Washington - Ninth president of the U.S.A.?

Factual Questions
1

I was just wondering how valid it is to call Washington the first president, when, according to these following web pages, he was really the ninth.

Is it right to call Washington the first president of the United States simply because he was the first president under the Constitution? I don’t see why Hanson, the real first president of the United States, should be given so little credit for anything.

Related web pages:

http://members.tripod.com/~earthdude1/washington/washington.html

http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

http://www.elca.org/co/timeline/1781.html

Studi

2

Been done before.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=58832

3

Fair enough.

Studi