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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.

Adams, John, 1735-1826 to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.07375 Author/Creator: Adams, John, 1735-1826 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 10 March 1800 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 24.6 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy

President Adams received Knox's letter of February 27. Adams expresses his concern that after recommending Knox's son, Henry, for a commission in the US Navy, the Senate did not approve. He tells Knox that there is little else he can do. Adams says, "the Navy however is a scene of momentous responsibility to me and if a ship should be lost by any Man for whom I shall have made myself thus exclusively answerable, you know what candid constructions will be put upon" me.

Adams, John, 1735-1826
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Knox, Henry Jackson, 1780-1832
Stoddert, Benjamin, 1751-1813

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