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| Stephen Girard |
Stephen Girard: You asked me about a
man I knew only slightly - Robert Morris although we share some common traits.
We both moved to America from abroad and found a different but satisfying life
— he from England and I from France. Neither he nor I benefited from a formal
education. I suppose we were too eager to start our businesses. Mr. Morris
was from Lancashire, England, so naturally he spoke good English. I, on the
other hand, manage to write correctly but I still have trouble speaking. My
accent is very pronounced.
Martin Bickman: Mr. Morris died
recently and I’ve heard that he had lost most of his wealth.
Girard: He died on May 9th
of this year. He was about fourteen years my senior, While I was still
struggling with maritime trade, he had already established himself. The year
before I landed in Philadelphia, Mr. Morris was a Delegate to the Continental
Congress. The following year he was appointed Special Commissioner of Finance.
All together his life of public service has been rather remarkable. Although I
met the man once and have no personal connection to him, I have great respect
for him. Morris was a successful merchant and financier who was placed in charge
of the Secret Committee of Congress, which controlled all foreign trade and
imported munitions and supplies.
Bickman: I read in the newspaper that
he was the richest man in America during the Revolutionary War. Had it not been
for his generosity, George Washington would never have had enough money to pay
the militias. His generosity is like your own.
Girard: I certainly don’t consider
myself generous. I’ve given money to build churches, not out of religious
conviction but to make the city more beautiful. I have not supported any war
effort in this country that I can remember and I’m not a banker.
Bickman: Mr. Girard, can you imagine
anyone giving $10,000 of his own money to the government to provision the
troops with food and clothing so that they could go on and win the Battle of
Trenton?
Girard: I suppose the similarities with
Mr. Morris can end there. I’ve been called a skinflint by the employees in my
counting house. But I may grow more expansive in time.
Bickman: You have always been generous
to my sister and me, inviting me to live in your home and teaching me the
business of trade.
Aside from risking his life during several
epidemics of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in the 1790s by personally attending to
the afflicted, Stephen Girard put his entire fortune into the hands of the US
Treasury so that the United States could do battle again with Great Britain in
the War of 1812 thereby winning the international respect that America had earned.
In 1781, Robert Morris devised a plan for a
National Bank and submitted it to Congress. It was approved and became The Bank
of North America, an institution that brought stability to the post-colonial
economy and would ultimately establish the credit of the United States with
the nations of Europe. Morris was immediately appointed Financial Agent
(Secretary of Treasury) of the United States, in order to direct the operation
of the new bank.
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