“Washington and Hamilton were governed by Willing.” — John Adams, 1813

Thomas Willing voted against the Declaration of Independence. He was the wealthiest man in Philadelphia, the largest merchant trader in North America, an Anglican slave trader printing money. So he saw little reason to declare independence from Britain. Especially since the renegades — the poor Scots-Irish Presbyterians flooding into the country, the MAGA people of their day — had no love of wealthy aristocrats like himself. And then Willing did something that took everyone, even perhaps himself, by surprise: he financed the very revolution he’d voted against.
In The Banker Who Made America, the financial historian Richard Vague tells a story that reframes the Founding. After Bunker Hill, Willing financed the smuggling of gunpowder via the Caribbean at a critical moment in the struggle against the British. He and his partner Robert Morris became the principal suppliers of finance and other essential materiel for the revolution. When the Continental Currency collapsed in inflationary chaos, it was Willing’s bank that financed the second half of the war. The purpose of America’s first bank, like the Bank of England before it, was to fund war. Without it, there would have been no successful revolution.
But the real revelation in the Willing story is political. Pennsylvania radicals created the most democratic constitution in American history — an annually elected lower house, neither an upper house nor a governor with veto power. Willing and his fellow financial elites like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton hated this form of people’s democracy. So when they showed up in 1787 to write the US Constitution, they’d learned their lesson: too much democracy is dangerous to the wealthy. The result — an unelected Senate, an unelected president, judges appointed for life — was, as Vague puts it, “a counterrevolution against democracy.” Even Thomas Paine ended up on Willing’s payroll. This Philadelphia story became the American story. Follow the money.

Five Takeaways
• Willing Voted Against Independence — Then Financed It. Smuggled gunpowder, funded the army, created America’s first bank. John Adams said Washington and Hamilton were governed by him.
• The Constitution Was a Counterrevolution. Pennsylvania’s radical democracy was too much for the elites. The 1787 Constitution gave America an unelected Senate, unelected president, judges for life.
• Paine on Willing’s Payroll. The great radical pamphleteer working for the financial elite he should have loathed. Man’s gotta eat.
• The Revolution Wasn’t About Taxes. Americans paid less than the British. It was about land speculation, banking, trade. Follow the money.
• Some Things Never Change. America’s first bank was created to fund war. The Pentagon wants $200 billion for Iran. Willing turned down the government twice. We could use him now.

About the Guest
Richard Vague is a businessman, banker, and former Secretary of Banking for Pennsylvania. The Banker Who Made America is published by Polity.
References
The Banker Who Made America: https://www.amazon.com/Banker-Who-Made-America-Aristocracy/dp/1509569081
Adam Gopnik, “Who Bankrolled the American Revolution?” — The New Yorker

About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction: old friends and the debt jubilee
00:01:48 Why Thomas Willing? The leverage ratio rabbit hole
00:03:50 The Willing joke: should he have been called Unwilling?
00:05:00 Willing and Hamilton: across-the-street neighbours
00:06:23 The most important two blocks in America
00:08:23 Saving the revolution: smuggled gunpowder after Bunker Hill
00:10:12 America’s first bank: funding war with debt
00:11:55 The Pentagon wants $200 billion for Iran. Some things never change.
00:12:44 The fastest-growing economy in world history
00:14:25 Willing’s political muscle: vote for me or I won’t approve your loan
00:16:02 The Scots-Irish Presbyterians: the MAGA people of 1776
00:18:03 Pennsylvania’s radical constitution and the counterrevolution of 1787
00:20:06 Thomas Paine on Willing’s payroll: man’s gotta eat
00:22:21 Franklin and Willing: a complicated friendship
00:24:32 Slavery: the blot on Willing’s record
00:27:19 $39 trillion in debt: what would Willing think?
00:28:54 Adam Gopnik’s New Yorker review: should we always follow the money?