Who was the first president of the United Stated, George Washington or John Hanson?
George Washington was the first President of the United States. The position simply did not exist prior to him to be filled by another.
John Hanson was the President of the Continental Congress, a position that would compare to the role of Speaker of the House today. John Hanson was not elected by the people, but by the members of the Congress. He oversaw the meeting of the Continental Congress.
The Articles of Confederation were the documents outlining the country at that time and there was no position in them equal the role of the current President and there was no executive branch that would oversee federal needs until the Constitution.
While John Hanson’s role is very important to this nation and Maryland has every right to be proud of his role in the founding of this nation, it was not ever as a President of the country he fought to create.
There is a basic relative comparison of what each of these documents did located here.
