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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.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 to D. M. Leatherman re: claim on land of a Confederate soldier

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06788 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1863/09/03 Pagination: 1 p. : +blank Height: 20.3 cm, Width: 12.6 cm Order a Copy

Responding to a claim upon land in Memphis, Tenn., owned by a man in the rebel service. Lincoln writes in part: "The Impropriety of bringing such cases to me is obvious to any one who will consider that I could not properly act on any case without understanding it, and that I have neither the means nor time to obtain such understanding."

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