His Excellency: George Washington

Historian Joseph J. Ellis was fascinated by George Washington ever since Ellis’ boyhood in Alexandria, Virginia, where Washington’s estate, Mount Vernon, is located and his historical presence was strongly felt. By the time Ellis wrote His Excellency: George Washington in 2004, he had already produced several popular books about early American history. His Excellency is a more intimate biography of Washington than many previously written, focusing as much on the subject’s character as on his career. Ellis wished to address what he terms our “Patriarchal Problem” with Washington, a tendency to split him into cartoon images of saintly hero or imperialistic villain. His Excellency aims at creating a more balanced image of our first president.

Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1732, Washington receives a rudimentary education and is raised by his older half-brother Lawrence after the death of his father. After impressive military service in the French and Indian war, Washington marries his wife, Martha, and becomes a planter at Mount Vernon. Dismayed by the increasing British taxation of the colonists, he begins to feel, along with several fellow Virginians, that war may be the only solution to preserve Americans’ rights. Washington is elected as a member of the Continental Congress in 1774 and is chosen to lead the American colonial army against the British forces in the Revolutionary War.