MOUNT VERNON, Va. — After buying it at auction for nearly $10 million, George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate is displaying the Founding Father’s annotated copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association paid $9.8 million this summer to obtain the book, which has “President of the United States” on the cover and handwritten notes and brackets by Washington around key passages outlining the president’s responsibilities.
The notes themselves are not especially profound. Washington bracketed sections of the Constitution that pertained directly to his powers as president, including his veto power, duties as commander in chief and responsibility for negotiating treaties and appointing ambassadors.
He wrote the word “required” next to the text in Article II stating that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union.”
The auction price broke records for an American historical document. The hardcover book was printed in 1789 and given to Washington shortly after he took office. Records show it was willed to Washington’s nephew, Bushrod Washington, and subsequently sold at auction, the last time in 1964 for $64,000.
“To Mount Vernon, this volume is priceless,” said MVLA official Carol Borchert Cadou.
