Seth Kaller, Inc.

This bill of exchange on the French loan provided funds for George Washington to march his army to Yorktown in 1781 and keep the Continental Army in the field while peace negotiations were underway.

When Robert Morris became Superintendent of Finance in June 1781, public credit was on the verge of collapse and the Continental currency was “not worth a Continental.” Morris soon convinced Congress to establish the Bank of North America. to take deposits, make payments, borrow money, and issue government banknotes. In the meantime, Morris paid for supplies with “Morris notes,” and continued to back the bank with his own funds.

In August 1781, Morris had to tell General Washington and the Count de Rochambeau that Congress had no funds for their upcoming campaign. Washington requested that he send for Salomon, who, with the help of French loans, raised the needed money.

Robert Morris documents are common, but Haym Salomon’s are rare. Born into a Jewish family in Poland in 1740, Salomon learned Hebrew and several European languages, including Polish, English, French, Italian, and Russian, and much about trade and finance. He emigrated to New York City in 1775, supported the patriot cause, and became paymaster for the French forces in North America during the Revolution. As a broker, Salomon found purchasers for bills of exchange initiated by Robert Morris to procure supplies for the Continental Army. In 1781 and 1782, Salomon sold approximately $200,000 worth of bills of exchange, providing crucial funding for the American cause.

HAYM SALOMON. Signed Endorsement on verso of ROBERT MORRIS. Partially Printed Document Signed, Bill of Exchange to Haym Salomon, July 11, 1782, Philadelphia. In French. Ordering French banker Rodolphe-Ferdinand Grand to pay Salomon 4,500 livres tournois, the equivalent at the time of 4.5 oz. of silver. Also endorsed on verso by Smith & Tilton, Henry Cock, and Samuel Inglis & Company. 2 pp., 10¼ x 4 in.

Inventory #27439       Price: $36,000

Historical Background
Robert Morris convinced Congress to establish the Bank of North America to take government deposits, provide loans to the government, and issue banknotes for the government. Before the bank opened in Philadelphia in January 1782, Morris paid for supplies with “Morris notes,” backed by his own promise to pay.[1]

On July 3, 1782, Morris wrote to Grand, enclosing a list of the bills of exchange numbered 146 to 176, totaling 241,976 livres tournois. At the time, a tournois equaled 4.5 grams of fine silver.

Morris continued, “You will be pleased to honor these Bills punctually on Account of the United States of North America.”[2] The bill offered here, No. 189, was issued eight days later. On the same day, July 11, Morris wrote in his diary, “I sent for Solomon the Broker to consult with him on the ways and means of raising Money to answer the present Demands of the public and to provide for the first of August.”[3]

On the following day, Morris wrote, “Haym Solomon came respecting Bills &c. This Broker has been usefull to the public Interest and requests leave to Publish himself as Broker to this Office to which I have Consented as I do not see that any Disadvantage can possibly arise to the public service but the Reverse and he expects individual Benefits therefrom.”[4]

The Bank of North America, which Morris had helped establish, depended upon Morris's own private fortune and loans from abroad. Although it took years for the nation’s economy to recover from the Revolutionary War, the Bank of North America and other financial advances Morris set in motion enabled the fledgling country to endure.

The British army of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis had arrived in Yorktown, Virginia, in May 1781. By July, facing the Marquis de Lafayette’s much smaller force of Continental Army and Virginia militia, Cornwallis was preparing fortifications and a port at Yorktown. On August 31, 1781, General George Washington and Count de Rochambeau met with Morris about their need for funding for the Yorktown Campaign, including transportation of the main Continental army, which was already underway, from New York to Virginia. Morris turned to Haym Salomon to successfully raise the necessary funds through the sale of French bills of exchange.

After a French fleet defeated an attempted British relief mission in the Battle of the Capes early in September, the combined American and French forces surrounded the British Army at Yorktown, leading to the surrender of Cornwallis on October 19, 1781.

Haym Salomon (1740-1785) was born into a Jewish family in Poland. He learned about finance, trade and languages, and immigrated to New York City in 1750. He became a broker for merchants and a supporter of the Patriot cause. The British arrested him as a spy in September 1776. He was detained for 18 months and impressed to serve as an interpreter for Hessian soldiers. While doing so, he encouraged several to desert; he also helped some American prisoners escape and helped feed American captives. Arrested again in 1778, Salomon was sentenced to death for spying. He escaped from occupied New York and made his way to Philadelphia, where he resumed his activities as a broker, serving as agent for the French consul and paymaster for French forces in North America. Like Morris, he used his own funds to keep the American cause afloat. He died suddenly, in poverty, in January 1785.

Salomon was a member of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia and contributed to the construction of its main building. He died suddenly, in poverty, in January 1785 in Philadelphia.[5]

A U.S. postage stamp was issued to honor Salomon in 1975, captioning an image of Salomon, “Financial Hero.” The verso, the glue side, says: “Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse.” The most current scholarship shows that to be an overstatement based on a campaign started by his son Haym M. Salomon in the early 18^th century. Congressional committees reported favorably on claims for compensation, but it was never provided. In 1893, the House came close to ordering a gold medal to recognize Salomon’s services in exchange for his heirs waiving their claims.[6] He did in fact prove his bravery, support the Patriot cause, and provide funds by successfully marketing French loan bills of exchange at a crucial moment, but there is no evidence that he was ever wealthy enough to use his own funds to support the army, as Robert Morris had done. Still, Salomon is justly famous as an important Jewish patriot during the Revolutionary War.

Robert Morris (1734-1806) was born in Liverpool and immigrated to Maryland at the age of 13. His father later sent him to Philadelphia to study, and in 1757, he became a partner in a banking and shipping firm, which lasted until 1779. He opposed the motion for independence and abstained in the final vote, but after it passed, signed the Declaration of Independence. He chaired the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress, signed the Articles of Confederation in 1778, and in 1781, was appointed as Superintendent of Finance of the United States, a position he held until 1784. When purchasing supplies for the Continental Army with government funds. Morris often pledged his personal credit to support the contracts. He also ended the wasteful practice of allowing states to supply actual goods rather than funds, resources that often spoiled before they could be delivered to the army.[7] At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Morris nominated George Washington as its president and signed the new constitution. Washington wanted to appoint Morris as Secretary of the Treasury, but Morris declined, suggesting Alexander Hamilton. Morris served as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1789 to 1795. Deeply engaged in land speculation, he bought millions of acres in western New York, from Massachusetts, in 1791. This landed him in debtors’ prison for more than three years (1798-1801). After Congress passed bankruptcy legislation, he reached a settlement with his creditors

William Bingham (1752-1804) was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the College of Philadelphia in 1768. He served as a commercial agent for Congress in Martinique during the early years of the Revolutionary War. After his return in 1780, he unsuccessfully sought the positions of Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1781 and member of Congress in 1782. In October 1782, he established the firm of Bingham, Inglis & Gilmor with Samuel Inglis and Baltimore merchant Robert Gilmor Sr. (1748-1822), who would serve as the partnership’s agent in Amsterdam to carry on a trade there in staples from Virginia and Maryland. Bingham left for England in May 1783 to reestablish commercial relations with English companies, but four months later, Inglis died, dissolving the partnership. Bingham contacted Gilmor, and they continued in partnership under the firm name of Robert Gilmor & Company, which persisted until 1799. When Bingham returned in 1786, he was elected to represent Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress (1786-1788). He supported the new constitution and served as a Federalist in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1790-1793), Pennsylvania Senate (1794-1795), and United States Senate (1795-1801), where he briefly served as president pro tem for four and a half months in 1797. Near the end of the Revolutionary War, he was considered to be the richest man in the United States. He purchased lands in upstate New York (where Binghamton is named for him) and two million acres in Maine. He also commissioned Gilbert Stuart in 1796 to paint a life-size portrait of George Washington as a gift for former British Prime Minister William Petty, 1^st Marquess of Landsdowne. Stuart ultimately painted the original and three copies of the Landsdowne portrait, which are now held by the National Portrait Gallery, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, and the White House (rescued by First Lady Dolley Madison during the War of 1812).

Samuel Inglis (1745-1783) was born in Philadelphia and became a merchant in Norfolk, Virginia, where his firm Inglis and Willing represented the Philadelphia firm of Willing, Morris & Company. They were large tobacco buyers and land speculators and engaged in trade with the West Indies. He was also a friend of George Washington while living in Virginia. After the Revolutionary War began, Inglis moved to Philadelphia and entered a partnership with Thomas Willing and Robert Morris. In 1780, he subscribed £2,000 to the new Bank of North America, founded by Robert Morris to supply the American army, and became one of its first directors. Between 1779 and 1781, Inglis and his partner George Orr outfitted eight privateers. He died suddenly in September 1783.

Condition: Some chipping at edges, with minor loss to end of Morris’s title; minor staining at side and bottom edges; expected folds. A comparatively fine and strong Salomon signature.