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.

Monroe, James (1758-1831) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.05456 Author/Creator: Monroe, James (1758-1831) Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 10 May 1792 Pagination: 1 p. : address ; 25.3 x 19.8 cm. Order a Copy

James Monroe, while in the U. S. Senate, asks whether Knox might be able to lend him six or seven hundred dollars. Comments that it will help his business and promises to reimburse Knox within a few months. Writes that as a stranger to monied people in Philadelphia, he prefers to ask someone he can trust (see GLC02437.05458 for Knox's reply).

[Draft Excerpt]
Can you with perfect convenience to yourself lend [inserted: me] six or seven hundred dollars. It wod be an accomodation of importance to me in my arrangements, and I will reimburse it in the course of a few months. Being a perfect stranger to all monied person hear, I have preferred an application to one in whose esteem I repose confidence...

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Monroe, James, 1758-1831

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