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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.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 to Jeremiah Wadsworth

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.03907 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 Place Written: New York, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 22 June 1788 Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; 31.2 x 20 cm. Order a Copy

Reports that he will draw on Wadsworth for $2,000 to "answer the present exigencies- after which the connecticut recruits are to be paid and marched." Hopes a company will be ready to march from West Point by 10 July. Of the Virginia Constitutional ratification convention, writes: "The business in Virginia is critical indeed- So nearly balanced that neither side can determine which has the majority but this is independent of the Kentucky members amounting to 14- Those Gentlemen will determine the fate of America.... You see my dear sir on what a slender thread depends the future happiness of America." Mentions "the Mississippi business," a reference to the ways in which arguments over navigation of the Mississippi River will effect the debate. Expresses his wish that New Hampshire will adopt the Constitution (in fact, New Hampshire had adopted the Constitution 21 June 1788).

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Wadsworth, Jeremiah, 1743-1804
Grayson, William, 1736-1790

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