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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.

Henry, Patrick, 1736-1799 [Document appointing justices of the peace for slave trials in Augusta County, Virginia]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00464 Author/Creator: Henry, Patrick, 1736-1799 Place Written: Richmond, Virginia Type: Document signed Date: 28 April 1785 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 34 cm, Width: 21 cm Order a Copy

Partially printed document signed by Henry as Governor of Virginia. Appoints fourteen men as justice of the peace in Augusta County, Virginia. They are given the duty of "Oyer and Terminer for the trial of Slaves in the said County ... for the purpose of trying, condemning and executing, or otherwise punishing or acquitting, any slave committing a capital crime within the said County." Wax seal at bottom or recto, next to Henry's signature.

Henry, Patrick, 1736-1799

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