Colin Greenland, Contributor

THE UNIVERSE waits with intense anticipation to witness what has been described by conventional wisdom as the inauguration of the United State of America's (USA) 44th president, and the first of African descent. But is this correct? Is this another example of historical fraud perpetrated to deny or obfuscate historical facts which portray people of melanin in scenarios that certain factions deem too powerful or positive to be universally known.?

There is a school of thought that seriously contends that the impressive Barack Obama will not be the first, but the second black president of the USA. In addition, the first black president, John Hanson, shockingly was also the first US president, not George Washington, as is widely believed. Before those of us involved in this debate are banished to asylums, let us examine the facts surrounding these amazing claims.

Who, first of all, was John Hanson? The answer to this question depends on which historians are read and the perspectives conjured up by the various proponents for or against the claims mentioned above. Those asserting that John Hanson (April 13, 1715 - November 22, 1883) was black, refer to genealogical records that verify that his grandfather was a slave who bought his freedom and owned his own land. Genealogical scenario

Those who dispute John Hanson's blackness, however, postulate an alternate genealogical scenario with two possible origins. The first speculates that Hanson's grandfather, another John Hanson, was an early English immigrant to Maryland; and as was common at the time, worked as an indentured servant on his arrival in the New World. In 1661, his first master, William Plumley, sold his contract to Edward Keene and recorded the contract with the court of Calvert County, Maryland.

Similar court records were also used to transfer title to land and slaves, but, in six years, the industrious immigrant John Hanson had worked his way out of debt, and a few years afterwards had purchased his own small farm.

It is claimed there is no record that the grandfather was black, and that his indentured servitude was possibly confused with the chattel slavery existing at the time. Another explanation was that there may be a simple case of confusion with Senator John Hanson, a politician from Liberia, who was involved with the resettlement of freed slaves in that country after the death of John Hanson.

To supplement their claim, those asserting John Hanson's blackness pointed to the back of the US $2 bill showing engraving of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with an image of a man who has dark skin and wearing a powered wig while sitting at the table just to the left of the man standing in the centre of the engraving. The dark-skinned man, they claim, was John Hanson who held the position of president of the Continental Congress.

Those who refute this claim, on the other hand, claim that this vignette is based on the painting 'The Signing of the Declaration of Independence' by John Trumbull in which the man many assumed to be black was in fact Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, who was white. It has been contended that because of the detail in the engraving process and large concentrations of ink, the printed impressions appear to be shaded resulting in the interpretation that the figure was that of a black person.

White or black, what is this man's presidential pedigree. Proponents claim that the new US was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation.

This document was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Once the signing took place in 1781, a president was needed to run the country and John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington). In deed, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress.

As the first president, Hanson had no template to follow as no one had ever been president; the role was poorly defined and his actions in office would set precedent for all future presidents. He took office just as the Revolutionary War had ended and, almost immediately, the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after any long war, there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result, the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and put Washington on the throne as a monarch.

The Great Seal

All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving Hanson alone to run the government. He impressively managed to assuage the troops, held the country together, and ordered all foreign troops off American soil, as well as the removal of all foreign flags. Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States, which all presidents have since been required to use on all official documents. President Hanson also established the first treasury department, the first secretary of war, and the first foreign affairs department. Last, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today.

According to the records, six other presidents were elected after Hanson - Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788) - all prior to Washington taking office. These first seven are rarely heard about because the Articles of Confederation didn't work well, as individual states were too powerful, argued among themselves and rarely achieved meaningful consensus. It is not until the new doctrine was to be written - something we now know as the Constitution, that consensus was achieved. George Washington was definitely not the first president of the United States; he was the first president of the United States under the Constitution they follow today.

The first seven presidents, including John Hanson, have been forgotten in history.

The opponents not surprisingly, argue differently. They postulate that the Articles of Confederation did not create a nation called "the United States of America", but created, as stated in the first two articles, an alliance of 13 independent and sovereign states led by John Hanson, who had agreed to "enter into a firm league of friendship with each other" while retaining their "sovereignty, freedom, and independence." The title of the confederacy so created was designated "The United States of America," but no nation with that name was created by the Articles of Confederation.

The failure of the Articles of Confederation led to calls for establishment of a centralised federal government with much broader powers than the Congress of the Confederacy, a task accomplished through the drafting and ratification of a new Constitution in 1787-88. It was this Constitution, not the Articles of Confederation, that created the office of a chief executive as part of a truly federal government for the United States - an office bearing the title "President of the United States of America" and first filled by George Washington, unanimously selected as the first president in February 1789.

Third president

Further, detractors argued, officially Hanson was the third president of the Continental Congress, and he considered himself a successor to the first two men to hold the office, Samuel Huntington and Thomas McKean. He was, however, the first to serve a full one-year term, and the first to formally use the title President of the United States in Congress Assembled.

Depending on which side of this intriguing debate one falls, therefore, Barack Obama (whose name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili) is either the 44th or 51st president, and the first or second of African descent.

Whatever is the truth, one thing is certain; this Afro-American, lawyer, community organiser, Senator, collector of Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics, winner of a Grammy in 2006, reader of every Harry Potter book , owner of a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali, speaker of Spanish, bench presser of an impressive 200lbs, Scrabble and poker player, non-drinker of coffee and rare drinker of alcohol, aspirant of being an architect if he were not a politician, and hater of the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside - unlike John Hanson, cannot be lost in historical uncertainties.

His childhood, teenage years, early work career and meteoric rise to lead the world's most powerful nation, has already been etched indelibly in the annals of history. One wonders how the historians three hundred years from now will chronicle his past, present and future deeds.

Sources:

- Hanson, George Adolphus (1876). Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland

- Was the First President of the United States a Swede?. The Federation of Swedish Genealogical Societies.

- The Papers of George Washington - Maps. Alderman Library, University of Virginia.

Daughters of the American Revolution (1895). The American Monthly Magazine.

R.R. Bowker Co. pp. 412.

- The Papers of George Washington - The Will of George Washington.

Alderman Library, University of Virginia.

- DG-1st President was Black. Theodore Myles Publishing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/john_Hanson_(myths)

- From The File : A Black Man, A Moor, John Hanson was the First President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D.