Bet You Didn't Know

From a friend of mine .
Thanks Mike;
You young people , take this to your history teacher
and see if you get extra credit

Lost Historical Tid-Bits

Who was the 1st President? I'm sure that George Washington
was your first and 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 government 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 oneyear 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 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.