You’ve probably heard it a thousand times in a classroom or during a trivia night at a bar. George Washington was the first president. Period. End of story. But honestly, if you look at the fine print of American history, that’s not exactly the whole truth. It’s a simplified version of a much messier, much more bureaucratic reality that existed before the Constitution was even a thing.
When we talk about United States presidents before George Washington, we’re talking about the men who presided over the Continental Congress and the Congress of the Confederation. They weren't "presidents" in the way we think of them today—they didn't have an Air Force One, they didn't live in a White House, and they definitely couldn't veto laws or command the military. They were basically the moderators of a very high-stakes, very disorganized group of revolutionaries.
It's weird, right? We treat Washington like the starting line of a race, but the race had been going on for over a decade before he took the oath in 1789.
The Forgotten Leaders of the Continental Congress
Back in 1774, the colonies were essentially thirteen separate countries that barely liked each other. They needed a coordinator. Peyton Randolph was the first guy to step up. He was the first President of the Continental Congress. He wasn't the leader of a nation because the nation didn't exist yet; he was the leader of a committee. Think of him as a chairman of the board for a startup that’s about to declare war on its biggest investor.
Following Randolph, you had guys like Henry Middleton and, most famously, John Hancock. Everyone knows Hancock because of his oversized signature on the Declaration of Independence, but few people realize he was actually serving as the President of the Congress at the time. When he signed that document, he was the closest thing the United States had to a head of state. He held the position for over two years, which was an eternity back then considering the British were actively trying to hang everyone in the room.
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These men dealt with the impossible. They had to figure out how to pay for a war with money they didn't have and how to keep a volunteer army from deserting during the winter. It was a thankless, stressful, and largely ceremonial role that required a lot of ego-stroking and letter-writing.
The Articles of Confederation Shift
By 1781, things changed. The Articles of Confederation were finally ratified. This was our first real "constitution," though it was pretty terrible at actually running a country. It created a more formal structure, and with it, a more formal title: "President of the United States in Congress Assembled."
This is where the argument for United States presidents before George Washington gets really interesting. Technically, under this legal framework, John Hanson was the first person to serve a full one-year term as the president of this new entity. Some historians—and a whole lot of Marylanders—argue that Hanson was the real first president.
But let’s be real. Hanson’s job was mostly administrative. He dealt with a massive amount of paperwork, signed official documents, and handled the diplomatic "meet and greets." He hated it. He actually tried to resign because his health was failing and the job was a bureaucratic nightmare. The federal government back then had no power to tax. If the president needed money for the army, he basically had to ask the states nicely and hope they felt generous. They usually didn't.
The Men Who Sat in the Chair
After Hanson, a string of names passed through the office that sounds like a list of obscure street names in Philadelphia or Boston:
- Elias Boudinot: He was the guy who had to deal with the end of the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
- Thomas Mifflin: He actually accepted George Washington’s resignation as Commander-in-Chief. Imagine being the "president" who watches the most powerful man in the country give up his sword.
- Richard Henry Lee: A heavy hitter from Virginia who had been pushing for independence since the very beginning.
- Nathaniel Gorham: Served during a period of massive civil unrest, including Shays' Rebellion, which proved the Articles were failing.
- Arthur St. Clair: A Scottish-born soldier who presided while the Northwest Ordinance was passed, which was one of the few actually successful things the Confederation did.
- Cyrus Griffin: The final man to hold the title before the whole system was scrapped for the Constitution we use today.
Why We Don't Call Them "President" Today
So, why do we ignore them? Is it a conspiracy? Not really. It’s mostly about the definition of power.
The guys on the list of United States presidents before George Washington had zero executive authority. If they wanted to go to lunch, they probably had to call a vote. They couldn't enforce laws. They couldn't command an army in the field. They were "presiding officers," which is the literal root of the word "president." They sat in the chair (they presided) and kept the meeting moving.
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When the Constitutional Convention met in 1787, they realized the country was falling apart because there was no "boss." They created a new office—the Executive Branch—and gave it teeth. Washington was the first person to hold that office. He wasn't just a chairman; he was the Chief Executive. That’s a massive distinction.
Historian Richard B. Morris, who wrote the classic The Forging of the Union, points out that the Confederation-era presidents were more like the President of the UN General Assembly than the President of the United States. They represented the body, but they didn't rule the nation.
The John Hanson Myth
There’s a persistent story that John Hanson was a Black man and the "true" first president. This is a classic case of historical identity confusion. There was a John Hanson who was a prominent Black politician and activist in Liberia in the 19th century, but the John Hanson who served as President of the Continental Congress was a white merchant from Maryland of English and Swedish descent.
It’s one of those internet rumors that refuses to die, but looking at the primary sources—the letters, the portraits, the family records—the two men were completely different people living in different centuries.
The Reality of 18th Century Politics
Politics back then was a mess. It was loud, it was smelly, and it was dangerous. These early presidents weren't living in luxury. When the British army moved toward Philadelphia, the Congress had to pack up their papers and run for their lives.
They met in taverns. They met in state houses. They dealt with smallpox outbreaks and mutinous soldiers demanding back pay. When we look back at the United States presidents before George Washington, we shouldn't see them as "fake" presidents, but as the guys who kept the lights on while the house was being built. Without their ability to keep the colonies talking to each other, there wouldn't have been a country for Washington to lead in the first place.
Honestly, the fact that they managed to hold the thirteen colonies together at all is a miracle. They had no money, no power, and a superpower trying to kill them.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you want to actually understand this period beyond a surface level, stop looking at the presidency as a single, unbroken line. It’s two different jobs that happen to share the same name.
- Read the Journals of the Continental Congress. They are digitized and available through the Library of Congress. It’s the best way to see what these men actually did all day (spoiler: it was a lot of arguing about salt and blankets).
- Visit York, Pennsylvania. While Philadelphia gets all the glory, York was the site where the Articles of Confederation were adopted. The history there is much more focused on the "pre-Washington" era.
- Distinguish between the "Continental Congress" and the "Congress of the Confederation." They are different. The first was a temporary wartime body; the second was a formal government under our first constitution.
- Look into the 1780s. Most people jump from 1776 (The Declaration) to 1789 (The Constitution). The stuff in the middle—the "Critical Period"—is where the real drama of forming a nation happened.
Understanding the role of these early leaders doesn't take anything away from George Washington. If anything, it makes his success more impressive. He took a job that had been a weak, frustrating, and largely ignored position and turned it into the most powerful office in the world. But he didn't do it in a vacuum. He was standing on the shoulders of fourteen men who sat in that same chair before he did, trying to figure out how to make "The United States" more than just a phrase on a piece of parchment.