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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.

Mason, John (fl. 1776-1790) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.02032 Author/Creator: Mason, John (fl. 1776-1790) Place Written: Pluckemin, New Jersey Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 25 March 1783 Pagination: 1 p. : address : docket ; 33.5 x 21.6 cm. Order a Copy

Offers congratulations on the end of the war and requests a leave of absence to attend to personal matters. Includes a reply written and signed by Samuel Shaw, Knox's aide-de-camp, stating that Knox is unable to grant Mason's request.

[Draft Excerpt from John Mason's letter:]
Give me leave to congratulate you on the glorious issue of our national Conflict - We are infinitely indebted to the mercy of the God of pease - America will be great and happy nation if her Citizens shall be wise and just -

[Draft Excerpt from Samuel Shaw's reply:]
I congratulate you most sincerely on the glorious termination of the War, and the pleasing prospects which peace opens to our view. We are now a great people - May a proper sense of the Divine favor make us a good and then shall we be a happy people.

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794
Mason, John, fl. 1776-1790
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

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