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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.

Swan, James (1754-1830) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.04810 Author/Creator: Swan, James (1754-1830) Place Written: Paris, France Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 27 December 1790 Pagination: 2 p. ; 22.9 x 18.9 cm. Order a Copy

Swan has enclosed a plan "advantageous" to both the U.S. and France and wishes Knox to exert his influence over President George Washington and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to agree to it. Swan also sends "the bankers' letter to me, the Commission or agency in which, I sacredly engage to pay to you." In a postscript dated 30 December Swan asks Knox, "pray sound Mr. Jefferson on this, or get some one to do it. I am affraid of him, merely because Mr. Short may have misled him."

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Swan, James, 1754-1830
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
Washington, George, 1732-1799

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