The Age of the Trillionaire

Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty. July 6, 2026, 7 AM ET Share Save Robert Morris migrated from England to the American colonies as a teenager and established himself in the mercantile industry. During the Revolutionary War, his trading ships attacked British vessels and seized their cargo; after the conflict, the Founding Father became a millionaire, likely the country’s first. He later invested in frontier real estate—a good bet made too soon. Morris went bankrupt, spectacularly, and spent the years 1798 to 1801 incarcerated in a Philadelphia debtors’ prison.