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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.

Adams, John, 1735-1826 to Elbridge Gerry

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00366 Author/Creator: Adams, John, 1735-1826 Place Written: Auteuil, France Type: Autograph letter signed Date: April 25, 1785 Pagination: 11 p. : docket Height: 19 cm, Width: 24 cm Order a Copy

An important letter in which Adams discusses American foreign and domestic debt, his desire to return home, the mission to London proposed by John Jay, false reports of Adams himself receiving a commission on a Dutch loan, Jefferson in Paris, his son John Quincy Adams, the Society of Cincinnati, and the dangers of ambition, wealth and power, to the spirit of republicanism.

Adams, John, 1735-1826
Gerry, Elbridge, 1744-1814
Jay, John, 1745-1829
Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

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