40 pages • 1 hour read
Joseph J. EllisHis Excellency: George Washington
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Testament”
In retirement at Mount Vernon, Washington oversees his land and laborers on horseback, welcomes guests and visitors for dinner, reads newspapers and answers correspondence. He faces the challenge of how to support his slaves, many of whom are too old, too young, or too infirm to work. Managing the affairs of his estate, welcoming guests and portrait painters, providing financial assistance to relatives, and trying to mentor his wayward step-grandson prove taxing on Washington’s time and energy.
In another challenge, Washington becomes drawn into the rancorous debates between Federalists and Republicans about the political direction the country should take. He denounces efforts by Jefferson and Madison to smear his reputation and character, describing Republicans as radicals seeking to impede the government and foment dissention. Surprisingly, he becomes an unwitting accomplice to a wild Federalist plot to establish a standing army to crush the Republican opposition and invade Florida and Louisiana. After this plot is exploded, Washington vows to avoid politics and concentrate on managing Mount Vernon.
Washington wrestles with the slavery issue, which is ever-present to him at Mount Vernon. Although morally opposed to slavery, he finds himself too economically dependent on his slaves to free them at once. He opts for a pragmatic decision to free his slaves upon his death. Washington dies on December 12, 1799, of an infection contracted after making the rounds of his estate in a sleet storm. Among the many eulogies offered in his honor is the one by Henry Lee, which proclaims Washington “[f]irst in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen” (270).
Chapter 7 Analysis
Overall, Washington finds in his retirement the tranquility and stability that he feels he has earned through a lifetime of service. He can be with Martha and tend to his land full-time. He gets more exercise, especially while making the daily rounds of his estate on horseback, and thus his health improves. At the same time, his life at Mount Vernon presents new difficulties. The steady stream of guests cuts into his free time and taxes his energy, as does the planning project on the new federal capital. He feels political reverberations from Philadelphia, with Republicans and Federalists debating how best to lead the country. In addition, the slavery issue comes home to roost for Washington and demands resolution. Support for abolition is growing in many quarters of American society, and many of Washington’s slaves are proving a burden to maintain. In all these ways, Washington’s return to private life proves less than wholly idyllic.
Yet Washington, as he has before, rises to the occasion on many fronts. After much struggle and procrastination, he finally frees his slaves in his will, also stipulating that they be cared for after their emancipation. Ellis provides a context by which we might come to understand why Washington and others were reluctant to act decisively on the slavery issue, despite their strong feelings against it. Washington takes an active role in planning and organizing the new capital, originally to be called Federal City and eventually called Washington, DC. On the political front, Washington retaliates against the attacks on the Federalist position by the Republicans, depicting the latter as obstructionists. He issues statements and letters reinforcing the message of unity at home and neutrality abroad. In all these ways, Washington shows that he is still a man of action, even while in retirement.
It is perhaps significant that Washington dies, not from old age or natural causes, but from performing his duties at Mount Vernon in inclement weather. Washington shows his dedication, and perhaps the sense of recklessness he showed on the battlefield, to the very end. The eloquent and emotional reactions to Washington’s death show the reverence in which he is held by the American people, despite the political opposition and attacks he faced. Through the strength of his character and actions, Washington transformed a “messy collage of regional and state allegiances” (270) into a unified nation.
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