It took over two centuries, but the truth has finally caught up with George Washington. For 220 years, Washington’s dark secret laid undiscovered in a ledger of The New York Society Library, but it is now public: George Washington is a book scofflaw with overdue charges piling up for over 220 years on two books.
It turns out that Mr. “I Cannot Tell a Lie” had little difficulty in absconding with hot books. As a representative of George Washington University (a school whose original charter was paid by George Washington himself), I can only express a sense of great shame and self-loathing.
One of the books was the “Law of Nations” and the other was a volume of debates from Britain’s House of Commons. Both books were due on Nov. 2, 1789.
The selection of Law of Nations is interesting since it was an early work on international law. Recently, there has been a backlash against the Supreme Court’s application of international law rulings. The selection of the work on the House of Commons also reflects the continuing interest and reliance on English legal customs.
Notably, on April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York. On April 16, 1789 Washington left Mount Vernon to go to New York City, then the nation’s capital, for his inauguration.
These particular books were checked out on October 5, 1789. Notably, Washington was in New York on October 3, 1789, when he signed a Thanksgiving Proclamation — just blocks from the library. The proclamation gives thanks for “the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge.” Was this a taunt to the librarians hot on this trail or a subconscious cry for help?
The current fine has reached $300,000 according to one article, here, or roughly $4200 according to another article, here. Either way, they were even less likely to get the overdue charges in the eighteenth century. George Washington had to borrow money to go to New York for his inauguration.
For the full story, click here.
At least he liked to read.
Blouise,
Wage war with whom? It was just a little ole disagreement. Just because the North was the aggressor does not mean that we did not have the duty to repel the invasion. Some you win, some you lose.
I will offer this, if Lincoln had kept his original command that was in place when the invasion started. It would have been short sweet and the Southern capitol would be in Mississippi. And you all would be stuck with what you have now.
I bet the books were part of the Washington family junk that Mary Custis (great-granddaughter of George Washington)kept in the attic at her house in Arlington. Ten to one Robert E. took them with him as he waged war against the United States of America.
Waiting for the Tea Party take? One tea party has already shown Orly the doorly:
“Several California Republican political candidates, including Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, were scheduled to share the stage this week with one of the leaders of the “birther” movement that claims President Obama was not born in this country and is thus ineligible for his elected office.
“Orly Taitz, an Orange County attorney who has gone to court many times to try to disqualify Obama, was invited to speak Thursday at a Tax Day Tea Party rally in Pleasanton, Calif., that is expected to draw thousands of people. Late Tuesday, organizers said that they had rescinded Taitz’s invitation after questions were raised about her presence by candidates who had been contacted by The Times.
“Bridget Melson, founder and president of the Pleasanton Tea Party, said the organization had been ‘getting calls from candidates like crazy.’
“‘It’s not worth it,’ she said. ‘She’s too controversial. This is not what the tea party is about at this point.'”
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taxday14-2010apr14,0,2366118.story?track=rss
Elaine,
And here I thought I might not have to go to the book store today. 😀 Thanks! That looks like a hoot.
Buddha,
I thought maybe Laura read him GOODNIGHT MOON. W. is “into” repetition. Have you read GOODNIGHT BUSH by Erich Origen & Gan Golan? It’s a parody of Margaret Wise Brown’s classic children’s book.
http://www.goodnightbush.com/
**********
Here’s how the parody begins:
In the situation room
There was a toy world
And a flight costume
And a picture of–
A refinery plume
And there were war profiteers giving three cheers
A nation great
A Church and a State
Nor Tom Hicks to much either. He had to sell the Ranger’s to pay off 575 million dollars worth of notes and lines of credit. Damn he caused for his friends what he caused for the rest of the country. However, the still share a heliport between the two estates in Preston Hollow, Dallas, Texas.
Hicks would not have gotten the variance but for the Pres buying the house behind his house. Dang how somethings work.
I am still amazed that “W” has not figured out how to make more than 750,000 a year including the 400,000 retirement from the office of President. Is he really that stupid? Not including the Nobel Obama earned more than 3.5 million.
The Clinton’s another story.
AY–
“Is literate what you find on the highways in Texas?”
Rarely! But you may find “illiterate” down by Crawford. Oh, I forgot, W. moved to the big city. He’s not a country boy no more! Guess we won’t be seein’ photo ops of our ex-prez clearin’ brush in the country any longer.
Elaine M.,
Is literate what you find on the highways in Texas?
We have people that get paid to pick up that stuff.
I’m going to wait until I hear the Tea Party take on this, though I’m inclined to think that if it’s a problem for Ms. Taitz it’s a problem for the rest of us. Her problems usually are.
Elaine,
You know, now that you mention it, Laura does have that kind of glazed over Stepford on the Brink look of a woman who has had to read “The Ugly Duckling” to lull someone to sleep one time too many.
And for those of you who don’t think that Hans Christian Anderson’s little tale isn’t pure conservative exclusionist propaganda, you haven’t read it lately. It’s 1) simpler than “My Pet Goat” and 2) in ideological line with George’s “therapy”.
AY–
“You have to be able to read to know that you have a late notice.”
That’s why he married Laura. He knew she was literate. He didn’t “misunderestimate” his better half.
Sorry, I will bring it back as soon as I finish coloring it in.
Houston has a problem. A real problem.
The meaning of “natural born” and “natural born citizen,” was derived from the common law of England, not from Vattel, and meant, at the very least, that all persons born in the United States became citizens at their birth, without regard to the citizenship of their parents. The common law excluded only the children of diplomats and hostile invading armies.
The law of nations applied to relations between countries, not to internal laws of citizenship.
Most of the discussion of the understanding of the Framers in 1787 is academic, because the Constitution was later amended by the Fourteenth Amendment to resolve the question.
I do not see where I asserted that “the 1796 version of the book would have been the first time that those words had been associated with that meaning,” or that “the translation gave the words of Section 212 ‘New Meaning’.”
Come on! This is ridiculous. It is hard enough to defend what I actually do say at this blog. This guy makes up stuff, says that I said it, and then raps me for it. Getouttahere.
There is nothing unique about my conclusion, since there are innumerable sources available for the common law origins of the concept of “natural born.”
Elaine M.,
You have to be able to read to know that you have a late notice.
I heard recently that George W. still hasn’t returned “My Pet Goat” to the Booker Elementary School.
It must have slipped his mind–seeing as he was so absorbed in reading the works of Albert Camus.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKiWWi8rdJQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Mr. Treacy is under the impression that a book is not understood until a translated copy is printed. He asserts that the 1796 version of the book would have been the first time that those words had been associated with that meaning. That would indicate that the words had some other meaning prior to that publication.
While the conclusion of Mr. Treacy is unique and interesting, I doubt he has any historical record to demonstrate that the translation gave the words of Section 212 “New Meaning”.
I thought that this was discharged in his bankruptcy. Did someone notify the potential list of creditors, did the trustee abandon the property. I am unsure if adversarial proceedings utilized at that time.
I would say that he owns the books or his creditors have the right to them. We can thank Thomas Jefferson for the Automatic Stay as he lost his property to creditors that would not sell it back to him after he lost it. Although he died at Monticello he was not the titled owner of it. It was through some rather rough treatment of the creditor that the family was finally allowed to take possession of the property. This is my understanding why the States have the right of certain exemptions although Bankruptcy is exclusive federal jurisdiction/providence.
Someone just posted a video about this on the Orly Taitz birther thread without explanation, but now it appears that the connection may possibly be the fact that Washington checked out the Law of Nations. The birther theory has been that the author of that treatise, Vattel, supplied the definition of “natural born citizen” that the Framers used in 1787.
There has been an awful lot of broadband expended on this theory.
After long discussion, it emerged that the phrase “natural born citizen” would not have appeared in George Washington’s copy, since it was not used until a later translation was published ten years later. In 1787, the translation used the word “indigenes.” It is too bad for the birthers, but I do not think that the Framers wrote in the Constitution that the Presidency was limited to indigenes of the United States.
Changing forever Henry Lee’ classic eulogy of Washington that he was: “First in war, first in peace, and last in the heart of his librarian.”