Happy 250th America! What a remarkable journey! Not only is it time to celebrate, but it is an opportunity to reflect how our country has changed. Over the next three months, EBW is exploring our incredible history not just as a nation, but through the lens of our financial lives. The same qualities that help build lasting financial security, careful planning, strong foundations, and thinking beyond the present moment, reflect the mindset that helped shape our nation’s beginning. Starting this month through August, we will explore three historic American themes around finances. We hope you enjoy the series.
The Art of the Foundation
Lessons from the Founding Era (1776–1850s)
From the beginning, the founders were determined to build something that would last. They debated, planned, and argued over every structural decision. But before the seeds of discontent started to bubble, colonists were already learning about financial foundations through the musings of Benjamin Franklin. Frequently quoted still today, Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack helped sow the seeds of our founding fathers and their relationship with financial foundations, savings and debt.
Intentional Financial Foundations
Franklin has been misquoted and paraphrased since he first published Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1737. Has anyone ever said to you, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Franklin didn’t actually use those words. Instead, he wrote “A penny saved is two pence clear.” Despite the word fumble, you get the gist. Saving today gives you more in the future.
Poor Richard gave Franklin an outlet to explore his thoughts on life and money with colonists. His musings focusing on financial themes served as foundational thinking for the country’s financial framers.
Let’s explore three themes and see if you remember a few of these quotes.
✅ Frugality & Wealth
Beware of little expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship
It’s easy to focus on the large expenses that happen throughout our life, but it is the day-to-day, under the radar expenses that can do the most damage to your financial strategy. No one knew this more than George Washington and Revolutionary leaders who struggled to manage war time escalating costs while trying to build a new nation.
✅ Time Management & Diligence
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Like you and I today, Franklin cherished his time and did not believe it should be wasted. He recognized that putting time and effort into goals today would make life better long term. The Revolutionary War wasn’t just about taxes; it was about freedom and the ability to make your own life choices for yourself in the new world.
✅ Self-Improvement and Morality
Franklin spent time imploring others to think about improving themselves and understanding where we all fit within the greater world. Two particular quotes present Franklin’s view on how life should be lived.
Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
Living life comes down to the decisions you made in the past, and those you make today and tomorrow. The new country didn’t just want to survive; they wanted to grow and create unprecedented opportunities.
Because EBW is focused on supporting your financial future, I want to explore one more Franklin quote.
A cat in gloves catches no mice.
Why would a cat be in a glove? To sleep?
That’s not Franklin’s point. He is encouraging us to not be continually passive in how we think. Sometimes, you must be aggressive to achieve your goals. You need to approach the situation with confidence and the proper tools. Like the cat who needs its claws to catch its prey, the young country needed tools for growth. It needed a financial foundation.
Franklin didn’t believe in luck. He knew that financial independence was earned from discipline and he strongly supported saving and avoiding debt. Looking back at the Revolutionary War, deeply embedded in conflict, the Continental Army did not have the luxury of relying on savings and suffered greatly without financial independence to meet basic needs for soldiers.
Franklin’s words and wisdom helped develop the financial foundation of our country long before we achieved our independence– our values, our goals, our actions. He helped create a framework for the future, influencing our country’s financial founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, Robert Morris, and Haym Salomon.
The Financial Fathers
Alexander Hamilton. Who hasn’t heard of him? Hamilton gets most of the credit for setting our country’s financial framework, but what the history books don’t focus on is the role Morris and Salomon played as “Financiers of the American Revolution.”
The Revolutionary War and the new country were often on the verge of financial ruin. Morris, a British born, Philadelphia merchant, personally backed the Continental Army’s credit when the treasury was empty. He was fueled partially by patriotism and self-interest of being free from the British restrictive trade. Morris leveraged most of his wealth to prevent the collapse of the new government and Army. His decision cost him his future and he ended up broke after the war.
Salomon, a Polish-born Jewish immigrant and broker, raised critical funds during the Revolution. Driven by his personal experiences of religious and political persecution in Europe, Salomon believed in the ideals of the new nation. He sacrificed most of his fortune and records indicate he was never repaid by the new nation and died penniless.
The American revolution brought forth stories of spies, battles, and General Washington’s heroics. But the revolution might not have happened without all the critically needed finances.
Hamilton, Morris and Salomon’s work in creating financial foundations and networks to move and distribute funds were built off Franklin’s philosophy of savings and debt.
The founding framers wanted a country with a strong financial foundation. Financial insecurity and dependence on other countries for resources nearly ended the fight for freedom. Two hundred and fifty years later, this is a topic we still discuss.
A lesson in history
The country’s financial foundation was created for our new nation to grow. Here at EBW, we encourage you to create your own financial foundation for yourself and your family.
Whether you’re 25 and starting your financial journey, 50 and restructuring, or 70 and protecting, you can help secure your financial foundation. A lesson learned from the Revolution is to be bold, have a plan of attack, and a goal for the future. Embedded in the lesson is the wisdom of the financial framers. A good plan, solid infrastructure, and defined goals can set you on the path to your success.
If this walk-through history stirred some questions in you, please talk to your financial advisor to help review your needs for personal financial security.
This month we explored the foundations for growth in our young country. In July we will explore The Great Expansion and then onto The Legacy Chapter in August.
If you live in Fairfax County, learn more about 250th events by visiting America’s 250th. Live in Loudoun County, visit Loudoun Virginia 250. In Virgina, visit America Made In Virginia. In DC visit dc250.us. To find more information of 250th activities in your community, visit America 250 State and Territory Commissions website.
Notes:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/poor-richards-almanack-1758
https://fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/famous-quotes
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/
Museum of the American Revolution
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/robert-morris
https://blog.jewishphilly.org/jewish-gems-the-american-revolutions-financial-hero
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/poor-richards-almanack-1758