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Rh enemy that the presence there of a member of the Council of Safety and Treasurer would have been attended with great risk, and he was therefore compelled to endure an anxious separation from them until the following June. In addition to holding the office of Treasurer, he was trustee of the Loan Office for ten years, from 1780 to 1790, at which latter date it was superseded. The Loan Office was established in 1723 for the purpose of providing a circulating medium of exchange, and was authorized to loan bills of credit, which were legal tenders, upon the security of mortgages upon real estate. The duties of this office required the exercise of the greatest prudence in the issue of the bills and the nicest care in the valuation of the mortgages, and it is a tribute to the practical judgment of Rittenhouse, who was sole trustee, that its affairs were finally closed entirely without loss.

The disputes between Pennsylvania and Virginia upon the question of boundaries became serious, and in 1779 George Bryan, John Ewing, and David Rittenhouse for the former State, and James Madison and Robert Andrews for the latter, were appointed commissioners to adjust them. They entered into an agreement to extend Mason and Dixon's line due west five degrees of longitude from the river Delaware, and from its western extremity to draw a meridian to the northern limit of Pennsylvania, for the southern and western boundaries of that State. This agreement was subsequently ratified, but uncertainty as to the exact location of the line led to numerous collisions between settlers claiming under grants from the two States, and even hostilities were threatened. At one time the authority of Congress was invoked in the interest of peace. It finally became necessary to run and mark the lines, and in 1784 Pennsvlvania appointed as commissioners for that purpose John Ewing, David Rittenhouse,