Sermon

INTRODUCTION: Given the present state of the economy, there’s a lot of conversation and comparisons to the Great Depression in the early 1930s. But, let me put a human face on one of the most iconic events of that era:

On April 27, 1933, several dozen farmers broke through a line of deputies guarding the O’Brien County Court House in Primghar, Iowa and forced a receiver to accept a token payment on their farms; then, made the receiver, the sheriff, and each of the deputies kneel and kiss the American flag. There were many others just as angry.

It was all about money. Ours is a capitalist society, and capital is its absolute essential…not the Ten Commandments…not Jesus…not the flag…but money.

Not surprisingly, it was all about money when this nation started…it was all about money when Independence was declared in 1776…it was all about money in the war that followed…and money was the preoccupation of the Constitutional Conventions, especially as it related to the South and their claims on the economic value to the nation of the lives of those they had enslaved.

From this vantage point, we normally only mention the theoretical principles that were at work when this nation started: The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The U.S. Constitution.

But would you believe that there were only two people who signed all three documents of those documents, and one of them, Robert Morris, actually voted against the initial draft of the Declaration, and he declined to vote when the final document was adopted on July 4, 1776. However, on August 2, when it was time for all the delegates to sign the Declaration, Morris signed saying, "I am not one of those politicians who runs testy when my own plans are not adopted. I think it is the duty of a good citizen to follow when he cannot lead."

We call that flip-flopping today. Morris called it good citizenship. So who was this Founding Father, who is called the “Financier of the Revolution?”

Morris was an immigrant, as were a significant proportion of Americans back then, as all of us are either immigrants or the offspring of immigrants. His father came to the colonies first, and then sent for him four years later, when young Morris was 13. As was the custom in that day, he was apprenticed out to learn a trade, which in this instance was with a banking-and-shipping firm. By age 20, he became a partner, eventually owning ships and sending commerce around the world, making his firm into one of the most prosperous in Pennsylvania, and for him to become the wealthiest man in Philadelphia.

He then married in 1769 at age 35 to the sister of the only Anglican priest in America who supported the Revolution. All the others maintained their allegiance to the Crown and fled the mainland when the Revolutionary War began.[2]

But before a revolution could begin in America, two things were necessary: There first had to be a change in the attitudes of the people towards England, so as to start thinking of themselves as Americans and not Englishmen. The second was for them to understand the appeal – the hope – that a new revolutionary government might make offer them economically.

The British Crown had thousands of soldiers in the colonies. Maintaining an armed force in a far off land was a huge drain on the English treasury, as we in America know about the $10 billion a month it takes to finance our fiasco in Iraq. To remedy it, King George III signed into law a provision necessitating that any time there was a legal or commercial interaction occurring, it would require purchasing a royal stamp. The money for the stamps would then go to the Crown in England. From buying and selling property, to printing and selling newspapers and pamphlets – the Stamp Act required purchasing stamps for every legal and commercial action. It was the very first attempt to impose a direct tax on the colonies, and it hit a huge nerve.

Now remember: The vast majority of the colonists were loyal English women and men. But when the Stamp Act was passed March 22, 1765, it was viewed as taxation without representation. Their negative response was not intended to foster a revolution. But the depth of the resistance to the Stamp Act had the net effect of initiating the beginning steps towards revolution. Here’s how it played out, along with a brief outline of Robert Morris’ crucial role in its fruition.

Morris was chosen to serve on a local committee of merchants in Philadelphia to express their dissent. They first banded together in a protest to march in the streets to the tax collector’s office. Once there, they informed the Collector that if the tax stamps were not sent back to England, his house would be pulled down "brick by brick."

He did as demanded. At the same time, in places like New York, rioters demolished the house of a British officer who said he "would cram the stamps down American throats at the point of his sword."

Feelings were running high. Petitions to the king and Parliament began to flow, a boycott of British goods took effect, lawyers and printers refused to use stamps or stamped paper. And especially important, the Massachusetts legislature spearheaded the formation of the first general meeting of the colonies, in what was known as the Stamp Act Congress, a precursor to the Continental Congresses a few years later.

Those many forms of resistance began to fan the winds of revolution, eventually leading to the First Continental Congress in 1774. Morris’s continuing influence was such that he was subsequently elected to represent Pennsylvania in the Second Continental Congress that started in 1775. He was appointed Chair of the Secret Committee – that was its name – and in that capacity, he devised a system to smuggle war supplies from France, a year before Independence was actually declared. The Congress then contracted with Morris's import-export company to import arms and ammunition. In so doing, he also was able to provide intelligence on the whereabouts of British ships and their cargoes, whether goods or soldiers.

As Financier of the Revolution, he tied up his personal resources with the war. He sent $10,000 to Washington to fight the battle at Trenton. At one time, he loaned the government $1.8 million dollars, when the total that all of the colonies had contributed was only $800,000. Maryland, for example, had contributed only $3,000. Morris personally paid Washington’s army to keep them at the battle of Yorktown, whose successful playing out effectively ended the war. He founded the Bank of North America during that time, which was the first commercial bank of its kind in the country, chartered by Congress and funded by a French loan. Morris also helped support the American Army after the war, until it was disbanded in 1783.

He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787; he was elected to the United States Senate, serving from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1795, but declined to run for re-election; he turned down the position of Secretary of the Treasury, deferring instead to Alexander Hamilton.

After the war's end, he became concerned with an economic vision for the United States, urging Congress to establish a stronger central government and an atmosphere conducive to a flourishing economy. His financial suggestions foreshadowed Alexander Hamilton's policies.

Unfortunately, beginning in the mid-1780's, Morris attempted to implement a series of financial schemes, including a plan to buy America's debt to France and sell it to investors from the Netherlands. Sounds too familiar, doesn’t it! Those investment strategies were unsuccessful, and Morris was unable to liquidate his vast land holdings to pay those who had invested with him. At that time, unpaid debts were treated as criminal offenses throughout the world. His inability to pay his debts led to his eventual imprisonment.

England had already passed a statute abolishing debtors’ prisons. Congress moved to copy it, and in 1801, the first National Bankruptcy Law was passed so as to get Morris out of prison. He came out, in broken health, and retired to his farm. His family was saved from financial ruin by the wise financial strategies of his wife, Mary White Morris.

So how does this apply to us, and what does it have to do with the economic crisis we are now in?

In February of this year, Lee County achieved the dubious distinction of having the most foreclosures of any county in the country. Nine months later, we’ve dropped from first in the country to third, behind Las Vegas and a county in California There are now more than 31,000 foreclosures in process, and the courts have a backlog of more than 29,000. It’s so bad that Lee County Circuit Judge John Carlin has announced plans for scheduling as many as 6,000 foreclosure cases in December, up from the regular 2,000. I don’t think that’s what the Founders meant by “due process.”

Think for just a moment: These are not just houses on concrete slabs: They are or were the homes of families of all shapes and sizes. They were part of the American dream of “owning your own home!” Now 31,000 are in foreclosure, and Judge Carlin, who in my interactions with him seems like a nice guy, he is going to push through 6,000 cases of foreclosure in one month!

So who is at fault? Is it only the people who bought the houses? You know what? We make the false presumption that lending firms do not make loans to people who can’t repay them. At one time, I’m sure that was true. When I bought my first house in the 60s, a tiny, 3-bedroom brick, I paid $12,500 for it with a $400 down payment. In addition to income, I had to prove by my bank statements that I had had at least $400 or more in checking or savings for three months. That was called qualifying.

But what if lenders began an aggressive campaign to get citizens to buy houses for which they were not qualified? What if the main qualification was to be able to blow your breath on glass and leave moisture? What if they pitched the interest rate so low for the first year or two, that it made everyone think they really could afford it? Besides, property values were climbing so fast, that if need be a second loan could be obtained. Right? Or the home owners could sell their property and make a big profit to buy another more affordable one. Right? Lenders made loans without checking the customers’ credit worthiness, forced appraisers to overvalue the houses, drove up housing prices, and ignored the risk of the buyers’ inability to pay the loan when the interest rate increased.

So, the first thing to remember is that foreclosures are not about people out there, it’s about the person you saw when looking in the mirror – people like you and me.

When finances become overwhelming, the marriage is the next thing to break. Domestic-violence calls skyrocket; shelters run out of space; substance abuse increases, as do physical abuse and depressed kids; plus less and less can’t afford to pay more and more for health insurance…and food banks run out of food.

And you can bet $100 against a donut hole that a majority of the cases where a boy friend in the home abuses his girl friend’s children, that one of the reasons he got away with the abuse is her fear of not being able to pay the rent, to buy food, or to have transportation.

(I’m sure you caught the linking of “water” and “stream” to “plumbing.”) Personally, I take great heart in realizing that we have a president-elect, who with his single parent mother once relied on food stamps as a child. He is not someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is not the poster child for unearned privilege.

The dark night of the soul which our nation has been under for these past eight years is nearing an end. No more preemptive wars…no more torturing of prisoners of war…no more tax breaks only for the wealthiest of our citizens…no more invasions of people’s rights to privacy. Those are not political statements. They reflect moral issues…what theologian Barbara Taylor calls, “public truth.”

Though we have some dark days ahead, hope is on the way. Which is another way of saying, that you and I are responsible for managing hope in our home, our workplace, our neighborhood. It’s our job…our task…our personal responsibility: We are hope managers. Don’t let anyone who is down on herself or himself, down on society, down on politicians, down on America…don’t let them get away without hearing from you a word this hope. You don’t have to defend, explain, or interpret. Simply offer the message that, “Hope is on the way.”

I’m thoroughly enjoying preparing this series on our Founding Fathers – thus far, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and today Robert Morris. They gave so much that we might enjoy the blessings of liberty.

“I think about America and those who built it. This nation’s founders, who somehow rose above petty ambitions and narrow calculations to imagine a nation unfurling across a continent. And those like Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who ultimately laid down their lives in the service of perfecting an imperfect Union. And all the faceless, nameless women and men, slaves and soldiers and tailors and butchers, constructing lives for themselves and their children and grandchildren, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, to fill in the landscape of our collective dreams.”

The dream still lives…it’s been damaged in shipment…lost in transit…buffeted in storms…required mouth-to-mouth resuscitation…put on life support and left for dead…but the dream lives on! Hope is on the way!

[1] A sermon presented November 16, 2008, as the third in a series entitled, “TRUE PATRIOTISM: Gifts of the Founding Fathers (III), followed by the Conversation Café of All Faiths Unitarian Congregation, meeting at the Crestwell School, 1904 Park Meadows, Ft. Myers, FL, with the Rev. Dr. Wayne Robinson, minister.

[2]Morris’s brother-in-law, Robert White, became the first presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, following separating from the Anglican Church. Methodists, who were identified somewhat as a segment of the Anglican Church, met in Baltimore in 1792 and constituted themselves as the Methodist Episcopal Church.