Robert Morris
Financier of the American Revolution who became one of Pennsylvania's first two United States senators.
Overview
Morris signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. As Superintendent of Finance from 1781 to 1784 he kept the Revolution solvent, personally backing key loans and founding the Bank of North America, the first chartered bank in the United States. He served as senator from Pennsylvania from 1789 to 1795, supporting the new fiscal system he had helped inspire. Land speculation later ruined him, and he spent three years in debtor's prison, a startling reversal for the man once called the financier of the Revolution.
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