For what it's worth, probably not much, but I received this from a deceased friend back in 2009 who worked for the U.S. Government in the military, retired, decorated, the works. Interesting to say the least and probably has nothing to do with this discussion:
http://www.standingstones.com/8pres.html
(SEE BELOW. You won;t have to check it out.)
I'm sure that George Washington was your best guess.
After all, no one else comes to mind.
But think back to your history books - The United States
Declared its independence in 1776, yet Washington did not take office
until April 30, 1789. So who was running the country during these initial
years of this young country? It was the first eight U. S. Presidents.
In fact, the first President of the United States was one
John Hanson.
I can hear you now - John who? John Hanson, the first
President of the United States . Don't go checking the encyclopedia
for this guy's name - he is one of those great men that are lost to
history. If you're extremely lucky, you may actually find a brief mention of
his name.
The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with
the adoption of The Articles of Confederation. This document
was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by
Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland refused to sign
this document until Virginia and New York ceded their western
lands ( Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much
power in the new government from such large amounts of land).
Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run
the country.
John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which
included George Washington). In fact, all the other potential
candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the
revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress.
As the first President, Hanson had quite the shoes to fill.
No one had ever been President and the role was poorly defined.
His actions in office would set precedent for all future Presidents.
He took office just as the Revolutionary War ended. Almost
immediately, the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after
any long war, there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result,
the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and put
Washington on the throne as a monarch.
All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving
Hanson as the only guy left running the government. He somehow managed to
calm the troops down and hold the country together. If he had
failed, the governmen t would have fallen almost immediately and
everyone would have been bowing to King Washington.
Hanson, as President, ordered all foreign troops off
American soil, as well as the removal of all foreign flags. This was quite
the feat, considering the fact that so many European countries had a
stake in the United States since the days following Columbus .
Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States, which all Presidents
have since been required to use on all official documents. President
Hanson also established the first Treasury Department, the first
Secretary of War, and the first Foreign Affairs Department.
Lastly, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every
November was to be Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today. The
Articles of Confederation only allowed a President to serve a one year
term during any three year period, so Hanson actually accomplished
quite a bit in such little time.
Seven other presidents were elected after him -
1. Elias Boudinot (1782-83),
2. Thomas Mifflin (1783-84),
3. Richard Henry Lee (1784-85),
4. John Hancock (1785-86),
5. Nathan Gorman (1786-87),
6. Arthur St. Clair (1787-88), and
7. Cyrus Griffin (1788-89) -
.......all prior to Washington taking office.
So what happened?
Why don't we hear about the first eight presidents?
It's quite simple -- The Articles of Confederation didn't work well. The
individual states had too much power and nothing could be agreed upon. A new
doctrine needed to be written - something we know as the
Constitution.
And that leads us to the end of our story George Washington
was definitely not the first President of the United States . He was the
first President of the United States under the Constitution we follow today.
And the first eight Presidents are forgotten in history.
YOU HAVE TO BE A LOVER OF HISTORY TO APPRECIATE THIS!!
(It took 8 years to establish a successful government. You
might just remember this when you hear that so little progress has
been made during these last 3 years in establishing a Government in Iraq)
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