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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.

Adams, John, 1735-1826 to Charles Dumas re: attempts at patience during Treaty of Paris negotiations

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06931 Author/Creator: Adams, John, 1735-1826 Place Written: Paris, France Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1783/06/26 Pagination: 2 p. : Height: 19 cm, Width: 15.1 cm Order a Copy

"There is a species of witchcraft [that] governs in England that keeps them from knowing their own minds- and a similar malignant spirit reigns in America and prevents us from getting any intelligence from there... It is now 6 months that I have been waiting in expectation that the next week would bring me something certain." Damaged with losses affecting text at bottom edge and right margin of pages 1 and 2.

Dumas, Charles Guillaume Frédéric, 1721-1790
Adams, John, 1735-1826

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