The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

ROBERT MORRIS

Robert Morris was an American financer. He was born in 1734 at Liverpool, England and died in 1806. Known as the financier of the American Revolution, having settled in Philadelphia he built up a flourishing business there. He opposed the Stamp Act, and signed the American Declaration of Independence. In Congress he gave valuable services to the Committee of Ways and Means, and in February, 1781, he was elected Superintendent of Finance. Among his acts was the organization of the Bank of North America at the end of 1781. In 1784 he retired, but served in the Pennsylvania Legislature, as delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and US Senator from 1789 until 1795. He had previously declined the office of Secretary of the Treasury. In his later years he was unsuccessful in business, and was at one time imprisoned for debt.
Research Robert Morris