John Hanson: America’s Reluctant First ‘President’

John Hanson, first president under the Articles of Confederation, guided the young U.S., laying the groundwork for Washington’s presidency.

The First Continental Congress, 1848, by Henry Samuel Sadd. Public Domain

Before the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and George Washington’s inauguration in 1789, the newly minted United States functioned as a proto-government, governed first by the Continental Association and later, by the Articles of Confederation after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Delegates from the colonies served as parliamentarians in official proceedings, with one elected as president of the Congress. After the Articles of Confederation were ratified nationally in March 1781, Congress elected Maryland delegate John Hanson as their new president on Nov. 5, 1781, renaming the new role as the President of the United States in Congress Assembled. He was the first to serve as presiding officer of the officially united colonies.