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.

Gorham, Nathaniel (1738-1796) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.03782 Author/Creator: Gorham, Nathaniel (1738-1796) Place Written: Charlestown, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 3 February 1788 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 30 x 18.7 cm. Order a Copy

Encloses a paper discussing details of the Massachusetts convention for ratification of the United States Constitution (paper not included). Predicts the numbers will be 185 for and 160 against ratification, although the Anti-Federalists claim they have a majority of ten. Writes, "I confess that I shall be more mortified if they are right in their conjecture than I have ever been in my life. I cannot think but we shall carry the question- I shall give you the earliest notice."

Signer of the U.S. Constitution.

Signer of the U.S. Constitution.

Gorham was a delegate to the Massachusetts convention that ratified the Federal Constitution in February 1788.

Gorham, Nathaniel, 1738-1796
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

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