Franklin very much wanted to retire from public life when he returned from being Ambassador to France, in 1785. Instead, a special election made him President of Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, an office that essentially replaced that of Governor ( as governors had, previously to the Revolutionary War, been the royal representative). He complained about being saddled with it. But he did it for three terms and was able to help facilitate the Convention that created the Constitution, in 1787. He was obviously in very poor health by then, and did not participate in the debates. Ailing and quite unwilling, Franklin was not really considered. There seems to have been a general assumption during the Convention that Washington would be the first President.