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.

Hopkinson, Francis (1737-1791) [Certificate concerning a loan]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.00799 Author/Creator: Hopkinson, Francis (1737-1791) Place Written: Rhode Island Type: Printed document signed Date: 21 January 1780 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 9.2 x 20.1 cm. Order a Copy

Countersigned by Joseph Clarke, Commissioner of the Continental Loan-Office in the State of Rhode Island. States, "At thirty days sight of the second bill, first, third and fourth not paid, pay to Benjamin Williams or order, twelve dollars, in sixty tournois, for interest due on money borrowed by the United States." Directed to "the Commissioner or Commissioners of the United States of America at Paris." Docket indicates that the amount is to be paid to William Knox.

Hopkinson, a Continental Congressman from New Jersey (1776), signed the Declaration of Independence. He later took part in the Convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States. A composer and writer, Hopkinson served at various political and judicial posts in the Revolutionary period. Clarke was the state treasurer of Rhode Island for forty years.

Clarke, Joseph, 1719-1792
Hopkinson, Francis, 1737-1791
Knox, William, 1756-1795

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