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.

Benton, Thomas Hart (1782-1858) The Creek and Cherokee lands of Georgia and Alabama

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08995 Author/Creator: Benton, Thomas Hart (1782-1858) Place Written: s.l. Type: Manuscript Date: 1826 Pagination: 10 p. ; 25 x 20 cm. Order a Copy

Contemporary copy likely written by a staff member of a speech regarding removal that Benton delivered to the Senate. Argues that tribal chiefs should be given "gratuities" to convince them to sign treateis and clarifies troubles in negotiations resulting from confusion over the border between Georgia and Alabama. Manuscript is pasted into a book that also contains a typed transcription of the speech. Book is 29 x 22 cm. Document states that the document is "The original autograph manuscript," however this is unlikely, both because the manuscript is written in the third person, and because the handwriting does not seem to be Benton's.

Thomas Hart Benton was a Missouri Senator, and chairman of the Inidan Affairs Committee.

Benton, Thomas Hart, 1782-1858

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