George Washington Reconsidered

George Washington Reconsidered

George Washington, heroic general of the Revolution, master of Mount Vemon, and first president of the United States, remains the most enigmatic figure of the founding generation, with historians and the public at large still arguing over the strengths of his character and the nature of his intellectual and political contributions to the early republic. Representing the finest recent scholarship on Washington, these thirteen essays by the leading scholars in the field strike a balance in their focus between Washington's personal life and character and his public life as a soldier and political figure. Editor Don Higginbotham provides an introduction about Washington and his treatment by historians and an afterword devoted to how the American people have viewed Washington, including the 1999 commemorations of the bicentennial of his death. With three essays written specifically for this volume, George Washington Reconsidered is the first collection of its kind to be published in over thirty years.

George Washington

George Washington

In 1776, thirteen colonies declared their independence from Britain. Although they came together to fight a war, the colonies were far from a unified nation. In George Washington: Uniting a Nation, Don Higginbotham argues that Washington's greatest contribution to American life was creating a sense of American unity. In clear and concise prose, Higginbotham shows that as Revolutionary War commander, proponent of the Constitution, and president, George Washington focused on building national identity and erecting institutions to cement the fledgling nation. The first book on Washington to examine exclusively his role in state formation, George Washington is essential reading for scholars, students, and everyone interested in America's first, and most formative, president.