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.

Jackson, Henry (1747-1809) to Samuel Phillips

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.04991 Author/Creator: Jackson, Henry (1747-1809) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 13 June 1791 Pagination: 2 p. ; 22.4 x 18.7 cm. Order a Copy

Marked "Copy." Was disappointed by the answer from the committee for the sale of lands respecting the mode of payment and quantity of lands. Wants to buy two million acres of unallocated land for specie payable at different installments with interest. Says if the committee cannot deal with him on those terms, he wonders if he should apply directly to the legislature. Wants a quick answer as the Massachusetts General Court is "rising this week" and he wants to close the purchase before the next session. Says the gentlemen he represents "will be desirious of turning their attention to some other quarter."

Phillips was the founder of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (his uncle founded Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire) He served as a member of the Massachusetts provincial Congress from 1775 to 1780 and as a delegate to the state constitutional convention from 1779 to 1780. Phillips aided the revolutionary cause by producing gunpowder at a mill on the Shawsheen River in Andover from 1775, although in 1778 an explosion killed three men and wrecked a good part of the mill. During and after the Revolution, he served as a state senator from 1780 to 1801.

Jackson, Henry, 1747-1809
Phillips, Samuel, 1752-1802

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