Who was the first US President?

[killer]

BBC news this evening stated that George Washington was the first US president. I have my doubts and would be grateful for alternative suggestions.

Some people suggest that John Hanson was the first and then there were another six presidents before Washington.

Most people that use this forum are probably from the US so please use your wisdom to clarify the situation for us all.

[dsvochak]

Washington was the first president under the US constitution, which replaced the Articles of Confederation.

Hanson was the first “president of the continental congress” under the Articles of Confederation. There were additional presidents of the congress, predating both the Articles of Confederation and Hanson and presidents of the congress after Hanson. The president of the congress was more like the speaker of the house than the president under the US constitution.

Clear as mud right?

[robert213]

Here in the United States, George Washington is commonly acknowledged as the first president.

http://americanhistory.about.com/librar ... idents.htm

Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States
PRESIDENT VICE-PRESIDENT POLITICAL PARTY TERM
George Washington John Adams No Party Designation 1789-1797
John Adams Thomas Jefferson Federalist 1797-1801
Thomas Jefferson Aaron Burr/George Clinton Democratic-Republican 1801-1809
James Madison George Clinton/Elbridge Gerry Democratic-Republican 1809-1817
James Monroe Daniel D Tompkins Democratic-Republican 1817-1825
John Quincy Adams John C Calhoun Democratic-Republican 1825-1829
Andrew Jackson John C Calhoun/Martin Van Buren Democratic 1829-1837
Martin Van Buren Richard M. Johnson Democratic 1837-1841
William Henry Harrison John Tyler Whig 1841
John Tyler None Whig 1841-1845
James Knox Polk George M Dallas Democratic 1845-1849
Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore Whig 1849-1850
Millard Fillmore None Whig 1850-1853
Franklin Pierce William R King Democratic 1853-1857
James Buchanan John C Breckinridge Democratic 1857-1861

Abraham Lincoln Hannibel Hamlin/Andrew Johnson Union 1861-1865
Andrew Johnson None Union 1865-1869
Ulysses Simpson Grant Schuyler Colfax/Henry Wilson Republican 1869-1877
Rutherford Birchard Hayes William A Wheeler Republican 1877-1881
James Abram Garfield Chester Alan Arthur Republican 1881
Chester Alan Arthur None Republican 1881-1885
Stephen Grover Cleveland Thomas Hendricks Democratic 1885-1889
Benjamin Harrison Levi P Morton Republican 1889-1893
Stephen Grover Cleveland Adlai E Stevenson Democratic 1893-1897
William McKinley Garret A. Hobart/Theodore Roosevelt Republican 1897-1901
Theodore Roosevelt Charles W Fairbanks Republican 1901-1909
William Howard Taft James S Sherman Republican 1909-1913
Woodrow Wilson Thomas R Marshall Democratic 1913-1921
Warren Gamaliel Harding Calvin Coolidge Republican 1921-1923
Calvin Coolidge Charles G Dawes Republican 1923-1929
Herbert Clark Hoover Charles Curtis Republican 1929-1933
Franklin Delano Roosevelt John Nance Garner/Henry A. Wallace/Harry S. Truman Democratic 1933-1945
Harry S. Truman Alben W Barkley Democratic 1945-1953
Dwight David Eisenhower Richard Milhous Nixon Republican 1953-1961
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Lyndon Baines Johnson Democratic 1961-1963
Lyndon Baines Johnson Hubert Horatio Humphrey Democratic 1963-1969
Richard Milhous Nixon Spiro T. Agnew/Gerald Rudolph Ford Republican 1969-1974
Gerald Rudolph Ford Nelson Rockefeller Republican 1974-1977
James Earl Carter, Jr. Walter Mondale Democratic 1977-1981
Ronald Wilson Reagan George Herbert Walker Bush Republican 1981-1989
George Herbert Walker Bush J. Danforth Quayle Republican 1989-1993
William Jefferson Clinton Albert Gore, Jr. Democratic 1993-2001
George Walker Bush Richard Cheney Republican 2001-2009
Barack Obama Joe Biden Democratic 2009-