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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.

Hancock, John (1737-1793) [Captain's commission for William North]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02524 Author/Creator: Hancock, John (1737-1793) Place Written: s.l. Type: Document signed Date: 10 May 1777 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 21.5 x 27 cm. Order a Copy

Partly printed document signed by Hancock as President of Continental Congress and co-signed by Charles Thomson as Secretary of Congress. This commission gives William North the rank of captain. A later note at the top of the document, by North's son, says "This Commission went with my father in his bosom through the War of the Revolution." The condition of the document attests to this note. It's been folded many times and has been repaired. The docket on verso is faded and hard to read.

North went on to be a brigadier general and a U.S. Senator May-August 1798.

Hancock, John, 1737-1797

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