 George Washington was unanimously elected president of the Convention , and it was agreed that the discussions and votes would be kept secret until the conclusion of the meeting . Although William Jackson was elected as secretary , his records were brief and included very little detail . Madison 's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 , supplemented by the notes of Robert Yates , remain the most complete record of the Convention . Throughout the debate , delegates constantly referred to precedents from history in support of their position . Most commonly , they referred to the history of England , in particular the Glorious Revolution ( often simply called " The Revolution " ) , classical history ( mainly the Roman Republic and the leagues of Greek city @-@ states ) , and recent precedents from Holland and Germany . 
