Morris, Robert

Morris, Robert (1734–1806) preeminent Philadelphia merchant and revolutionary financier, born in Liverpool, England. His administrative and financial skills are considered to have been indispensable to military success in the Revolutionary War. Called the “financier of the Revolution,” Morris, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a shrewd entrepreneur who often disguised public ventures as private ones to facilitate secrecy and economy. From 1775 to 1778 he served in the Second Continental Congress, where he chaired the Secret Committee of Trade (Congress's war department) and managed international procurement and naval affairs. As superintendent of finance (1781–84) Morris raised money and supplies for the Yorktown (1781) campaign and then worked to reestablish public credit through such measures as founding the nation's first bank and settling the public debt.