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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.

Wilson, John (1777-1848) to Aaron Hobart

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06313.04.039 Author/Creator: Wilson, John (1777-1848) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 2 December 1814 Pagination: 3 p. : address : docket : free frank ; 25 x 20 cm. Order a Copy

Shares Hobart's sentiment of missing home and friends. Explains that his folks have moved to another house and that trade has been opened for "people living on each side of Penobscot Bay." Mentions that "a Bill for Banks, a Bill for Classifying the Militia, and a Bill for raising additional revenue" are the objects which have had a lot of attention in the present negotiations at the Congress of Vienna.

John Wilson was a Massachusetts congressman, elected as a federalist to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1815)and the Fifteenth Congress (March 4, 1817-March 3, 1819).

[Draft Excerpt:]
I believe they have had no alarms from the British, who are at Castine [Maine], and I believe that some trade is opened betwixt Persons living on each side of Penobscot Bay...the longer portion thinks Peace will probably result from the present Negotiations but that it will be delayed until the termination of the Congress at Vienna; but as our Ministers do not appear sanguine in their expectations of Peace, we, of course, cannot, be free of doubt - Congress have done little as yet, but may do as much, before the session terminates, as will prove beneficial; the objects which have mostly occupied our attention are a Bill for a Bank, a Bill for Classifying the Militia, and a Bill for raising additional revenue...

Wilson, John, 1777-1848
Hobart, Aaron, 1787-1858

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