Celebrate America250: Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance

June 27, 1781. The Confederation Congress appointed Robert Morris as Superintendent of Finance, a position that evolved into the current Secretary of the Treasury.

Robert Morris was born in England in 1734, the illegitimate son of a wealthy tobacco trader. In 1749, he was apprenticed to Philadelphia shipper and banker Charles Willing. A year later he inherited his father's fortune and rose rapidly to become a full partner in the firm. He was an innovative merchant, forming insurance pools to spread the risk of voyages and trading with India and China. By the outbreak of the revolution in 1775, he was the wealthiest man in America.

He actively fanned the flames of revolution in Pennsylvania. He led the effort to prevent the British agent from collecting the 1765 stamp tax in Pennsylvania. He called for a boycott of British goods in response to the 1774 Intolerable Acts, and led the Philadelphia committee of the Continental Association that organized the boycott. In 1775 he organized a large-scale smuggling effort to obtain powder and weapons for the colonies.

In late 1775 he was appointed a Pennsylvania delegate to the Second Continental Congress. He was a leader on the Secret Committee of Trade that illegally procured arms for the Continental Army. Congress appointed him the Marine Agent, who supervised the Continental Navy and was the predecessor to the Secretary of the Navy. And he was active on the Committee of Correspondence, which oversaw foreign relations and was a key advocate for obtaining an alliance with France.

Despite all these actions, he still hoped for reconciliation with Britain and voted against independence on July 1, 1776. In order to allow approval when Congress considered the final resolution for independence the next day, he and John Dickinson agreed to be absent from Congress. Yet on July 4 he signed the Declaration of Independence because he believed unity was more important than having his own way.

For the next two years, he organized the financing of the revolution by using New England ships to export goods from the southern states to Europe and the Caribbean. He increased his personal fortune by outfitting a fleet of privateers to attack British shipping. In 1778 he signed the Articles of Confederation and gained approval for pensions of Continental officers. But in late 1778, he left Congress to focus on his own business.

Continental finances continued to deteriorate as the states refused to provide funds for the war. Even though Morris was out of government, he organized a loan from France and the Netherlands in 1780 to fund the Bank of Pennsylvania, allowing for the purchase of supplies for the Continental Army. Despite this effort, the soldiers were still not being paid, so the Pennsylvania Line mutinied in 1781. In response, Congress appointed Morris as the first Superintendent of Finance on June 27, 1781.

As Superintendent of Finance, he organized the Bank of North America, which would accept deposits, issue banknotes, and purchase supplies for the army. In August 1781, he met with George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau to organize finances for the coming campaign against the British, and raised $1.4 million on his own credit. With these funds, Washington and Rochambeau were able to defeat the British at the decisive Battle of Yorktown in October 1781.

Morris advocated for a national tariff to fund the government, a head tax on slaves that would make slavery less profitable, a national mint, and a decimal currency. None of these were approved at the time, but Alexander Hamilton adopted most of them as Secretary of Treasury when the new federal government came into force. In 1784 Morris resigned in frustration and returned to private business. Even so, he attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, where his goals of giving the federal government the power to impose tariffs and taxes were adopted. He lent his personal mansion in Philadelphia to Washington and John Adams to serve as the President's House. He declined to serve as the first Secretary of the Treasury but instead proposed Alexander Hamilton, a most fortuitous choice.

Morris's financial position collapsed in the late 1780s and 1790s. He engaged in land speculation, and he was extremely successful at first, becoming the largest landholder in America. But due to poor choice of partners, high leveraging, and the Panic of 1796, he went bankrupt. He was arrested in 1798 and spent more than three years in debtor's prison. In 1801 he was released from prison when Congress passed the first national bankruptcy legislation, and it voted him an annuity of $1500, which allowed him to purchase a modest home on the outskirts of Philadelphia. When he died in 1806, there was no public funeral. One of his few assets was his father's gold watch, which he passed on to his son. As a result of his financial collapse, his role in financing the American Revolution and organizing the finances of the federal government was largely forgotten.

He and Roger Sherman were the only two Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, which shows how long and effectively he was involved in national affairs. Alexander Hamilton implemented many of the policies for which Morris had advocated for decades. Without Morris it is unlikely that the Revolution would have succeeded or that the early finances of the federal government would have been put on a solid footing.

Let's drink a toast of gratitude in memory of Robert Morris, Financier of the American Revolution, on the 244th anniversary of his appointment as Superintendent of Finance.