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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.

Society of Friends Memorial of the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, praying the adoption of measures for the suppression of the African slavetrade.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00267.036 Author/Creator: Society of Friends Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Pamphlet Date: 27 May 1840 Pagination: 3 p. ; 22.5 x 14.5 cm. Order a Copy

Message to Congress emphasizing the "horror and brutality of the middle passage." The memorial states that the trade is being "prosecuted to a greater extent, and in a manner more destructive to its victims, than it ever was before." 26 Congress, 1st session, document no. 491. Printed by Blair & Rives.

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