Scope and Contents:
George T. Crawford represented Westmoreland County at the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1837. The collection includes excerpts from Crawford's speech proposing (unsuccessfully) that a governor's veto be overridden by a three-fifths rather than a two-thirds vote of the legislature.
The collection also includes letters written to Crawford and drafts of his outgoing letters. Most letters concern the convention proceedings, notably the Panic of 1837 and its influence on government banking policy, but Crawford also mentions personal matters such as the health of his wife. Other letters center around his business affairs, the sale of land, and the difficulty in drawing funds because of the financial panic. One correspondent, Sam Cochran, was Crawford's father-in-law. Lindley Coates, who is mentioned in one of Crawford's letters, was a convention delegate from Lancaster County, Pa.
After Crawford's death, his widow married John Marshall. One of their descendants, Harvey D. Safford of Galesburg, Ill., donated the collection to the Illinois Historical Survey in 1983.
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