the Continental Congress and the presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled are sometimes claimed to have been president before George Washington as if the offices were equivalent. The continuous nature of the Continental Congresses and Congress under the Articles also allows for multiple claims of being the "first president of the United States." This would include Peyton Randolph as president of the First Continental Congress, John Hancock as president when the Declaration of Independence was signed, Samuel Huntington as president when the Articles were ratified and took effect, Thomas McKean as the first president elected under the Articles, and John Hanson as the first president under the Articles to serve the prescribed one-year term. Hanson's grandson's campaign to name Hanson the "first president of the United States" was successful in having Hanson's statue placed in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol, even though, according to historian Gregory Stiverson, Hanson was not one of Maryland's foremost leaders of the Revolutionary era. Presumably due to this campaign, Hanson is often still dubiously listed as the first president of Congress under the Articles. Seal Shortly after the creation of the first die for the Great Seal of the United States, the Congress of the Confederation ordered a smaller seal for the use of the President of the Congress. It was a small oval, with the crest from the Great Seal (the radiant constellation of thirteen stars surrounded by clouds) in the center, with the motto E Pluribus Unum above it. Benson Lossing claimed it was used by all the Presidents of the Congress after 1782, probably to seal envelopes on correspondence sent to the Congress, though only examples from Thomas Mifflin are documented. This seal's use apparently did not pass over to the new government in 1789. Today's Seal of the President of the United States, which developed by custom over a long period before being defined in law, is a more full-featured version of the Great Seal. See also Confederation period History of the United States (1776–1789) Founding Fathers of the United States References Works cited External links Presidentsusa.net articles"Other" Presidents United States House of Representatives articleThe Articles of Confederation Continental Congress Continental Congressmen Continental Congress United States Continental Congress United States Continental Congress Continental Congress 1774 introductions