George Washington, Nationalist

By Edward J. Larson. ISBN 978-0-8139-3898-1. Copyright 2016. Hardcover with 139 pages including notes and index.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward J. Larson reveals the fascinating backstory of George Washington’s leadership in the political, legal, and economic consolidation of the new nation, spotlighting his crucial role in forming a more perfect union. In the critical years following the American Revolution the newly independent states teetered toward disunion under the Articles of Confederation. Washington’s most pivotal acts, conferring with like-minded nationalists, establishing navigational rights on the Potomac, and quelling the near uprising of unpaid revolutionary troops against the Confederation Congress, show his central role in the drive for reform leading up to the Constitutional Convention. His leadership at that historic convention, his mostly behind-the-scenes efforts in the ratification process and the first federal election, and his inauguration as president, complete the picture of Washington as the nation’s first citizen.

A Mount Vernon bookplate, signed by the author, is included with your purchase.