Due to rising inflation, in mid-1779 the Constitutionalists established a committee to implement price controls; numerous Philadelphia merchants were arrested for allegedly violating the committee's orders, but Morris avoided imprisonment and emerged as a leading opponent of the committee. The price control committee proved ineffective and disbanded in September, but the following month a mob rioted and seized several Republican leaders. Morris and other Republicans sheltered at James Wilson's house, where they were rescued by Reed and a detachment of the Continental Army. Wilson fled the city after the riot, and popular anger at merchants resulted in Morris's defeat in his campaign for re-election to the state legislature.