How a Swiss diplomat’s 1758 book became the American founders' essential legal handbook

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Emer de Vattel’s The Law of Nations was more than a scholarly treatise; it was a practical guide for a rising state. Benjamin Franklin kept it in the hands of Congress, and George Washington famously checked out a copy that remained overdue for over two centuries.

Born in 1714 in the Principality of Neuchâtel, Emer de Vattel was a philosopher and diplomat who sought to synthesize naturalist and positivist legal reasoning. His magnum opus, The Law of Nations, published in 1758, was heavily influenced by the scientific methodology of Christian Wolff, as well as the works of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Hugo Grotius. By focusing on the rights and obligations of states and citizens, Vattel provided a framework for international diplomacy and Just War Theory that remains relevant today, as evidenced by his inclusion in the 2015 United States Department of Defense Law of War Manual.

Vattel’s influence on the American founders was profound. Benjamin Franklin, having received copies from Charles W.F. Dumas in 1775, noted that the text was essential for the members of Congress as they navigated the circumstances of a new nation. The work was widely read in the colonies, cited by figures such as John Adams and James Otis, and is often described as unrivaled in its impact on the American founding. His ideas also permeated later political discourse, appearing in Lysander Spooner’s arguments against the constitutionality of slavery.

The enduring legacy of Vattel’s work is perhaps best illustrated by the curious case of George Washington’s library records. Washington borrowed a copy of The Law of Nations from the New York Society Library in 1789. When the book could not be located by museum staff centuries later, they purchased a replacement copy for US$12,000, which was ceremoniously returned in 2010—221 years after the original was checked out. Vattel, who died in 1767 after a life of intense intellectual labor, left behind a body of work that continues to shape the interpretation of international law and statecraft.

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