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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 Calvin Colton

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08952 Author/Creator: Clay, Henry, 1777-1852 Place Written: Ashland, Kentucky Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 2 September 1843 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; Height: 26.5 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy

Suggestions for a pamphlet opposing Abolitionists. "Shew that the agitation of the question in free states will first destroy all harmony and finally lead to disunion. That the consequences of disunion - perpetual War - the extinction of the African race - ultimate military despotism...The slaves being free would be dispersed throughout the union; they wd. enter into competition with the American, the Irish, the German, and the free Colored; reduce his wages; be confounded with him; & affect his moral & social standing...Show...That the object is to unite in marriage the laboring white man and the laboring black man" He goes on to discuss colonization in Africa, and opposition to it by the Abolitionists.

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

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