By Emily Clark • February 28, 2026 • Share
Written by Swiss jurist Emer de Vattel, the treatise was a foundational work on international law and diplomacy, outlining principles of sovereignty, neutrality, and just conduct among nations, ideas especially relevant to a young republic navigating foreign relations and asserting legitimacy on the world stage.
The book was never returned during Washington’s lifetime and was presumed lost for more than two centuries.
In 2010, after the library publicly joked about the overdue fines, staff at Mount Vernon, Washington’s historic estate, located the volumes among their holdings and ceremonially returned them, 221 years late.
This shows Washington’s personal engagement with Enlightenment political thought and the intellectual groundwork behind early American diplomacy, even as it adds a charming, human footnote to the nation’s founding era.
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