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, Robert (1734-1806) to John Nicholson

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03842 Author/Creator: Morris, Robert (1734-1806) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 4 December 1797 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 19.3 x 12 cm. Order a Copy

Discusses a plan to be able to pay off his debts. Sends "a piece of cold comfort for poor Charles Young" (a document not included) with the comment that it "is the best that my poor tortured brain could spin out this Night." Asks Nicholson to sign it if he approves or write another if he does not. The document and proposed plan are assumed to have concerned paying his debts. Written a few weeks before being thrown into debtors prison.

Signer of the U.S. Constitution.
Morris formed the North American Land Company in 1795 but the company collapsed under heavy land speculations and Morris was put in debtors' jail. John Nicholson was Morris's business partner.

Morris, Robert, 1734-1806
Nicholson, John, 1757-1800

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