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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.

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852 to Stephen Van Rensselaer

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04623.01 Author/Creator: Clay, Henry, 1777-1852 Place Written: Ashland, Kentucky Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1831/06/04 Pagination: 1 p. : address : docket ; 25 x 20 cm. Order a Copy

Writes, "It was a weak measure to discharge the old cabinet, distrusted and incompetent as it was. And not much will be gained by the new one." Asks Van Rensselaer how things go in New York, and want to know, will those "opposed to this administration unite in pulling it down?" Jackson's first cabinet was broken up due to the Petticoat Affair, a sex scandal involving members of the cabinet. Clay was Jackson's chief political rival

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852
Van Rensselaer, Stephen, 1764-1839

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