Beschreibung:

MORRIS, Robert (1734-1806), Signer (Pennsylvania) . Letter signed ("Rob tMorris") as Superintendant of Finance, to Signer William Whipple (1730-1785) of New Hampshire; Office of Finance [Philadelphia], 19 August 1783. 1 full page, 4to, slightly chipped along left-hand margin . MORRIS URGES WHIPPLE TO STAY THE COURSE AS PUBLIC RECEIVER. The U.S. Superintendant of Finance responds with candor to two recent communications from Whipple who sought to resign the post of Receiver of public funds for the state of New Hampshire (a post he had accepted in 1782 at the specific request of Morris). The job, Whipple found, was not only difficult but very unpopular. Morris--asserting that no one else could fill the post--pleads with Whipple to remain. He writes, "you repeat the desire formally expressed of quitting an Office neither the Powers nor the Emoluments of which can render it desirable. If from any such Circumstances a number of Competitors would appear I am well perswaded [ sic ] that you would never have accepted. Your original motives must continue to exist, until the Situation of our Affairs shall mend. Persist then I pray you in those Efforts which you promise me, and be perswaded [ sic ] that the Consciousness of having made them will be the best Reward. If this is not the Case, I have mistaken your Character..." While Morris had not been mistaken in his judgment of Whipple's unstinting support for the new nation's efforts to put its finances on a sound footing, the health of the aging New Hampshire patriot was in decline. While Whipple did continue in the thankless post of receiver for some months, in 1784 he had no choice but to step down. He continued to decline, was confined to his bed, and died in November 1785.