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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Harrison, Benjamin (ca. 1726-1791) to a Virginia state assemblyman

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00854 Author/Creator: Harrison, Benjamin (ca. 1726-1791) Place Written: Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 6 December 1781 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 23 x 19 cm. Order a Copy

Mentions a set of instructions for the assembly addressed to Thomas Roane and Thomas Coleman which are to be handed out in the county by John Warden. Also mentions a letter from Colonel Thomas Newton concerning the possession of the Cape Lands, ". . . which it seems some designing persons are determined to possess, which will be the case if the assembly does not act." Dated in council. Docketed, "Governor's Letter, inclosing Newtons/Decr:6th:1781. /to lie on table."

Harrison was elected to the Continental Congress from Virginia in 1774 and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He became the Speaker of the House of Burgess in Virginia in 1778, and was elected Governor of Virginia in 1782.

Harrison, Benjamin, V, 1726-1791
Harrison, Benjamin, V, 1726-1791
Newton, Thomas, fl. 1781
Roane, Thomas, fl. 1781
Coleman, Thomas, fl. 1781
Warden, John, fl. 1781

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