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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.

Speer, John, 1817-1906 [Petition to Governor John White Geary]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01647 Author/Creator: Speer, John, 1817-1906 Place Written: Kansas Type: Printed document signed Date: circa 1856 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 45.7 cm, Width: 19.5 cm Order a Copy

Speer and others sign the petition, directed to Governor Geary. Petitioners argue that a group of the Territory's best citizens are unjustly held in prison. The men were arrested for resisting the establishment of a pro-slavery government in Kansas. Signed by sixty five men, including Speer. Circa date based on the term of Geary's governorship of the Kansas Territory, which lasted less than one year.

Geary, John White, 1819-1873
Speer, John, 1817-1906

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