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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.

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 to George Clinton

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02521 Author/Creator: Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 7 October 1787 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 23 cm, Width: 19 cm Order a Copy

Franklin, writing as president of the executive council of Pennsylvania, asks New York's Governor Clinton to aid in gathering evidence against conspirators in the Yankee-Pennamite war. The Pennamite Wars were organized (but not state-sponsored) battles between settlers from Pennsylvania and Connecticut who claimed land in the Wyoming Valley in northeast Pennsylvania. The day this letter was written, John Franklin, one of the Yankee leaders was sentenced by the Council of Pennsylvania to be kept in irons. The letter's verso and integral leaf show evidence that this is the original used in Franklin's letterpress to make a copy.

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
Clinton, George, 1739-1812

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