Names You Never Hear About In U.S. History

[Rockstarr]

Was George Washington really the "first" U.S. president? Under the Constitution and new, strong, national government, yes, but he was not the true "first" president of the U.S. It seems most of these history teachers in middle school, high school, etc. and the text books never mention the few who preceded him in office. Under the Articles of Confederation, there were 8, yes, 8 preceding presidents BEFORE Washington was elected under the Constitution. Why don't we ever hear about them? Yes, the Articles of Confederation were a "loose" union between the 13 colonies (states), and yes, they didn't have much to do in office, but were they not still leaders of a nation, in a sense? Even if they weren't, why have their names been erased in history text books and from the teachings we receive in school? Are they not equally as important as some of the other names mentioned in our nation's history? In my opinion, I think they ought to be mentioned in the textbooks and we should at least hear something about presidents before Washington. They need to revise the books to say, "Presidents under the Articles" and then "Presidents under the Constitution," because George Washington was only the first under the new Constitution.

Each of the following presidents were president under the Articles of Confederation. All for 1 year. A 1 year term was the length for a president under the Articles. In order from first to eighth:

John Hanson (MD) 5 November 1781 - 4 November 1782

Elias Boudinot (NJ) 4 November 1782 - 3 November 1783

Thomas Mifflin (PA) 3 November 1783 - 30 November 1784

Richard Henry Lee (VA) 30 November 1784 - 23 November 1785

John Hancock (MA) 23 November 1785 - 29 May 1786 (We hear about him, but only as President of the 2nd Continental Congress. He was a president under the Articles as well.)

Nathaniel Gorham (MA) 6 June 1786 - 2 February 1787

Arthur St. Clair (PA) 2 February 1787 - 22 January 1788

Cyrus Griffin (VA) 22 January 1788 - 2 March 1789



What do you all think?

Sources:

My Civics teacher
http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312172/early.html
http://python.net/crew/manus/Presidents/faq/conf.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/582763/posts
http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

And many more you can find all over the net.

[iCarbon]

To tell you the truth, it's a shame those names aren't heard in America's history, they posed as an example for writing the constitution.

[Rockstarr]

Yes, they did. I've heard they are in some books, but for the bulk of them, they are not. They may have just sat on their butt all day, but they did hold the title of President. So, even if they don't get recognition, when the books list the presidents, I think they should mention that the presidents are under the Constitution.