February 13, 1791

Knox, William, 1756-1795

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Urges Knox to write him as soon as he can, or make Lucy Knox "overcome her natural timidity" and write him. He has heard of the General (Charles) Scott expedition in the Miami Country and of the casualties Scott suffered. Discusses in great detail the Turk-Russian war along with other foreign affairs. The Russians are not far from Constantinople; the Empress (Catherine the Great) seeks to drive the Turks completely out of Europe and listens to no offers of negotiations. Prince Potemkin said that the Empress would consider stopping the war on several conditions; ceding Moldavia and Wallachia…

GLC02437.04853

28 September 1781

Knox, William, 1756-1795

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Discusses plans for traveling to Europe, ships to take, and his effort to raise money. Also discusses what is happening at the port in Boston, mentioning specific ships, captains, armaments, and visitors. Mentions merchant activities, following up on his previous letter (GLC02437.01186) and announces that the sale of cargo on the Amsterdam has made Henry a profit. Comments on the large amount of public money owed to Henry. Discusses European business accounts. Speculates on the consequences of peace with Britain. Relates story of British Admiral Clyde Parker's battle with the Dutch off…

GLC02437.01196

April 12, 1782

Knox, William, 1756-1795

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Letter written by William, Major General Knox's brother, to Henry Knox. Includes a postscript written and signed by Lafayette. References the taking of Mahon, an island off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean, by the Spanish. Says Gibraltar is "closely beseiged and 'tis thought by many will fall." Mentions changes in the "English Ministry" -- Marquis of Rockingham is made First Minister and Lord Shelburne and Charles Fox are Secretaries of State. Says the Cavendishes, Duke of Richmond, Grafton, Lord Cambden, Burke, and Barre are all employed as well. Says "a sufficient time has not yet…

GLC02437.01386

5 May 1782

Knox, William, 1756-1795

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written by William Knox to his brother Major General Knox. Mentions this is the fifth letter he has sent to Henry since arriving in France. Says he has received two from Henry. Says he is in Nantes on business, purchasing goods for his friends. Says "allmost all american orders are made out for this Country with English Ideas and the articles differ so widely that there is the greatest hazard of sending things which will not be acceptable." Says he has been settling his business accounts, which were confused. Says his reputation would have soured if he had not gone to Europe to settle his…

GLC02437.01409

28 October 1787

King, Rufus, 1755-1827

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Informs Knox that Henry Jackson will send him the "Resolve for calling a convention and tell you every thing relative to the situation of public affairs with more precision and particulars than is in my power." Discusses his efforts in advocating for the passage of the Constitution, such as speaking to the representatives from Maine, and trying to correct "some ill impression" they received. Also mentions the advocacy work some judges are doing in support of passage: "[William] Cushing the Chief Justice gave a solemn charge last week in Bristol to the Grand Jury, enlarged upon our…

GLC02437.03684

June 28, 1780

Home, James, fl. 1780

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Home

James, a British soldier aboard the Europe, writes to his father. Discusses the mail. States he has been a week in [New] York and Long Island. Mentions that German mercenary General Wilhelm Knyphausen took Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Comments that Knyphausen was to attack General Washington but Continental General Stirling (British Brigadier General Thomas Stirling) was wounded and the surgeon wanted to amputate his leg. Knyphausen's plans were disrupted and he lay inactive until Continental General James Clinton drew the troops from the Jerseys. During the retreat, the Americans killed a few…

GLC01450.045

May 29, 1775

Green, Robert, fl. 1775

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his brother

Letter cosigned by Mary Green. Says he has been in bad health for the past five weeks. He hopes to get better by the grace of God. Says their sister has a new daughter three months old. References a letter that came from several brothers and sisters. He hopes he will remember him to them all. Goes into his belief in faith and God. Says the country "Is In a uproar" and that "the peapel" have been taken "the kings forts" of Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Says the Revolutionaries have taken the shipping in the "Lake" - probably Champlain. Says they had a small fight with the regulars. The…

GLC01412.31

1775

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Pamphlet

Title: A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies Of North America, Now Met in General Congress at Philadelphia, Setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms.

Secretly printed pamphlet co-authored with John Dickinson. 8vo. Signed in type by Hancock and Charles Thompson. Printed in Philidelphia. For the London printing see GLC00156.

GLC01240

22 August 1879

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Autograph quotation signed

Title: [Douglass quotation on each citizen's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness]

One note from Frederick Douglass dated August 22, 1879. Writes that the government owes every citizen equal opportunity to live and when it does not provide this service should be overthrown.

GLC01116

March 14, 1777

Sewall, Jonathan, 1728-1796

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Foxcroft

Letter written by Sewall as a Loyalist refugee in London to his Revolutionary friend Foxcroft in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A very witty letter throughout. Predicts the downfall of the American experiment. Writes in a mocking tone about "your high & mighty committees, as I suppose will be the case in your free & independent State." In order to protect Foxcroft from charges that he is corresponding with a Tory he writes that he has not received a line from him since August 31, 1774, except one innocuous one having to do with gowns shortly thereafter. In an ironic tone he says he cannot…

GLC01149

February 16, 1836

Austin, Stephen F., 1793-1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John McCalla

Austin argues that the Mexican government's usurpations and violations of the constitutional rights of Texans led to this "war of independence." Mentions Santanna's pending invasion. With Nashville postal stamp on address leaf.

GLC01161

December 28, 1774

Adams, John, 1735-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

Adams describes the effects of the Boston Port Bill upon the government and people of the colony. He warns that the arrest of Parliament's opponents "will produce Resistance, and Reprisals, and a Flame through America, Such as Eye hath not yet Seen, nor Ear heard nor hath it entered into the Heart of the Minister or his Minions to conceive." He prophesies resistance and reprisals.

GLC01788

October 31, 1770

Dickinson, John, 1732-1808

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

Argues that the Freeholders of America are firm in the cause of liberty. Associates the colonial cause with virtue and piety and implicitly identifies Britain with luxury and corruption. It is notable that so many colonists addressed their appeals to an Englishwoman.

GLC01790.01

1771

Macaulay, Catharine, 1731-1791

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Dickinson

A response in draft form to Dickinson's previous letter, concerning her hopes that America confine its "lust for ornaments to the limits of their own ingenuity."

GLC01790.02

March 30, 1770

Lee, Richard Henry, 1732-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

Relating his admiration for Macaulay's spirit and love of liberty.

GLC01792

September 22, 1769

Livingston, William, fl. 1769-1793

Letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

Livingston thanks her for the present of her history of England and argues that "nothing will satisfy us short of a Constitution" with America able to tax itself.

GLC01793

1763-1791

Macaulay, Catharine, 1731-1791

Header Record

Title: Correspondence of Catharine Macaulay [Decimalized .01- .63]

Collection of correspondence of Catharine Macaulay Graham with various people from England, Scotland, France, and America, including a folder of transcripts of letters not included in this collection. Materials in this collection consist of retained drafts, letters received, drafts written on other letters, and some occasional pieces. According to a later note in GLC 1795, these letters were returned by her second husband William Graham to daughter Catharine Sophia Macaulay Gregorie. Some letters are in French. A full inventory is available, and transcripts of some letters are also…

GLC01794

July 27, 1769

Otis, James, 1725-1783

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

Otis praise's Macaulay's "The History of England from the accession of James I to that of the Brunswick line" and her skill as an historian. States that "God & Nature...have been equally kind to both sexes" and it is only the "Tyranny of Custom" that keeps more women from rivaling men in art and science. At her request, he discusses American affairs at length, denouncing greedy governors, oppressive revenue officers, and the damage being done to commerce by seizure of vessels owned by loyal Americans. He exclaims, "Good God! This is British liberty & felicity with a vengeance."…

GLC01796

April 25, 1769

Sophronia, fl. 1769-1770

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

"Sophronia" recalls the original goals and hardships of the first settlers of the New England colonies and offers her services in providing information to Macaulay. Draft of response letter comments on Sophronia's sentiments of public liberty. Macaulay looks forward to future correspondence and publications from America relative to the present dispute. Includes a draft response.

GLC01797.01.01

January 31, 1778

Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

Discusses French criticism of her History and likens the ideal of a free America to that of ancient Israel. With Macaulay's note on p. 3 "I should not have..." Hopes that "a System of genuine Freedom may arise in America."

GLC01799

January 17, 1836

Lusk, Samuel, fl. 1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles Cabaniss

Lusk writes to Cabaniss praising Texas and urging him to leave Alabama. Lusk emphasizes the profitability of Texas farming and remarks "I think they will Declare Independence...."

GLC01860.27

4 May 1865

Steele, Frederick, 1819-1868

Broadside

Title: General Orders no. 3

Signed official at bottom by Lieutenant Joseph Lyman, A.D.C. Orders that Federal troops are not to pillage homes and plantations since the hostilities of the Civil War have ended. Advises newly freed blacks to stay on their plantations with their former masters as the United States Government cannot feed them. "...they are advised to remain on the plantations, and to assist to raise crops, to keep themselves and their children from starving. The fact of their remaining with their former masters, does not deprive them of their freedom." Signed in print by order of Major General F. Steele…

GLC01908

23 August 1865

Hatch, Edward, 1832-1889

Document signed

Title: [General orders no. 4, transmitted to Captain Hervey A. Colvin, Assistant Adjutant General]

Hatch, Brevet Major General of United States Volunteers, writes on Headquarters, District of Talledega stationery. Reports, "Orders have this day been received directing me to report to another department for duty which compels me to part with the officers and men... with whom I have been so long and so pleasantly associated... I desire to express my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the cheerful cooperation with me in the performance of kindred duties, for your gallantry, self denial, and untiring energy... I will ever cherish among the brightest passages of my life, the memory of our…

GLC02014

December 19, 1823

Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Davis

Serving as Massachusetts Representative, Webster informs United States District Court Judge Davis that the subject of District Judges' salaries has been brought forward (likely in the House of Representatives), and he plans to report a Bill on the topic. Discusses his 8 December 1823 motion in Congress for the appropriation of money to send an American envoy to Greece in support of revolutionaries fighting in Greece's 1821-1833 War of Independence. Seal has been partially torn off causing text loss on page three.

GLC02043

circa June 1775

Morison, Malcom, fl. 1775

Manuscript document signed

Title: A General Association, agreed to, and subscribed by the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Dutchess

Cosigned by Matthew Paterson, Joseph Chandler, Comfort Ludinton, Ruben Miers, James Dickinson, Jr., Isaiah Barnett, Malcom Morison, Alexander Kidd, Henry Ludinton, William Calkin, David Akinis, Stephen Baxter. Issues a statement in support of resistance to Parliament's policies in order to preserve "the Rights & Liberties of America." Explains that they were "alarmed at the avowed Design of the Ministry, to raise a Revenue in America; and, shocked by the bloody Scene, now acting in the Massachusetts Bay." Resolves to follow whatever recommendation the Continental Congress makes "opposing…

GLC02329