Massachusetts: Presidency of the Council: 1775-1780

The House of Representatives elected under the Charter of 1691 met at Watertown on 19 Jul 1775 and elected 28 councilors (21 Jul 1775). The Council held its first meeting on 26 Jul 1775 attended by 14 members. On 28 Jul 1775 the House passed a resolution recognizing "the constitutional Council of the Province, or the major Part of them, as Governor of the Province" (Massachusetts House Journal, 1775, p. 21). The Council was elected annually at the beginning of the legislative year (last Wednesday in May 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779 and 1780) and combined executive, legislative, and judicial functions.

According to the Rules of the Council approved on 2 Aug 1775, the most senior councilor present at the meeting always acted as the president ("1st. The Eldest Councellor present, always to Act as President"). The seniority was determined by the length of service in the Council and not by the age of the individual. At the beginning of each term, the members of the Council were "arranged" into a seniority list.

The Council held "executive" and "legislative" meetings recorded in separate journals. The names of attending members were recorded under "Present in Council." The names were listed in order of seniority and, while the name of the president was not explicitly indicated for the period of 1775-1777, the first on the list is presumed to have acted as president of the meeting and signed as "president" under the texts of the resolutions. Starting from early 1777, the name of the president was recorded in the journals. Thus, the presiding councilors did not serve "daily" or "weekly" terms, but acted in this capacity only for the hours of the session. It was not unusual that the "executive" session was presided by one councilor and the "legislative" by the other on the same date.