Robert Morris Buoys the Spirits of the Son of a Fellow Signer and His Creditor: “My Foes will aggravate my misfortunes and make them worse than they are, but and by when the tide turns they will be as extravagant the other way”

As his misfortunes close in around him, in an unpublished letter acquired from President Benjamin Harrison's descendants, Morris predicts "the prospect brightens and there are good things ahead.".

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Harrison was Morris’s conduit to borrow money from the Harrison family, money he would not be able to repay

Robert Morris managed the economy of the fledgling United States. When he took the reigns in 1781, the Treasury was deep in debt. With the failure of its own policies staring them in...

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Robert Morris Buoys the Spirits of the Son of a Fellow Signer and His Creditor: “My Foes will aggravate my misfortunes and make them worse than they are, but and by when the tide turns they will be as extravagant the other way”

As his misfortunes close in around him, in an unpublished letter acquired from President Benjamin Harrison's descendants, Morris predicts "the prospect brightens and there are good things ahead.".

Harrison was Morris’s conduit to borrow money from the Harrison family, money he would not be able to repay

Robert Morris managed the economy of the fledgling United States. When he took the reigns in 1781, the Treasury was deep in debt. With the failure of its own policies staring them in the face, Congress changed from the committee systems they had used for years and created the first executive offices in American history. Morris held two of them, Finance and Marine.  In a unanimous vote, Congress appointed Morris to be Superintendent of Finance.  Morris, in addition to sacrificing his own finances to fund the Revolution, took many steps that today seem visionary.  He advocated a stable banking system, a national mint, and a decimal coinage.  Along with Hamilton, he detested the parochial interests in Congress that led to shortages of money, and more than anyone understood the conditions under which Benjamin Franklin labored to obtain funds in Europe, writing him in 1782 to secure another $4 million livres but acknowledging that such a request might be met with a demand for payment on already extended loans.

After the war, Morris invested in land and business ventures.  Although Morris was reelected to the Pennsylvania legislature for 1785-86, his private ventures consumed most of his time. In the latter year, he attended the Annapolis Convention, and the following year the Constitutional Convention. In 1789, declining Washington’s offer of appointment as the first Secretary of the Treasury, he took instead a U.S. Senate seat (1789-95).

Morris continued to buy land aggressively in the early parts of 1794, owning vast swaths in the West.  But where his early investments paid off well, his later ones did not.  And it was not until later in 1794 that the full force of his misfortunes began to fall on him. His purchases proved unwise, and he fell deep into debt.

Morris was close with his fellow Signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Harrison, and became particularly close with his son, Benjamin Harrison Jr, (or Benjamin Harrison VI).  When Harrison VI became a young adult, his father lost a considerable amount of property, supposedly due to his lack of mercantile skills, and sent his son away to Robert Morris’s firm Willing and Morris, where he earned an exceptional mercantile education, and befriended Morris. Their friendship would continue to hold strong throughout their lives. Harrison must have written Morris concerned that many were speaking ill of him and conspiring to complicate his life.  Perhaps Harrison, whose family money was tied up in Morris’s ventures, was hoping for a quick and profitable sale of lands.

Autograph letter signed, Philadelphia, October 13, 1794, to Benjamin Harrison VI, showing a dawning realization of his problems, seeking to sell yet more land [he would sell millions of acres in 1794), and hoping to get Harrison’s aid in borrowing yet more money.  “Dear Sir, I congratulate you on your safe arrival and altho the journey was fatiguing yet I hope the meeting with your little Boy [Benjamin Harrison VII] was an ample compensation.  I find by the contents of your letter of the 3rd that my Foes will aggravate my misfortunes and make them worse than they are, but and by when the tide turns they will be as extravagant the other way.  The Truth is that at present I have a tight time of it, but the prospect brightens and there are good things ahead.

I have not seen Col. Anderson yet but wish for his arrival while Mr. Richard is here as he is acquainted with the circumstances of the lands you mention and will be as useful in settling the business.  Our prospect as to the sale of lands mends exceedingly and I believe we shall realize all the great things you heard of when you were here.

However, I want help in the mean time therefore send me your drafts at 60 days after sight upon Mr. Higbee, Mr. Howashell, Mr. William Bell and on George Harrison for as much as you can find freedom, and I will take that no harm shall come to you for so doing.  Your affectionate friend and hble. servant, Robert Morris.”  The letter has some water staining along one margin.

In reality, Morris’s troubles were just beginning. But Harrison, touched by the distresses of his old friend, came to his rescue.  After the war, Harrison had established himself as a successful merchant, and amassed a large amount of wealth. He took it upon himself to save his friend from ruin, giving Morris a sizable portion of his fortune to aid him, more than $40,000, and the latter was forever grateful.  But Harrison died in financial hardship, in part as a result of this act of generosity.

Morris’s lot did not get better.  During the later years of his public life, Morris and his partners in his North American Land Company speculated wildly, often on overextended credit, in lands in the West and at the site of Washington, DC. They owned six million acres of land in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, and purchased newly created lots in the nation’s capital in the hope of selling them at auction. Morris, who did so much for his country, was later thrown into debtors prison.

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