How could MACUSA exist in 1693 or be in Washington in 1777?

Question

Two brief excerpts from The Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) By J.K. Rowling on Pottermore state the following:

• The Magical Congress of the United States of America, known to American witches and wizards by the abbreviation MACUSA (commonly pronounced as: Mah – cooz – ah) was created in 1693, following the introduction of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

• It was in Washington that President Elizabeth McGilliguddy presided over the infamous ‘Country or Kind?’ debate of 1777.

How is this possible since the "United States of America" was not founded until 1776 with the writing of the Declaration of Independence AND Washington, DC was not founded until 1790?

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More to the point how did a team of writers, advisors, editors, etc. not notice this glaring error? Have any comments been made by Rowling or her team regarding this?

Answer 1

Probably for the same reason MACUSA is called MACUSA in 1693, over 100 years before the United States became the United States, and why Dudley had a Playstation before Playstations existed!

Poor or no research to validate the numbers. AKA Author error.

J.K. Rowling admits to making the occasional continuity error:

"As obsessive fans will tell you, I do slip up! Several classrooms move floors mysteriously between books and these are the least serious continuity errors! Most of the fansites will point you in the direction of my mistakes. But the essentials remain consistent from book to book because the story has been plotted for a long time and it is clear in my mind."

Accordingly, I would like to know for how long J.K. Rowling has had Pottermore planned out.

As well, we all know J.K. Rowling is bad at math.

As of this writing, I cannot find any comments on this matter by J.K. Rowling or her staff.

_{I answered this question solely to use HelloGiggles.com as a source!}

Answer 2

Given that the article doesn't specifically state that the conference was held in Washington D.C. (it refers to Washington four times, but never indicates a state), it must be at least conceivable that the headquarters were actually based in one of the other seven Washingtons that existed at the time, for example Washington, Virginia which was founded in 1749 or Washington, North Carolina which was formally established as a town in 1776, one year before the Washington Conference was held.

Similarly, the MACUSA was undoubtedly founded with a different name (MAC) then retitled as the MAC(USA) on the creation of the USA.

Answer 3

IMHO The Magical Congress USA was founded in 1693 using some different name and renamed about a century later. Maybe it was originally called Magical Congress of British America, or MACOBA, for example.

And maybe the Magical Congress of the Western Hemisphere (MACWH), or whatever it was called, met in the swampy region that later became Washington DC in 1777 and liked the region and decided to use magic on the founding fathers to make sure that region would eventually be selected as the federal district of the new country and they would have convenient access to use magic on the country's leaders whenever necessary.