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.

Morris, Gouverneur (1752-1816) to Comte de Moustier re: thanks for information on France, American manners

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03274 Author/Creator: Morris, Gouverneur (1752-1816) Place Written: Philadelphia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 03 December 1788 Pagination: 2 p. + addr. 26 x 20 cm Order a Copy

Written by Morris as American Minister to France. Morris also writes that he "cannot flatter myself that my Country men and above all my Country Women will shew so much good Sense and such Sensibility as daily to render your Situation more and more agreable [sic]." He notes that American manners may not be "sufficiently advanced to have got around to what is quite natural."

Signer of the U.S. Constitution.

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