Stephen Girard
Born in Bordeaux, France in 1750, but later becoming a naturalized American citizen, Stephen Girard was a banker who played an extraordinarily important role in American history. He essentially saved the entire US government from financial ruin during the War of 1812.
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He bought out most of the stock of the expired First Bank of the US in 1811 and opened his own bank under various names. Then, during the war, he gave the government all of his resources as a war loan. In modern money, he’d be worth several hundred billion dollars, and he left most of his fortune to orphans.