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.

Webster, Daniel (1782-1852) to Aaron Hobart

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06313.02 Author/Creator: Webster, Daniel (1782-1852) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 20 April 1850 Pagination: 1 p. ; 22.5 x 18 cm. Order a Copy

Thanks Hobart for a letter and his approval of one of Webster's speeches. Comments: "If we cannot subdue, or restrain, this fanatical abolition Spirits, I know not how we shall get along, without great trouble, or be able to carry on the Govt." Extends an open invitation to his home in Mansfield, New Hampshire.

Aaron Hobart, lawyer, jurist, state senator, and congressman, was born on 26 June 1787 in Abington, Massachusetts. Hobart pursued classical studies and graduated from Brown University in 1805. Thereafter, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1809, commencing practice in Abington. In 1824 he moved to East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1814; a state senator in 1819; and in 1820 was elected a representative in the 16th congress to fill a vacancy, taking his seat on 18 December 1820. He was re-elected to the 17th, 18th, & 19th congresses, serving from 1820-1827. He was a member of the governor's council, 1827-31, and a judge of probate, 1843-58. He is the author of Historical Sketches of Abington Mass. (1839). He died in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts on 19 September 1858 and was buried in Central Cemetery.

Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852
Hobart, Aaron, 1787-1858

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