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.

Mercer, John F. (1759-1821) to George Weedon

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06491.04 Author/Creator: Mercer, John F. (1759-1821) Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 11 April 1783 Pagination: 2 p. : address ; 23.5 x 19 cm. Order a Copy

Relays information related to the negotiation of the Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolution. Announces the arrival of an officer in New York with a "Proclamation from the King of Great Britain." Also notes the arrival of vessels from France with dispatches from the American ministers negotiating peace. Indicates that Congress will declare an end to hostilities on the day this letter was written. Discusses opposition and reluctant acceptance of American Independence in Parliament.

John F. Mercer was a lawyer in Fredericksburg, Virginia, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, later a Maryland congressman and governor.
George Weedon was a brigadier general in the Continental Army from Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Mercer, John Francis, 1759-1821
Weedon, George, 1734-1793
Meuse, John

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