Speaker Series: The Banker Who Made America: Thomas Willing

Join us for a fascinating talk on Thomas Willing, the merchant-banker who financed the Revolution and shaped America’s financial system. On July 1, 1776, Thomas Willing voted against the Declaration of Independence, believing the colonies weren't ready. Yet once the war began, he and his partner Robert Morris put their personal credit and merchant fleet on the line to supply the army with food, arms, and gunpowder. Willing went on to build the nation’s financial architecture from scratch. As President of both the Bank of North America and the First Bank of the United States, he personally oversaw more than a third of all bank loans made in the entire nation during his career. Join us for an engaging presentation on Richard Vague's book, The Banker Who Made America, as we explore how a forgotten Philadelphia merchant built America's first financial aristocracy and shaped modern American capitalism.