The first president of the united States was not George Washington.
Washington was the first president under the Constitution of June 21, 1788, ratified by 1790.
The first constitution of the USA was titled “Articles of Confederation” and was in force between 1781 and 1788. It created a single house of Congress and no executive – but for one year during this period (1781-2, John Hanson served as “President of US in Congress Assembled” – or, in short, President of the United States. He was elected by his peers, including George Washington.
Hanson was followed by Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788).
Washington was the EIGHTH president of the USA.
Many of the features of the American presidency are fairly recent. The length of the presidency was not limited to 2 terms until 1951 in the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was elected to 4 successive terms between 1932 and 1944.
The president’s inauguration day used to be on March 4. After Roosevelt...