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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.

Officers of the Massachusetts Line to the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court Assembled

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.01514 Author/Creator: Officers of the Massachusetts Line Place Written: s.l. Type: Manuscript document Date: July 1782 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; Height: 33.5 cm, Width: 20.9 cm Order a Copy

In the hand of Samuel Shaw. Writes on behalf of the officers of the Massachusetts line that the Massachusetts state legislature has, following the direction of Congress, settled payment with the officers for the years 1779 and 1780, but have not yet made payments for the year 1781. The officers request that the legislature send a committee to camp to settle payment with the officers, because officers need to be in camp in case a campaign happens at a moment's notice. Also informs the legislature that the officers are owed for unpaid food and clothing rations for several years past, which, they argue, "form as just a debt as the monthly pay." The officers understand the difficulties and demands the legislature has faced, but declare they have been paid very little of what they are owed, and choose to assume this has simply been an oversight and that they will not be forgotten. Docketed by Knox as "D[raf]t of a memorial address to the State of Massachusetts." See GLC02437.01562 for a related letter.

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

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