Joseph J. Ellis

Joseph J. Ellis is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian whose work focuses on the lives and times of the founders of the United States. He is Professor of History Emeritus at Mount Holyoke College, where he's taught since 1972. In addition to frequent public lectures throughout the United States, Ellis conducts seminars for federal judges with Professor Gordon Wood of Brown on “The Founders and Original Intent.”

Ellis is the author of fourteen books, including Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000. He also won a National Book Award for American Sphinx, a biography of Thomas Jefferson, and his in-depth chronicle of the life of the first president, His Excellency: George Washington, was a New York Times bestseller.

Ellis' essays and book reviews appear regularly in national publications, such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, and The New Yorker. He's been featured on CBS, CSPAN, CNN, and the PBS's the News Hour, and is a frequent contributor to Ken Burns' celebrated films such as The American Revolution.

Articles by this Author

Leadership of the Founders, Winter 2026 | Vol. 71, No. 1

Our nation came into being thanks to an unexpected explosion of political talent in an emerging nation on the fringe of the Atlantic world.

Two Intimate Enemies, September 2000, Summer 2025 | Vol. 70, No. 3

When John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.

“The Die is Now Cast”, November/December 2024 | Vol. 69, No. 5

American resistance to British authority developed with stunning speed 250 years ago in response to George III’s inflexibility.

George Washington Invents the Presidency, Winter 2020 | Vol. 64, No. 1

The young nation was lucky to have the only candidate on Earth who could do the job.

What Does the Second Amendment Really Mean?, September/October 2019 | Vol. 64, No. 4

To know what the Framers intended, we need to understand the late-18th century historical context.

Compromise 1: The Philadelphia Story, Summer 2010 | Vol. 60, No. 2

Without major compromises by all involved, and the agreement to avoid the contentious issue of slavery, the framers would never have written and ratified the Constitution.

Madison’s Radical Agenda, Winter 2010 | Vol. 59, No. 4

A diminutive, persuasive Virginian hijacked the Constitutional Convention and forced the moderates to accept a national government with vastly expanded powers.

Inventing the Presidency, October 2004 | Vol. 55, No. 5

As America goes into its 55th presidential election, we should remember that there might have been only one if we hadn’t had the only original candidate on Earth who could do the job.

Be Confident—and Careful, November/December 2001 | Vol. 52, No. 8

Two Intimate Enemies, September 2000, Summer 2025 | Vol. 51, No. 5

When John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.

Friends at Twilight, May/June 1993 | Vol. 44, No. 3

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson stood together in America’s perilous dawn, but politics soon drove them apart. Then, in their last years, the two old enemies began a remarkable correspondence that is both testimony to the power of friendship and an eloquent summary of the dialogue that went on within the Revolutionary generation and that continues within our own.

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