AI Summary
5 min readRobert Morris was the richest man in America, and in 1798 he was sitting in a Philadelphia debtor's prison. He was 64 years old, locked up on Prune Street a few blocks from Independence Hall, because he could not pay what he owed. This was the man who financed the American Revolution, whose personal signature was worth more than the entire credit of the United States government during the war. And now he was bankrupt.
Ben Shapiro brings Morris back from the dead as the third and final founder in his series, after Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The argument is that Morris embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that made America possible—and that his story contains a diagnosis for what ails the country today. Morris was not a philosopher or a general. He was a businessman who made the single largest bet in American history: he wagered his entire fortune on the startup called the United States of America.
The Man Who Financed a Revolution
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What you'll learn
- 1 (03:37) **Robert Morris: The Forgotten Founder** - Ben Shapiro introduces Robert Morris, the man who financed the American Revolution, now sitting in a debtor's prison in 1798.
- 2 (06:05) **Morris's Rise: The First American Entrepreneur** - Morris's journey from a penniless English immigrant to the wealthiest man in colonial America.
- 3 (08:22) **The Reluctant Patriot's Bet** - Morris voted against independence on July 1, 1776, but signed the Declaration anyway.
- 4 (09:29) **Financing a Revolution from His Own Pocket** - The war was a financial catastrophe; Morris repeatedly stepped in with his personal credit.
- 5 (10:48) **Superintendent of Finance and the First Treasury Chief** - Morris took over the nation's finances in 1781, running it like a private firm.
- 6 (12:37) **The Yorktown Campaign: The Bet Pays Off** - In 1781, Morris raised $1.4 million on his personal credit to finance the decisive battle.
- 7 (14:04) **Building the Institution: The Bank of North America** - Morris realized a nation cannot run on one man's personal credit, so he created the first national bank.
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Show Notes
When the national debt passes $39 trillion and a political class treats borrowed money as free, America has forgotten what its most-forgotten Founder knew in his bones: freedom isn’t free. Robert Morris financed the Revolution, bet the largest fortune in America on a country that didn’t yet exist, and then paid his debts in prison instead of asking for a handout. While Morris once staked everything on America’s future, today we’re mortgaging our future to pay for our present.
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