Summary of Joseph J. Ellis's His Excellency

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 George Washington was a young messenger sent on a dangerous mission into the American wilderness in 1753. He carried a letter from the governor of Virginia to the commander of French troops in the Ohio Country. He was ordered to lead a small party over the Blue Ridge Mountains, then across the Allegheny Mountains, and deliver his message in the Name of His Britanic Majesty.

#2 When Washington visited the French commanders at Fort Le Boeuf and Presque Isle, he was told that the French king had a better claim to the Ohio Country than the English king. The French commander at Fort Le Boeuf, Jacques Le Gardner, sieur de Saint Pierre, drafted a cordial letter for Washington to carry back to Governor Dinwiddie that supported the French claim.

#3 The story of Washington’s first American adventure reveals how his personal life was caught up in larger public causes. It shows how Washington was one of the few prominent members of America’s founding generation who was born early enough to develop his basic convictions about America’s role in the British Empire within the context of the French and Indian War.

#4 George Washington was born in 1732. He was a fourth-generation Virginian. The bloodline that John Washington bequeathed to his descendants exhibited three distinct tendencies: first, a passion for acreage, the more of it the better; second, tall and physically strong males; and third, despite the physical strength, a male line that died relatively young, all before reaching fifty.