Background
William Duer was born on March 18, 1747 in Devonshire, England. His father, John Duer, who was wealthy, owning large plantations in Antigua and Dominica, married Frances Frye, and William was their third son.
William Duer was born on March 18, 1747 in Devonshire, England. His father, John Duer, who was wealthy, owning large plantations in Antigua and Dominica, married Frances Frye, and William was their third son.
Duer was educated at Eton, obtained a commission as ensign in the British army, received an appointment as aide- de-camp to Lord Clive and accompanied the latter when he returned to India as Governor of Bengal in 1764.
In 1768, having obtained a contract to supply masts and spars for the British navy, Duer visited New York for the purpose of purchasing timber.
There he met Philip Schuyler of Albany under whose advice he purchased an extensive tract of timber-land on the Hudson River above Saratoga, New York, and established large sawmills. He also made other investments.
In 1773 he went to England, settled his affairs in that country, and on his return made the province of New York his permanent home.
From his first arrival in New York he had associated with the leaders in its public life, and his liberal sentiments induced him to identify himself with the rapidly growing opposition to the home government.
In 1775 he was a delegate to the Provincial Congress, being also appointed deputy adjutant-general of the New York troops, with the rank of colonel.
In June 1776, he was a delegate to the New York constitutional convention and acted on the committee appointed to draft a constitution for the new state, his agile mind, fertility of expedients, and quick perception showing to advantage.
In the same year he acted on the Committee of Public Safety, being designated at this period “as great a rebel as ever had an existence”.
In March 1777 he was chosen as delegate from New York to the Continental Congress, where he was distinguished by his eloquence and extreme activity, serving on seven committees.
He was on May 8 appointed first judge of common pleas of Charlotte (now Washington) County, New York, a position which he is credited with holding till 1786, sed quaere. In addition, he was a member of the Board of War, and a signer of the Articles of Confederation.
His strong patriotism was signally displayed on the occasion of the Conway Cabal, when New York was temporarily deprived of its vote because of Duer’s serious illness. This gave Washington’s opponents in Congress a majority, and they planned to nominate a committee to remove the General from his command at Valley Forge.
Word was sent to Duer, and despite his physician’s warning that he could only be taken to Congress at the imminent risk of his life, he ordered his litter to be prepared and was about to make the journey, when the faction, hearing of his intent, abandoned the project.
He resigned from Congress in January 1779, in order to attend to his private affairs, but in July of the following year was appointed commissioner for conspiracies.
He became immersed in many and varied commercial and financial projects, was engaged in furnishing supplies to the army, holding some of the largest contracts, and at the close of the war was in all probability a rich man.
It was largely due to his efforts that in 1784 the Bank of New York was founded.
In March 1786, he was appointed secretary to the Board of the Treasury, and established his residence permanently in New York City, becoming in the same year a member of the New York Assembly.
In 1787 he was the prime mover in the Scioto speculation, he and his associates securing a right to purchase from the United States a huge tract of western lands, which they in turn designed to sell chiefly to capitalists abroad, particularly in France and Holland.
In September 1789, the Treasury Department was organized, and Duer was appointed assistant secretary under his friend Alexander Hamilton, but resigned six months later, thus terminating his long connection with public life.
Thenceforth he was continuously engaged in speculation on a large scale, involving purchases of lands in Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont, contracts for army supplies during the Indian troubles of 1791, a project for a national manufacturing society in New Jersey, and large dealings in stocks.
He became seriously involved, and when suit was brought against him by the government, regarding two unbalanced charges when he was secretary of the Treasury Board, a catastrophe was precipitated.
Hopelessly insolvent, he was arrested for debt on March 23, 1792, and sent to prison.
This circumstance caused the first financial panic in the history of New York.
Despite strenuous efforts to extricate himself, except for a short period in 1797 when he was released at Alexander Hamilton’s intercession, he remained in prison till his death on May 7, 1799.
He possessed capacity for business, and his operations were always planned with skill and daring, but almost all his promotions failed: His powers of execution were not equal to his conceptions. He undertook too much to give efficient attention to details. The manner of his operations had been much criticized and questions raised as to how far, if at all, he used his official position to advance his private concerns. It is perhaps safe to state that, though many of his acts were ill- advised and lent themselves to misconstruction, there is no evidence to show that they transgressed the law or exceeded the limits set by the standard of the commercial morality of the times.
Duer's opinions and sympathies were democratic, and his devotion to the cause of the Revolution was sincere, but in his mode of living he was very much the aristocrat.
Of tireless energy, persuasive eloquence, and far-sighted, Duer's was a natural leader in his various spheres of activity.
Quotes from others about the person
“Colonel Duer lives in the style of a nobleman. I presume he had not less than fifteen different sorts of wine at dinner and after the cloth was removed. ” (Manasseh Cutler)
In 1779 Duer married Catherine, commonly called “Lady Kitty, ” daughter of Major General William Alexander, also known as Lord Stirling, Washington giving the bride away. Of their children, William Alexander Duer became chief justice of the superior court of the City of New York.