A
FOUNDER’S CERTIFICATE FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN LAND COMPANY
ROBERT MORRIS. Partly Printed Document Signed, Philadelphia,
PA, 10 March 1795. 1 page, 9¾” x 12½”.
A Signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation,
and the Constitution, Robert Morris was known as the "financier
of the Revolution." A Philadelphia merchant, he was named Superintendent
of Finance by the Continental Congress in February 1781, and in that
post, he founded the Bank of North America and financed the Yorktown
campaign. In later years, Morris served as one of the first U.S. Senators
from Pennsylvania. He also joined in several land speculation schemes,
and the failure of these ventures eventually led to his financial downfall
and his imprisonment for debt.
The North American Land Company was the largest and most famous of Morris’s
land speculation efforts. The articles establishing the company, organized
by Morris, John Nicholson, and James Greenleaf, were signed in February
1795. The initial distribution of shares took place soon after, on 10
March 1795, with each of the three partners receiving 7,455 shares in
the company on that date. Morris and Nicholson each received a single
unnumbered certificate for all of their shares. Greenleaf, however,
received one unnumbered certificate for 6,455 of his shares and then
his remaining 1000 shares in a series of certificates numbered 1 to
150.
This is one of the original numbered certificates given to Greenleaf,
identified in the upper right corner as certificate "No. 9
representing 10 Shares from 81 to 90." The attractively-printed
certificate is signed at the lower right by Robert Morris as president
of the company, and at the lower left by James Marshall as secretary.
Marshall, the brother of future U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall, was
Morris’s son-in-law.
The document has a few trifling marginal flaws. Overall, it is in fine
condition, clean, and with a strong, dark Morris signature. $3000.00
This
image omits some of the outer margins of the document.
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