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.

Johnson, Richard M. (1780-1850) to Jonathan Roberts

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06575 Author/Creator: Johnson, Richard M. (1780-1850) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 29 December 1837 Pagination: 2 p. ; 25 x 19.9 cm. Order a Copy

Written as Vice President under Martin Van Buren. Mentions Henry Clay and states that Roberts can discern his feelings toward Clay from their relations. But remarks that he has never broken ties with distinguished men just because of politics. Feels that "We must all act upon our own responsibility & judgment but why feel unkind to others & every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle." Comments on the state of the Union and does not believe that anything can divide the states. "We have always seen disturbing causes vanish like smoke when pushed to an extreme - the times of the alien & sedition laws & the times of the late war. Nullification etc."

Roberts was a member of the state House and Senate, a U.S. representative from Pennsylvania 1811-14, and a U.S. senator 1814-1821.

Johnson, Richard Mentor, 1780-1850
Roberts, Jonathan, 1771-1854
Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

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