Thomas Willing, writes Vague, author of The Paradox of Debt (2023), was America’s dominant merchant. Robert Morris, the better-known “financier of the Revolution,” was his employee and later his business partner. Willing was perhaps the richest man in the Colonies, widely respected but colorless, with few interests besides work. He protested British actions, which hurt business, but voted to oppose independence in 1776, although he later supported the war. Armies fight wars, but money wins them, and Vague points out that the only sources of ready money in the Colonies were rich men. Willing immediately accepted supply orders from the Congress, a risky tactic because Congress was slow in paying—when it paid at all. In this unregulated free market, profits could be spectacular, but so were risks. Willing grew richer, but others (Morris included) were ruined. Willing soon headed the nation’s first bank, which helped finance the war, yet victory left a huge debt. More than most scholars, Vague emphasizes debt as a motivation for the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and the Constitution as “a triumph for the money system advocated by the conservative elite.” President Washington’s approval of treasury secretary Hamilton’s plan to pay off the entire debt at full value produced widespread outrage because almost all was held by wealthy men and speculators who had bought it at a fraction of its value, often from soldiers. Few historians praise Hamilton’s defense, and Vague states bluntly that this was a corrupt bargain that benefited the wealthy and exerted a malign influence on subsequent American history. Appointed director of the First Bank of the United States, Willing served for 15 of its 20-year existence, remaining untouched by the fraud, speculation, bubbles, and crashes that occurred while America’s GDP nearly tripled.
