Scope and arrangement
The Abraham Yates, Jr. papers, dated 1604-1825, consist of correspondence, writings, speeches, notes, estate papers, and printed matter pertaining to the activities of Abraham Yates as a political figure in New York State, his legal practice and private financial matters, and his family. Correspondence, dated 1754-1825, consists of incoming and outgoing letters and drafts of letters concerning topics such as New York State politics and the state constitution; currency; private property and land transactions; the French and Indian War; the American Revolution; Federalism and Anti-Federalism; private legal matters; and Yates family business. Correspondents include George Clinton, Robert Livingston, Jr., Robert Morris, Christopher Yates, Robert Yates, and Abraham Lansing, amongst others. Writings, notes, and speeches contain essays Yates wrote on the United States Constitution, notes on proceedings in Congress, speeches to the delegates to Congress in 1786, The Rough Hewer manuscript, and notes for histories of New York and Albany. Also included are papers relating to the Manor of Rensselaerwyck and the Albany Committee of Correspondence, land and family records, photograph of a painting of Yates, and other items such as broadsides and a legal treatise by Thomas Wentworth printed in London in 1663.