Our Collection

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.

Bassa, Hamuda, fl. 1803-1807 to Tobias Lear re: Bey's attempt to avoid hostilities with the U.S.

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02794.086 Author/Creator: Bassa, Hamuda, fl. 1803-1807 Place Written: Tunis Type: Manuscript document Date: 1805/08/09 Pagination: 4 p. : Height: 19 cm, Width: 8 cm Order a Copy

Manuscript copy of letter in a clerk's hand with copy signature. Bey writes: "you [Lear] are the sole person at this moment invested with the character & power of the President of your Government to treat with me on affairs relative to your Nation." Bey is defending his actions: "[r]ead that what I wrote to you . . . then tell me if you have found my pure intentions equivocal [. . . .] So far Am I from hostile ideas . . . that I now declare . . . that by me there shall not be made, nor any of my subjects permitted to make, the least alteration in the good friendship existing between us."

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources