Charles Brown
>>> "Michael Hoover" <hoov at freenet.tlh.fl.us> 07/23/99 05:34PM >>>
> Question #4 asks, "Who was the richest man in America at the time of the
> Revolution? Answer, George Washington.
> I very seriously doubt that Washington was the richest man in America at
> the time of the Revolution
> Tom Lehman
while I generally think above question has little utility, I've read accounts indicating that GW was reputed to be the wealthiest man at the time...if memory serves, Beard has him as a leading owner of public securities, land speculator, slave owner, money lender at interest, and partner in various commercial ventures...raised in a gentry family, GM profited economically from relations with the family Fairfax that resulted in vast western (Ohio River) land holdings for him, his Mt. Vernon estate inheritance of about 2000 acres increased to about 8000 acres during his lifetime, and he married a wealthy widow...
he was probably 'cash poor' for a time during and after the revolution, but he was among the biggest beneficiaries of Art. 6 in the 1787 that made essentially worthless securities profitable as Confederation debts were made valid and then paid in full by the new gov't...the biggest beneficiary, and likely wealthiest person in the country in the late 1780s was financier/speculator Robert Morris...gee, ya think the likes of Morris/Washington at the 1787 constitutional convention and the above provision is coincidence?...
John Hancock was also one of several wealthiest men at the time of revolution, having inherited the largest estate in Massachusetts...a portion of his extensive mercantile concerns explains his signature on the Dec. of Ind. - he was a smuggler of controlled substances, he imported tea and refused to pay the tax...
the second biggest financier/speculator behind Morris in the late 1780s & early 1790s was probably Willam Duer (New Yorker who was Sec. of Treasury under Hamilton during Washington's first term)... he was imprisoned (and died there, I think) for his involvement in financial scandals that led to 'self-policing' by Wall Street in order to stave off gov't regulation... Michael Hoover