Was George Washington the president of the constitutional convention?

Answer 1

Yes he was. He sat in the famous rising sun chair.

The story goes that at the front of the room there was a special desk for the president of the convention, and behind the desk was a chair with a sun on it. Benjamin Franklin at the end of the convention said that he had often wondered whether the chair was a rising or setting sun, and that he now realized that it was a rising sun.

Answer 2

George Washington was unanimously elected by the delegates to preside over the convention.

He provided a comforting presence in the convention, especially when the delegates feared the proposition of a new leadership office in the Constitution draft, the Presidency. However, knowledge that Washington was more than likely going to be the first President of the United States helped to quell fears of government tyranny.

Shortly before the Constitution was signed, Nathaniel Gorham proposed a last-minute change to lower the size of the congressional districts from 40,000 to 30,000 citizens. Since a similar measure was proposed earlier, but was shot down by one vote, George Washington decided to speak up in favor of the proposition, and the Convention adopted the measure without any further debate. This is Washington's only substantial contribution to the text of the Constitution.