MIS-story: Washington was the First President of the United States

This blog posting is NOT an attempt to validate the claims of many websites proclaiming various Presidents of Congress as the first President of the United States. It is based on factual information surrounding Washington's inauguration and the Constitution of the United States which officially established the office of the President of the United States.

If you ask any American who was the first President of the United States, the likely answer will be "George Washington, you idiot!" However, Washington's position as the first President of the United States is not entirely factual.

Many websites will claim that at least eight others served as President of the United States prior to George Washington. These claims are all false for two reasons. First, the so called other eight "Presidents" were actually Presidents of the Congress. The roles and responsibilities of the President of Congress were not the same as that of the President of the Untied States. Secondly, many of these same "Presidents" held the office of President of Congress prior to the United States' official existence. This eliminates patriots such as Peyton Randolph, John Hancock, John Hanson, Elias Boudinot, and Cyrus Griffin from being considered the first "President of the United States", but it does not mean that Washington was the first to serve in that capacity.

If one looks at the first formation of a "national" government in what is now the United States of America, they could argue that Peyton Randolph, the first President of the First Continental Congress, was actually the first President of the United States. However, the "United States" was not a nation at the time and did not officially exist.

On July 4, 1776, the "United States" declared its independence from Great Britain. At that time, John Hancock was the presiding officer, or "President", over the Second Continental Congress. One could argue that Hancock was therefore the first President of the United States and support the argument with the fact that General George Washington addressed his letters to Hancock as "the President of the United States" during that time. However, declaring independence and securing independence are two different monsters. If the "United States" had failed, there would be no President of the United States because America would remain subjects of the British Crown (like Canada). The United States did not actually secure independence for another 7 years until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783.

In the meantime, the Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation, the first attempt to form a government of the United States. John Hanson was the "President of these United States Assembled" when the Articles of Confederation were drawn up and ratified, but technically, he still was no more than the President of the Congress. The Articles of Confederation did not authorize or establish an executive branch of government and the executive office of "President of the United States" did not exist. Futhermore, although the "United States" was operating under the Articles of Confederation, the "United States" still did not officially exist. The Battle of Yorktown (1781) is considered the unoffical end of the American Revolution. However, the Treaty of Paris, which was signed September 3, 1783 is the OFFICIAL end of the American Revolution and the OFFICIAL beginning of an independent United States.

On September 3, 1783 when the Treaty of Paris officially created the United States, Elias Boudinot was serving as the President of Congress. Some could use this fact to argue that Boudinot was the first President of the United States, except as previously noted, the Articles of Confederation did not establish or authorize the office of "President" and serving as President of Congress is not the same as serving as President of the United States. Again, the roles and responsibilities of the two positions were very different.

The office of the President of the United States was not established until the ratification of The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States was ratified on June 21, 1788. Upon ratification, the office of the President officially existed. Elections were held from December 1788 to January 1789. In the time between the ratification of The Constitution of the United States and the Presidential elections, Cyrus Griffin held the office of President of Congress, but again, not the same as holding the office of President of the United States.

George Washington was won the Presidental election of 1788-89. He is the first popularly elected President of the United States, however, he was not the first to assume that office. Washington received the news of his election sometime around the middle of April 1789. On the 16th of April, Washington began his journey to the the nation's capital in New York City. He arrived on April 23, 1789, yet he waited a week to be sworn into office while Congress debated on the exact title of his new office. George Washington was sworn into office on April 30, 1789 at the first presidential inauguration. However, John Adams, Washington's elected Vice-President had arrived in New York City much earlier. Vice-President Adams was sworn into office on April 21, 1789, two days before Washington even arrived in New York. Under the terms of The Constitution of the United States, the Vice-President is to assume the duties of the executive in the absence of the executive. Thus, John Adams served in the capacity of President of the United States before George Washington, even if for only a few days.