SwiftVets.com

[Guest]

So....
Who Was The First President? 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.
(check John Hanson on Google.) http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

The new country was actually formed on Marc h 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 Revolut ionary 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 man left running the government. He somehow managed to calm the troops down and hold the country together. If he had failed, the
government could have fallen almost immediately and everyone might 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.

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:
Elias Boudinot (1782-83),
Thomas Mifflin (1783-84),
Richard Henry Lee (1784-85),
John Hancock (1785-86),
Nathan Gorman (1786-87),
Arthur St. Clair (1787-88), and
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 tha t 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 for the US to establish a successful government. Remember
this when you hear so little progress has been made during these last 4
years in establishing a Government in Iraq .

GOD BLESS AMERICA !!!!

note: BBCode smilies disabled/me#1

[Me#1You#10]

[coldwarvet]

[BuffaloJack]

[GenrXr]

great history powmias and BuffaloJack!

Had no idea Washington could have declared himself King at any moment and did not do so, because of his strong belief his actions were the direct result of providence. Even today the left is hard at work dispelling or lessening Washington's strong belief in God and his view the formation of this country was an act of providence.

Make no mistake, at any moment up until his death, Washington could have declared himself King and King he would have been.
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"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[Guest]

[Deuce]

Wow, Thanks for the history lesson, all. I used to live on 'the underground railroad', you'd think I'd a learned! As a 'C' history student, never pulled that off, though....and BuffaloJack, I'm with you...both on the Civil War interests, and like you, my faith in the American gummit 'madrassas' today is only slightly greater than my faith in the Saudi madrassas!

[streetsweeper95B]

Hey, Thanks for the history lesson eddie. Never learned that in high school far as I can remember. Very nice.
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"Proud Member of the Freak Show"

[BuffaloJack]

Here's another Civil War tidbit.
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was an all black Confederate Infantry Regiment. There was also an all black Union Infantry Regiment called the 1st Louisiana Native Guard. They were separate military units with the same name. Like the 54th Massachusetts that was featured in the film "Glory", both black Union Regiments had all white officers. The black Confederate regiments were unique in that they almost always had all black officers. Bet you don't find that in the revisionist history books of today.
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