The Grand Convention - An Elective King

On June 1st, 1787, the Constitutional Convention reached the resolution nobody had wanted to write: a national executive. James Wilson moved that it consist of a single person — and the room went silent, long enough that 81-year-old Franklin had to coax the delegates into speaking. The reason for the silence sat on the dais: every man present was measuring an office for General Washington, in his presence, weighing out loud how much power one man could be trusted with while the man himself sa...