William Bingham

Biography written by Parker Krex

William Bingham was a notable businessman, land surveyor, and politician representing Pennsylvania. Although Bingham is remembered for his contributions to the American Revolution, in the founding of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and his civil service in the Continental Congress and U.S. Senate, he also sponsored numerous surveys and maps. As an extensive landholder in Pennsylvania, he surveyed at least a million acres of the new state.¹

Bingham was born in Philadelphia in 1752, and he graduated from the College of Philadelphia cum laude in 1768.² He used his connections in business to facilitate supplies to the Continental Army. By 1776, Bingham began working for the Committee of Secret Correspondence, an organization designed to aid the American Revolution. In that same year, Bingham traveled on a mission to the French island of Martinique aboard the frigate Reprisal to attempt to acquire ten thousand muskets for General George Washington. ³ While abroad, Bingham began organizing privateers to attempt to disrupt British shipping and to secure supplies for the Americans.⁴

Bingham also solicited foreign support for the Continental Army. He fostered trade deals with French merchants to support the Patriot cause.⁵ Bingham followed the war effort closely, and was confident in Washington and the Continental Army.⁶ He purchased supplies from the French for the Americans, which contributed in the success of the Continental Army against General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October of 1777.⁷ Subsequently, he shared the victory with those Paris in an effort to demonstrate how the French could further help the American war effort. Bingham correctly predicted that the French would go to war against Britain by spring of 1778.⁸

Using his new international connections, Bingham became a notable private trader during the American Revolutionary War with agents throughout the new nation and abroad. He specialized in shipping essential goods, including guns and other hardware, clothing, and coffee. His trading activities helped him build connections with other prominent individuals and develop an impressive economic portfolio.⁹ In 1780, Bingham returned to his home of Pennsylvania and contributed to the founding of the Bank of Pennsylvania, which helped fund the Continental Army through the rest of the war.¹⁰ Sometime in the summer of 1780, Bingham met Anne Willing, and they married that October.¹¹

After the war, Bingham sought to become a contender for the newly created position of America’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, but ultimately was passed over for Robert Livingston.¹² Bingham assisted in the founding of the Bank of North America, which received its approval from Congress in May 1781. He invested heavily into the bank, but the bank lacked other interested investors, and the bank failed to prosper.¹³ By 1787, Bingham completed his home in Philadelphia, the three-story home known colloquially as the “Mansion House.”¹⁴

Bingham served as a member of many social clubs and societies, including the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati, the American Philosophical Society, and the Society for Political Enquiries. He also organized the Second Troop of Philadelphia Light Horse military unit.¹⁵ As a leader in his community, Bingham was elected to the Confederation Congress as a representative of Philadelphia in 1786. He criticized the Articles of Confederation and early in Bingham’s tenure, the Constitutional Convention was called to address the shortcomings of the new government. He did not represent Pennsylvania in the convention, but hosted many delegates in his home, including George Washington, and helped to gain approval for the newly drafted U.S. Constitution in the Confederation Congress.¹⁶

Seeking financial opportunities in the new country, he engaged in land speculation throughout Pennsylvania.¹⁷ In 1792, he purchased over one million acres of land from the Pennsylvania legislature on the condition that he had to survey the land himself. He hired surveyor John Adlum, who assisted Bingham lay warrants on the most resource-rich tracts, and then forwarded maps and surveys of his newly acquired land.¹⁸ These maps, produced sometime between 1790 and 1799, included the Land ownership map of the William Bingham estate in Potter County, Pennsylvania, 20 tracts, Charleston, Armstrong County, E. Sugar Creek, Bradford Co, Jefferson, Venango & Armstrong, Susquehanna & Sinnemahoning, Venango Co, and W. Su[q.?] Cr., Bradford Co. Adlum is credited as the creator of these maps.

In 1795, Bingham was selected to be a Senator from Pennsylvania and served one term. Shortly after this time in office, Anne Bingham died while the couple was travelling in Bermuda. Suffering from grief, William Bingham took his daughter on a tour of Europe. While in France, Bingham met with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles Maurice de Talleyrand and contributed to American diplomacy that secured the Louisiana Purchase. While still in Europe, Bingham fell ill and died in 1804.¹⁹ Upon his death, Bingham was considered to be one of the wealthiest men in the United States.²⁰ His influence on the American Revolution and in early American government is remembered through his various roles as a political and economic leader in Pennsylvania.

Bibliography

Alberts, R. C. The Golden Voyage : The Life and Times of William Bingham, 1752-1804. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1969.

Brown, Margaret L. “William Bingham, Eighteenth Century Magnate.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 61, no. 4 (1937).

Tearle, David. Barings Bank, William Bingham and the Rise of the American Nation : A Transatlantic Relationship from the Revolutionary War through the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co., 2010