Presidents of the United States

by Gregory Allan

Who was the first President of the United State? Does anyone know? Please raise your hand?

This has been a minor topic in many of my public appearances over the years. Following this minor topic is always some other issue... something I think you may find hard to believe. The point being, if I can convince you of the truth, i.e. that George Washington was not the first President, then your foundational beliefs might be sufficiently shaken so that you can believe the major topic I'm about to present.

The notion that Washington was the first, is a Really Big Lie. Government and the public schools it controls have told this lie for so long it is almost universally believed. Government has its reasons. I will point you in the right direction, and leave you to find the rest for yourselves. The point of this article is to tell you the real truth. But first, a quote regarding big lies from the Grand Purveyor of Evil himself, Adolph Hitler:

...All this was inspired by the principle -- which is quite true in itself -- that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.
  --Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X

The United States of America became a nation when the Articles of Confederation were ratified March 1, 1781, not, as is commonly believed, when the Constitution was ratified in 1789. In the years between 1781 and 1789, the United States of America duly elected nine Presidents:

1.	Samuel Huntington was installed as the first President of the United States on March 2, 1781 at an official ceremony in Philadelphia. Huntington only served as President until July resigning due to ill health.
2.	Thomas McKean was elected as the second President. McKean held the office less than five months.
3.	John Hanson was elected the third President in November of 1781. Hanson was the first president to serve a full one-year term, as provided for in the Articles of Confederation.
4.	Elias Boudinot (1783)
5.	Thomas Mifflin (1784)
6.	Richard Henry Lee (1785)
7.	Nathan Gorman (1786)	No picture of Gorman available.
8.	Arthur St. Clair (1787)
9.	Cyrus Griffin (1788)

The following is quoted from Wikipedia:

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States of America.

In September 1786, commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce. They invited state representatives to convene in Philadelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government. After debate, the Congress of the Confederation endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation on February 21, 1787.

[Editor's note: A document setting out this plan was signed by members of Congress. I've seen copies of this document but couldn't find it on the web. I believe it was called something like the Mayfair Compact. No, I'm not confusing it with the Mayflower Compact.]

Twelve states, Rhode Island being the only exception, accepted this invitation and sent delegates to convene in May 1787. The resolution calling the Convention specified that its purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles [emphasis added], but through discussion and debate it became clear by mid-June that, rather than amend the existing Articles, the Convention decided [without authority] to propose a rewritten Constitution. The Philadelphia Convention voted to keep the debates secret [emphasis added], so that the delegates could speak freely. They also decided to draft a new fundamental government design. Despite Article 13 of the Articles of Confederation stating that the union created under the Articles was "perpetual" and that any alteration must be "agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State," Article VII of the proposed constitution stipulated that only nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect (for the participating states). Current knowledge of the drafting and construction of the United States Constitution comes primarily from the diaries left by James Madison, who kept a complete record of the proceedings at the Constitutional Convention.

Keeping in mind that the Constitution was written and adopted in the absence of lawful authority, one need only compare the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution, and realize the new powers unlawfully granted to the federal government, and you will soon see why government historians might prefer to sweep the whole matter under the rug.