The Presidents Before George Washington

When I was doing research for my fourth book, The Library Kids Talking Stones, I realized there were presidents before George Washington.  They were the presidents of the Continental Congress starting in 1774.  In fact, America had a different constitution then the one we have now.  It was called the Articles of Confederation.  There were those who felt the document was not good enough for the country and they wrote a set of essays called The Federalists Papers, that convinced Americans that a new constitution was needed.  This constitution was signed n 1787 and is the constitution we use as the supreme "Law of the Land" in America.

There were 16 presidencies of the continental congress before George Washington was president and John Hancock was the president during the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

The leaders of the Continental Congress before George Washington became

President, were the following:

1. Peyton Randolph from Virginia that served September

05, 1774 - October 22, 1774

2. Henry Middleton from South Carolina October 22, 1774 -

October 26, 1774

3. Peyton Randolph from Virginia May 10, 1775 - May 24,

1775

4. John Hancock from Massachusetts May 24, 1775 -

October 29, 1777

5. Henry Laurens from South Carolina November 01, 1777 -

December 09, 1778

6. John Jay from New York December 10, 1778 - September

28, 1779

7. Samuel Huntington from Connecticut September 28,

1779 - July 10, 1781

8. Thomas McKean from Delaware July 10, 1781 -

November 04, 1781

9. John Hanson from Maryland November 05, 1781 -

November 03, 1782

10. Elias Boudinot from New Jersey November 04, 1782 -

November 02, 1783

11. Thomas Mifflin from Pennsylvania November 03, 1783 -

October 31, 1784

12. Richard Henry Lee from Virginia November 30, 1784 -

November 06, 1785

13. John Hancock from Massachusetts November 23, 1785 -

May 29, 1786

14. Nathaniel Gorham from Massachusetts June 06, 1786 -

November 05, 1786

15. Arthur St. Clair from Pennsylvania February 02, 1787 -

November 04, 1787

16. Cyrus Griffin from Virginia January 22, 1788 - November

02, 1788

George Washington became president in 1789.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_Continental_Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Henry_Lee_at_Nat._Portrait_Gallery_IMG_4471.JPG

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)