MORRIS, ROBERT (1734-1806), American financier, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Liverpool, England, on Jan. 31, 1734. He joined his father in America in 1747, entered a mercantile house, and in 1754 became a member of a prosperous firm in which he later became partner. In the Revolution Morris sided with the colonists, but associated him self with the conservative group of Pennsylvania Whigs rather than with the more radical faction represented by Thomas Paine. He was vice-president of the Pennsylvania committee of safety (1775-76), and a member of the Continental Congress (1775-78). At first he disapproved of the Declaration of Independence, but he joined the other members in signing it on Aug. 22. He re tired from Congress in 1778, and was at once sent to the legisla ture, serving in 1778-79 and in 1780-81. His greatest public service was the financing of the War of Independence. As chair man 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he practically controlled the financial operations of Congress from 1776 to 1778, and when the board system was superseded in 1781 by single-headed exec utive departments he was chosen superintendent of finance.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 agent of marine, and hence head of the Navy department. Through requisitions on the States and loans from the French, and in large measure through money ad vanced out of his own pocket or borrowed on his private credit, he furnished the means to transfer Washington's army from Dobbs Ferry to Yorktown (1781).
In 1781 he established in Philadelphia the Bank of North America, chartered first by Congress and later by Pennsylvania. A confusion of public and private accounts during the war, when his own credit surpassed that of the Government, gave rise to charges of dishonesty, of which he was acquitted by a vote of Congress. On the formation of the new Government he was of fered, but declined, the secretaryship of the Treasury, and urged Hamilton's appointment in his stead. As U.S. senator, 1789-95, he supported the Federalist policies and gave Hamilton consider able assistance in carrying out his financial plans. After the war he gradually disposed of his mercantile and banking interests and engaged extensively in western land speculation. The slow devel opment of this property, finally drove him into bankruptcy, and he was confined in a debtors' prison for more than three years (1798-1801). He died in Philadelphia on May 7, 1806.