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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.

Wadsworth, Jeremiah (1743-1804) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.03914 Author/Creator: Wadsworth, Jeremiah (1743-1804) Place Written: Hartford, Connecticut Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 26 June 1788 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 22.5 x 18.9 cm. Order a Copy

Promises Knox one thousand dollars in addition to the two thousand already given. Discusses the safety of sending the money by stage. Congratulates Knox on New Hampshire's ratification of the Constitution, noting "is it possible the an[cient] Dominion [Virginia] can reject it. if they do who can think of a Curse that is equal to their Crime- [William] Grayson and [James] Monroe how- unaccountable their conduct are you not convinced their is a Hell - is any other punishment but [illegible] unquenchable fire equal to the crime of destroying the [fairest] hopes of a world - Adam & Eve [did] nothing when the Fell. Grayson & Monroe have a claim to the first place in the regions of Perdition. But it can not be[.] Virginia must and will." Instructs Knox to send an enclosure to Major Platt, who will obtain the three thousand dollars for Knox.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Wadsworth, Jeremiah, 1743-1804
Grayson, William, 1736-1790
Monroe, James, 1758-1831

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