# 7 presidents before George Washington?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-presidents-before-george-washington/109801>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 19, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-presidents-before-george-washington/109801 "2002-05-19T06:47:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-presidents-before-george-washington/109801/21 "2002-05-21T17:58:16Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Cliffy_  
> That’s an unsupportable statement. Who knows what would have happened if the Confederation had continued to evolve instead of being replaced?

I think it’s quite supportable, because that is what happened. What you offer is speculation, which while fun and interesting does not change history. Under the AOC, you had independant states which had their own governments, their own currencies, and in many cases maintained their own diplomatic ties with other nations.

Granted, the states in question could certainly gradually cede more and more power to Congress, somewhat similarly to how the EU is evolving today. Perhaps even the power to appoint a real executive. However, this did not happen, and a new system was invented instead.

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