MORRIS, ROBERT, 1734-1806, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (Pennsylvania) . Autograph letter signed ("Rob Morris") to a business partner, John Nicholson [Philadelphia], 12 June 1799. 1 page, 4to, 245 x 200mm. (9 5/8 x 7 7/8 in.), integral blank with Nicholson's docket, ink somewhat feathery due to overly absorbant paper. THE "FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION" IN DEBTOR'S PRISON, WHERE HE HAS "LEARN[ED] HOW TO ESTIMATE LIBERTY" An amusingly sarcastic letter: "...I marvel that you suffer the Frenchman's report about Greenleaf to make any impression on you knowing as you do, what a braggadocia that little squinting Yankey is, however we will put the Washington [D.C.] property out of his reach if it be not so already. I cannot see Mr. Gibson any more than yourself. I wrote to him...to know if the business with Mr. Moylan, Hallowell & Ross was done (he had undertaken it) he sent word...he would call...& yesterday...he sent an apology...& said some difficulty had arisen... since which I have neither seen Mr. Gibson or heard more. They think little of imprisonment but if they should be sent here (which God forbid) they would learn how to estimate liberty, until this business is finished I cannot move in any other matter towards getting out, as all without this would be nothing..." Morris was arrested at the behest of his creditors in 1798 after suffering severe losses from his speculations, often on credit, on lands in the newly opened territories in the west. Morris, who had done much to establish the new nation's finances during the Revolution, remained in prison until 1801 and, upon his release, lived as a pauper, "a nearly forgotten and much pitied man."
MORRIS, ROBERT, 1734-1806, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (Pennsylvania) . Autograph letter signed ("Rob Morris") to a business partner, John Nicholson [Philadelphia], 12 June 1799. 1 page, 4to, 245 x 200mm. (9 5/8 x 7 7/8 in.), integral blank with Nicholson's docket, ink somewhat feathery due to overly absorbant paper. THE "FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION" IN DEBTOR'S PRISON, WHERE HE HAS "LEARN[ED] HOW TO ESTIMATE LIBERTY" An amusingly sarcastic letter: "...I marvel that you suffer the Frenchman's report about Greenleaf to make any impression on you knowing as you do, what a braggadocia that little squinting Yankey is, however we will put the Washington [D.C.] property out of his reach if it be not so already. I cannot see Mr. Gibson any more than yourself. I wrote to him...to know if the business with Mr. Moylan, Hallowell & Ross was done (he had undertaken it) he sent word...he would call...& yesterday...he sent an apology...& said some difficulty had arisen... since which I have neither seen Mr. Gibson or heard more. They think little of imprisonment but if they should be sent here (which God forbid) they would learn how to estimate liberty, until this business is finished I cannot move in any other matter towards getting out, as all without this would be nothing..." Morris was arrested at the behest of his creditors in 1798 after suffering severe losses from his speculations, often on credit, on lands in the newly opened territories in the west. Morris, who had done much to establish the new nation's finances during the Revolution, remained in prison until 1801 and, upon his release, lived as a pauper, "a nearly forgotten and much pitied man."
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
