Robert Morris
Robert Morris was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on January 20, 1734. His father was a respectable merchant and settled at Oxford on the eastern shore of Maryland in 1746. He then sent for this son, who arrived at Oxford at thirteen, where he received an excellent commercial education. At the age of fifteen, he lost his father by death. He was employed in the counting house of Charles Willing, an enterprising merchant of Philadelphia. After serving a faithful apprenticeship, Mr. Willing set him up in business and remained his fast friend and adviser. For several years, Morris prospered alone, but finding the cares of life pressing upon him, he wisely resolved to take a partner to accompany him in his pilgrimage through this vale of tears. That partner was the meritorious Mary, daughter of Colonel White and sister to the pious and learned Bishop White.Morris was a member of the Congress of 1774 and took a courageous stand against British oppression. Extensively and favorably known, his influence was significant to the friends of justice. Being an able financier, he was hailed as the most efficient manager of the monetary department. To provide ways and means he was fully authorized. Most nobly did he discharge his duty. Unfortunately, no office of Finance was then created to enable him to control the disbursements. The money he continued to provide, often from his private funds. When Congress fled before the conquering foe to Baltimore in 1776, Mr. Morris remained in Philadelphia some days after his colleagues left for the purpose of raising government funds. In so doing, he periled his life, as he had placed his name upon the Declaration of Independence, then sneeringly called the death warrant of the signers by the Tories and their coadjutors, the British. During his stay, it became necessary for Congress to raise a specific sum. The treasury was empty. Notice of the wants of the army was communicated to him. Shortly after, he met a member of the Society of Friends whose confidence he had.
" What news, friend Robert?"
" The news is (that) I am in immediate want of dollars hard money, and you are the man to obtain it for me. Your security is to be my note of hand and my word of honor."
" Robert, thou shall have it." The money was promptly forwarded to Washington, which enabled him to meet the enemy at Trenton with signal success.
As a financier, his genius was of the most prolific kind. When he found every government resource exhausted; the credit of the infant Republic paralyzed, the army writhing under the keenest privations; had his mind been of the ordinary caliber, he would have abandoned the ship of state amidst the breakers that were dashing over her and reported her to the underwriters as wrecked. But he had resolved never to desert her so long as a plank remained upon the hull or a beam retained its fastenings upon the keel. His resources were extensive, and his credit was upon a firm basis. These were thrown in the breach and warded off the threatened destruction. To save himself and his country, he proposed establishing the Bank of North America, which Congress sanctioned, and a charter granted on January 7, 1782. This bank has stood firm amidst all the financial panics and revolutions that have occurred to the present time.
As astounding as the fact may appear, the Office of Finance was not created until 1781. Up to that time, there was no disbursing agent, and large sums of money were placed in the hands of irresponsible agents and never reached their legitimate destination. When established, it was placed under the control of Mr. Morris.
Mr. Morris was the Roman Curtius of America, pledging his own fortune to save his country and deliver her from worse than Egyptian bondage. As a demonstration, I will particularize one other instance of supplies furnished upon his private credit: the means of closing the unequal contest.
When Washington planned the expedition against Cornwallis, the government treasury was empty, and her credit shivered in the wind. The army was in a destitute situation and could not prosecute a siege. Impressed deeply with the importance of the plan, Mr. Morris provided supplies for the expedition upon his private credit. Such confidence had Washington in this able financier that he at once took up the line of march. In the short four weeks, he furnished nearly eighty pieces of battering cannon and one hundred pieces of field artillery with other necessary supplies not provided by the South. Although aided by the patriotic Richard Peters, he gave his notes to the amount of one million four hundred thousand dollars, which were all paid at maturity. This enabled the Americans to close the long and bloody struggle of the Revolution triumphantly and lay firmly the foundations of the prosperity and government we now enjoy. Disinterested benevolence was crowned with all the majesty of pure devotion to the interests of the country and the human family,as free from self as angels are.
Under cover of the firm in which he was a partner of Willing, Morris & Co. many necessary and advantageous transactions were made for the government, although apparently for the firm, and the profits were credited to the public treasury.
All the accusations brought against Robert Morris before and since his death, charging him with peculation or speculation in government funds or improper conduct towards his country as a public agent, are without foundation in fact and out of the record.
Congress elected Mr. Morris Superintendent of Finance on February 20, 1781.
At the time of his resignation, he placed himself in the crucible of an examining committee of Congress before whom he exhibited a schedule of all his public transactions. The committee report placed him on a lofty eminence as an able and skillful financier, a patriotic and honest man. President Washington tendered him the office of Secretary of the Treasury, which he respectfully declined. He was a member of the convention that framed the Federal Constitution and a Senator in the first Congress that convened under it. He seldom spoke in debate, but when he did, he was eloquent, chaste, and logical.
Morris died in poverty on May 8, 1806, in Philadelphia.