Robert Morris's Folly

In 1798 Robert Morris - "financier of the American Revolution", confidante of George Washington, recent U.S. Senator - plunged from the peaks of wealth and prestige into debtor's prison and public contempt. How could one of the very richest men in America, one of only two American Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, suffer such a downfall? This book examines for the first time the fabulously extravagant Philadelphia townhouse Robert Morris built and its role in bringing about his ruin. Part biography, part architectural history, the book recounts Morris' wild successes as a merchant, his recklessness as a land speculator, and his unrestrained passion in building his palatial, doomed mansion, once hailed as the most expensive and grandest private building in the U.S. but later known as "Morris' Folly". Setting Morris's tale in the context of the nation's founding, this volume refocuses attention on an essential yet nearly forgotten American figure while also illuminating the origins of America's ongoing, ambivalent attitudes toward the super-wealthy and their sensational excesses.