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) to William Eustis

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.03836 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Place Written: New York, New York Type: Autograph letter Date: 13 April 1788 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 31.7 x 19.8 cm. Order a Copy

Replies to Eustis, Vice President of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. Eustis had previously written regarding Knox's appointment by the State Society of Massachusetts to attend the general meeting, scheduled for May in Philadelphia. Agrees to attend, but only for a few days. Discusses the society's need to form a constitution, noting that it should be unanimously embraced. Adds that the May meeting will be "without effect" if the delegates are not conferred with the power to create a constitution.

Eustis was a surgeon in the Revolutionary Army and also in the expedition sent to suppress Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 and 1787. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1788-1794). He was a United States Representative (1801-1804 and 1820-1822), Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Madison (1807-1812), and Governor of Massachusetts (1823-1825).

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Eustis, William, 1753-1825

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