Is John Hanson on the two-dollar bill?

Answer 1

John Hanson is not depicted on the two dollar bill. What is depicted is the continental congress gathered for the signing of the Declaration of Independence. John Hanson did not sign the Declaration because

he was not present to sign.

Above answer is incorrect. John Hanson was the first elected president of the Continental Congress (a collaboration of the first 13 colonies) under the Articles of Confederation in 1781. He was a black man and was responsible for the first national bank, first national post office, and for creating a uniformed method of currency. Essentially, Hanson was the first president of our country but is not recognized because officially the United States did not exist until March 3, 1789 when the Confederation was abolished.

Hanson was present for the signing of the Declaration of Independence and is depicted on the two dollar bill. He is the only black man in the engraving and is located in the middle of the assembly, seated at a table, behind the signers of the Declaration.

So much misinformation to sort out. The original answerer was correct- Hanson was not present for the signing of the Declaration, and therefore, is not depicted on the obverse of the $2 bill, which is based on a painting of the signing. In July 1776, Hanson was a member of the Maryland government, and was busy running that state/colony. He was not made a delegate to the Continental Congress until 1780, about four years after the Declaration was signed.

As for the other stuff... apparently one of the responders has never actually looked at a $2 bill- there is no black man in the engraving. Secondly, Hanson was not black- he was a white man, whose family came from England. The issue here is a curious internet phenomenon where the internet keeps spreading a total falsehood. There was indeed a famous black man named John Hanson, and he was part of a group that wanted to send freed blacks back to Africa to start their own country. Eventually they did, and the country they started was Liberia (whose capital is "Monrovia", named after US President James Monroe). The photograph you often see of a black man named John Hanson is this man, who eventually served as a Senator in the Liberian government. And the fact that it's a photograph gives away that it's not the Founding Father- photographs weren't invented until long after the Father's death!

Additionally, John Hanson (the Founding Father) was never "President of the United States". He was President of Congress, the first elected under rules set by the Articles of Confederation (he wasn't the first President of Congress, or even the first under the Articles!). The position of President of Congress was totally unrelated to the President of the United States, and was a powerless, ceremonial position that was in charge of running the Congress (vaguely similar to the current President of the Senate, but with less influence). The position ceased to exist when the last one resigned about six months before George Washington became the first President of the United States. George Washington was the one responsible for the things mentioned by the second responder (the national bank, currency, post office- although the post office technically dates back to 1775).