by Julian Ku
In all the amused press notices about George Washington’s (very) overdue library books, one small detail is worth noting.
The library’s ledgers show that Washington took out the books on 5 October 1789, some five months into his presidency at a time when New York was still the capital. They were an essay on international affairs called Law of Nations and the twelfth volume of a 14-volume collection of debates from the English House of Commons.
(Emphasis added). Actually, the “Law of Nations” as most of our readers know, is the 18th century term for what today we call international law. And “Law of Nations” may in fact refer to Emmerich de Vattel’s “The Law of Nations”, perhaps the most influential treatise on international law among the American Founding generation. Was ol’ GW researching his Neutrality Act Proclamation?