The First United States

I am not a history buff. In high school, history was my most hated class and one that I seldom made better than a ‘C’ grade. It was dry and boring and seemed at times to consist mainly of memorizing obscure facts about innumerable European wars. The Hundred Years’ War, the Thirteen Year’s War, the War of the Roses – on and on it went. Do you know how many named wars have occurred in European history? Me neither, but it’s a long list. TL;DR.

But there are some interesting facts about United States history that I would bet a lot of people don’t know. For example, before the present day United States came into existence, there was an earlier United States. It had its own constitution that was formally called The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.

The Articles of Confederation were written by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress. The colonies adopted the Articles of Confederation and the first United States was born. The Congress of the Confederation was formally called the United States in Congress Assembled. In 1781, John Hanson was elected the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled.

This first United States government didn’t last long. The confederation was too weak and cooperation between the states too limited to be useful, so after eight years a new constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation. Framers of the new constitution advocated a federal government, so they were called Federalists. The new Federal government would have more power than the old confederation, which delegated most power to the states.

After some wheeling-and-dealing to get the states on board – for example, Virginia demanded a Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution before the state would ratify the new Constitution – all thirteen colonies joined the new United States. The first president elected under the new United States Constitution was, as we all know, George Washington. But there are some historians who say the first president should be John Hanson. I guess it all depends on your point of view.