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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.

Garrison & Knapp Report of the arguments of counsel, in the case of Prudence Crandall, Plff. in error, Vs. State of Connecticut, before the Supreme Court of Errors, at their session at Brooklyn, July Term, 1834.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09124 Author/Creator: Garrison & Knapp Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Pamphlet Date: 1834 Pagination: 34 p. Order a Copy

Prudence Crandall, having allowed black children into her school, was tried by the State of Connecticut for violating a law against the education of colored children who were not inhabitants of the State, which required consent of the town of jurisdiction. The judge, holding that blacks were not citizens and were devoid of constitutional rights, ruled in favor the State. Here, before the Supreme Court, her counsel argues that "A distinction founded in color, in fundamental rights, is novel, inconvenient and impracticable."

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