The President of the United States (often referred to as Mr President) is the democratically elected head of state, head of government of the United States of America, and commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. His official residence is the White House in Washington D.C.

Nowadays, he or she is appointed for a four year term, which can be renewed once only. The office of president was started on March 4, 1789; 225 years ago. The first president was George Washington, who began his presidency on April 30, 1789.

The role of the president came about because of the Revolutionary War (see our companion book: the American war of Independence). During that war, in which the thirteen original American colonies of Great Britain sought and gained independence, it was important to think through what would happen after the war. One thing to do was to state the principles on which the United States would uphold, but that was a principle. The principles could not be upheld without a working government, and that meant dividing up the responsibilities and power of the government. Why should they divide it up? One reason was that the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence were not happy with the British system of a king with a parliament reporting to this one person. After all, that is why their claims had been ignored and what led to revolution. They wanted a better balance of power.

So the objective was to prevent any one part of the government from becoming too powerful. That is why the United States is governed by three different branches. The office of the president is head of what is called the Executive branch (that is he executes, or carries out, the will of the people).

The other branches of government are the Congress (that is elected and which passes laws based on the will of the people) and the Judicial system , which makes sure that everything is carried out according to the constitution. But it needed a lot of hardheaded negotiating between the thirteen states to get to that point. It was, of course, to be expected.

There have been 44 presidents in the history of the United States.

President's Day
The first president, George Washington is celebrated close to his birthday (who was born on February 22, 1732) as a United States federal holiday. It is held on the third Monday of February . Official names in various states include Washington's Birthday, Presidents' Day, and Washington's and Lincoln's Birthday. (Abraham Lincoln's birthday is February 12.)