Pennsylvania Speculator and Patriot: The Entrepreneurial John Nicholson, 1757-1800

Based on the largely neglected Nicholson manuscripts, this book throws new light on the crucial importance of land speculation in the post-Revolutionary period, and on the career of a man who became the leading speculator in Pennsylvania and one of the chief land jobbers in the new nation. Nicholson, rather than his partner, Robert Morris, is shown to be the prime mover in the Federal City Project. It is also revealed that some of Nicholson's promotional efforts won the praise of President Washington. Several myths are dispelled—for instance, by showing that some of the allegedly mythical settlements in Kentucky were quite real. Most important, Professor Arbuckle reveals how Nicholson's dual career, as political idealist and financial gambler, stemmed from his unbounded faith in the potential growth of the infant republic.

The book begins with Nicholson's use of his position as a state official for speculative purposes. It examines his roles as a founder of the National Democratic Party, a promoter of a settlement (Asylum) for French émigrés, a planner and developer of Washington, D.C., and an entrepreneur in the export trade, iron and textile manufacturing, and steamboat promotion. It ends with his evasion of creditors and his death in debtor's prison at age 43, leaving a wife and eight children and debts of over twelve million dollars.