William Bingham Plays Arms Dealer in the Caribbean
William Bingham was arguably the wealthiest young man in North America during the Founding of the United States.
William Bingham was one of the original two Founders I published an article about when I launched Founder of the Day.
If you’d like to read that extremely short article, check it out here:
William Bingham - I wasn’t even giving the articles titles yet
William Bingham
By 1770, 18-year-old William Bingham was a college graduate who started a merchant firm with Robert Morris and Thomas Willing.
Building off his inheritance, William was on his way to building arguably the largest fortune in colonial America.
When the Revolutionary War broke out, Bingham sided with the Patriots and began working for the Continental Congress.
Martinique
William was chosen by the Secret Committee (which handled foreign affairs) to go to Martinique.
This French port was friendly to the Americans and looked the other way when Patriot ships used it as a base after raiding British vessels.
Bingham used Martinique to secure supplies for the Continental Army (much of which were sent from France by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee).
Furthermore, William would write letters of marque which were contracts granting ships the right to act as privateers. Privateers were essentially pirates who would work for a country during war time in exchange for keeping the bounty.
Bingham’s efforts as an arms dealter in Martinique are often overlooked, but were extremely important in securing provisions for fighting the Revolutionary War before France officially jumped in to help.
It also happened to substantially increase his fortune.
Federalist ‘Courts’
Though he spent a good deal of the 1780’s in Europe, William Bingham would return to the United States and become one of the leading politicians of his day.
He represented Pennsylvania in the Senate for one term, during which time he spent six months as President pro Tempore (number two in charge).
More importantly, he became a leading Federalist. While the US Capital in Philadelphia, Bingham held Federalist ‘courts’ which were similar to modern day ‘think tanks’. They discussed the direction of the young nation and set policy for the Washington and Adams Administrations.
Want to read about the guy who took over for Bingham as the wealthiest American?
Funding the War of 1812 - Stephen Girard and His Bank
Would you like to learn more about this extremely underappreciated Founder?
‘Golden Voyage’ is really the only full length biography of Bingham’s life.
If you’d like a copy you can get one through the Amazon affiliate link below (you’ll support this site, but don’t worry, Amazon pays me while your price stays the same).
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