US Congress

General George Washington (1732-1799) was the first President of the United States of America under the US Constitution. He was elected in 1787 and again in 1792 and served as President from April 30,1789 until March 4, 1797.

The Hanson argument--

Sometimes, John Hanson is referred to as the first US president due to his ancestors' success of convincing the Maryland Legislature that he was the first President to serve under the articles of Confederation--- but that is NOT the same as the elected President of the US. The Hanson Family's lobbying effort was so complete that in 1903 Maryland included his statue, as one of two, allocated for each state in the US Capitol's Statuary Hall. Although Hanson served as President of the United States Congress Assembled, under the Articles of Confederation, , this was very different from that of a modern-day U.S. Presidency. Moreover, Hanson was actually the third President of the United States in Congress Assembled. The Articles of Confederation Presidency lineage as follows:

• Samuel Huntington was the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled. This was under the Articles of Confederation, March 1, 1781 to July 6, 1781.
• Thomas McKean was the second President of the United States in Congress Assembled elected on July 10th, 1781 and served until November 4th, 1781.
• John Hanson was the third President of the United States in Congress Assembled. He was elected by the United States in Congress Assembled Delegates on November 5, 1781 to November 4, 1782. He was the first President to serve a full one year term under the Articles of Confederation.