U.S. History question on the constitution/articles of confederation?

You have an interesting project ahead of you. Start by checking out the governments of some of the colonies. Be sure to study the colony of Virginia since that's where Washington and Jefferson were from . Also Machusetts and South Carolina. That should give you a good cross section of what colonial government was like. Of course by 1775 separation was inevitable. The Declaration of Independence was adopted and they came up with the Continental Congress and the Articles of Confederation, which was the first form of combined colonial government. The first President of the United States was John Hanson, not George Washington. He was off fighting the British. lol Actually I think there were at least 8 presidents before Washington. Good luck. You will learn a lot. BTW if you're British you already know more than probably 90% of Americans. You know that John Hanson was the first President of the United States. That's why the motorway leading from Washington D.C. to Annapolis, Maryland is named the John Hanson Highway. He was also from Maryland.