Who was the first president?

[RCA]

I was "taught" in school it was George Washington. However, I just started reading "Good to be King" by Michael Badnarik and he says the first president was Samuel Huntington.

Wikipedia on the other hand is saying that Peyton Randolph was the VERY first president of the Continental Congress. My only guess is Badnarik says Huntington was the first president because he was president when the Articles of Confederation were ratified.

But wouldn't the "true" president be John Hancock since he was the president at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed? This, after all, was the moment our country was born.

[nate895]

I was "taught" in school it was George Washington. However, I just started reading "Good to be King" by Michael Badnarik and he says the first president was Samuel Huntington.

Wikipedia on the other hand is saying that Peyton Randolph was the VERY first president of the Continental Congress. My only guess is Badnarik says Huntington was the first president because he was president when the Articles of Confederation were ratified.

But wouldn't the "true" president be John Hancock since he was the president at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed? This, after all, was the moment our country was born.

The United States of America didn't come into existence until the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, prior to that the only thing linking the 13 States was a common military struggle and a de facto alliance. So, Samuel Huntington would be the technical first president.

[jdmyprez_deo_vindice]

There is also a reasonable argument for John Hanson being the first President of the U.S.

[libertea]

Great book. I read it and it raised the same questions for me.

[The_Orlonater]

Samuel Huntington (July 16 1731 [O.S. July 5, 1731] – January 5, 1796) was an American jurist, statesman, and revolutionary leader from Connecticut. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress wher
e he signed the Declaration of Independence, as Governor of Connecticut, and later as the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled, that is, the presiding officer of the Congress of the Confederation, the sole governing body of the first central government of the United States of America. His office was not that of today's President of the United States, which is a federal chief executive position created under the later United States Constitution.

This is what wikipedia says.