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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.

[Oath of allegiance to the United States]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.00678 Author/Creator: Place Written: s.l. Type: Printed document Date: circa 1778 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 10.5 cm, Width: 15.2 cm Order a Copy

Date inferred from the Journals of the Continental Congress circa January- February 1778. The Journals indicate that every officer who holds or is granted a commission or office from Congress should take the following oath: "I do acknowledge the UNITED STATES of AMERICA to be Free, Independent and Sovereign States, and declare that the people thereof owe no allegiance or obedience to George the Third, King of Great-Britain; and I renounce, refuse and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him ... "

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