During the Revolutionary War he engaged in mercantile speculations in Charleston and later at Edenton, “from which he afterward traded to the neutral islands in the West Indies.” While continuing his mercantile connections with his brother, “then also engaged in the West India trade, he determined to resume the practice of medicine; this he did with the same success as he had done formerly at Philadelphia.” He was an opponent of the emission of paper money in North Carolina and published an essay against fiat currency.
He happily combined a theoretical and practical knowledge of finance, for he seems to have accumulated a large amount of public securities. He appears frequently on the records of the Treasury Department; for example in December, 1791, for $2444.84 worth of sixes and threes.[[367]] Furthermore, his correspondence with Hamilton and others shows that he had “the smallest of two large trunks” full of 6 per cents, threes, and deferred stock which he had delivered to Hamilton for transfer to the New York loan office, in 1793.[[368]]
Williamson also engaged in western land speculations, and was not unaware of the advantage to that class of property which the new Constitution afforded. On June 2, 1788, he wrote to Madison from New York, “For myself, I conceive that my opinions are not biassed by private interests, but having claims to a considerable quantity of land in the Western Country, I am fully persuaded that the value of those lands must be increased by an efficient federal government.”[[369]] After his long and assiduous public services, Williamson settled in New York, where he engaged in historical writing and the management of the considerable fortune which he had accumulated in the midst of his pressing public duties.[[370]]
James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, was born in Scotland in 1742 and received a fine classical education there. He came to America in 1766, began the study of law with John Dickinson, and was admitted to the bar in 1767. He developed a lucrative practice at Carlisle, where he first settled; but in 1778 he removed to Philadelphia where he established a close connection with the leading merchants and men of affairs including Robert Morris, George Clymer, and General Mifflin.[[371]] He was one of the directors of the Bank of North America on its incorporation in 1781;[[372]] and he also appears among the original stockholders of the Insurance Company of North America, organized in 1792.[[373]]
Wilson’s largest interest seems to have been in public lands, for he was among the members of the Georgia Land Company, a highly speculative concern tainted with fraud, to put it mildly, for ten shares, £25,000 cash and 750,000 acres.[[374]] Haskins says, “James Wilson, of the Supreme Court of the United States, held shares to the amount of at least one million acres and it is asserted was influential in securing the grants.”[[375]]
Wilson does not appear to have been a large holder of public securities; for a search in the records of the Pennsylvania loan office preserved in the Department of the Treasury reveals only a trivial amount of 3 per cents to his credit, on June 2, 1791.[[376]] It may be that the extent of his other operations prevented his taking advantage of the opportunities offered in this line.
George Wythe, of Virginia, was born in 1726 on the shores of the Chesapeake in the colony of Virginia. “He was descended from a respectable family and inherited from his father, who was a farmer, an estate amply sufficient for all the purposes of ease and independence, although it was seriously impaired by the Revolution.” He studied law, and “by reason of his extensive learning, correctness of elocution, and his logical style of argument, he quickly arrived at the head of the bar.”[[377]] His second wife “was a lady of a wealthy and respectable family of Taliafero, residing near Williamsburg.” He was a slave-owner, but he emancipated his slaves and made provisions to keep them from want. His public security holding was not large. On March 12, 1791, he presented Virginia certificates to the amount of £513:2:8 which he had acquired from their original owners.[[378]]
Robert Yates, of New York, was born in Schenectady, and received a classical education at New York City. He read law and began the practice at Albany where he soon built up an extensive business. He was made a judge of the Supreme Court under the state constitution of 1777, but his salary was small. “Indeed before the scale of depreciation of continental money had been settled, he received one year’s salary in that money at its nominal value, the whole of which was just sufficient (as he humorously observed) ‘to purchase a pound of green tea for his wife.’” He refused to enrich himself by speculating in confiscated estates, a favorite occupation of some of his friends, and “he died poor.”[[379]] He opposed the adoption of the Constitution, and apparently took no part in the transactions in public securities; but several members of the Yates family, Richard, Adolphus, and Christopher were large operators.[[380]]
A survey of the economic interests of the members of the Convention presents certain conclusions:
A majority of the members were lawyers by profession.