Robert Morris: PA Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Robert Morris was born on January 31, 1734, in Liverpool, England. The date of his birth is from the modern calendar. He was actually born 11 days earlier, on January 20, but, like other Founders, when the new-style calendar was adopted, he moved his birthdate so that a full year would lapse before he turned a year older. He was born to Robert and Elizabeth (Murphet) Morris. His mother passed away when he was two years old, and his maternal grandmother raised him until his father brought him to America in 1747. His father came to America in 1738 as an agent for Foster, Cunliffe, and Sons of Liverpool. Robert Sr. was a successful merchant and one of the first to keep his accounts using monetary values.

            In 1747, Robert Sr. brought his son to Oxford, Maryland, where he stayed for a short time. There was some speculation that he conflicted with his father and his father’s “friend,” Mrs. Sarah Wise. Morris then moved in with his father’s friend. Greenway, and was apprenticed as a clerk at Charles Willing & Company. It appeared he inherited his father’s genius for business. Unfortunately, just two years later, in 1750, his father would die in a freak accident. He had been leaving a dinner party, and they fired a farewell salute when a piece of debris hit him. Robert Morris Sr. contracted blood poisoning from his injury and passed away on July 12, 1750.

            The year 1754 would be a busy one for Morris. He founded the London Coffee House with some friends, and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange would later trace its origins to this venture. He was appointed a ship’s captain during the French and Indian War and was captured by French privateers while attempting to reach Jamaica. He and his crew escaped by making their way to what is now Cuba, where they caught another boat to Philadelphia. Once he returns to Philadelphia, his former boss, Charles Willing, retires, and his son, Thomas, assumes control of the business and invites Morris to partner with them. They create a new company called Willing, Morris, and Company. They engage in importing and exporting, initially with three ships. The partnership would last for forty years before dissolving, around 1793. They were the best known and largest import/export business in the colonies. This venture made him a very rich man, and he was ranked among the wealthiest in the colonies. They would have dabbled in the slave trade but lost money in it, and once they could import indentured servants, they ceased their involvement in the slave trade. Britain had banned the importation of indentured servants because it needed people to fight in the French and Indian War, which was why Morris and his partner dabbled in the slave trade.

            By 1765, Morris had participated in a street protest against the Stamp Act and was one of its leaders. Stamps had arrived on a ship named the Royal Charlotte, and Morris helped to convince John Hughes, the tax collector, to resign and send the stamps back to England. It was not difficult to convince Hughes, though, as he was sick in bed at the time of the protest.

            1769 would be a momentous year for Morris as well. His company would organize the first non-importation agreement. The byproduct of this agreement was the end of the slave trade in Philadelphia. He marries Mary White on March 2, 1769. She was the daughter of Thomas and Esther (Huelings) White and the sister of Bishop William White, of the American Episcopal Church. They would have nine children together. Their first son, Robert, was born on December 19, 1769, and he passed away in 1804. He would marry Ann Shoemaker and have five children. Their next son, Thomas, was born on February 26, 1771, and passed away in 1849. He marries Sarah Cane and possibly marries again to a woman named Elizabeth, though it's hard to confirm. Their third child, William White, was born on August 9, 1772, and passed away on October 9, 1798. He married Sarah Crooks, who passed in 1861, and had at least one child before his death. Their first daughter was born on July 30, 1774. She was named Hester but was known as Hetty, and she married James Marshall and had 18 children. She would die on April 13, 1816, or 1817, as the records are unclear. Robert and Mary had two children between 1777 and 1779, named Charles and Maria. Their final child, Henry, was born on July 24, 1784, and passed away in 1842. He would marry a woman named Eliza Jane Smith.

            He buys a seventy-acre farm on the Schuylkill River, paying £1821.19.6 for it, and builds a home called The Hills in 1770. Here on this property, he grew a variety of fruits, including oranges and pineapples, that were grown in a greenhouse. Unfortunately, this property would be sold at auction in 1799, when he was essentially bankrupt, to cover his debts. His former property is now the Fairmount Park area of Philadelphia. Henry Pratt, the new owner, tore down the home and rebuilt it in 1800. It is now known as Lemon Hill.

            He was appointed Warden of the Port of Philadelphia in 1775, but one document suggests the appointment happened earlier, in 1766.[1]  In this position, he convinces a captain to turn back to England, as his ship was carrying tea, which was unwelcome in the colonies. After the events at Concord and Lexington on April 19, Willing and Morris begin to import weapons and gunpowder for the military. His wharves imported so many goods, for the cause, that Congress posted guards at them. During this year, he was also a member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety and served as the chairman at one point. The committee would be dissolved in 1776. Morris was appointed a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in November of 1775.

            His tenure in Congress would be very busy. He was appointed, in April of 1776, to negotiate bills of exchange. Shortly after this, the issue of independence came up. According to Dr. Rush, Morris opposed the Declaration because he felt it was the wrong time, but he was not opposed to the act of independence itself. He had hoped for reconciliation with England, like many others. During the first round of voting on July 1, he voted no and was conveniently absent on July 2 so the measure would pass. This results in him being re-elected as a delegate, unlike some of his fellow delegates, who voted no and would lose their position. He wrote to Joseph Reed and said “I have uniformly voted against and opposed the Declaration of Independence, because, in my poor opinion, it was an improper time, and will neither promote the interest nor redound to honor of America; for it has caused division when we wanted union, and will ascribed to very different principles that those which ought to give rise to such an important measure.”[2]  Ironically, in 1777, he would apologize for not supporting the vote and would also write, “I think an individual who declines the service of his country because its councils are not comfortable to his ideas, makes but a bad subject; a good one would follow if he cannot lead.”[3]

            During the tumultuous years of 1776-1777, he would move his family to the country to remove them from harms ways. As well, prior to the Battle of Trenton, he procured specie through a personal loan from a member of the Society of Friends to send to Washington so General Washington could pay for intelligence. In addition to securing funds, he was very busy with a variety of committee assignments, including the Secret, Marine, Naval Armament, and Flag Committees. He would also serve on the Committee of Correspondence and the Model Treaty Committee. This last committee would propose a treaty based on trade, free from political alliances. Franklin used this as a model for the Treaty of Alliance with the French.

            Committee work was abundant, but Morris soon would earn the moniker: Financier of the Revolution. He would invest his own money in the war, putting upwhat would be about $1 million in today’s dollars to pay for the Battle of Yorktown.[4] However, much of what Congress had to buy for the military could not have been done without Morris’s credit and name, especially as Congress had to beg for money from the other colonies. Many of his ships were sold to the Continental Navy and put into service, but their names were changed. His best ship was renamed “the Alfred,” and another was renamed “the Columbus.”  Several of the captains employed by his company became officers in the Continental Navy. One such man was Samuel Nichols, who was widely recognized as the First Commandant of the Marine Corps. His monthly salary as Commandant was just $32.00. He would lose about 150 of his own ships during the Revolution, and supply the army with money, weapons, and blankets to keep it running. For example, he procures 4,000 barrels of flour in a single instance.[5]

            In 1777, he would sign the Articles of Confederation and then be appointed, with Elbridge Gerry, to survey the army and meet with General Washington to find a way to provide even more supplies. But his service was not without allegations of fraud in how he procured and possibly profited from the war. The allegation did not deter General Washington, and he remained a loyal friend who regarded all attacks on Morris as frivolous and without merit. As a series of letters written between the two between 1777 and 1781 shows:

January 13, 1777: “If amidst a multiplicity of important matters, you could suffer a trivial one to intrude, I should thank you most heartily for taking a letter or two of mine, when you do your own, by the Southern mail, and forwarding of them, as opportunity offers, to the cam, I have long since drop’d all private correspondence with my friends in Virginia, finding it incompatible with my public business. A letter or two from my family, are regularly sent by Post, but very irregularly received, which is rather mortifying, as it deprives me of the consolation of hearing from home or domestic matters….” [6]

February 5^th 1777: “I have yours of the 31^st ulto and can readily excuse you not answering my letters with regularity, as I know the weight of important business that lays upon your hands….I perfectly agree in sentiments with you, that it would be better for every suspicious person to be in New York, for which reason you have Liberty to send Capt Jones in exchange for Capt Hallock, and Mr. Palmer for Capt Dear, if there are any others, taking in merchantmen, that are not held as prisoners of war. Use your own discretion, only indeavor if you can to procure the liberty of masters of ships or others the same circumstances with themselves.”[7]

March 25, 1778:

“Your favor of the 9^th Inst informed me of the acceptable present which your friend Mr. Governeur (of Curracoa) was pleased to intend for me, and for which he will, through you, accept my sincere thanks- these also due to you my good sir, for the kind communication of the matter, and for the trouble you have had in ordering the wine forward.

I rejoice most sincerely with you, in the glorious change in our prospects-Calmness and serenity, seems likely to succeed in some measure, those dark and tempestuous clouds which at times appeared ready to overwhelm us, - The game wether well or ill played hitherto, seems not to be verging fast to a favorable issues, and cannot I think be lost, unless we throw it away by too much supineness on the one hand, or impetuosity on the other – God forbid that either of these should happen at a time when we seem to be upon the point of reaping the fruits of our toil and labour, - a stroke, & reverse under such circumstances, would be double distressing. ---

My best respects in which Mrs. Washington joins, are offered to your Lady, & with sincere thanks for your kind wishes, I remain….”

The last letter was written at the end of the Army’s stay in Valley Forge. But the accusations would continue after he left Congress. In 1779, Thomas Paine and Henry Laurens demanded an investigation into Willing and Morris & Company. They charged that the company had committed fraud. Morris would once again open his books to the congressional committee and would be exonerated. However, this issue would continue to arise over the years among those who were Morris’s enemies.

            In 1781, Morris returned to Congress and was unanimously appointed Superintendent of Finance, the first executive office in America. He submits a funding proposal titled "On Public Credit," which Alexander Hamilton would later use in his plan for government funding during the Washington administration. Upon assuming the office of Superintendent, he found the accounting system in shambles and in need of overhaul, including reforms to accounting procedures. He eventually published a volume detailing his management of the office in 1785, called A statement of the accounts of the United States of America during the administration of the superintendent of finances commencing February 1781 and ending Nov. 1784.

            During his tenure as Superintendent, he helped to establish the Bank of North America, along with fellow signers George Clymer and James Wilson. He uses his extensive knowledge of banking and its impact on commercial interests, as well as a government’s ability to secure loans. He would slash government and military expenses as well. As an Agent of the Marine Department, he uses his own money to purchase military supplies. He will spend about $2.4 million of his own money, and French loans will repay him. He continues to write to states begging them to contribute to the national government as required, but has little success. He also authorizes sending the first American ship to China.

            Between 1781 and 1784, the country went from having little to no credit to having credit under Morris’s leadership. In 1782, James Madison, whose politics were very different from Morris’s, wrote:

“My charity, I own, cannot invent and excuse for the prepense malice with which the character and services of this gentlemen are murdered. I am persuaded that he accepted his offices from motives which were honorable and patriotic. I have seen no proof of misfeasance, I have heard of many charges which were palpably erroneous. I have known others somewhat suspicious vanish on examination. Every member in Congress must be sensible of the benefit which has accrued to the public from his administration, not intelligent man out of Congress can be altogether insensible of it.”[8]

            In 1786, Morris attended the Annapolis Convention and became an advocate for a stronger central government. He was also a representative in the Pennsylvania State legislature and, during his tenure, attempted to have the Bank of North America re-charted. He was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and arranged for his cousin, Gouverneur Morris, to be appointed as well. Morris hosted General Washington at his home and nominated him as President of the Convention. He does not speak much at the convention, but was a proponent of lifetime appointments for Senators, similar to the House of Lords. He argued that men of property would always resist tyranny. He signed the Constitution on September 17 and was one of 2 men to sign all three Founding Documents.[9]

            He was elected Senator from Pennsylvania for the first Congress and informed General Washington of his election to the Presidency. He was offered the position of Secretary of the Treasury but declined, recommending Alexander Hamilton instead. He was a strong supporter of Hamilton’s financial policies. He would serve on 41 different committees as a Senator and was instrumental in moving the seat of government to Philadelphia prior to the establishment of the District of Columbia.

            In 1794, he began construction of a new home in Philadelphia that would eventually be known as Morris’s Folly. It was designed by Pierre Charles L’Enfant. By 1795, he was again investigated by political enemies, who dismissed the earlier exoneration and even refused to accept the documentation that proved Morris’s innocence. As a result, his company was charged $94,000, and he had to sign over an interest in his shipping companies to pay off the debt. That same year, he began to invest in land; however, the Napoleonic Wars immigration lessons and hit him hard financially. Without the inflow of immigrants who would purchase the land he owned, the land’s value decreased to the point that he owed more in mortgages and taxes than it was worth. He had formed a company with John Nicholson and James Greenleaf, called the North American Land Company, when he began investing in land. Morris would soon discover that Greenleaf was not an honorable man, leading to Morris’s financial downfall.

            At one point, he owned the western half of New York State and sold this land to the Holland Land Company. He uses the profits from the sale of this parcel of land to start the American Industrial Revolution by purchasing a steam engine company and a glass factory. But unfortunately, the land market went bankrupt in 1798, similar to the 2008 housing crisis. French Minister Talleyrand does not pay for the 100,000 acres of land Morris sells him, and then Aaron Burr sues him to get many of the acres he owns in western New York. Those lands would eventually become the Adirondack State Park. As well, his business partners had started buying up land, entangling him in the process. Investors had bought the land, but would back out, and his attempt to get a new loan from Holland did not materialize because of the French Revolution. He declares bankruptcy and must sell everything. Unfortunately, it was not enough to pay off his debts, and he was thrown in debtor’s prison.

            Morris remained in debtor’s prison until 1801, when the bankruptcy laws were enacted during the Jefferson administration. His family and unfinished home were left behind in Philadelphia while he served his sentence. He was able to receive visitors regularly while in prison and to write to his friends. While in prison, he kept his humor as evidence in a letter to John Nicholson in February of 1798:

“My confinement has so been attended with disagreeable and uncomfortable circumstance, for having no particular place allotted for me I feel myself and intruder in every place in which I go. I sleep in another person’s bed, I occupy other people’s rooms, and if I attempt to side down to write, it is at the interruption and inconvenience of someone who has acquired a prior right to the place. I am trying daily to get a room for a high rent and now have a prospect of succeeding. I am not writing in the room which is the best in this house and a hope to have compleat possession in a day or to…”

            In 1801, he was released from prison and attempted to restart his career, but he was unable to do so because his reputation had been ruined. His cousin, Gouverneur Morris, invites Morris and his family to live with him and provides him with an annual annuity. He would live there for the next five years until his death on May 6, 1806. He died from an asthma attack; previous attacks had incapacitated him for days at a time.[10]  He was buried in the family vault at Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[1] C, H. H. "Robert Morris." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1877‑1906) 1, no. 3 (1877): 333

[2] , H. H. "Robert Morris." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1877‑1906) 1, no. 3 (1877): 333

[3] Kiernan, Denise, and Joseph D'Agnese. Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of The Men Who Signed The Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia: Quirk Book, c2009)

[4] Kiernan, Denise, and Joseph D'Agnese. Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of The Men Who Signed The Declaration Of Independence (Philadelphia: Quirk Book, 2009)

[5] Mease, James. "Sketch of The Life of Robert Morris" The Register of Pennsylvania (1828‑1831) 2, no. 15 (Oct 25, 1828): 234.

[6] Gilliams, E. L. "George Washington to Robert Morris" The National Magazine; A Monthly Journal of American History (1891‑1894) 15, no. 4 (02, 1892): 390.

[7] Gilliams, E. L. "George Washington to Robert Morris" 390.

[8] Ellis, Paxson Oberholtzer. "A Great Philadelphian: Robert Morris" The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1877‑1906) 28, no. 3 (1904): 23.

[9] The other gentleman was Roger Sherman of Connecticut.

[10] http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers‑by‑state/