Our Collection

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.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 [Memorandum related to Robert Morris and Jeremiah Wadsworth]

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.03314 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 Place Written: New York, New York Type: Autograph document signed Date: 22 November 1786 Pagination: 5 p. : docket ; Height: 32 cm, Width: 19.9 cm Order a Copy

Describes a series of meeting in October - November 1786 involving Knox, Robert Morris, Jeremiah Wadsworth, Gouverneur Morris, and Samuel Osgood to develop Knox's proposal to loan money to Congress to clothe, feed, pay and house the troops. Congress had recently passed a resolve that each state should donate money into Congress' treasury, and that Congress could take out private loans against this incoming treasury money. Docket, in Knox's hand, reads: "Minutes respecting an attempt to obtain Mr R Morris & Mr J Wadsworth to enter into contracts for supporting the troops directed to be raised by the resolve of Congress of the 20th Octr 1786." Two of the enclosures cited in this letter were copies of GLC02437.03323 and GLC02437.03330.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Morris, Gouverneur, 1752-1816
Morris, Robert, 1734-1806
Wadsworth, Jeremiah, 1743-1804
Osgood, Samuel, 1748-1813

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources