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They Put It In Print – The 12th President of The United States… | History's Newsstand Blog

They Put It In Print – The 12th President of The United States…

February 16, 2024 by  
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Who was the 12th president of The United States of America? Okay, perhaps your high school civics teacher didn’t require you to memorize their names in chronological order, but in case they did I’ll give you a little more time so you can run through them starting with Washington (hint, you’ll need more than both hands to count them out).

At this point I’m sure many have opted to simply do a quick internet search to “remember”. Cheating??? No judgement here. Do you have your answer?

Here goes…

So, did you come up with rolyat yrahcaz (the name is spelled backwards so your eyes wouldn’t easily notice it while reading the 1st two paragraphs)? However, NO! Sorry.

The one who was elected to be the 12th president refused to be inaugurated on the given day (March 4, 1849) since it was scheduled to be held on a Sunday. Being a “religious man”, he felt it improper to take the oath of office on the Christian Sabbath. Left with the unacceptable dilemma of having the top seat in the land left vacant, albeit for a short time, David Rice Atchison was sworn in to serve as “president for a day”. How do we know? The National Intelligencer for March 10, 1849 put it in print:

While the state of Missouri (Atchison’s home state) affirms this, the official website of the Senate of the United States says otherwise – and provides their reasoning.

Yet, who is right? I’m not a political scholar, but if accuracy of information provides a clue this same “official” article also says this rumor 1st appeared in the March 12th issue of the Alexandria Gazette… and we know for a fact this to be false. Again, how do we know? Our newly discovered issue is dated two days prior.

I love this collectible!

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Filed under: Pre Civil War, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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