Thomas Willing (74)

Thomas Willing (19 December 1731–19 January 1821) was a merchant, banker, jurist, and political leader and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Philadelphia, he studied law at London’s Inner Temple. Upon his return, he joined his father’s prosperous mercantile firm before founding a firm of his own with APS member Robert Morris and turning to public affairs. Willing served as an elected member of the Philadelphia Common Council, assistant secretary to the Pennsylvania delegation at the 1754 Albany Congress, and judge of the Orphans’ Court. He was appointed to a Pennsylvania commission for trade with western Native American tribes, worked with Benjamin Franklin to defuse the Paxton Boys crisis, and served on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border commission. He was also a trustee of the Academy and Charitable School of the Province of Pennsylvania for over thirty years. In 1763, he was elected mayor of Philadelphia; from 1764 to 1767 he was a member of the provincial assembly; and for ten years he was a justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Willing was the first signer of the 1765 Non-Importation Agreement, but his conservatism made him hesitant about revolution. He was president of the first Provincial Congress of Pennsylvania but voted against independence as a member of the Second Continental Congress. He grew more supportive of the Revolution as it proved more profitable, however. He is estimated to have made over $1 million trading in military provisions. Thereafter, he was chosen president of the Bank of North America, helping to reduce the national debt and seeking a banking monopoly that worried Thomas Jefferson. When Alexander Hamilton’s bank bill became law in 1791, the Federalist Willing became president of the first Bank of the United States. (PI, ANB, DAB)