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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.

Knox, Henry (1750-1806) to Robert R. Livingston

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.03790 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Place Written: New York, New York Type: Manuscript letter Date: 10 February 1788 Pagination: 2 p. ; 24.9 x 19.9 cm. Order a Copy

Later copy of GLC02437.03793. A note at the top of page one states, "Recd. from Mr Bancroft Feb 1857." Knox relates details of the Massachusetts ratifying convention: "On Wednesday the 30th ultimo, Mr. Hancock was well enough to take his seat in the convention. On Thursday he brought forward the proposition for adopting the Constitution, and for recommending certain alterations agreeably to the paper herein enclosed [not included]. The propositions were seconded by Mr. Samuel Adams, and committed to a large committee being Federalists." Notes that the friends of Hancock and [James] Bowdoin have united on the issue. Reports, "Handsome things are said of the open and decisive conduct of Mr. Hancock and also of Mr. S. Adams, notwithstanding his neutrality in the first part of the business."

In 1788, Livingston served as part of the New York convention for ratification of the United States Constitution.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Livingston, Robert R., 1746-1813
Adams, Samuel, 1722-1803
Hancock, John, 1737-1797
Bowdoin, James, 1726-1790

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