GWYNEDD MERCY UNIVERSITY

JAMES WILSON: FALLEN FOUNDING FATHER

A SENIOR THESIS SUBMITTED TO DR. WAYNE HUSS

THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF HUMANITIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

BY

JOHN KLOSS

GWYNEDD VALLEY, PENNSYLVANIA

JANUARY 12, 2015

Introduction

Scottish immigrant James Wilson’s political involvement in the creation of the United

States propelled him into a lofty group of men known as the Founding Fathers; although not

officially charged with breaking any federal or state laws, he became involved in uncontrolled

land speculation and unethical acts against Revolutionary War veterans, which ultimately led to

his downfall. James Wilson’s life began in the lowlands of Scotland in 1742. He moved to

America in 1765 and quickly adopted this country as his own. Wilson published “Consideration

on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament” in 1774. He

quickly rose to prominence after being elected to represent Cumberland County in the Provincial

Conventions of 1774 and 1775, eventually becoming a member of the elite club of six Founding

Fathers who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. He

wrote the legal argument for Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris’s proposed Bank of North

America and presented it to the Continental Congress. Elected to the American Philosophical

Society in 1786, he was appointed by President George Washington as an associate justice of the

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first United States Supreme Court in 1789 and became the first professor of law at the College of

Philadelphia (later known as the University of Pennsylvania) in 1790.

One cool day in October of 1906 during a speech dedicating the new state capital

building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, President Theodore Roosevelt roared the name of James

Wilson. Over 100 years earlier, in 1798 Wilson had died near a farm in Edenton, North

Carolina, where he had gone to escape a land speculation scandal that had erupted in

Philadelphia.

Praising Wilson as “one of Pennsylvania’s greatest sons” who had been “singularly

overlooked for many years,”1 President Roosevelt single-handedly revived the questionable

legacy of one of America’s greatest men. He compared Wilson’s faith in the people to that of

Lincoln’s, revering Wilson’s nationalism and belief in a strong federal government. Roosevelt

congratulated the efforts of Pennsylvania Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker and the people of

Pennsylvania for their pursuit of returning Wilson’s body, which had been languishing

approximately 350 miles away in a grave in North Carolina, back to Pennsylvania soil where it

belonged.

In fact, that plan came to fruition when the substantial marble memorial tablet was set in

place over the new gravesite of James Wilson at Christ Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

during the ceremonial proceedings of November 22, 1906. Since then, millions of visitors to

Christ Church have passed his gravesite each year and read the inscription set there for all

posterity.

1 Theodore Roosevelt, “Address at the New State Capital Building at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.” Theodore Roosevelt Center, Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library, http://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-library/Records/PrintAll.aspx?liblD=o285204. (accessed October 13, 2014).

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Even to this day, James Wilson, despite the help and hype of one of the United States’

greatest presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, is still virtually unknown. Maybe it was the land

speculation scandal at the end of his life that marred his legacy. But why, in particular, did it

affect him? Many of the Founding Fathers were involved in land speculation, including

Washington, Hamilton, and Franklin. An outstanding example is George Washington. He was

actually one of the wealthiest American presidents of all time in a large measure because of his

ownership of land.

The difference was that James Wilson, like fellow Founding Father and financier Robert

Morris, took it to the extreme. Wilson was unable to control his addiction and went beyond

reason when land ownership became an obsession with him, and he made poor judgments in

investments. Land ownership became a game to him, and the contest was who was going to die

with the most land. Greed overwhelmed him, and it took everything he possessed. Both James

Wilson and Robert Morris ended up in debtors prison, nearly penniless. They both paid the price

for excessive land speculation: it damaged their reputations, which lost them the respect of the

nation both during their lifetimes and in the years that followed, transforming them into the

forgotten Founding Fathers.

The circumstances surrounding Wilson’s death also raise questions. Did he run to far

away North Carolina to escape the scandal, or did he have a more permanent solution to his

financial complications in mind? His second wife was still in her 20s when he was almost 56.

Not a soul in Edenton except a handful of acquaintances could identify him. Why did his family

in Philadelphia not ask to have his body returned for a funeral in Pennsylvania or try to retrieve it

in later years? Why did his young widow show up in Philadelphia with an unknown stranger as

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her new husband just a few months after Wilson’s “death” and announce that they would be

moving to Great Britain?

Did James Wilson commit unethical acts? Unfortunately, research has found several facts

that cannot be overlooked. Except for the allegations of the Yazoo incident, it must be stated

clearly that he was not officially charged with breaking any federal or state law. While it is true

that unfortunate circumstances (i.e., the fires of 1800 and 1814 at the War Department in

Washington D.C.) destroyed some pertinent records, there is still enough surviving evidence to

make a determination as to whether or not he was actually guilty. The circumstantial evidence is

overwhelming, yet since time and providence have destroyed so many relevant facts and

eyewitnesses, the object of this paper is only historical and not criminal in nature.

This paper is important because some evidence has been uncovered that was not

previously known which will rewrite the true story of James Wilson. His untimely death quieted

the accusations of the 1790’s and perhaps prevented a timely resolution of the issues. The time

has come to reopen this matter and attempt to ascertain once and for all whether or not James

Wilson was falsely accused.

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Chapter 1

The Early Years

When one examines all the accomplishments of James Wilson during the Revolutionary

and Federalist Eras, one has to ask, why is he not better remembered? He represented

Pennsylvania as a Delegate to the Continental Congress and was one of only six Founding

Fathers who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. He

joined with Madison in urging that the proposed constitution be presented to popularly elected

conventions in each state and was one of the original justices appointed by George Washington

to the Supreme Court of the United States. Wilson was the key figure at Pennsylvania’s United

States Constitution Ratification Convention; the Pennsylvania State Constitution of 1790 was

primarily Wilson’s effort.

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Wilson was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1742, one of seven children and the first son of

William Wilson and Alison Lansdale Wilson. After completing an elementary education in a

neighborhood school, he attended the University of St. Andrews for five years. His father, a

devoutly-religious farmer of the Scottish lowlands, insisted James study divinity and become a

Calvinistic Scottish Presbyterian minister. The death of his father allowed James to change his

course of study to a new educational pursuit. Scotland was in the midst of the Enlightenment,

and James Wilson was soon studying the works of Enlightenment theorists Francis Hutcheson,

David Hume, Thomas Reid, and Adam Smith. The Wilson family later made a collective

decision that James should interrupt his education and become a wage earner. He took a job as

tutor in a “gentleman’s family” for a year while his sisters secured marriage prospects and his

brothers also found jobs to support the family. Wilson moved to Edinburgh in the spring of 1765

and took a course in bookkeeping from Thomas Young. Wilson found accounting as undesirable

a career as tutoring. He yearned to move to America where he could find better opportunities.

Two factors helped him make a radical decision: his Enlightenment background, which

made him feel restricted in Scotland, and the fact that his cousin and childhood friend, Robert

Annan, had already left for America. In the summer of 1765 Wilson left Scotland bound for

America. The family in Scotland quickly sent out word to their clan members of Annans,

Balfours, Lansdales, and Wilsons of James’s plan and alerted his cousin, Robert Annan, who was

a landowner at Marsh Creek, Pennsylvania, that James was headed there. Most of Wilson’s

friends and relatives who had traveled to America were located in Pennsylvania.

To sail to America in the 1760s would cost at least £20. Wilson would also need luggage,

clothing, and funds to carry him over until he secured employment.2 Wilson’s family contributed

2 C.P. Smith, James Wilson: Founding Father, 1742-1798. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956), 20.

6

some of the money needed for his voyage to America; his brother William signed notes to cover

the rest.

Wilson landed in New York in the fall of 1765. He quickly trekked to Philadelphia and

contacted Reverend William Smith, provost, and Benjamin Franklin, cofounder, of the College

of Philadelphia to secure a tutoring position. With his educational background from Scotland, he

was among the most educated of men in America. Wilson worked at the college as a tutor until

1766. He was rewarded for his labors when, on May 29, 1766, the college bestowed on him an

honorary master’s degree.3

After receiving his honorary degree, Wilson applied to study law under John Dickinson;

but the fee was more than Wilson could pay. His friend and cousin, Robert Annan, helped him

out by offering to sell Wilson some of his farmland for £500 in return for a promissory note.4

Wilson could then sell the property to John Dickinson, pay his fee, and support himself with the

balance. John Dickinson agreed to the proposal of Annan and Wilson, and Wilson started his

apprenticeship.

The energetic Wilson could not have picked a better moment in history or a better

mentor. Almost everyone in the colonies was disapproving of the new Stamp Act of 1765 just

passed by the Grenville ministry. Dickinson got into the fray by publishing his famous Farmer’s

Letters against the Townshend Acts of 1767, which Wilson must have surely read. One of

Wilson’s apprentice successors complained that he had been forced to write out copies of the

letters for Dickinson.5 Wilson himself took painstaking legal notes on every legal term and

definition possible during his apprenticeship. It was a monumental task.6

3 Ibid., 22.4 Ibid., 24.5 Ibid., 24.6 These notes can be found in the Wilson Papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

7

In 1767, by mutual agreement, Dickinson and Wilson decided that Wilson’s course of

study was complete; and Wilson moved to Reading to start his law practice. Dickinson had just

become well known from the publication of his Farmer’s Letters7 in the Pennsylvania Chronicle.

This may have inspired Wilson to write his notable pamphlet entitled, “Considerations on the

Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament,” in which he clearly

explained in legal terms his belief that the British Parliament had no legal authority to tax the

colonies. He cited cases in both Ireland and Jamaica where the British judicial system had ruled

that those two entities should not fall under the jurisdiction of British Parliamentary authority

because they did not have actual representation in the body. This idea of “no taxation without

representation” first appeared in the American colonies when Wilson wrote the pamphlet in

1768; however, Wilson did not choose to publish this pamphlet until 1774. Wilson’s concept was

conceived six years prior to the phrase becoming popular in the colonies.

Wilson met Rachel Bird in the Carlisle area during his work within the circuit courts.

Her family estate was located in Birdsboro, Berks County. By December 1770, Wilson had been

courting Rachel to no avail; she kept insisting they could only be good friends. Finally, she

consented to his proposal of marriage; and the wedding was set for the forthcoming fall. Because

of this good news, Wilson purchased a house and lot in Carlisle on the corner of Penn and

Hanover Streets. James Wilson and Rachel Bird were married November 5, 1771 in St. Gabriel’s

Episcopal Church in Birdsboro.

Wilson was fortunate to be working the circuit of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He

met Benjamin Chew, the King’s attorney in the colonies; Joseph Galloway, Quaker lawyer and

7 Dickinson, John. Farmer’s Letters. Pennsylvania Chronicle, 1767-1768.

8

legislator; and John Morris, a prominent lawyer in Philadelphia. He also kept in contact with his

mentor, John Dickinson.

There was a meeting set by Patriots for May 20, 1774 in Philadelphia at City Tavern to

decide what action should be taken to support their associates in Massachusetts. Thomas Mifflin,

a future major general and quartermaster general in the Revolutionary War; Charles Thomson,

Patriot and secretary of the Continental Congress (1774-1789); and Joseph Reed, military officer

and statesmen, rode out to convince John Dickinson to attend, knowing with his political power,

he could sway people to their cause. Dickinson’s presence at the meeting gained them the

support they needed. A mass meeting was then called for on June 18th to be presided over by

Thomas Willing, twice mayor of colonial Philadelphia and partner of Robert Morris, and John

Dickinson. At this meeting, the Boston Port Act was declared unconstitutional; and a committee

of correspondence was formed with John Dickinson as chairman. The hope was for an election

of delegates to be held for an assembly of a Continental Congress. This set the stage for Wilson’s

rise in the world of colonial politics.

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Chapter 2

The Patriot

In 1774 the entire colony of Pennsylvania was preparing to respond to the events

occurring in Massachusetts. Messages of instructions went out to county lawyers. These men

formed committees of correspondence that took control of the militia units fashioned to protect

the communities from Indians. In Carlisle the meeting was set for July 12th. The first resolution

called for a congress of deputies from all the colonies to arrange common action; the second was

to create a policy for non-importation from Great Britain. The committee in Cumberland County

elected James Wilson, John Armstrong, John Montgomery, William Irvine, Ephraim Blaine, and

Robert Magaw to represent the county. They, in turn, elected James Wilson, Robert Magaw, and

William Irvine as deputies to go to Philadelphia to meet the other deputies from around

Pennsylvania and prepare for the General Congress.

10

The delegates of the Provincial Convention, including James Wilson, were to assemble at

Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 15, 1774. The delegates prepared a set of

resolutions to appoint representatives from all the colonies to a Continental Congress. After

returning to Cumberland County, Wilson was soon chosen again to attend the next provincial

convention in Philadelphia on January 23, 1775. The main purpose of the convention was to deal

with trade restrictions with England and to pave the way for the Second Continental Congress.

Wilson delivered several speeches at the convention justifying the cause of the colonies and

ostracizing the tyrannies of Great Britain.

The Second Continental Congress began in May 1775. Wilson quickly had to put both his

personal and public affairs in Cumberland County together in order to attend. Just a month prior,

in April 1775, military conflict had broken out between Great Britain and the colonies at

Lexington and Concord. James Wilson was soon to be on a committee whose first priority was to

respond to the Massachusetts letter pleading for support and military help from the other

colonies. On June 24th the news of the colonist’s defeat at Bunker and Breed’s Hills reached

Philadelphia. The colonists were saddened by the defeat but encouraged by the news of heavy

British losses. Wilson, along with James Duane, Philip Schuyler, Philip Livingston, and Patrick

Henry, formed the Committee on Indian Affairs, which had the covert mission to increase

colonial military power. 8 By recommendation of the committee, the colonies were broken down

into three departments: northern, middle, and southern. Wilson also served on the Board of War.

The Pennsylvania delegates to the Second Continental Congress were receiving

instructions from the Pennsylvania Assembly. From strong Quaker backing in the assembly, the

instruction of November 9, 1775 to the Pennsylvania delegates in Congress was, “We strictly

enjoin you, in behalf of this Colony, to dissent from, and utterly reject any proposition, should

8 Ibid., 67.

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such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from our Mother Country, or a change in

the form of this Government.”9 Both John Dickinson and Thomas Willing backed this position

while George Bryan and Benjamin Franklin were in favor of Congress pressing for independence

from Great Britain. In the middle were the moderates: James Wilson, George Clymer, and

George Ross. Wilson was torn between his old teacher, Dickinson, and his newly-found friend of

the revolution underway, John Adams. Wilson was also torn between his obligations as a

representative of the people and his own convictions, so he called for a vote of delay of the

preamble motion of the Congress that was to be the opening for an outright Declaration of

Independence. On June 7th Richard Henry Lee proposed a resolution for independence. The

Pennsylvania delegates voted against the motion, and asked for additional instructions for

authorization “to concur with the other Delegates in Congress in forming such further compacts

between the United Colonies, concluding such treaties with foreign Kingdoms and States, and in

adopting such other measures as shall be judged necessary for promoting the liberty, safety, and

interests of America.”10 The Pennsylvania Assembly formed the Provincial Conference between

June 18th and the 25th, 1776 to deal with the fast-moving deliberations in Philadelphia and to

direct their delegates. When Congress met on July 2, 1776, Robert Morris and Dickinson did not

take their seats for the vote. As a result, Wilson, Franklin, and Morton carried Pennsylvania for

independence against Thomas Willing and Charles Humphreys. James Wilson’s experience at

the Continental Congress gave him the opportunity to work with Robert Morris, and they

established a strong friendship.

When General Howe and the British occupied Philadelphia as of September 26, 1777,

Wilson as well as many other Patriots left the city. Before Wilson was to finalize the purchase of

9 Ibid., 78.10 Ibid., 85.

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a property in Maryland, General Clinton, Howe’s successor, evacuated Philadelphia on June 18,

1778. Wilson then sold his property in Carlisle at the end of June 1778 and moved to

Philadelphia. On the second of July 1778, Congress returned from its exile in York.

After the British occupation, Philadelphia was in shambles. This did not sit well with the

returning Patriots, and the Patriot populace was out for blood. It even affected many Quakers

who had tried to remain neutral during the occupation. Some of the Tories had been friends with

Wilson and other Patriot leaders, and Wilson defended several of these men when they were

accused of treason. His experience during these trials as a defense lawyer helped him write the

constitutional law on treason. Wilson’s experience with the laws of treason and spies could be

traced back to when he was appointed, along with John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John

Rutledge, and Robert Livingston to the Committee on Spies.

Wilson’s defense of the Tories almost cost him his life. By the fall of 1779, Philadelphia

was ripe for mob violence. On Monday October 4, a handbill calling for the militia to round up

all the Tories and “drive off from the city all disaffected persons and those who support

them….”11 was circulating. A crowd gathered at Burn’s Tavern on Tenth Street between Race

and Vine Streets; and when Charles Willson Peale, one of the radical leaders, arrived, the crowd

called out “Get Wilson.” The alarm went out, and many friends rushed to James Wilson’s

defense. They arrived at Wilson’s home at Third and Walnut Streets just before the vengeful

militia marched down Walnut Street to end up in front of Wilson’s home, thereafter known as

“Fort Wilson.” Many strong words were exchanged between the occupants of the house and the

mob outside. Some reports stated that one of Wilson’s supporters, Captain Campbell, was in a

third story window of the Wilson house making demands of the mob when shots rang out. There

is no record of who fired the first shot; but after the mob and militia were initially repelled, a

11 Ibid., 133.

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cannon was brought by the mob to a position within firing range of Wilson’s house. Joseph

Reed, President of the Supreme Executive Council, rode in with a detachment of cavalry and

drove off the attackers. In the end, six to seven people had been killed, including Captain

Campbell, and up to nineteen had been wounded. James Wilson, with friend and fellow

Founding Father Robert Morris, escaped without a scratch.

James Wilson’s next major project was to help Robert Morris establish the Bank of

North America in 1781. Wilson was instrumental in creating the legal arguments Morris needed

to gain congressional approval under the Articles of Confederation. Wilson himself went before

the Continental Congress, as Alexander Hamilton would later go before the United States

Congress, to argue the constitutionality of forming a bank. Wilson subsequently became a

subscriber, member of the board of trustees, and attorney of the Bank of North America.

Perhaps this is why Wilson had a copy of a published newspaper article along with a

handwritten, original copy of the article, signed by Alexander Hamilton, concerning the First

Bank of the United States, which Hamilton had proposed before Congress during George

Washington’s first term as president. The article was Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton’s reply

to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who opposed the concept of the bank. 12

As soon as the Revolutionary War came to a close with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, large

parcels of land became available in the West. As provided in the treaty, the original thirteen

colonies were expanded west of the Appalachians to include everything east of the Mississippi

River, including land in dispute along the Gulf of Mexico that was still claimed by Spain, but

excluding most of what is now Florida, which was owned by Spain. This addition more than

doubled the size of the United States. One of Wilson’s ventures was the Illinois-Wabash

12 Ibid., 158. The newspaper article and handwritten copy were found next to each other in Wilson’s papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. A more surprising revelation is that a handwritten copy of Wilson’s plan for the Bank of North America lies among the Hamilton papers in the Library of Congress.

14

Company, which bought and sold large packages of land for profit. Upon the death of its

president, George Ross, in 1780, Wilson, an investor, was named to succeed him. In the summer

of 1783, Wilson, in partnership with his brother-in-law Mark Bird, started a new venture in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania, called the Delaware Works, which was an iron furnace and forge.

To expand the forge business, Wilson began to speculate heavily in land to create investment

capital.13 He did this because land in the early 1780s was increasing very rapidly in value.

Wilson wrote:

In the United States, there is an immense Quantity of Land, rich, well-situated, and in a salubrious Climate. This Land lies useless and unimproved from the Want of Labour and Capital and Stock. In Europe there is an Abundance of Labour and Capital and Stock; but rich and well-situated land cannot be obtained, unless at a very high Price. A Plan by which the surplus Labor and Stock and Capital of Europe would be employed on the unimproved Lands of the United States, must be eminently advantageous to both.14

Wilson believed that the opportunity to own land in the United States would become a

magnet to Europeans. Wilson wanted to be the person who cornered the market and sold the land

to the immigrants who would come from Europe.

After the Revolutionary War, it soon became apparent that the Articles of Confederation

were not effective. Money was scarce or nonexistent, and many people within and outside the

government saw the problems caused when the states refused to pay their fair share of the past

and future expenses of the new country. Leaders like Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Jay, John

Adams, and Wilson knew something had to be done. The first attempts to correct the problems

were the Mount Vernon Convention of 1785 and the Annapolis Convention in 1786. The only

thing they produced was a general consensus to call a new general assembly to make changes to

the Articles of Confederation. The delegates who attended, mainly Hamilton and Madison, knew

13 Ibid., 160.14 Ibid., 166.

15

the only way to draw more support was to have George Washington become president of the new

assembly set to convene in May 1787 in Philadelphia. Hamilton convinced Washington to

attend, and on May 13th, General Washington arrived.

The first plans brought forth were James Madison’s Virginia Plan, which favored large

states, and William Paterson’s New Jersey Plan, which favored small states. Eventually, after

much debate, the Connecticut Compromise settled the dispute. The Articles of Confederation

were repealed, and a new Federal Constitution was approved. James Wilson made 168 speeches

in support of one strong national government.15 He also was instrumental as a delegate to the

Pennsylvania State Ratifying Convention in successfully leading the Federalist efforts to ratify

the Constitution.

At this point, Wilson’s efforts and accomplishments on behalf of the new country had

propelled him into the group of notable men considered by many to be the country’s Founding

Fathers. From his position of authority, Wilson now pursued his vision of American expansion

by acquiring land to sell to European immigrants.

15 Jack R. Stanfield, America’s Founding Fathers: Who Are They? Thumbnail Sketches of 164 Patriots. (Boca Raton: Universal Publishers, 2001), 111. An early draft of the United States Constitution written in his own hand can be found in the Wilson Papers.

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Chapter 3

Land Speculation: An Addiction

Land speculation was not an uncommon practice in the American colonies or in the

newly formed United States. Many of the Founding Fathers from Wilson’s generation had

speculated on undeveloped land in America. George Washington, Patrick Henry, Robert Morris,

Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, and many others were involved.

However, the few who, like Wilson, had invested all their resources in land to the point where it

became an uncontrolled addiction paid dearly. The problem developed when large purchases of

land were made by Americans on credit and the steady stream of land-purchasing immigrants

suddenly decreased because of the demand for men to fight the European wars. The European

men were now being conscripted to serve in the armies of Europe, making them unable to travel

to and buy land in America. This created a cash flow problem for the speculators because the

downturn in prospective land purchasers was not conducive to their growth plan. The speculators

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had purchased lands with small down payments; hefty balances were due at a later time. To

make a profit, speculators needed to sell their lands before the balances were due and then

reinvest their land profit in more land in a similar manner. This, in effect, was a colonial pyramid

scheme. When the buyer pool dried up, a cash flow problem ensued. The recession of 1796-97

only added to the problem of the land speculators’ access to credit despite their mounting debt.

Meanwhile, the Continental Congress had experienced a financial crisis from the very

beginning, which resulted in a lack of funds available to pay for the Revolutionary War.

However, the Continental Congress did come up with creative ideas to pay the Continental

Army, to entice enlistment, and to prevent desertions and resignations.

On August 26, 1776, the Continental Congress enacted the first pension legislation. This

law stipulated half-pay for officers and enlisted men who had become disabled in the service of

the United States and were incapable of earning a living. Eligibility continued for the duration of

the disability.16

On May 15, 1778, additional benefits were added to the Pension Act of 1776.

These included half-pay for seven years after the conclusion of the war to all military officers

and an $80 bonus for enlisted men who had remained in service to the end of the war. On August

24, 1780, widows and orphans of soldiers who qualified were added to the pension plans.17

On September 29, 1789 (1 Stat. 95), the First United States Congress expanded the above

acts to include invalid persons.18 Congress authorized bounty-land warrants for military service

in the Revolutionary War under the Acts of 1788, 1803, and 1806.19

16 National Archives and Records Administration.” Bounty-Land Warrants for Military Service, 1775-1855.”, 1.17 Ibid., 1.18 Ibid., 2.19 Ibid., 1. All surviving bounty-land claims have been combined with other Revolutionary War pension files at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

18

The government had plenty of land and very little cash from the beginning of the

Revolutionary War to the end of the century. The colonies, through Great Brittan, had acquired

western land from the defeated French in the Seven Years War; the United States, through the

Treaty of Paris 1783, had acquired the land east of the Mississippi River to the Appalachians or

the previous western boundary of the original colonies north to Canada. Florida was still in the

possession of Spain and continued west by a small portion of land to the Mississippi River;

however, the northern boundary was in dispute. The Treaty of Paris more that doubled the size of

the original territory of the colonies. Most of the land acquired in the Seven Years War was still

state land, and most of the states ceded their western lands to the federal government after the

ratification of the Constitution in1788.

Lack of cash was a problem for Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris (1781-1784)

and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1789-1795). Bounty-land warrants became a

way for both the Continental Congress and the newly formed federal government of the United

States to pay officers and enlisted men for their services in place of cash and lump sum pension

payments.

A state with available land awarded property in exchange for military service to soldiers

who had served in that state’s regiments. Georgia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and

South Carolina awarded land inside the state. Virginia awarded land in modern-day Kentucky,

Ohio, and Indiana. Massachusetts gave away land in Maine until 1835, and North Carolina gave

away land in Tennessee until 1797.

Veterans had to apply in writing to state governments up to 1788 and to the federal

government thereafter for land warrants. They had to include a letter from a higher up officer

confirming service dates, rank, military unit, that the person was who he said he was, condition

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of the discharge, and other information important to a successful application. Some soldiers

banded together and hired a lawyer to apply for them; some contacted a United States senator or

representative to apply on their behalf; prior to 1788, applications were handled at the state level.

After 1788, a land warrant was issued and the surveying records documented, a Federal

Land Patent was issued that officially transferred the land title from the federal government to

the individual. In addition to verifying the land transfer, the patent included information to

associate an individual (patentee, assignee, warrantee, widow, or heir) with a specific location

and time of transfer. Prior to the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, land

warrants and patents were issued at the state level under the Articles of Confederation.

Even when all these precautions and procedures involving written applications as

described above were in place, fraudulent dealings abounded. In the State of North Carolina, an

investigation was made on September 29, 1785 of Benjamin Sheppard, the paymaster for the 10th

Regiment of North Carolina, who was involved in what was called the Glasgow Land Fraud

investigation. Twenty-seven of fifty-one warrants in the investigation were assigned to Benjamin

Sheppard, and he was found guilty of counterfeiting and misrepresenting information to make it

personally beneficial to himself. Seventeen of the warrants involved deserters, forged records, or

other irregularities.20 It was clear that the temptation to make a quick fortune was too great for

the weak of spirit. Sheppard was declared unworthy to hold military office but was not punished

severely because the trail of corruption led all the way up to the North Carolina secretary of state,

James Glasgow. The trial and investigation extended several years after the incident and included

many other conspirators.

20 North Carolina. “Rev War Land Warrants- September 29, 1785- Wm. Fairchild”. 1-4. http://danielhaston.com/daniel/Sept-29-1785-Wmfairchild.html

20

It was not a secret that speculators were buying up lands from Continental soldiers;

prominent officials were writing letters to the War Department as early as 1785. In a letter dated

April 24, 1785 from Elbridge Gerry, a representative to the Confederation Congress, to Timothy

Pickering, quartermaster general, and his assistant, Samuel Hodgddon, Gerry writes that he has

been approached by a mutual friend, who was an army general, with the opportunity to purchase

land for an investment. He advised them that land formerly selling for £2 per acre was now

selling for £6 per acre and, from what he had heard, land would soon be at ten times its value. He

was concerned that the price was going up too rapidly and that land prices would soon fall

because the speculators were driving prices up above actual value. Clearly, top-level people were

aware of the practice.

Among the ranks of land speculators were many of the Founding Fathers, including

Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, and Wilson. The difference was that Wilson’s approach and

position set him apart from the others. Wilson’s land speculation set up a conflict of interest with

his position as associate justice.

When taking into consideration how much pay a soldier would have expected versus how

much land he actually received, the value differs greatly. Under the Articles of Confederation,

the states were responsible for paying the army. Pay and compensation varied widely from state

to state and from regiment to regiment. Gross pay for the rank of private in the British Army was

eight pence a day. The army immediately took out two pence for off-reckoning to compensate

for supplies the army provided to the soldier, like clothing and sustenance. Then there were other

deductions, like haircuts, laundry, etc., that the soldier could subtract as he needed the service.

The Continental soldiers were compensated based on the British system; but, to complicate the

matter, some states paid in pounds and some paid in dollars. The British monetary system was

21

based on a penny. Twelve pence comprised one shilling; twenty shillings, a pound; and twenty-

one shillings, a guinea.21

Various documents that still survive provide information about Continental soldier pay. A

letter dated March 1, 1780 in Morristown, New Jersey, from Paymaster John Pierce to Paymaster

Joseph Clay, states that Pierce has enclosed $276 to Brigadier General Hand of the 13th Virginia

Regiment to be dispersed to Privates Martin Medder and William Earles for pay and sustenance

from May 1, 1778 to November 1, 1779. That amounts to $138 each for eighteen months of

service, the equivalent of $92 per year.22

Another example is from a document from Connecticut dated October 24, 1783 called an

“Order to Pay.” “Please to secure to Ozias Hanford the Payment of Eleven pounds five shillings

and ten pence-being the Balance found due to him for Service in the Continental Army, in 1789

Agreeable to Act of Assembly- and Charge of State… signed John Lawrence, Esq.; Treasurer.”23

Using the conversion chart, £11, 5 shillings and 10 pence pay for three years is equivalent to

£3.76 a year. The calculation for 6 pence a day amounts to 6 x 365 days = 2,190 pence a year

divided by 240 equals £9.125 a year. The Pay Order stated the “balance du,” so there may have

been a prior payment or off-reckoning and private deductions to make up the difference.

The last example is from the State of South Carolina dated March 23, 1785. The sum of

$33.30 was paid to Edward Floyd for services over two years in the Continental Army.

That amounts to approximately $17 per year.24

21 Douglas R. Cubbison. “Eight Pence a Day.” Sons of the American Revolution (2007), http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/eightpence.html (accessed July 3, 2014).22 W.T.R Saffell. Records of the Revolutionary War, United States: Heritage Books Inc, 2009.23 Connecticut. “Order of Pay,” October 24, 1783. http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/138161724 South Carolina. “Order of Pay,” March 23, 1785. http://fineartamerica.com/featured/continental-army- pay-granger.html

22

The only conclusion that can be drawn from these examples is that the pay varied from

state to state, and the amounts were not above $92 per year. Depending on the time of the

payment, pay orders in some states in the later years of the war included compensation for

Continental Dollar inflation as well as interest.

To put the value of land warrants in perspective to actual pay, an article from the

government archives states, “Isaac Rice, living in Connecticut in 1786, sold nine acres of land…

for the meager sum of £15,”25 which is £1.66 per acre. That is a little low for the going price of

£2 per acre stated previously in the Gerry letter of 1785. The going rate for a private’s

compensation was 100 acres; at £2 an acre, that would amount to £200. Comparing this sum to

the Order to Pay example in Connecticut of £11, 5 shillings and 10 pence, £200 is substantially

more; however, the soldiers did not actually get that much for the land when they sold it. The

average compensation for a Continental foot soldier in 1780 was about $29 per year, or $58 for

two years.26

At this point Wilson got involved in a situation that made him overstep his bounds. After

the Revolutionary War, the Treaty of Paris ceded Florida back to its previous owner, Spain.

There was a large tract of land east of the Mississippi River and north as far as the Yazoo River

still disputed between Spain, the United States, and the Indians. The Washington Administration

was negotiating with all parties to resolve the dispute. By 1787 Georgia and North Carolina were

the only states that had not ceded their western lands to the federal government. Despite

negotiations and Native American internal disputes, Georgia established Bourbon County, which

encompassed a large tract of land near present-day Natchez on the Mississippi River.

25 Chambers, Thomas A. “A Soldier of the Revolution.” United States Archives. 2010. 7. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/fall/rice.html26 War and Military Records. America’s First Soldiers. 2014. 6-7. http:/militaryhistorynow.com/2014/07/04/america-first-soldiers-12-amazing-facts-about-the- continental-army/

23

Georgia attempted to sell some of their western land to the United States for $172.428,

but Congress responded with the condition of “all or nothing.” Subsequently, Georgia decided to

sell a large area of land near the Yazoo River to the lowest bidder under the First Yazoo Act.

Out-of-state land speculators formed three separate companies: The South Carolina Yazoo Land

Company, Tennessee Land Company, and Virginia Yazoo Land Company, in order to buy and

sell this land for a quick profit. In response, the Georgia Yazoo Company was formed to keep the

land within the state.27 All four entities petitioned their bids to the Georgia Legislature, which

ignored the three-times higher Georgia Yazoo Company bid and officiated an act of law

awarding the land to the next highest bidder on December 21, 1789 despite allegations of fraud.

The dispute went on for years, and on January 22, 1796, the Georgia legislative committee

charged with investigating the Yazoo Act reported, “they are compelled to declare, that the

fraud, corruption, and collusion by which the said act was obtained, and the unconstitutionality

of the same….”28 Because of this finding, a Rescinding Act was passed on February 13, 1796.

Notably, one of the persons mentioned in the corruption allegations was James Wilson, who had

allegedly persuaded many members of the Georgia Legislature to lend their votes and support

and had aggressively sought to win votes for the land sale by unethical means as revealed by the

testimony to the committee.

From here it was all downhill for Wilson. Creditors and allegations followed him

everywhere, and there was talk of his impeachment from the Supreme Court. Wilson fled to

New Jersey, but in 1797 the authorities caught up with him and had him imprisoned in

Burlington, New Jersey. His son Bird Wilson somehow found enough money to clear Wilson for

bail, and Wilson fled south. He still owed Pierce Butler $197,000, and Butler’s agents caught up

27 Rawlings, William. “The Great Yazoo Fraud.” Georgia Backroads (2009), 28 Ibid., 60.

24

with him and had him jailed once more in 1798. Again, Wilson’s son bailed him out; but in July

1798, Wilson caught malaria in Edenton. After his young wife joined him, he was declared dead

on August 21,1798.

After Wilson’s declared death, in 1936, an article by Elizabeth Henderson “The

Northwestern Lands of Pennsylvania, 1790-1812,”29 claims that Wilson circumvented the intent

of the law by taking out land warrants under “fictitious names.” As she could not produce any

proof, her claim may not be credible.

Dodging creditors and accusation of fraud and unethical acts, Wilson died before any

charges were filed against him. While the validity of these allegations were never proved, the

shadow of wrongdoing has clung to his name for centuries, and he hardly was remembered as a

Founding Father. Wilson’s death may have served to prevent a timely determination in his case;

however, new evidence has recently come to light which may reveal the truth to us now.

29 Henderson,Elizabeth. “The Northwestern Lands of Pennsylvania,1790-1812”, (1936)

25

Chapter 4

The Chew Papers

Benjamin Chew (November 19, 1722 - January 20, 1810) was a prominent Philadelphia

lawyer and the fifth generation of a Quaker American family. He was the Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania and thus served as head of the Pennsylvania

judiciary system, both as a colony and a Commonwealth under the United States Constitution.

During the Battle of Germantown, just after to the British occupation of Philadelphia, the Chew

family home, Cliveden, was occupied by British forces and became the strategic position to deter

Washington’s last attempt to protect Philadelphia from the British. The Chew family was briefly

26

suspected of having Tory ties, but these charges were dropped. The Chew family was close

friends with the Washingtons and the Wilsons.

Why, then, were 70 of James Wilson’s land deeds found among the Chew family

papers? These papers were found in alphabetical order by the seller’s last name, unlike the deeds

found in James Wilson’s papers, which were randomly grouped. Were the deeds found in the

Chew family papers grouped in alphabetical order by a Chew family member or by Wilson?

Could Wilson himself have arranged these particular deeds in alphabetical order because he was

working from government documents that were organized the same way? Most importantly,

these deeds, which had been removed from Wilson’s papers, are new evidence which may

provide the answer to accusation of unethical acts which have followed James Wilson even to

this day. This research paper concentrated on this sampling of these deeds because they were not

found among the several hundred deeds in the Wilson Papers.

A list of the land deeds by seller’s names found in the Chew family papers can be found

in Appendix A. The transactions were recorded on April 19, 1796, the date when James Wilson

took possession of these lands from the people listed. The main question is, were these lands

formerly in the possession of Continental soldiers obtained from land warrants issued by the

federal government as pay for services rendered during the Revolutionary War?

Some of the deeds found in the Wilson Papers involved transactions that were prior to

the known land warrant period, and some groups of deeds yielded only a small return of

Continental soldier confirmations. However, for this paper, the research focused on the people

named on the Wilson land deeds found among the Chew Family Papers (see Appendix A). These

names were searched in Heritage Quest Online, which is a record of surviving government

documents from the War Department for Continental soldiers. It is important to note that the War

27

Department suffered two significant fires, one in 1800 and a another during the War of 1812,

when the British occupying forces set ablaze several buildings in Washington, D.C., including

the White House.30 With this in mind, finding any evidence that these land deeds were, in fact,

originally issued as payment for service to Continental soldiers would be extraordinary; finding a

significant amount of these deeds tied to soldiers would suggest a monumental issue. There were

70 names listed on 70 deeds, which were all sold to James Wilson on the same day. A bill of sale

was not found with these deeds, so a price could not be determined. The evidence of an actual

land warrant still existing in government archives is indicated in the far right column of

Appendix A, Existence of such a land warrant proves the recipient received land in

compensation for his service in the Revolutionary War and subsequently sold his land to James

Wilson on April 19, 1796. On the other hand, the existence of a pension file proves the recipient

was a soldier in the Continental Army. The likelihood that the land these men sold to James

Wilson on April 19,1796 had been awarded to them as compensation for their service in the war

was a high probability, as most of them were poor farmers, and their opportunity for land

acquisition far from home was extremely limited. The government documents, either a recorded

pension to the actual person or a pension given to a surviving relative, proved that at least 27 of

these men were Continental soldiers, which is 39 percent of the total. There are 13 cases in

which an actual land warrant document is available and on record. A sample of a War

Department pension card, pension document, and a warrant card can be found in Appendix B.

Several of these 13 cases are something of a curiosity to this investigation because it

appears that some of the claims may have been paid twice. For example, letters found in the file

30 HeritageQuest Online. “Revolutionary War Image”, http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/revwar/results/image/urn=urn:prpq (accessed November 5, 2014).

28

records of Daniel Kerr and Joseph Potts are interesting. In a letter dated March 15, 1932 from

A.D. Hiller, assistant to the administrator of the War Department, to a Mrs. T. C. Bell, a

surviving heir of Daniel Kerr, Mr. Hiller states:

Reference is made to your personal request of March 9, 1932, for the history of Daniel Kerr, a soldier of the Revolutionary War. Daniel Kerr enlisted in 1776, served as a private in Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Bayard’s 8th Pennsylvania Regiment, his service terminated at the close of the war.

He died prior to October 14, 1813; the date of his death is not given.

On account of the above noted service of Daniel Kerr, Warrant No. 660 for 100 acres of bounty land was issued October 21, 1816, to Andrew Kerr, of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the soldier’s son and only heir at law.31

A similar situation occurred for the heirs of Thomas Potts. A pension was issued in 1832

to Thomas Potts, and a land warrant was issued to a surviving relative. The facts prove that Potts

was a soldier. The fact that the Potts deed is now located in the Chew Papers suggests the

probability that Potts was awarded a land warrant for his services prior to 1796, as he did not

show ample means to obtain the land in any other way, and that he subsequently sold his land to

James Wilson. The original document of the land warrant in the War Department was destroyed

during one of the two fires; this allowed one of Potts’s heirs, whether or not aware of the

previous land warrant, to request and receive compensation from the War Department, which

had no records within to make an accurate determination. It should be noted, however, that some

case requests reviewed by this paper were denied due to this same lack of evidence while others

were actually granted. The decision criteria could not be accurately ascertained.

31 HeritageQuest Online. “Revolutionary War Image”, http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/revwar/results/image/urn=urn:prpq (accessed November 5, 2014).

29

One letter found in the War Department records from the commissioner to Leon M. Brim,

September 10, 1924, states as follows:

I have to advise you that from the records of this bureau, it appears that Warrant No. 1495 for 850 acres of bounty land was issued May 18, 1789, on account of the service of Brigadier General Peter Muhlenberg of the Virginia Line in the War of the Revolution.

There is no further information on file as to his services, nor any data on file as to his family, owing to the destruction of papers in such claims, when the War Office was burned in November 1800. Respectfully, Commissioner.32

This letter confirms the facts that Peter Muhlenberg was a soldier in the Continental

Army, that he was issued a land warrant on May 18, 1789, prior to the April 19, 1796 date on the

James Wilson deed for the same land, and verifies that one of the fires at the War Department

occurred in November 1800.

James Wilson’s purchase of government-issued land warrants from Continental soldiers

was not unethical in itself, but he overstepped his position as an officer of the people and used

his position to benefit himself, sometimes at the expense of the people like the soldiers and their

families, who certainly suffered since they sold the land to Wilson for less than its worth. The

money the soldiers received was inadequate and did little to improve their situation. A perfect

example of Wilson’s exploitation of a Continental soldier is William Mayberry, a Continental

soldier whose pension request was denied in 1818.33 According to the document presented by

his reapplication on the fifth day of November 1821 presented to the State of Ohio, Muskingum

County, where he appeared in open court, he was a 64 year old farmer and father of two

daughters who was unable to work due to his age and ill health. His possessions were as

follows: one horse, one cow, one calf, and one goat. He claimed to be in debt for fifty dollars to

32 HeritageQuest Online.33 HeritageQuest Online.

30

creditors. Mayberry had enlisted in the Continental Army in Morristown, NJ, in 1779. He spent

the winter of 1779-1780 with the Continental Army when it was encamped in Morristown. He

served as a fifer, first in Captain McClure’s Company, and then under Colonels Thomas Proctor

and Porter in the Fourth Regiment of Continental Artillery. He was at the battle of Stony Point

and continued through the war up to the surrender of Cornwallis in Yorktown. He had been

discharged in 1782 or 1783. He was finally awarded a pension at his court hearing in Ohio in

1821.34

In the War Department files, there are several stories similar to that of William Mayberry.

These men were the Patriots who had fought for the creation of the country. They didn’t ask for

much because they were proud men and asked for help only when they had no alternative. Some

applicants reported their only possessions in terms of livestock and a few old chairs and other

furniture. Some lived in small farmhouses or log cabins. Maybe the money they received from

their land warrant sales to James Wilson went to purchasing the inventory listed in their files.

Maybe some funds were used to purchase livestock or seed for their crops. There were no stories

in the War Department files of former soldiers requesting money from the government to

purchase ivory towers, mansions or yachts. There was story after story of hunger and

deprivation.

The men who served in the Continental Army were true Patriots with the courage to face

the lethal end of the most potent military power in the world. These are the same soldiers who

faced the hazards of the brutal winter encampments of Morristown and Valley Forge, who many

times wanted to stand and fight but had to turn and retreat due to lack of powder or musket balls,

and who nearly starved to death because there were not sufficient funds to buy food to feed them.

34 HeritageQuest Online.

31

They lost more battles than they won, but they still won the war. This country owes them so

much, yet they asked for and received so little.

The discovery of the 70 Wilson deeds found among the Chew Papers has revealed

through research that James Wilson did indeed purchase land previously obtained by Continental

soldiers from government-awarded land warrants as documented on Appendix A, setting to rest

the validity of this rumor once and for all.

Conclusion

32

James Wilson’s accomplishments as a Founding Father were truly remarkable. He was a

statesman, a Supreme Court Justice, and a professor of law whose efforts contributed greatly to

the formation of the United States. Compared to the other prominent Founding Fathers,

Wilson’s accomplishments could be considered of equal or even greater value; but his activities

in land speculation damaged his reputation so severely he has been all but forgotten by history.

Land speculation was a common occurrence soon after the United States Government

acquired large tracks of land in the West. Land rich and money poor, the government decided to

make available land warrants compensating Continental soldiers for their service in the

Revolutionary War. Many of the soldiers had not been paid for years and needed money fast.

Land companies like Wilson’s were there to buy up the land from the soldiers at discounted

prices. Land companies and private citizens could purchase these lands with a small down

payment with the due date on the balance at a later time. The newly-purchased land was then

used as collateral to purchase more land. It was a pyramid scheme that lasted until the cash flow

stopped. The recession of 1796-97 took a heavy toll on many speculators, including Wilson, and

the wars and conflicts in Europe contributed to the situation by slowing the influx of immigrants

to whom Wilson and others had expected to sell the land

The Chew family papers revealed a stash of 70 of James Wilson’s deeds, which upon

further research exposed a dark side to his land speculation, as did his involvement in the Yazoo

Land Fraud. Finally, there is conclusive evidence to prove this rumor true: James Wilson did

indeed purchase land previously obtained by Continental soldiers from government-awarded

land warrants as documented on Appendix A.

James Wilson was a Supreme Court Justice and, as such, a defender of the United States

Constitution; yet, in the above reported instances, it appears he took advantage of the people he

33

was appointed to serve. The sad conclusion is that James Wilson’s land speculation caused some

Continental soldiers, along with their heirs, to pay a heavy price for their service to this country,

as witnessed by their stories.

Bibliography

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North American Land Company Ledger, 1795-1805. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.

Pennsylvania’s Digital State Archives. “Revolutionary War Records.”http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/revolutionary_war/3852

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Pennsylvania Units in the Revolutionary War, War & Military Records. http://www.revolutionarywar101.com/american-units/pa/

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Roosevelt, Theodore. “Address at the New State Capital Building” at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1906.

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McCloskey, R.G. The Works of James Wilson, 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.

North Carolina. Revolutionary War Bounty Land Warrants. Issued by the State of North Carolina on September 29, 1785 and Delivered to William Faircloth. http://danielhaston.com/daniel/Sept-29-1785-Wmfaircloth.htm (accessed September 30, 2014).

Revolutionary War Bounty Land Warrants, North Carolina. http://danielhaston.com/daniel/Sept-29-1785-Wmfaircloth.htmSaffell, W.T.R. Records of the Revolutionary War, United States: Heritage Books Inc., 2009.

U.S. War Department. Papers of the War Department: 1784-1800. Letter Concerning land speculation. Elbridge Gerry to Timothy Pickering and Samuel Hodgdon, April 24,1785.http://wardepartmentpapers.org/docimage.php?id=858&docCollD=901&page=2 (accessed July 3, 2014).

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35

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Henderson,Elizabeth. “The Northwestern Lands of Pennsylvania,1790-1812”, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. 60, No. 2 (1936). 131-160

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records.html (accessed September 30, 2014).

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Witt, John Fabian. Patriots & Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007.

Wood, Gordon S. Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.

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