John Hanson was born on October 9th, 1776 and died November 21, 1783. He was our third president of the United States. In 1777, he became a member of Congress. John Hanson was a delegate from Maryland. He was elected president in the year of 1781.Eight men had been chosen to serve one-year terms as president under the Articles of Confederation. John Hanson's exact title was the “President of the United States in Congress Assembled." He was elected as president immediately after the Revolutionary War ended at Yorktown. He was elected under the Articles of Confederation, not our present Constitution, and served a one year term. Many books and monuments for John Hanson state he was the first president of the U.S. .John Hanson even claimed himself as the first president. But unfortunately he wasn’t. Under John Hanson's leadership various departments of government were formed. This was because The Articles of Confederation did not define the powers of the government. In his one year in office he approved the great seal of the United States, which is still used today, and help make the first U.S. Treasury Department.