Okla-homey
1/7/2007, 09:23 AM
...and if you needed cash, you borrowed it from your family and friends. :eek:
Jan 7, 1782 : First commercial bank opens for business
Precisely 225 years ago, on this day in 1782, the Bank of North America threw open its doors for business, making it the nation's first commercial bank. Based in Philadelphia, the bank was the brainchild of Robert Morris.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/9790/2004004357943619795_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004004357943619795)
The American financier and politician Robert Morris.
Morris' greatest public service was the financing of the Revolution. As chairman or member of various committees he practically controlled the financial operations of Congress from 1776 to 1778, and when the board system was superseded in 1781 by single-headed executive departments, he was chosen Superintendent of Finance.
With the able co-operation of his assistant, Gouverneur Morris -- who was in no way related to him -- he filled this position with great efficiency during the trying years from 1781 to 1784. For the same period he was also head of the Navy department.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/10290/2004003028275467928_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004003028275467928)
Gouverneur Morris -- no relation to Robert
In the final year of the Revolution, Morris pulled off a financial miracle. Congress was essentially broke, yet it needed funds to transport and supply the Continental Army to its rendevouz with destiny at Yorktown VA where Cornwallis and his redcoat army were situated in a tactically vulnerable position.
Through requisitions on the states and loans from the French, and in large measure through money advanced out of his own pocket or borrowed on his private credit (which was actually rated higher than that of the United States,) he furnished the means to move George Washington's Continental Army from its location at Dobbs Ferry, NY to Yorktown VA and to supply it in its final, decisive campaign against Lord Cornwallis.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/10523/2004054022737710708_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004054022737710708)
Armies need beans, bullets and transport to remain in the field. Without Robert Morris' able financial efforts, this British surrender at Yorktown would not have occurred.
After playing a role in the 1787 drafting of the Constitution, Morris served as Pennsylvania's first senator to the United States Congress, focusing primarily on trade and commerce. With his usual energy, he served on forty-one committees, writing committee reports on fifteen.
In the midst of all these activities Morris found time to serve as a trustee of the Academy and College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) from 1778 until 1791.
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/8672/2004096078360424019_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004096078360424019)
Another image of Robert Morris
After the war Morris gradually disposed of his mercantile and banking interests and engaged extensively in western land speculation. At one time or another he owned wholly or in major part nearly the entire western half of New York state, two million acres in Georgia and about one million each in Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina.
The slow development of this property, the failure of a London bank in which he had funds invested, the construction of a palatial residence in Philadelphia, and the dishonesty of one of his partners, finally drove him into bankruptcy, and he was confined in a debtors' prison for more than three years (1798-1801.) He died broke in Philadelphia on the 7th of May 1806.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/8250/2004044077065832509_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004044077065832509)
Bank of North America on Chestnut Strret in Philadelphia
Morris' "Bank of North America" that opened on this day in 1782 enjoyed initial success, but Philadelphia's run as America's leading home of private financial institutions was short-lived. Soon after the Bank of North America opened, the Pennsylvania legislature moved to outlaw private banks in the state, a decision that led scores of prospective bankers to set up shop in the nation's eventual financial center, New York City.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/9303/2004050463728355392_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004050463728355392)
To learn more about our "Financial Founding Fathers," check out this book.
Jan 7, 1782 : First commercial bank opens for business
Precisely 225 years ago, on this day in 1782, the Bank of North America threw open its doors for business, making it the nation's first commercial bank. Based in Philadelphia, the bank was the brainchild of Robert Morris.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/9790/2004004357943619795_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004004357943619795)
The American financier and politician Robert Morris.
Morris' greatest public service was the financing of the Revolution. As chairman or member of various committees he practically controlled the financial operations of Congress from 1776 to 1778, and when the board system was superseded in 1781 by single-headed executive departments, he was chosen Superintendent of Finance.
With the able co-operation of his assistant, Gouverneur Morris -- who was in no way related to him -- he filled this position with great efficiency during the trying years from 1781 to 1784. For the same period he was also head of the Navy department.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/10290/2004003028275467928_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004003028275467928)
Gouverneur Morris -- no relation to Robert
In the final year of the Revolution, Morris pulled off a financial miracle. Congress was essentially broke, yet it needed funds to transport and supply the Continental Army to its rendevouz with destiny at Yorktown VA where Cornwallis and his redcoat army were situated in a tactically vulnerable position.
Through requisitions on the states and loans from the French, and in large measure through money advanced out of his own pocket or borrowed on his private credit (which was actually rated higher than that of the United States,) he furnished the means to move George Washington's Continental Army from its location at Dobbs Ferry, NY to Yorktown VA and to supply it in its final, decisive campaign against Lord Cornwallis.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/10523/2004054022737710708_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004054022737710708)
Armies need beans, bullets and transport to remain in the field. Without Robert Morris' able financial efforts, this British surrender at Yorktown would not have occurred.
After playing a role in the 1787 drafting of the Constitution, Morris served as Pennsylvania's first senator to the United States Congress, focusing primarily on trade and commerce. With his usual energy, he served on forty-one committees, writing committee reports on fifteen.
In the midst of all these activities Morris found time to serve as a trustee of the Academy and College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) from 1778 until 1791.
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/8672/2004096078360424019_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004096078360424019)
Another image of Robert Morris
After the war Morris gradually disposed of his mercantile and banking interests and engaged extensively in western land speculation. At one time or another he owned wholly or in major part nearly the entire western half of New York state, two million acres in Georgia and about one million each in Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina.
The slow development of this property, the failure of a London bank in which he had funds invested, the construction of a palatial residence in Philadelphia, and the dishonesty of one of his partners, finally drove him into bankruptcy, and he was confined in a debtors' prison for more than three years (1798-1801.) He died broke in Philadelphia on the 7th of May 1806.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/8250/2004044077065832509_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004044077065832509)
Bank of North America on Chestnut Strret in Philadelphia
Morris' "Bank of North America" that opened on this day in 1782 enjoyed initial success, but Philadelphia's run as America's leading home of private financial institutions was short-lived. Soon after the Bank of North America opened, the Pennsylvania legislature moved to outlaw private banks in the state, a decision that led scores of prospective bankers to set up shop in the nation's eventual financial center, New York City.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/9303/2004050463728355392_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004050463728355392)
To learn more about our "Financial Founding Fathers," check out this book.