Robert Morris

Robert Morris (1734–1806) is largely forgotten in the pantheon of Founding Fathers. Rappleye (Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution) restores him to his proper stature as significant and worthy of study. As one of Colonial America's most successful businessmen, Morris, a Liverpool native who came to America in his youth, was instrumental in adequately financing the American Revolution. Appointed superintendent of finance (1781–84), he used his skills and connections both to supply George Washington's armies and to keep creditors at bay. Tragically, he stretched his own credit to do so and began to invest in Western lands that landed him in debtor's prison. While the last major book on Morris, Clarence L. Ver Steeg's Robert Morris: Revolutionary Financier (1954), focused on Morris's years as superintendent of finance, Rappleye covers Morris's entire life. Yet he could have added more details on his subject's private life as well as his time as a Pennsylvania senator. Rappleye uses a wealth of primary material (endnotes to come, not seen) and provides a comprehensive bibliography and survey of the historical literature.