Part 68

On the 17th of the same month, however, a meeting of the contributors to this fund (which was intended as a donation, towards carrying on the recruiting service,) and of others, was convened in Philadelphia: with a view to promote the object more extensively. At this meeting it was resolved—“to open a security-subscription, to the amount of 300,000l. in real money; the subscribers to execute bonds to the amount of their subscription, and to form a Bank thereon, for supplying the army.”

This was the origin of the “Bank of North-America,” which thus took its rise from an association of “a number of patriotic persons” in the city of Philadelphia. The plan they formed for the purpose was communicated to congress by the secretary at war, on the 20th of June; and the next day they were honoured with a vote of thanks.

On the 20th of February, 1781, Mr. Morris was unanimously elected by congress to the office of Superintendant of Finance, then first created. This gentleman arranged, in the spring following, the system of the present Bank of North-America; whereupon, many of the subscribers to the first-formed bank transferred their subscriptions to this institution. These were incorporated by an ordinance of congress, passed the 31st of December, 1781; and in the beginning of the succeeding year, this Bank commenced its operations in Philadelphia. By the incorporating ordinance, the following gentlemen were nominated by congress to be the president and directors of the institution, until a choice of a new direction should be made by the stockholders; namely, Thomas Willing, Thomas Fitzsimons, John Maxwell Nesbitt, James Wilson, Henry Hill, Samuel Osgood, Cadwalader Morris, Andrew Caldwell, Samuel Inglis, Samuel Meredith, William Bingham, and Timothy Matlack, Esquires. Mr. Willing, a merchant of high credit and respectability, was president of the board.

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Footnote 273:

The plan of the Bank of North-America, which was submitted to congress by their order, was approved by them on the 26th of May, 1781.

Footnote 274:

When the question, respecting the incorporation of the Bank of North-America was taken in congress, twenty members voted in the affirmative and only four in the negative. But the votes were then taken by states; and of these, the delegates from New-York and Delaware were absent, Pennsylvania (having only two members of her delegation present) was divided, Massachusetts (having also but two members present) voted in the negative: all the southern states were in the affirmative, with the single exception of Mr. Madison’s vote, his three colleagues (from Virginia) being on the affirmative side of the question.

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Some doubts having arisen, respecting the right of congress, under the then existing confederation, to exercise the power of erecting any corporate body, an act was passed by the general assembly of Pennsylvania, the 1st of April, 1782, to incorporate this Bank, in order to obviate such doubts. That act was repealed, the 13th of September, 1785; but on the 18th of March, 1787, the charter was renewed for the term of fourteen years, and has been since further continued.

It was by means of this establishment, that Mr. Morris, the superintendant of the finances, was enabled to support the public credit, and, in the words of Dr. Gordon, “to keep things in motion,” at a most critical period of the American affairs, and when the national credit was in the lowest possible state of depression.

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Footnote 275:

Whatever failings (and these were of a venial nature) may have appeared in the transactions of Mr. Morris, as a private citizen, in the latter part of a life long devoted to honourable and useful pursuits, yet the eminent services which he rendered to his country, in times of her greatest peril, entitled him to the gratitude of his compatriots; for, in his numerous and important official and other public negotiations, his honour and integrity were alike irreproachable. His merits ought not only to rescue his name from oblivion, but they give him a just claim to be placed in the list of American worthies; while his subsequent misfortunes —— —— —— —— —— but,

“No further seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from his dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose,) The bosom of his Father and his God.” Gray.

Mr. Morris, who was long distinguished for his talents and his services in this country, was a native of Lancashire, in England. He died in Philadelphia on the 8th of May, 1806.

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The establishment of a Mint seems to be a necessary appendage to that of a national Bank. Accordingly, Mr. Morris, in his capacity of superintendant of the finances, addressed a letter to congress, on the 15th of January 1782, “touching the establishment of a Mint.” On the 21st of the succeeding month, they approved his proposal,—directing him, at the same time, “to prepare and report to congress a plan:” But nothing further appears to have been done in this business, until the 16th of October 1786, when congress passed “An Ordinance for the establishment of the Mint of the United States,” &c.

About two years, however, after the commencement of the present federal government (viz. March 3. 1791,) a resolution of congress was passed, concerning the establishing of a Mint, under such regulations as should be directed by law. Previously to this, the late Alexander Hamilton, Esq. had communicated to the house of representatives, by their order, the result of his enquiries and reflexions on the subject, in a diffuse and masterly official report. In his report, this able financier, alike distinguished as a statesman and a soldier, remarked, that “the unequal values allowed in different parts of the Union to coins of the same intrinsic worth; the defective species of them, which embarrass the circulation of them in some of the states; and the dissimilarity in their several monies of account, are inconveniences, which if not to be ascribed to the want of a national coinage, will at least be most effectually remedied by the establishment of one; a measure that will at the same time give additional security against impositions, by counterfeit as well as by base currencies.”—“It was with great reason, therefore,” continues the Secretary, “that the attention of congress, under the late confederation, was repeatedly drawn to the establishment of a Mint; and it is with equal reason that the subject has been resumed; now that the favourable change which has taken place in the situation of public affairs, admits of its being carried into execution.”

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Footnote 276:

“The task of re-creating public credit,” (says Chief Justice Marshal, in his Life of Washington,) “of drawing order and arrangement from the chaotic confusion in which the finances of America were involved, and of devising means which should render the revenue productive, and commensurate with the demand, was justly classed among the most arduous of the duties which devolved on the new government. In discharging it, much aid was expected from the head of the treasury. To Colonel Hamilton was assigned this important, and at that time intricate department.

“This gentleman was a native of the island of St. Croix, and, at a very early period of life, had been placed by his friends in New-York. Possessing an ardent temper, he caught fire from the concussions of the moment, and with all the enthusiasm of youth, engaged first his pen, and afterwards his sword, in the stern contest between the American colenies and their parent state. Among the first troops raised by New-York was a corps of artillery, in which he was appointed a captain. Soon after the war was transferred to the Hudson, his superior endowments recommended him to the attention of the commander in chief, into whose family, before completing his twenty-first year, he was invited to enter. Equally brave and intelligent, he continued in this situation to display a degree of firmness and capacity which commanded the confidence and esteem of his general, and of the principal officers in the army.

“After the capitulation at York-Town, the war languished throughout the American continent, and the probability that its termination was approaching daily increased.

“The critical circumstances of the existing government rendered the events of the civil, more interesting than those of the military department, and Colonel Hamilton accepted a seat in the congress of the United States. In all the important acts of the day, he performed a conspicuous part, and was greatly distinguished among those distinguished characters whom the crisis had attracted to the councils of their country. He had afterwards been active in promoting those measures which led to the convention at Philadelphia, of which he was a member, and had greatly contributed to the adoption of the constitution by the state of New-York. In the distinguished part he had performed, both in the military and civil transactions of his country, he had acquired a great degree of well merited fame; and the frankness of his manners, the openness of his temper, the warmth of his feelings, and the sincerity of his heart, had secured him many valuable friends.

“To talents of the highest grade, he united a patient industry, not always the companion of genius, which fitted him in a peculiar manner for the difficulties to be encountered by the man who should be placed at the head of the American finances.”

The disastrous death of this celebrated man happened on the 12th day of July, 1804, at the age of about forty-seven years.

Footnote 276a: