His Excellency: George Washington

This is in many ways an unsympathetic look at our first President. I say unsympathetic in that I think Washington's life and presidency is judged equitably here when I think the tendency in most historical books I've ever read (admittedly for a younger audience) is to canonize a great man and gloss over his faults. I actually did not know much about his early life. Even though this book is a shorter overview, it's covered in some depth and sets up the core aspects of his personality and how it drove his decisions during the Revolutionary War and establishment of the Presidency.

This begins my journey to go through at least one biography per President. I decided to do this after I realized that there were many good things that I did not know about each president, and it would be time that I learned them as quickly as possible. So we begin, appropriately, with George Washington. This is a man who many people can cite for being a general in the American Revolution, and our first president, but little else. This is a somewhat incomplete picture that gives you an idea of the accomplishments, but not the man. Thankfully, Ellis' book does both very well.

One interesting idea about his character is his journey to learn that he should do what was best for others, and not what was best for himself. This can be seen as a lesson that had to be learned throughout his life. Firstly, there was the blunder at Fort Necessity, where he wanted to gain personal glory against the French no matter what the cost, and ended up paying for it. Then there was his time as the Commander and Chief of the Continental Army. Here, he wished to prove his glory a second time, perhaps to prove that he was better than the British commanders of their day who had more experience, resources, and were better educated than himself. Here, however, is where his views began to change. For example, he could have stayed at New York, with his dream of marching into the city after vanquishing the British to a heroes welcome. Instead, he realized that the better plan would be to travel to Yorktown, to see what he could do with capturing the British. This ultimately proved successful and was a defining moment of his career.

The final evolution of his selflessness can be seen in his presidency. During his first term, Hamilton's infatuation with a national bank was unpopular. Being something that was considered reasonable in an economic sense was viewed with disdain and contempt by those in congress and the public. They saw it as a way to centralize the federal government, and, like many things that are politically charged, then and now, it was blown out of proportion. It was said that this was a way to take power away from the states and that Washington was a man with, dare we say, Kingly ambitions for wanting to let it happen. Yet, this was something that he saw as necessary. Without this federal line of credit, we would have a fluctuating currency, and massive state debt that would make foreign trade a nightmare.

Then there is the small problem of war between the two largest countries in the world: Britain and France. America was asked to choose sides, and Washington choose neutrality, asking John Jay to go to Britain to find a diplomatic solution. What would become to be known as the Jay Treaty was not quite what Washington would have wanted, especially since it was unpopular with the American public. However, he saw that the United States could not afford to go to war with either country, and decided that it was best for the country to remain neutral, whatever the cost. Yet, the best element of Washington's Presidency is that he was willing to step down after two terms (there was no limit to how long a President could serve, yet). This shows the grace in letting someone else take the helm. I think that this is something that other presidents would not have done had they been first, such as Richard Nixon.


This book is one that accurately details Washington's life fairly well. It looks over many of the interesting points about his career, and manges to show his character in the process. This is a book that, I believe, should be read by those who either are new to Washington, or who do not have the time or physical space to read Ron Chernow's book on the man. This text manages to tell you the most about Washington in the most expedient amount of time, which is to be commended.

Yet, this book does have a few flaws. One is that, occasionally, the author does have a few leaps in judgement. It isn't bad, or anything, but noticeable. It is more like the editor said that he went over the word count and had to cut some of the book, and in the process, Ellis left out his evidence for his conclusions. Then there is his writing style. While it is fine, he does become overly wordy at times, leading to a cadence that tends to be drawn out in certain sentences.

Still these points are relatively minor, and I am glad that I read this book. If you haven't read about Washington in a while, then I would suggest picking this one up. You won't regret it. I give it a four out of five.