Tom Lehman
Charles Brown wrote:
> Since Washington was a big land owner, his legendary occupation as a surveyor makes sense. It is sort of the Yurtle the Turtle phenomenon. He was lord of all that he could see.
>
> 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
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