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.

Mathews, John (1744-1802) to Charles Drayton re: personal business

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02471.30 Author/Creator: Mathews, John (1744-1802) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1781/09/14 Pagination: 1 p. Order a Copy

[Continental Congress members]

MATHEWS, John, (1744-1802), Delegate from South Carolina; commissioned ensign on September 20, 1760, and lieutenant November 16, 1760, in the South Carolina Provincial Regiment in the Cherokee expedition; passed the Middle Temple, London, England, as a barrister in 1764; returned to South Carolina and was elected to the commons house of assembly in 1772; appointed by the convention of 1774 a member of the "general committee of ninety-nine"; member of the First and Second Provincial Congresses of South Carolina in 1775 and 1776; associate judge of the circuit court of the State in 1776; during the Revolutionary War served as a captain in the Colleton County regiment; member of the State house of representatives 1776-1780 and served as speaker in 1777 and 1778; Member of the Continental Congress 1778-1781; Governor of South Carolina in 1782 and 1783; elected judge of the court of chancery in March 1784; again elected to the State house of representatives in November 1784; elected judge of the court of equity in 1791 and served until 1797, when he resigned. (excerpted from bioguide.congress.gov)

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