An earlier US 'President'

Is there anyway between 1776 and the mid 1780s a figure known as Presidetn could have been appointed for the emerging United States?

If so would it by Franklin?

Could this change the nature more to a ceremonial type post?
 
Not in 1776 and probably not before 1783. We didn't have a country yet, just a loose alliance of separate colonies, in rebellion against an authoritarian monarch and his lackeys (or at least that was the perception in some quarters). We weren't about to appoint someone to a position in which he could become another such tyrant.

Once it became apparant that the colonies had won their independence then the need for some sort of executive was recognized and the office of President was created in the Articles of Confederation and carried over into the Constitution.
 
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