President John Hanson

October 4, 2003 8:11 AM

America's first president was not George Washington, but in fact its third: John Hanson. (Scroll down to "Who Was the First President of the United States?") [via The Greatest Stories Never Told]
posted by mcsweetie (18 comments total)

I thought he was the ninth?
posted by PenDevil at 8:42 AM on October 4, 2003

No.
posted by bradth27 at 8:55 AM on October 4, 2003

...and the last elected President was not George Bush
posted by ElvisJesus at 9:06 AM on October 4, 2003

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles."
posted by clavdivs at 9:19 AM on October 4, 2003

Maybe I'm wrong...but doesn't the linked article say that Samuel Huntington was the 1st prez...?
posted by davidmsc at 9:28 AM on October 4, 2003

ding!
posted by mcsweetie at 9:47 AM on October 4, 2003

Who was the first US president to publish a book of poems? That would be Jimmy Carter.

Can Bush be far behind?
posted by emelenjr at 9:54 AM on October 4, 2003

wasn't Jimmy Carter also the first to see a UFO?
posted by mcsweetie at 10:14 AM on October 4, 2003

Washington was the first President under the constitution of the United States. While there were previous 'Presidents' under the abandoned Articles of Confederation, their powers were limited - they weren't at all like those who held office after them.

So while Washington was not the first 'leader' of the United States, he was absolutely its first President.

To use a sports analogy (and this is a bit of a stretch), the Chicago Bears won their first Super Bowl in 1986 - this despite the fact that they won the NFL championship in 1932. Football wasn't organized around the Super Bowl until 1967.

And so the first Super Bowl champions were the Green Bay Packers, even though there were several NFL champions prior to them.

But the Super Bowl is what defines modern football. Thus the Packers are memorialized, while the Akron Pros are lost in the same obscurity that claimed Samuel Huntington and John Hanson.
posted by aladfar at 10:22 AM on October 4, 2003

Norton I, first Emperor of the United States.
posted by goddam at 11:51 AM on October 4, 2003

America's first president was not George Washington, but in fact its third.

Another dandy on IncomprehensiFilter...
posted by anser at 5:35 AM on October 5, 2003

Yeah, that's the worst sentence I've seen on the front page in a long time.

A better sports analogy would be the first professional baseball league, the National Association. It was so disorganized (teams kept dropping in and out) that William Hulbert created the National League in 1876, with much stricter regulations (and, not incidentally, much more stringent controls over the players, who became the chattel they remained until the 1970s). Of course, Hulbert had also stolen the best players from the champion Boston Red Stockings for his own Chicago White Stockings and wanted to avoid penalties... but that's another story.
posted by languagehat at 9:09 AM on October 5, 2003

well, that sentence had me trying to figure out if John Hanson was some kind of pseudonym for Thomas Jefferson, and imagining that some kind of technicality meant that the first two presidents weren't recognizable (sworn in/ resided at the wrong location, eg) - but having read the link, mcsweetie was actually being kind of clever. So.
posted by mdn at 9:27 AM on October 5, 2003

mcsweetie was actually being kind of clever. So.

in your FACE, languagehat!
posted by mcsweetie at 2:15 PM on October 5, 2003

I don't care whether or not George was the first president, Did he cut down the cherry tree? Or not? Ah mean who's to know whut's true anymore if people keep makin' up shit? The Illuminati be damned! George Washington was a freemason, but they won't claim us. George Washington was of The Illuminati, see the writing of the mountain. It's a conspiracy ah tellz ya! The wheat grow with the tares! I---
posted by ZachsMind at 4:11 PM on October 5, 2003

i was hoping someone would mention the illuminati

thank
posted by bliss322 at 8:32 PM on October 5, 2003

Hey, what happened to my comment from yesterday? Did I hit Preview and then forget to hit Post? As I (thought I) said:

mdn is absolutely right, I didn't read carefully enough, and I apologize abjectly to mcsweetie, who my berate me at will.
posted by languagehat at 7:22 AM on October 6, 2003

May berate me, even. Sheesh.

The first rule of the Illuminati is that we don't talk about the Illuminati.
*makes arcane hand gesture, bows in direction of Savoy*
posted by languagehat at 2:20 PM on October 6, 2003