---------- Robert Morris, Financier of the Revolution, Born January 31, 1734 Robert Morris was born in Liverpool, England, January 31, 1734, son of Robert Morris, a nail maker, and grandson of Andrew Morris, who was a seafearing man of the British Isles. Robert Morris, Sr., was the Maryland agent of a London tobacco firm. When Robert, Jr., was thirteen years old, his mother having died, he came to America, rejoined his father and was for a time under the tuition of a clergyman and then entered the mercantile firm of Charles and Thomas Willing. In 1750, Morris, the father, died leaving a small estate. When Robert, the son, reached the age of twenty-one, Charles Willing made him a partner in the business and turned over his own share to his son, Thomas. The firm of Willing & Morris became famous, and soon their trade was extended to Europe and the West Indies. Long before the battle drums of the Revolution were heard the two partners became wealthy men and were regarded as among the foremost people of the city. Willing and Morris were among the merchants who protested against the Stamp Act, and in 1766 Robert Morris was one of the Board of Port Wardens. As soon as the news of Lexington reached Philadelphia, the Assembly appointed a Committee of Safety. Robert Morris was a member and helped greatly to get powder and firearms, to organize troops and to fortify the Delaware. The Assembly elected him a member of the Continental Congress and his practical knowledge of ships made him a member of the Naval Committee and the first American Navy was soon launched. April, 1776, he was specially commissioned to suggest methods and provide plans for procuring money to prosecute the war. No other man in Congress, probably, could have succeeded so well, and he was not relieved from this task while the war lasted. However reluctantly he subscribed to the Declaration of Independence, when the crucial moment came he risked his fortune and faced beggary for his family and he looked at the gallows for himself as bravely as any of his contemporaries. Other Pennsylvanians who voted against it lost their places, but neither Pennsylvania nor the Colonies could spare Robert Morris. When Congress in a fright fled from Philadelphia to Baltimore, Morris, with two other men, was left in charge of its affairs and the defense of the capital of the infant republic. The two men who were to assist Morris failed to appear, but Morris stuck faithfully to his post, and he became really the ruler of the city.