Of all the members of the Convention, Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, had the most widely diversified economic interests. He was born of humble parents in Liverpool in 1734, and came to America at an early age. The death of his father, about 1750, left him a small estate of a few thousand dollars, which stood him in good stead in his relations with the Willings, whose counting house he had entered to learn mercantile arts, in which he showed an early proficiency.[[325]]
In the course of his long career he owned and directed ships trading with the East and West Indies, engaged in iron and several other branches of manufacturing, bought and sold thousands of acres of land in all parts of the country, particularly in the west and south, and speculated in lots in Washington as soon as he learned of the establishment of the capital there. He was instrumental in organizing the Bank of North America in Philadelphia, with Thomas Willing, his partner, as first President, and Thomas Fitzsimons, an associate in his land and speculative enterprises, as one of the directors,[[326]] and was in short a merchant prince, a captain of industry, a land speculator, a financier, and a broker combined.[[327]] Had he been less ambitious he would have died worth millions instead of in poverty and debt, after having served a term in a debtor’s cell.
It is impossible to gauge correctly the extent of his land speculations, for they ran into the millions of acres. Before and after the adoption of the Constitution, he was busy interesting his colleagues in every kind of enterprise that promised to be profitable. James Marshall, a brother of John Marshall, was his chief agent, and carried on operations for him in the United States and Europe. Marshall was given the power of attorney by Morris and his wife to sell enormous quantities of lands and other properties, and received from his principal letters of introduction to European capitalists and persons of prominence, including Mr. Pinckney, the representative of the United States in France.[[328]]
The exact extent of Morris’ speculations in the securities of the new government is a matter beyond the scope of the present inquiry, but it is sufficient for our purposes to know that he held practically every kind of continental security, that his deals in stocks mounted upward into the tens of thousands of dollars,[[329]] and that in the Convention and in the first Senate under the Constitution, of which he was a member, he was uniformly strenuous in his support of public credit. No man of his time had such wide-reaching interests or involved in his personal affairs so many eminent men, like Hamilton, John Marshall, Thomas Fitzsimons, Thomas Willing, Gouverneur Morris, John Langdon, and Robert Clymer, all closely identified with the new system of government.
It may be truly said therefore that Morris was an effective representative of the speculative land operators, the holders of securities, the dealers in public paper, and the mercantile groups seeking protection for manufactures—in short every movable property interest in the country. It was fortunate for the new government to have in its support a man whose economic power and personal acquaintanceship extended from New Hampshire to Georgia. It seems fair to say that no man contributed more to the establishment of our Constitution and the stability of our national institutions than Robert Morris, “the Patriot Financier.”
Washington, therefore, showed his acumen when, as first President of the United States, he selected Morris for the office of Secretary of the Treasury; but the latter, on account of the pressing nature of his private business, was unable to accept the post thus tendered. Indeed, he wisely concluded that he could be more serviceable to the new government in his capacity as senator from Pennsylvania; and in this position he lent his powerful support to the funding system, the new Bank, and the establishment of a protective tariff. “Morris and Hamilton together worked out a tariff bill,” says Oberholtzer.[[330]] “But for the influence of the Senator from Pennsylvania the measure, important because it would provide the national government with ample revenues, and because it had protective features of utility in the development of the country industries, could not have passed Congress in the form which would have commended it to the Secretary of the Treasury.... All witnesses agree that Robert Morris was a stupendous political force in Washington’s administration, and his influence did not decrease when, in December, 1790, the capital was removed to Philadelphia, where he resumed his princely entertainment of public men, surrendering his home on Market Street to Washington, and becoming the President’s most intimate friend and closest companion.”
William Paterson was born in the north of Ireland, came to this country in 1747, graduated at Princeton in 1763, and received his license to practise law in 1769. His father was a merchant, and he was himself for a time engaged in the mercantile business.[[331]] A by no means extensive search has failed to bring out any of Paterson’s later economic interests.
William Pierce, of Georgia, does not seem to have made any considerable impression on his age, for the biographical material relating to him is meagre indeed. His economic interests do not appear to have been looked into, although it is known that he was “in business in Savannah as the head of the house of William Pierce and Company.”[[332]] His private fortune was probably not large, for he applied to Madison in 1788 for a position as collector in his district.[[333]]
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was the son of “Chief Justice Pinckney, a man of great integrity and of considerable eminence under the Provincial Government.” He received a fine classical and legal education in England. He began the practice of law in the provincial courts in 1770, and very soon “began to acquire business and reputation.” After the Revolutionary war “his business was large and its profits commensurate—reaching in one year the amount of four thousand guineas, a considerable sum for that day.” He became “a considerable landholder in the city of Charleston. He had numerous tenants living on his property.... His benevolence was of the most enlarged character, and was experienced not only by the poor and such as were dependent on him, but in his liberal support of churches, seminaries of learning, and every object of public utility.”[[334]] He also held a country estate at Pinckney Island, and is recorded in the first census as the owner of forty-five slaves.[[335]]
Pinckney had a large practice for the merchants of Charleston, and his knowledge of maritime law must have been extensive.[[336]] Through this direct experience, he must have learned the importance of a national commercial system, not only to merchants and manufacturers, but also to those having occasion to appear in the courts. In the midst of the local conflict between the creditors and debtors, he took a firm stand against any weakening of public and private credit.