Auction Name: 2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 47086

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47086

Declaration Signer Robert Morris Autograph Letter Signed. One page of a bifolium, 4 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches, [Philadelphia]; March 28, 1795. A letter from Morris to Philadelphia lawyer Edward Tilghman, regarding securities for a large tract of land in Washington. At the time, Morris was falling deeply in debt due to speculative land ventures made with his business partner, John Nicholson. The letter reads, in full:

"I have sent you Patents for 30,000 acres of the Washington Lands, they cannot be valued at this day at less than two Dollars p acre I think of these is a good House, a mill Sundry out Houses, 200 acres of meadow &c&c and settlements all round, so that I think it ample." Signed, "Robt Morris."

Below, he adds a telling postscript that hints at the precariousness of his finances: "P. S. If I should meet a purchaser or wish to change the security giving another equally satisfactory I expect to be indulged."

On the second page, Tilghman pens his own brief note stating his dissatisfaction with Morris's offer: "The within agreed to and upon Examination I am dissatisfied with the present Security it is to be increased." Signed, "Edwd Tilghman" and dated March 30, 1795.

Celebrated as the "financier of the American Revolution," Morris signed the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution, and had served as Superintendent of Finance from 1781 to 1784, laying the groundwork for the nation's financial system and recommending Alexander Hamilton for the Treasury post. By the mid-1790s, however, Morris was deeply entangled in land speculation. In partnership with John Nicholson, former Comptroller General of Pennsylvania, he helped form the North American Land Company in 1795. The venture collapsed within a year, and Morris was confined to a debtor's apartment from 1798 until his release in 1801 under the Bankruptcy Act of 1800. Nicholson himself died in debtors' prison in 1800.

Condition: Lightly toned with smoothed folds. Edges of page four reinforced with later paper.

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