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U.S. Treasury Seeks Dismissal Of Coin Suit
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Published: June 20, 2008
TAMPA - The U.S. Treasury secretary is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by a Palm Harbor scholar who sued to force the government to put on coins the images of 10 men he says were presidents before George Washington.
Stanley Klos, 54, a scholar of rare historical documents, sued Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson last month citing the Presidential Coin Act, which directs the Treasury secretary to issue $1 coins depicting the presidents of the United States and to mint the coins until each president has been honored.
Klos claims in the lawsuit that failing to recognize these men harms his children and all students in America by misleading them about "the existence and identity of the earliest founders and the presidents of the United States."
Klos wants people to know about Samuel Huntington of Connecticut, who was elected under the Continental Congress but ascended to the presidency under the Constitution of 1777, also known as the Articles of Confederation, on March 2, 1781.
Then there are Thomas McKean, John Hanson, Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Nathanial Gorham, Arthur St. Clair and Cyrus Griffin, who left office two months before Washington became president. All these men signed documents as president of the United States. They were leaders of this country's national government known as the United States in Congress Assembled.
Most historians dismiss Klos' arguments, saying these 10 men did not have the same powers and authority as the U.S. presidents from George Washington forward. The title of their office may have been similar, but the post was not the same, the historians say.
The Treasury secretary's court pleading Thursday did not address the historical controversy. It simply asserts that the law does not allow the secretary to place these men's images on coins and that Klos' legal case is without merit.
Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.
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