His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph R. Ellis

I just finished reading Joseph J. Ellis' new book, His Excellency: George Washington. I have been slowly working my way through the pantheon of the Founding Fathers. I began the journey with the excellent Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis. Along the way I have read The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands, James Madison: A Biography, by Ralph Louis Ketchum, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph J. Ellis and John Adams by David McCullough. This list includes two Pulitzer Prize winners (Founding Brothers and John Adams), one Pulitzer finalist (The First American) and one National Book Award winner (American Sphinx).

This syllabus is notable not for its inclusion but for its exclusion. One of George Washington's most successful Revolutionary War leaders was Henry 'Light Horse Harry' Lee, father of Robert E. Lee. When Congress asked Lee to pen a eulogy for the great man he wrote these immortal words:

First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen...

Washington may be first, but in my reading he came last. Before I tackled this  most enigmatic of the founding fathers I waned to see him through the eyes these men who surrounded him.

In his preface, Ellis writes:

It seemed to me that Benjamin Franklin was wiser than Washington; Alexander Hamilton was more brilliant; John Adams was better read; Thomas Jefferson was more intellectually sophisticated; James Madison was more politically astute. Yet each and all of these prominent figures acknowledged that Washington was their unquestioned superior. Within the gallery of greats so often mythologized and capitalized as Founding Fathers, Washington was recognized as primus inter pares, the Foundingest Father of them all.

I found Ellis' book revealed much about how George Washington the man became George Washington the myth. Ellis starts with his experiences in the Indian wars and then moving on to the Continental Army and finally the nascent presidency. Washington had a steadfastness about him that nation needed at that time.

Shakespeare's Caesar says:

Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights. Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous

Washington had no such fear, he surrounded himself with men who in many ways were more talented then he, yet he knew how for the most part to channel that talent to his purposes. In his second presidential term things began to go awry. Jefferson and Madison, once trusted allies became bitter enemies. [Perhaps Caesar was right!]

Washington had to muddle through all the precedents of putting the Constitution into practice. Even though he presided at the Constitutional Convention and did not participate in the debates, his fingerprint is on all three branches of government.

The one thing Ellis' book left me searching for is an inkling of the man's faith. I have heard so much about Washington's faith yet Ellis downplays or even denies it. As an evangelical this lies in the face of what I have been told but it is worth exploring.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in how America came to be and the man most responsible for it.

His Excellency gets 5 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

Purchase His Excellency from Amazon.com.