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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.

Wheaton, Joseph, 1755-1828 to Mason Wheaton

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.06339 Author/Creator: Wheaton, Joseph, 1755-1828 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter Date: February 3, 1795 Pagination: 2 p. : Height: 32.9 cm, Width: 20.1 cm Order a Copy

Is happy to hear that his uncle, Mason Wheaton, is doing well and expresses his warm feelings for him. Heard that Henry Knox is going to be Mason Wheaton's neighbor soon and writes, "it is a satisfaction which requires energy to express that so great a character and so able and good a man (Genl Knox) is I am informed to be a near neighbour to you." Feels this will be a great advantage to the area if Knox is able to use his "active genius, and republican perseverance." He states of Knox, "If this great general could but have had his plans executed by our legislature, I could have [proposed?] much more frontier security and some additional internal order...it is enough for you, that you gain a prize, which the United States have lost for ever." Knox was Secretary of War from 1785 to 1794. In postscript, tells him to direct mail to "Joseph Wheaton Sergant [sic] at Arms to Congress United States. Philadelphia."

Wheaton, Joseph, 1755-1828
Wheaton, Mason, 1733-?

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