The First President?

As we get ready to begin a new year, one question you might want to ask your students is who was the first president of the US?  Even saying US, is, of course, confusing.  We weren't the US under the Articles of Confederation, but we were a country.  So if you say George Washington was the first president, then you have forgotten our earlier history.  If you go with John Hanson, first president of the Articles' congress, then is Obama the 45th president or should we count all of the presidents under the AOC?  Since now were chief executives (since they served in the Congress), should we not count them.  Simply asking the questions should help your students better remember what they are learning.  Also, should Obama really be even 44 since Grover Cleveland is counted twice, should Obama be 43? So confusing!