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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 [Commission for privateer "Active."]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00838 Author/Creator: Adams, John, 1735-1826 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Document signed Date: 8 January 1800 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 39.3 x 35.1 cm. Order a Copy

Countersigned by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering. Partially printed document. John Adams, as president, gives permission to David Stewart, a Baltimore merchant, to use his ship "Active" as a privateer during the Quasi War with France. The ship has a crew of 20, is armed with 10 guns, and is captained by William Storey. Large embossed paper seal of the United States at the bottom. Docket on verso is illegible because of cardboard backing added at an unknown date.

Adams, John, 1735-1826
Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829

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