Instructor Donald Charlton
FIQWS 101008
October 7, 2015
Reading Précis: Joseph J. Ellis, “His Excellency: George Washington”.
In chapter six of, “His Excellency: George Washington”, Joseph J. Ellis, argues that there were only two presidents in our nations history - Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt – who experienced as much of a proportionate crisis to George Washington. The author makes several valid points showing Washington’s greatest upheavals and unfortunate downfalls. I agree with Ellis in that when George Washington entered as our president of the United States, he faced several problems throughout his presidency.
The Civil War (Abraham Lincoln), and the Great Depression (Franklin Roosevelt), was two eras in our nations history where our presidents had to firmly take charge and try to end with the best of their ability. Washington faced major problems while being president, these were: organizing the new government by establishing his cabinet, pulling the nation out of a serious financial setback, and obtaining a better relationship with Great Britain. Washington’s first major concern was to establish executive departments. He saw the departments as a way he could govern and execute the laws from an administrative position. Washington chooses two liberals and …show more content…
In my opinion, there were several other presidents in our nations history, who weren’t Washington, Roosevelt or Lincoln, who experienced at least an equal amount of crisis. I believe that Ellis didn’t have to use the example of comparing Lincoln and Roosevelt and could’ve stated his concern for the issue by just saying that ‘Washington experienced several hard crisis’ during his presidency’- especially since Ellis doesn’t hold further information backing up his stance on why he chose these two