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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.

Unknown [Officers' grievances, to be presented to Congress]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.10073 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: s.l. Type: Manuscript document Date: December 1782 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 35.7 x 23.3 cm. Order a Copy

"The Officers of the Army, in Behalf of themselves and the Soldiery, beg leave, in plain & respectful language, to lay a State of their Circumstances and Grievances before Congress." The writer claims that the Government has not upheld its end of the bargain in supplying officers with adequate pay and rations. Argues that Continental money at nominal value was "palmed upon the Army," that the quantity of rations doled out to troops was frequently altered (to the disadvantage of soldiers), and that the account for rations has been unsettled for several years. Includes other grievances. The officers assert, "Whenever there has been a real want of means; any Defect in System, or neglect in Execution in the Departments of the Army, we have invariably been the sufferers."

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