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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.

Madison, James (1751-1836) [Temperance document]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04006.01 Author/Creator: Madison, James (1751-1836) Place Written: s.l. Type: Document signed Date: circa 1833 Pagination: 1 p. : vellum : docket ; 37.1 x 44.6 cm. Order a Copy

Urges Americans, especially young men, to refrain from drinking alcohol. Signed by Andrew Jackson, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams. Docket on verso.

Signer of the U.S. Constitution.
Many of the propagandists of the temperance movement urged the public, particularly young men, to take a pledge of abstinence from alcohol. Some of these advocates included Edward Delavan and John Bartholomew Gough.

Being satisfied from observation and experience, as well
as from medical testimony that ardent spirits as a drink is not only needless, but hurtful, and that the entire disuse of it would tend to promote the health, the virtue and the happiness of the entire community, We hereby express our conviction that should the Citizens of the United States and especially the young men discontinue entirely the use of it, they would not only promote their own personal benefit, but the good of our country and the world.

[Signed:]
James Madison
Andrew Jackson
John Quincy Adams

Madison, James, 1751-1836
Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

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