Who was the First President of the United States?

Every American school-kid knows that Rhode Island is the smallest state, The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th 1776, and George Washington was the first President of the United States.

Well, two out of three ain't bad - but Washington wasn't the first President.

True, he was the first President under the current constitution but as such he wasn't sworn in until April 30th 1789 (with John Adams as Vice President). The first President took office on November 5, 1781 and served until November 3, 1782.

In fact, George Washington was neither second, nor even third President of the United States - He was the eighth person to hold that office.

Although school-kids are right that The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th 1776, America wasn`t actually formed until March 1st 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation - the first Constitution. The Articles of Confederation concentrated power in individual states and were finally determined to be too flawed to let stand and so a new Constitution (the current one) was subsequently ratified on September 13th 1788. But under the terms of The Articles of Confederation, which served as the Constitution of The United States from March 1st 1781 to September 13th 1788, the President of The United States was to be elected by Congress for a one year term. Unanimously elected by Congress after full ratification of the Articles of Confederation to serve as first President of the United States was a man named John Hanson. Hanson served from November 5th 1781 to November 4th 1782.

John Hanson? First President Of The United States??

Yup. In fact, still in existence is a letter from the period congratulating him on his election and signed by - General George Washington!

Now there are history buffs who will point out - quite correctly - that Samuel Huntington was serving as President of the United States in Congress Assembled prior to Hanson but since Hanson was the first person elected to the office of President after full ratification of The Articles of Confederation (March 1st 1781) he can most correctly be called the `First President`. In any event, whether John Hanson or Samuel Huntington, the fact remains that the first President of the United States was not George Washington.

It may come as a shock to some Americans to learn this. It may come as even more of a shock to learn this from a non-American like me (since I am, in fact, Canadian). But you know, it is often our best friends who point out things to us we didn`t know about ourselves and I like to think this is just another example of that.

Don`t take my word for it - research the Articles of Confederation. If you can, take a trip to Williamsburg, VA and visit the Colonial recreations there (as I have - twice!) there is so much more to your history than you ever imagined!