As we pray for America’s leaders, understand that one person can have a lasting impact. May God show us how to pray for our leaders strategically, effectively, and in accordance with His will.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. (Rom 8:26)

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“Thursday is the 280th anniversary of the birth of William Maclay, not exactly a household word, even in the homes of historians. He has a singular claim to fame, namely, as a senator in the first Congress under the Constitution meeting in 1789. Then a Senate committee presented to the entire body its title for the chief executive of the United States (recall that the Constitutional Convention didn’t settle this matter so it was incumbent upon Congress to do so). The recommended upper-house title: ‘His Highness the President of the United States and Protector of the Rights of Same.’

Mind you, this was a big issue. And for three weeks before the committee reported, a floor debate on the matter brought forth all sorts of titles: ‘Most Illustrative and Excellent President,’ ‘His Elective Highness,’ ‘His Exalted Highness’ and ‘His Majesty the President.’ To be sure, the only precedent for describing the chief executive officer of the Continental Congress during the American Revolution was the appellation ‘President’ or ‘Presiding Officer.’ For no major country of the world had elected a leader akin to the American governing document. . . .

[Maclay argued for no honorifics, and prevailed;] ‘Mr. President, the Constitution of the United States has designated our Chief Magistrate by the appellation of the President of the United States of America. This is his title of office, nor can we alter, add to or diminish it without infringing the Constitution. … As to what the common people, soldiers and sailors of foreign countries may think of us, I do not think it imports us much. Perhaps the less they think, or have occasion to think of us, the better.’” (Excerpted from The Washington Times, opinion by Thomas V. DiBacco, professor emeritus at American University.)