This collection (10 items) is made up of correspondence and legal documents related to the Philadelphia merchant Robert Morris. The first item is a personal letter from Tadeusz Kościuszko, who expressed deep thanks for an unspecified favor (July 14, 1784). Five notarized protests (February 13, 1797-May 5, 1798) and one promissory note (December 10, 1794) pertain to John Nicholson, who failed to deliver on several promissory notes endorsed by Robert Morris. Morris wrote to Nicholson on July 5, 1799, discussing his frustration with a man named Ely ("if he continues obdurate, vengeance shall become the order of the day") and describing successful efforts to lessen the effects of a yellow fever outbreak. The final two items are accounts between Robert Morris and John Conrad Hottinger (December 1798) and a letter to Morris from Lovett Bell of Hyde County, North Carolina, who requested that Morris pay him the $500 he was owed (January 25, 1803).
Robert Morris was born in Liverpool, England, on January 20, 1734, the son of Robert Morris and Elizabeth Murphet. Morris immigrated to Maryland in 1747 and soon settled in Philadelphia, where he became a prosperous merchant. During the Revolutionary era, Morris was actively involved in the movement for independence; he was a member of the Second Continental Congress (1775-1778), a signer of the Declaration of Independence (1776), a member of the Pennsylvania assembly (1778-1781 and 1785-1787), the national superintendent of finance (1781-1784), and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention (1787). He served in the United States Senate from 1789-1795. Despite amassing great wealth during his career, Morris lost most of his assets in the mid-1790s, leading to his incarceration from 1798-1801. Morris and his wife, Mary White, married in 1769 and had seven children. Robert Morris died on May 8, 1806.
