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George Washington Racks Up 220 Years of Late Fees At Library

Posted by samzenpus on from the at-least-he-read dept.

Everyone knows that George Washington couldn't tell a lie. What you probably didn't know is that he couldn't return a library book on time. From the article: "New York City's oldest library says one of its ledgers shows that the president has racked up 220 years' worth of late fees on two books he borrowed, but never returned. One of the books was the 'Law of Nations,' which deals with international relations. The other was a volume of debates from Britain's House of Commons. Both books were due on Nov. 2, 1789."

4 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. So... by TheSpoom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Where are the books now?

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
  2. Re:White Guilt by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Insightful

    White guilt means guilt over doing what the other people would have done if they were in our forefathers shoes.

    Of course every non-white superpower throughout history (the Mongols, the Persians, the Arabs, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians) was a beacon of human rights and good will towards men. It's only the evil European powers that exploited their position in the world towards their own ends.....

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  3. Re:case by eleuthero · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If you've read any of his writings, he was a slave owner because of a period understanding of necessity - he also freed his slaves at his wife's death (something Jefferson was unable to do because of a million dollar - modern conversion - debt).

    Privately, however, Washington could -- and did -- lead by example. In his will, he arranged for all of the slaves he owned to be freed after the death of his wife, Martha. He also left instructions for the continued care and education of some of his former slaves, support and training for all of the children until they came of age, and continuing support for the elderly.

    Washington on slavery

    It is sometimes helpful not to bash people who were stuck in a system that they sought to improve with as little violence as possible (This didn't end up happening in the US, but in Britain and other European countries slavery was outlawed over time without violence).

  4. Weak Evidence by lee1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The evidence that it was G. Washington is 'An aide simply scrawled "president" next to the title to show who had taken them out'. This seems pretty weak to me. How do we know this means the President of the U.S.? Maybe it was the president of the library, or someone else entirely. The entry was intended to make sense to the library staff, not random other people 200 years later.