His Excellency: George Washington
book by Joseph Ellis
His Excellency: George Washington is a 2004 biography of the first President of the United States, General George Washington. It was written by Joseph Ellis, a professor of History at Mount Holyoke College, who specializes in the Founding Fathers of the United States, the American Revolution, and the Federalist Era.
Content
Events and themes
In the text, Ellis focuses on three main areas of Washington's life:
military adventures during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War)
generalship in the American Revolution
service as first President of the United States.
According to Ellis, Washington was always searching for a means to control his inner passions and his destiny. He fumed under the control that the British held over him during the Colonial America period. In particular, he was frustrated by the lack of respect offered for his military achievements to granting land claim rights in the west. As a general, he bemoaned the lack of control the fledgling Continental Congress had over the colonies which composed it. (Later as President, he supported legislation to ensure control by the federal government over the states.)
As a man forced to make his own destiny, he made the theme of control central to his life. He asserted such control in his decisions at his beloved plantation, Mount Vernon.
Chapters
Preface: The Man In The Moon
Chapter One: Interior Regions
Chapter Two: The Strenuous Squire
Chapter Three: First In War
Chapter Four: Destiny's Child
Chapter Five: Introspective Interlude
Chapter Six: First In Peace
Chapter Seven: Testaments
Quotes
Source:
He was the epitome of the man's man: physically strong, mentally enigmatic, emotionally restrained.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “His Excellency: George Washington” as book by Joseph Ellis. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as book by Joseph Ellis. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5771981. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “His Excellency: George Washington”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow His Excellency: George Washington primary sources, His Excellency: George Washington archive and Excellency research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “His Excellency: George Washington”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “His Excellency: George Washington” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.