The first President of the United States was Peyton Randolph in 1774.
74
There's that number again!
Of course, having an elected 'president' also means we were a country before the recognized 1776. Post #76 was deleted by Q as were others, leaving #74.
https:// www.peytonrandolph.com/
Semantics. If we elected a president of the CONTINENT(al) Congress (our governing body at the time), we considered ourselves a nation/country that was independent of England. 1776 was merely our declaration of such as our hand was 'forced' so to speak, by England.
But yes, you are correct.