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.

Burke, Aedanus (1743-1802) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.04214 Author/Creator: Burke, Aedanus (1743-1802) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 21 May 1789 Pagination: 1 p. : address : docket ; 20.1 x 16.3 cm. Order a Copy

Mentions that he has tried unsuccessfully to "raise a subscription for the unfortunate Baron," likely the Baron de Glasbeech. Writes that there is nothing more he can do, except to send good wishes, and that he is "much mortified by it." A pencil note near the signature, likely written at a later date, states, "Who wrote against the Cincinnati," a reference to Burke's attacks on the Society.

Burke was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, an opposer of the Constitution at South Carolina's state ratifying convention, and a member of the first Congress (1789-1791). He was vehemently opposed to the Society of the Cincinnati.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Burke, Aedanus, 1743-1802
Glasbeech, Baron de, fl. 1781-1789

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