budgetanalyst gave this response on 8/5/2000:

John Hanson was president of the country formed under the Articles of Confederation. There is a short description of the issue at URL http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html. You can find the Articles at URL http://www.usconstitution.net/articles.html. This country was called the United States of America, so Hanson was the first president.

George Washington was the first president under the Constitution of the United States, so he was the first president of the United States of America formed under the Constitution.

The main difference between the two is that the country formed under the Articles was not really a country in the sense that we think of a country today. The actual countries were the 13 former colonies, now states. The USA under the Articles was more like the United Nations is today, which most people will agree is not a country. So Washington was the first president of the real country called the United States of America. This is the reason why Hanson and his successors do not count.