Thomas Mifflin was an American merchant, member of the Continental Congress, a Revolutionary soldier, and governor of Pennsylvania.
Background
Thomas Mifflin was the first son ofJohn Mifflin and Elizabeth Bagnell. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of a Quaker family. He was of the fourth generation in descent from John Mifflin who emigrated to Pennsylvania from Warminster, Wiltshire, England, before 1680. John, the father of Thomas, was a wealthy merchant, and during his lifetime held the public posts of councilman, alderman, justice of the peace, provincial councilor, and trustee of the College of Philadelphia.
Education
Thomas attended a Quaker school and graduated from the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania, at the early age of sixteen.
Career
On leaving college, Mifflin spent four years in the counting-house of William Coleman, a prosperous Philadelphia merchant, preparing for a mercantile career. At twenty he visited Europe for a year. The effects of this broadening experience in no wise diminished his ardor for America, for he wrote from London, November 23, 1764: "I find myself as great a patriot for America as when I first left it". The next year he entered business as a merchant in partnership with his brother, George, the connection continuing until after the outbreak of the Revolution. Their enterprise was thoroughly successful, but Thomas's ambition and talent as a speaker drew him into politics. Recognized as a champion of colonial rights, beginning with 1772 he was elected to the provincial assembly four successive years, in 1774 receiving 1, 100 out of 1, 300 votes, despite Quaker opposition to his ardent Whiggism. Conspicuous in opposing the Stamp Act, in fostering nonimportation agreements, and in organizing sentiment for a colonial congress, he was one of the youngest and most radical members of the First Continental Congress and helped to draft the Association of 1774. During the Congress, his large and luxuriously furnished home was a rendezvous for its principal delegates. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress, but after the battle of Lexington turned his attention to the more active business of recruiting and training troops. On his appointment as a major, in May 1775, John Adams declared that he "ought to have been a general" because he was the "animating soul" of the revolutionary movement. The Quakers, however, frowned upon his military activities and read him out of the meeting because he refused to reform his conduct. On June 23, 1775, Mifflin was appointed Washington's aide-de-camp and on August 14 following, quartermaster-general of the Continental Army, holding the latter post, except for a brief period, until March 1778. At first, he was a faithful and efficient quartermaster, though he preferred the front line to administrative duties. An eye-witness declared he "never saw a greater display of personal bravery" than Mifflin exhibited in his "cool and intrepid conduct" in leading an attack on a British foraging expedition at Lechmire's Point, November 9, 1775.
In the following month, on December 22, he was commissioned colonel. He was appointed brigadier general, May 16, 1776, was relieved as quartermaster shortly thereafter, at his own request, and commanded the covering party in the withdrawal from Long Island. Despite his unusual activity for the patriot cause, he was slow to commit himself on independence and steadfastly opposed the overthrow of Pennsylvania's provincial charter by the radicals, though when separation was achieved he appeared enthusiastic. In the gloom of late 1776, when he was sent by Washington to Philadelphia to rouse the authorities and the people to the need for reinforcements, his spirited appeals in the city and back country bore good fruit. In the following year his animated speeches kept many men in the army after their terms had expired. He was present at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, was appointed major-general, February 19, 1777, and assisted in the defenses at Philadelphia. Meanwhile, dissatisfaction developed with his conduct as quartermaster, the duties of which he had reluctantly resumed in October 1776, at the urgent request of Washington and Congress. Chafing under criticism and at congressional interference, he went home in the summer of 1777, pleading ill health, and, disappointed at his diminishing influence with the commander-in-chief, resigned both as quartermaster and major-general, October 8, 1777. Congress pressed him to continue the quartermaster's duties temporarily, but, complaining and malcontent, he neglected them, and gross confusion characterized the affairs of the department until a successor was appointed in March 1778. He continued, however, to retain his rank of major-general without salary. Mifflin was deeply involved in the cabal to advance Horatio Gates over Washington, intent apparently on his own advancement. A severe critic of Washington's "Fabian tactics, " when the board of war was reorganized in November 1777, he was appointed a member by Congress ostensibly to weaken the commander-in-chief. It was largely because of his recommendations that Gates became president of the board. On the exposure of the plot, he sought cover, solemnly disavowed all connection with it, and is reported to have said publicly at a later date that he considered Washington "the best friend he ever had in his life".
On April 18, 1778, he left the board of war and rejoined the army, but, with his quartermaster's record under fire, took little active participation. His enemies accused him of peculation and a committee of Congress recommended that he be held responsible for the acts of his subordinates, to which he strenuously objected on the ground that congressional interference had prevented his proper direction of the department's affairs. Washington was directed to order an inquiry and to hold a court-martial if it appeared that the deficiencies were chargeable to him or to his assistants. Mifflin invited the investigation, but waiting vainly for it, indignantly insisted that Congress accept his resignation as major-general, August 17, 1778. His wish was finally granted on February 25, 1779. Thereafter Congress continued, nevertheless, to call upon him for advice, notably in 1780, when he assisted in framing recommendations for reorganizing the staff departments. While his negligence as quartermaster seems inexcusable, and his carelessness in money matters is a matter of record, the charge of peculation has never been sustained. Out of the army, Mifflin turned to state politics. From 1782 to 1784, he was again in Congress, was elected president in his absence, November 3, 1783, actually serving in this capacity from December 13, 1783, to June 3, 1784. Through the irony of fate, when Washington returned his commission, December 23, 1783, it became Mifflin's duty as president to accept it. His felicitations showed no trace of his earlier feelings toward the commander-in-chief, and Washington's visits to his home in later years indicate a restoration of their friendship. He was a member of the Federal Convention in 1787, and though participating little in its debates, was in full sympathy with the new Constitution. He was elected to the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania in 1788, serving as its president until 1790, and in 1789-90, was chairman of the state constitutional convention. Displeased at his appointments while president of the state, the Republicans in selecting a gubernatorial candidate in 1790 passed him by for Arthur St. Clair. His friends, however, put him at the head of another ticket, and, supported solidly by the Constitutionalists and by many Republicans, he carried the state by the overwhelming majority of 27, 118 to 2, 819. He sympathized with the rising tide of Jeffersonianism in Pennsylvania, sat at the banquet table with Genet, and openly favored war with England in 1793. In the Whiskey Insurrection, 1794, apprehensive of endangering his influence with the Jeffersonians, he first evaded Washington's plea for support but later called the legislature into special session, urged speedy action against the insurgents, and harangued the militiamen as of old. Despite his pro-French and Jeffersonian sympathies, in 1798, he trimmed his sails to the popular breezes by encouraging preparations for the anticipated French war. After retiring from the governorship he was in the legislature until his death.
In the assembly, 1778-79, Mifflin advocated amendment of the constitution of 1776, opposed paper-money issues and measures to regulate prices, and fought to save the charter of the College of Philadelphia.
Personality
Mifflin was of medium height, athletic frame, and handsome. He dressed in the height of fashion. Of unusual refinement, he possessed a warm temperament and agreeable manners, his martial and dignified bearing revealing a little trace of his Quaker education. In money matters, he was extravagant and careless. Borrowing heavily in later life, he was, nevertheless, excessively generous, and entertained lavishly at his home at the falls of the Schuylkill and at his farm, "Angelica, " near Reading. An action brought against him by one of his creditors in 1799 obliged him to leave Philadelphia. This unfortunate occurrence preying on his mind hastened his death. When he died he was penniless, and the state of Pennsylvania paid the expenses of his burial in the Lutheran graveyard at Lancaster.
Connections
On March 4, 1767, Mifflin married Sarah, daughter of Morris Morris.