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Lot 180
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Robert Morris, Declaration Signer and Financier of the Revolution, Debt Instrument, One of Many Leading to his Bankruptcy
Robert Morris, Declaration Signer and Financier of the Revolution, Debt Instrument, One of Many Leading to his Bankruptcy
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Description:

Morris Robert



One of the debt instruments leading to the demise of the Robert Morris, financier of the American Revolution. Signed by both Robert Morris and his partner in land speculation, John Nicholson,  in the wake of the Panic of 1797. Their speculations landed both of them in debtors’ prison, in spite of their pivotal roles in financing the Revolutionary War.

 

ROBERT MORRIS, Signature, January 1, 1798, endorsement on Bill of Exchange from John Nicholson to Robert Morris, November 1, 1794. 2 pp., 8" x 3.875". Some chipping on edges, affecting Nicholson signature and a few words.

 

Complete Transcript

4335T              4 Jany 98                                 No 535.

            Philadelphia, the 1st day of Nov 1794            For £700 Sterlg

At 38 months after date pay this first of Exchange to the Order of Robert Morris Esqr seven hundred Pounds Sterling payable in London

Value received which place to Account of

To Messrs Robert & George Philips merchants

in Manchester

255/517                                                           Your Obedient humble Servant,

                                                                        Jno Nicholson

[Endorsement:]

Robt Morris

Philips, Cramond & Co

Pay to the order of Messrs Jones Fox & Co. value in account London 1 Jany 1798

Robt Morris & Co

 

[Endorsement:]

Having presented this bill on the 4 January 1798 to Messrs Robt & Geo Philips by whom it was refused payment, & having caused the same to be protested, we afterwards received the amount from Messrs Jno Philips & Co who paid it solely for the honor and account of Messrs Philips Cramond & Co the second indorsers

            Jones Fox & Co

 

Historical Background

 

Robert Morris rose from being the Financier of the American Revolution, having personally funded an estimated £100,000,000 (about £4,500,000,000 today) to pay the Continental troops under Washington, to near the end of this life having to file bankruptcy. His financing helped to keep the Army together just before the Battle of Princeton. He also paid troops from his own funds via "Morris Notes" to continue Washington's ability to wage war as the US currency had no value. However Morris would fall from grace by 1797, and by the date of the note debt offered here, Morris was essentially bankrupt. He never sought repayment of his funds to support the Revolution, and instead was imprisoned for debts from 1798 to 1801. The US Congress passed its first bankruptcy legislation, the temporary Bankruptcy Act of 1800, in part to get Morris out of prison. 

 

Prior to the date of this debt instrument, in 1792 and again in 1794, Robert Morris entered into partnership with John Nicholson (1757-1800) to speculate in western lands. In 1792, their Pennsylvania Population Company purchased 202,000 acres in western Pennsylvania, known as the Erie Triangle on the southern shore of Lake Erie, from the federal government. In 1794, their Asylum Company purchased 1 million acres of Pennsylvania land. Nicholson, who served as the Comptroller-General for the state of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1794 was impeached in the latter year for his role in the companies. Morris had overextended himself, but he, Nicholson, and James Greenleaf (1765-1843) pooled their land in 1795 to form the North American Land Company, which held more than 6 million acres.

 

This bill of exchange from Nicholson to Morris was likely created as part of these land transactions. Unfortunately for the partners, the Napoleonic Wars ruined the market for American land, and the failure of the North American Land Company contributed to the Panic of 1797. For years, Morris and Nicholson had guaranteed the value of one another’s notes. By 1798, neither man could pay them, and creditors began selling the notes publicly, for as low as one-eighth their face value.  

Robert Philips and George Philips (1766-1847) were English textile industrialists. Their relative John Philips (1734-1824) founded the cotton-spinning firm of Philips & Lee. Philips, Cramond & Company was a partnership between George Philips and Philadelphia merchant James Cramond (d. 1799).

 Robert Morris (1734-1806) was born in Liverpool and immigrated to Maryland at the age of 13.  His father later sent him to Philadelphia to study, and in 1757, he became a partner in a banking and shipping firm, which lasted until 1779. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, he opposed the motion for independence but abstained in the final vote.  He signed the Declaration of Independence after it passed.  He personally paid £10 million to fund the American army during the Revolutionary War and was critical to the new government’s success. He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1778, and in 1781, Congress appointed him as Superintendent of Finance of the United States, a position he held until 1784.  Elected to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Morris nominated his friend George Washington as its president, and he signed the new constitution.  Washington wanted to appoint Morris as Secretary of the Treasury, but Morris declined and suggested Alexander Hamilton.  Morris served as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1789 to 1795. Deeply engaged in land speculation, he bought millions of acres of land in western New York from Massachusetts in 1791.

 


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