On the approach to Independence Day, 2014, it is past time to honor a man often called the “financier of the Revolution.”
While people like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and George Washington are the ones portrayed in all those 4th of July pageants, only serious historians know about Robert Morris.
A wealthy merchant in Philadelphia, he used a lot of his own money to pay the $20,000 a day needed to keep the army in the field against the British. He also obtained loans from other wealthy colonists with no more guarantee than his word of honor.
He signed the three most important documents in American history: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
A couple of incidents show how the revolution might have been lost without Morris. On Christmas night in 1776, Washington led a successful attack on the British in New Jersey, considerably boosting the morale of the colonists. However, the enlistment of many of the soldiers was to expire the following week. Without money to pay the soldiers and to provide food and equipment, many would have left. Morris raised the money.
Then in 1781, the Americans finished the war when Washington marched his army from New Jersey to attack Yorktown, Va. It was possible because of $1.4 million Morris raised to pay for food for the soldiers, hay for the horses and boats to cross rivers — presumably with Washington sitting down this time.
“I advanced not only my credit, but every shilling of my own money, and all which I could obtain from my friends, to support the important expedition against Yorktown,” Morris wrote.
While Washington, Jefferson and Adams went on to become presidents and have their pictures on our money, Morris ended in debtors prison and later commited suicide.
True, he was involved briefly in the slave trade, but so were Washington and Jefferson.
His later misfortunes don’t seem to have been because of the financing of the revolution. It mostly had to do with land speculation. Anticipating an influx of immigrants, most wanting farm land, he acquired 6 million acres — making him the largest landowner in the young United States. He anticipated selling parcels at a profit to the immigrants, but the deal went bust when other events in the world caused a sharp decline in the pace of immigration into the new country.
Morris wasn’t selling enough land to pay the taxes and mortgages. He went to debtors prison for more than three years.
He was eventually freed by a special act of Congress, one of the few small perks he received for his patriotism.