an exceptional piece of legislation because Article 5 permitted the people North and West of the Ohio River to settle their land, form their own territorial government, and take their place as a full fledge state equal to the original 13. The Northwest Ordinance's Article 5 became the principal that enabled the United States rapid westward expansion, which ended with the inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii as our 49th and 50th states. Clearly the importance of the Articles of Confederation and its government is unrecognized and is virtually ignored in by our educational and public leaders. That Samuel Huntington is not recognized as the first President of the United States undoubtedly results from the popular view that the United States began with the United States Constitution. This, coupled with oath of secrecy of all 1774-1788 Congressional debates and the current focus on the importance of the 1787 Constitutional Presidency, has doomed the legacy of the Articles of Confederation to obscurity.

The reader is refered to the work Constitutional Law: Crisis in American Democracy, which is set forth in full on this website. Part One of this work contains in full historical documents supporting the critique on constitutional law set forth in Part Two. This essay has been limited only to general conclusions on constitutional law, which is discussed in detail in the book on constitutional law.

©Wilson Ogg