Description:

Morris Robert 1734 - 1806 Robert Morris, Declaration signer, boldly signed R.E.I.T. certificate

The first known R.E.I.T. document in American history, 12.5" x 9.5", executed on laid paper for the North American Land Company. Dated "Eighteenth" day of "April", "One thousand seven hundred and ninety five", and boldly signed by a United States founding father, Robert Morris as "Robt Morris" . The document entitles the bearer to "ten" shares in the entire Property of the North American Land Company ... "Evidence of professional restoration to the outer corner with small paper fill-ins, and verso with leftover mounting fragments. Scalloped left edge. Light toning, else near fine.

A fascination example of the first ever R.E.I.T document conceived hundreds of years before its time, signed by a trifecta founding father, Robert Morris who not only signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution, but who also financed the American Revolution, and founded the first bank in North America!

From 1781 to 1784, he served as the powerful Superintendent of Finance, managing the economy of the fledgling United States. As the central civilian in the government, Morris was, next to General George Washington, "the most powerful man in America." His successful administration led to the sobriquet, "Financier of the Revolution." At the same time he was agent of Marine, a position he took without pay, and from which he controlled the Continental Navy.

Regrettably, although he was a business man before his time, it was also his investment timing that brought him down. Sometimes the best investments at the wrong times result in financial ruin, and Morris was one of the unfortunate ones. He invested a considerable portion of his fortune in land shortly before the Panic of 1796-1797 (this land R.E.I.T. investment document was such an example), which ultimately led to his bankruptcy in 1798, and he spent several years in debtor's prison, until Congress passed a bankruptcy act to release him.

Real Estate R.E.I.T's did not really show again until nearly 200 years later, when in the 1960's they were "re-discovered" but this time consisting of mortgage companies, and then by the 1970's as land development took off they were used as corporations and business trusts. They quickly became a tool by Real Estate developers with the belief that this was a new and progressive investment vehicle (how quickly our historical references fade ...) But what occurred in the late 1980's was no different than the demise of Robert Morris, the developers bought more and more land, heavily extended themselves, financed the next property purchase with borrowed money from the earlier investment...and became so heavily leveraged that the house of cards was bound to collapse. History keeps repeating itself and we never learn. Like the late 1980's the 1780's looked like a real estate boom, but by the mid to late 1790's real estate investment was a bust, (this same path occurred in the late 1980's when all the RE developers went bankrupt). Morris finally gave in, left his wife and six grown children, and went off to an unknown future in Debtors Prison. To think that someone who was once the wealthiest man in America, now in his 60's, someone who signed the two most important documents in History, the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence was now off to fend for himself in prison.

The significance of the North American Land Company R.E.I.T was its vast grand scale, intending to sell shares of stock secured by 6,000,000 acres of real estate in 6 states. Cash received helped pay the mounting debts owed to creditors.


Pennsylvania:

647,046 acres

North Carolina:

717,299 acres

South Carolina:

957,238 acres

Virginia:

932,621 acres

Georgia:

2,314,796 acres

Kentucky:

431,043 acres

Total:

6,000,043 acres

The investment intention was equally enterprising:

To sell 30,000 shares of stock for $1.00/share and a 6% dividend with a land sale distribution after 15 years.

Many players in the land company were prominent colonial Americans and their signatures appear in this collection.

1. Clement Biddle - Revolutionary War General

2. William Bingham -US Senator, Speaker of the House of Representatives

3. AJ Dallas - Secretary of Treasury under President Madison

4. Thomas Fitzimmons - Signer of the U.S. Constitution

5. John Lawrence - Congressman from New York City

6. Thomas Mifflin - Governor of Pennsylvania, Signer of the U.S. Constitution and President of the Continental Congress

7. Robert Morris - Financer of the American Revolution, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signer of the Article of Confederation and Signer of the U.S. Constitution

8. Richard Rush - Secretary of the Treasury from 1825-1828

9. Benjamin Say - U.S. Congressman and General from Pennsylvania

10. Richard Dobbs Spaight - Signer of the U.S. Constitution and a North Carolina Governor

11. Walter Stewart - Revolutionary War General

12. James Trimble - Governor of Pennsylvania

An incredible story of human nature, greed and fear ... the foundations on which investments thrive or crash. And no matter how much time passes, we continue to make the same mistakes. They say history repeats itself, but apparently few of us read enough of it. A fantastic document signed by one of founding fathers of the United States, leaving one in complete awe.

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