1From George Washington to Colonel John Cadwalader, 11 December 1776 (Washington Papers)
, 4:300–301, 6:946–47, 11:484). In 1780 Nixon became a director of the newly formed Bank of Pennsylvania. He was named a director of the Bank of North America in 1784 and its president in 1792.
2To George Washington from Robert Morris, 31 January 1777 (Washington Papers)
...and may be depended on,” writes Morris, who together with Nesbitt and others financed the outfitting of several privateers (Morris to Silas Deane, 31 Jan. 1777, ibid., 176–79). Nesbitt served as director of the Bank of North America from 1781 to 1792 and as the first president of the Insurance Company of North America from 1792 to 1796. He visited GW at Mount Vernon in September 1788 (see
3To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 22 May 1777 (Washington Papers)
...of American privateers to prey on British shipping in the West Indies. Bingham returned to Philadelphia in the spring of 1779. He became a founder of the Bank of Pennsylvania in 1780 and a director and stockholder of the Bank of North America in 1781. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788, and he was a U.S. senator from 1795 to 1801.
4To George Washington from Major General Nathanael Greene, 28 November 1777 (Washington Papers)
...to funds for the cause of the Colonists,” and as of 1775 a colonel of one of the Pennsylvania Associated Battalions raised in the Philadelphia area. After the Revolutionary War, Francis served as the first cashier of the Bank of North America.
...Samuel Meredith (1741–1817). Meredith was an active Patriot, serving three terms in the Pennsylvania Assembly and rising to the rank of brigadier general in the Pennsylvania militia. After the Revolution he served as a director of the Bank of North America and as the first U.S. treasurer
6To George Washington from Philip Schuyler, 18 June 1780 (Washington Papers)
Lewis, Bank of North America
7To George Washington from George Clymer and John Nixon, 21 August 1780 (Washington Papers)
: Bank of North America.
8To Alexander Hamilton from Robert Morris, 26 May 1781 (Hamilton Papers)
Congress approved Morris’s plan for a bank (Bank of North America) on the same day that Morris wrote this letter (
9To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton, 6 July 1781 (Madison Papers)
Robert Morris’ plan for the Bank of North America, laid before Congress on 21 May, had been accepted five days later. A roll-call vote appears to have been recorded only on the paragraph of the plan providing for the incorporation of the bank by Congress. On...
10To John Jay from Robert Morris, 13 July 1781 (Jay Papers)
...a loan from Spain to the governor of Cuba, Juan Manuel de Cagigal. Rendón also informed Gálvez that Morris had asked Cagigal to advance $400,000 in specie (the total amount needed for the initial capitalization of the Bank of North America) by accepting bills of exchange on Versailles and Madrid, and that Morris and La Luzerne had guaranteed prompt payment of the bills. See
11To John Jay from Robert Morris, 15 August 1781 (Jay Papers)
in order to acquire specie to help capitalize the planned Bank of North America. Should Spanish officials at Havana decline to advance funds, Morris added, the bills could serve as collateral for loans to be reimbursed with flour shipments from the United States to Cuba.
12From Benjamin Franklin to Richard and Sarah Bache, 5 November 1781 (Franklin Papers)
A share in the Bank of North America cost $400 (specie) or slightly less than £100:
13Report on Instructions on Peace Negotiations, [7 January 1782] (Madison Papers)
...with Great Britain must acknowledge the “right” of American and French citizens, under the terms of the Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1778, to use the offshore fishing banks of North America. On the other hand, in spite of JM’s opposition, Congress left the matter of western boundaries largely to the discretion of the American peace commissioners, as guided by the French...
14Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, 8 January 1782 (Madison Papers)
...of 8 January 1782, addressed to the executive of each state and enclosing a copy of the ordinance of 31 December 1781, incorporating the “Subscribers to the Bank of North America,” Robert Morris enthusiastically pointed out the vital services which the institution, if “conducted on the principles of equity, justice, prudence and economy,” could render to the United States, each state, and...
15From James Madison to Edmund Pendleton, 8 January 1782 (Madison Papers)
. According to Articles XI and XII of the plan for the Bank of North America, Robert Morris as superintendent of finance was authorized “at all times, to examine into the affairs of the Bank, and for that purpose shall have access to all the books and papers.” On every day except Sundays...
16To John Adams from Benjamin Guild, 18 January 1782 (Adams Papers)
The Bank of North America was incorporated on 31 Dec. 1781 (
17To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton, 28 January 1782 (Madison Papers)
and in Henkels Catalogue have “resource.” Pendleton probably intended to write “recourse.” For the background of his observations about the Bank of North America, see ...ratify the ordinance establishing the Bank, I believe state banks will be necessary in the future, and hence I cannot support the request of Congress that each state grant to the Bank of North America a banking monopoly as...
18Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, 19 March 1782 (Madison Papers)
, XXI, 1090–92, 1112). Viewing taxes in kind as “vicious,” he aimed to make the notes of the Bank of North America and the notes issued under his own signature (“Morris notes”) a “national” currency and to oblige every state to pay its financial quotas in those media or in specie rather than in “specifics” or in its...
19To John Jay from the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston), 27 April 1782 (Jay Papers)
, above, in which the Spanish minister responded to Robert Morris’s appeal for a substantial loan to capitalize the Bank of North America.
20From John Jay to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston), 28 April 1782 (Jay Papers)
Although adapted to Spanish conditions and reflecting English and Dutch banking practices, Cabarrús’s plan for the bank and procedures for establishing it bore many similarities to the Bank of Pennsylvania of 1780 and the Bank of North America of 1781, information on which had been forwarded to French and Spanish officials. See
21From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 9 July 1782 (Madison Papers)
The Bank of North America announced in the
22To Alexander Hamilton from Robert Morris, 19 July 1782 (Hamilton Papers)
In the absence of other currency, Morris supplemented the notes of the Bank of North America with his own notes. Issued in anticipation of the future collections of taxes in the states, they usually were drawn to the order of John Swanwick. See
23To John Adams from Samuel Cooper, 22 July 1782 (Adams Papers)
, 2:287). Ivers served until his death in 1787. For Robert Morris’ establishment of the Bank of North America, which was formally incorporated on 31 Dec. 1781, see vol. 12:
24From James Madison to Edmund Randolph, 30 July 1782 (Madison Papers)
...posts until his straitened finances necessitated his return home. His subsequent efforts to secure a federal appointment were unsuccessful. For at least two years before his death in Philadelphia from yellow fever he was an assistant cashier of the Bank of North America (Hersch L. Zitt, “David Salisbury Franks, Revolutionary Patriot [c. 1740–1793],”
25To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton, 19 August 1782 (Madison Papers)
That is, a note issued by the Bank of North America in Philadelphia (
26To Benjamin Franklin from Sarah Bache, 7 January 1783 (Franklin Papers)
Anne Willing Francis (1733–1812) was the wife of Tench Francis, Jr., a merchant serving as first cashier of the Bank of North America ( , 324n). According to their brother Thomas Willing, first president of the Bank of North America, Dolly died in Glasgow, Scotland, having left her London home to visit her daughter.
27Report on Address to the States by Congress, [25 April] 1783 (Madison Papers)
premium, and some of those “bonds,” including the loan-office certificates, were a part of the capital of the Bank of North America and of other private companies (
28To Benjamin Franklin from Robert R. Livingston, 25 May 1783 (Franklin Papers)
...his mission to Martinique, Bingham married Anne Willing and immersed himself in the political, financial, and social life of Philadelphia. He was a founder and director of the Bank of North America, formed two lucrative commercial ventures (a mercantile house with a branch in Amsterdam and a land-grant partnership in New York), speculated successfully in the money market, and helped finance...
29Notes on Debates, 19 June 1783 (Madison Papers)
; for the Bank of North America,
30Notes on Debates, 21 June 1783 (Madison Papers)
...three days earlier, reflected not only the accumulating evidence of the determination of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council to refrain from employing force, but also the rumor current that afternoon of an imminent attack by the mutineers upon the Bank of North America. At the same time this rumor finally induced the Executive Council to take immediate steps for calling out the militia (
31Benjamin Harrison to Virginia Delegates, 12 July 1783 (Madison Papers)
of 12 July. That issue includes a copy of Elias Boudinot’s proclamation of 24 June 1783. For the Bank of North America, located in Philadelphia, see
32From Alexander Hamilton to John Dickinson, [25–30 September 1783] (Hamilton Papers)
When the Supreme Executive Council learned, on June 24, that the soldiers were planning an attack on the Bank of North America, it ordered that a guard be placed there. On June 25, fearing that the mutinous troops would engage in violence, the Council finally ordered the state militia into service.
33To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 26 November 1783 (Hamilton Papers)
The Bank of North America, approved by Congress in 1781, opened its doors in January, 1782. A private bank under governmental auspices, the Bank of North America had a capitalization of $400,000 subscribed in shares of $400 in gold or silver. It was managed by twelve directors who annually selected from among their number a president. In the election one share equalled one vote...
34From Alexander Hamilton to John Chaloner, [11 December 1783] (Hamilton Papers)
The Bank of North America in Philadelphia, which Congress had chartered on December 3, 1781 (
35To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, [18] December 1783 (Hamilton Papers)
The president of the Bank of North America, Thomas Willing.H was the legal representative of John Carter (John B. Church). The shares to which Chaloner refers were shares of stock of the Bank of North America owned by Church.
36Abigail Adams to John Adams, 27 December 1783 (Adams Papers)
’s uncle, Isaac Smith Sr., wrote to Thomas Willing, president of the Bank of North America in Philadelphia, the nation’s first bank, asking for information on how to start and run a bank. Willing’s reply of 6 Jan. 1784 encouraged the six to seek legal incorporation, and on 7 Feb. the...
37To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 21 January 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
The president of the Bank of North America was Thomas Willing. that in order to receive the dividend on the shares of stock owned by John Carter (John B. Church) in the Bank of North America. H had to submit a power of attorney.
38To John Adams from Wilhem & Jan Willink, Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst, and De la Lande & Fynje, 31 January 1784 (Adams Papers)
This is a reference to the Bank of North America established by Robert Morris at Philadelphia in 1781. There were numerous instances of counterfeiting during this period, but there is no indication that the bank stopped payment on its bank notes as a consequence (
39John Adams to Wilhem & Jan Willink, Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst, and De la Lande & Fynje, 1 February 1784 (Adams Papers)
For the query regarding the Bank of North America and counterfeiting, see the consortium’s
40To Alexander Hamilton from John B. Church, 7 February 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Church is referring to the proposed plan for increasing the stock of the Bank of North America by the sale of additional shares of stock. See
41To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 12 February 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Thomas Willing, president of the Bank of North America.The newly formed Bank of Pennsylvania and the Bank of North America.
42From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, 21 February 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
H is referring to the attempt to create a rival—the Bank of Pennsylvania—to the Bank of North America.
43From Alexander Hamilton to John B. Church, 10 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
The Bank of North America.
44To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 16 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
), the Bank of North America altered its original plan to issue 1,000 shares of stock by enlarging the issue to 4,000 shares. As the enlarged stock issue made it possible for them to share in the profits of an established institution, the...
45From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [21 March 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
, IX, 399, give Thomas FitzSimons, a director of the Bank of North America, as the recipient of this letter. It was addressed to Gouverneur Morris, for on the lower left-hand margin of the MS are the initials “G.M.” in H’s writing. The same or a similar...
46To Alexander Hamilton from John Chaloner, 25 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
James Wilson, a Philadelphia lawyer, was at this time a member of the Continental Congress and a director of the Bank of North America.
47To Alexander Hamilton from William Seton, 27 March 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
I find he is the Leading Man in the Direction of the Bank of North America abstracted from its connection with the State, which part of its business I have no need to pry into....had several Interviews with our friend Govr: Morris; he is for making the Bank of New York a Branch of the Bank of North America, but we differ widely in our Ideas of the benefits that would result from such a...
48From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, [7 April 1784] (Hamilton Papers)
The Bank of North America had prevented the creation of a rival institution, the Bank of Pennsylvania, by enlarging its capital stock to allow the participation of many of the promoters of the rival bank in the Bank of North America.
49To Alexander Hamilton from John B. Church, 2 May 1784 (Hamilton Papers)
Church is referring to the attempt by a group of Philadelphia merchants to create the Bank of Pennsylvania as a rival to the Bank of North America. See
50II. On Finance, 4 May 1784 (Jefferson Papers)
second paper on the Bank of North America had been similarly “approved by Mr. Robert Morris, minister of finance.” The editors are indebted to Miss Katharine S. Pearce of the staff of the Princeton University Library for translating this and other memoranda in Dutch in...