Details
MORRIS, Robert (1734-1806), Signer, (Pennsylvania). Engraved document signed "(Robt. Morris"), Philadelphia, 3 December 1792. 1p., oblong with Morris's name elaborately engraved along left edge, some staining along bottom and right edge, small tape repairs on verso.
A CHECK FROM THE FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION. An elaborately engraved bank draft signed by Morris in a bold hand, paying £400 to William Bell "at sixty days sight this fourth of Exchange (first, second and third not paid)." The check is drafted against Morris's account with "Messrs. Bourdieu, Chollet & Bourdieu." Morris was a Senator for Pennsylvania at the time of writing this check, and sadly, only a few years away from debtor's prison, where he would languish from 1798 to 1801. A signer of both the Declaration and the Constitution (although he voted against the first), Morris was instrumental in winning credits and loans for Washington's army, justly winning for himself the appellation of "financier of the Revolution." Equally important was his appointment as Superintendent of Finance under the Articles of Confederation (which he also signed) in 1781. His efforts kept the new but perilously weak national government financially afloat. After the war he helped co-found the Bank of North America, and speculated heavily in real estate, especially on the expanding frontiers of western Virginia, the Ohio territory and even within the new "Federal City" in the District of Columbia. His precariou speculation in Western lands brought a tragic and spectacular end to the career of this brilliant and once powerful man.
A CHECK FROM THE FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION. An elaborately engraved bank draft signed by Morris in a bold hand, paying £400 to William Bell "at sixty days sight this fourth of Exchange (first, second and third not paid)." The check is drafted against Morris's account with "Messrs. Bourdieu, Chollet & Bourdieu." Morris was a Senator for Pennsylvania at the time of writing this check, and sadly, only a few years away from debtor's prison, where he would languish from 1798 to 1801. A signer of both the Declaration and the Constitution (although he voted against the first), Morris was instrumental in winning credits and loans for Washington's army, justly winning for himself the appellation of "financier of the Revolution." Equally important was his appointment as Superintendent of Finance under the Articles of Confederation (which he also signed) in 1781. His efforts kept the new but perilously weak national government financially afloat. After the war he helped co-found the Bank of North America, and speculated heavily in real estate, especially on the expanding frontiers of western Virginia, the Ohio territory and even within the new "Federal City" in the District of Columbia. His precariou speculation in Western lands brought a tragic and spectacular end to the career of this brilliant and once powerful man.