What should be the official title of the President?

Today we take it for granted that the President of the United States should simply be addressed as “Mr. President” or “President X”. But following the American Revolution the question of what should be the official title of the President was unclear and even contested. In the decade following Independence, monarchs were still the heads of States in Europe, including in Britain and France. Part of what made the American Revolution so radical and revolutionary was its rejection of the idea of a monarch. The divine right of kings remained a prominent idea into the late eighteenth century, even as it was challenged by Enlightenment thinkers.

Under the Articles of Confederation the “President of Congress” was the presiding officer of the national government. Largely a ceremonial position, the President of Congress himself was a member of Congress elected by the other delegates to serve as an impartial moderator during Congressional meetings of Congress.

Despite the ceremonial character of the office, several War Department documents reveal that the President of Congress was sometimes referred to as “His Excellency.” John Pierce, clerk at the War Department, addressed Thomas Mifflin in 1784 as “His Excellency the President of Congress.” Joseph Howell, also employed in the War Department, addressed Richard Henry Lee in the same fashion. On other occasions, however, the President of Congress was not addressed by any special title at all, as seen in Pierce’s letter to Nathaniel Gorham in 1786.

In Washington’s first year as President of the United States under the new Constitution, the Senate became embroiled in a month-long debate over the question of what to call Washington. John Adams favored titles such as “His Majesty the President” or “His High Mightiness,” but the more simple “President of the United States” eventually won out. Adam’s opponents on the issue in response jokingly referred to him as “His Rotundity.” Even after the debate was settled, many still referred to Washington as “His Excellency,” as can be seen in a 1791 letter to Washington from General William Darke.