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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.

Buchanan, James (1791-1868) to James Campbell

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00655.10 Author/Creator: Buchanan, James (1791-1868) Place Written: Wheatland, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 17 October 1856 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 21 x 17 cm. Order a Copy

Writes to U.S. Postmaster General Campbell regarding his decision to delay the appointment of a postmaster for Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for political reasons. Date "17" was overwritten on "16." Docketed as 16th. Written as a candidate in the 1856 presidential election from his estate, Wheatland, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

[excerpt]
…Many thanks for your kind note! Upon consultation with friends & indeed it is my [inserted: own] decided judgment to delay the appointment of a Postmaster for Lancaster until after the 4th. November. I shall then suggest the name I consider best. We want a man who will be active & strengthen our party in this County; & I think if we succeed such a man may be easily found. About our success I am sanguine & except for the influence it might have on other States it made no difference whether we had 3 or 4 thousand votes on the one side or the other. I write in haste with company waiting. …

Buchanan, James, 1791-1868
Campbell, James, 1812-1893

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