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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.

Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829 to Joseph Pitcairn

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02381 Author/Creator: Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 7 March 1799 Pagination: 1 p. : address : docket Height: 25.2 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy

Written by Pickering as Secretary of State to Pitcairn as American Consul in Hamburg. Based on previous information from Pitcairn, Pickering says dispatches sealed in false bottoms of tubs owned by three mulattoes, one white man, and one white woman have been seized. Pickering forwarded the information to South Carolina Governor Edward Rutledge, who had the dispatches seized from the ship Minerva in Charleston. They are being examined by General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Encloses a report and two copies of Elbridge Gerry's correspondence, which are not included.

Rutledge, Edward, 1749-1800
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, 1746-1825

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