This is a biography written in 2004 by Joseph Ellis a history professor at Mount Holyoke College about the first president of the United States, the General George Washington. Ellis indicates that the main purpose for writing is to explore the Washington's periods so as to give a profile of the man. His goal was to produce a piece of work that not only examined George Washington's life but also his personality and how it shaped his life. In His Excellency, Ellis shows George Washington as an owner of a plantation, a military leader and also the president of a fragile and a young country. He is not really a genius in most of his operations as he needed slaves to help avoid bankruptcy of the country. The military battles he lost were more as compared to those that he won. He was very cautious not to let his role block efforts to launch the new country as he was aware of his own place in the history.
In this text Joseph Ellis focuses on the three main topics about the main areas of Washington's life. That is the military adventures at the time of the Indian and French War, the times as the United States first President and finally the generalship in the American Revolution. Ellis argued that George was always searching for the most convenient way to control his destiny and also his inner passions (Glatthaar and Martin 18). He was not happy with being under British that controlled him during the period of the Colonial America. He was really frustrated by the way his military achievements did not command respect to grant him the claim rights of land in the West.
American Revolution was the psychic upheaval during the end of the 18th century whereby the thirteen colonies of North America came together so as to break from the British Empire and hence combining to be the United States of America. At first they rejected the ruling that came from the parliament of the Great Britain from the overseas without any representation and thereby suspended all their royal officials. By the time it was 1774, every colony had already formed their Provincial Congress or a government institution as equivalent to it to form their own self-governing state (Glatthaar and Martin 30).
However, the British responded to this by sending troops to try and impose the direct rule again. The representatives in 1775 were sent to the Second Continental Congress and the states combined at first and they defended their self-governance and also managed the conflict which was armed against the British called the American Revolutionary War which was in1775-1783. Collectively, the states determined the British Monarchy by tyranny that couldn't claim legitimately their alliance. In July 1776, the British Empire severed ties when the congress issued United States Declaration of independence by refusing the monarchy representing the sovereign nation. In October 1781, this war came to an end with the victory on the American side and this was followed by the formal British abandoning all claims with the Treaty of Paris to the United States in 1783. In general, the American Revolution resulted as a series of intellectual, political and social transformations in the early society and the government of America. Collectively this was known as the American Enlightment. Americans refused the oligarchies usually very common in the aristocratic.
One of the most significant end results of the American Revolution was the forming of democracy whereby representatives of the government were elected and were responsible to the general will of the people. However very sharp political debates came up over the desirable level of democracy in the new government and a good number of the Founders were in fear of a mob rule. In 1788, the ratification of the United States Constitution settled a lot of fundamental issues in the national governance and this replaced the weaker attempt adopted at the national government in 1781. It was quickly followed by the United States Bill of rights which had the first ten amendments of the constitution. It addressed the natural rights that influenced the justification of the revolution and tried to balance a strong government with broad personal liberties. Due to the liberal republicanism by the Americans, democracy increased gradually causing an upheaval of the social hierarchy and ethics was born which has created the basics of the political values practiced in the United States.
Ellis also briefly describes George Washington's early years also adding the superficiality to the lack of sources. He argues that his complains during the Indian and the French War, the American soldiers were not treated as good as the British soldiers and therefore in regards to the Revolution, prophesy that turned out to be true. The French and the Indian War is the name the U.S. frequently uses to refer to the war between the France and the Great Britain in the Northern America in 1754-1763. In 1756, the Seven Years' War erupted world-wide and thus was referred to as the North America grounds for war. The Seven Years' War was used in regard to the main enemies of the British colonists that are the French forces and the Native American forces linked to them (Glatthaar and Martin 92).There was a policy that colonies pay a proportion of the costs incurred in the Empire. Britain forced a series of taxes and other laws that were intended to show the British authority and all these claimed not to be popular in America.
The colonies did not have any elected representation in the British Parliament that was governing at the time and so most of the colonists viewed the laws as not legitimate at all and that they violated the rights of Englishmen. In 1772, Committees of Correspondence were created by the groups of colonists and this would lead to formation of the Provincial Congresses. Two years later the Provincial congresses refused to accept the Parliament and instead replaced the former colonies with the British ruling apparatus and this resulted in the first Continental Congress in 1774.
Though in this book, Ellis wrote on some themes repeatedly, it is more or less arranged in a chronological manner. One is his attitude towards slavery as he was the most prominent planter in Virginia and had to follow Jefferson's advice by setting free the slaves. Another one addressed is his attitude towards the west and his thoughts on the dwellers of the Indian nations because he had formed very close ties at the time of the French and Indian War. Joseph Ellis accomplishes exactly what he sets to do and at the end of the book he emphasizes on the importance of George Washington to the nation in general. In his own words refers to him as the most standing Foundingest father.
Work Cited
Glatthaar, Joseph P. and Martin Kirby. Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution . New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print.
