Governor Morris

Governor Morris

Governor Morris (born January 31, 1752 in New York , † November 6, 1816 in the Bronx ) was an American politician , one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a member of the US Senate . He also represented the State of Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 .

He was responsible for major sections of the United States Constitution . Morris was one of the signatories. Morris is believed to be the author of the preamble to the constitution. There it says: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity , do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. " ("We, the people of the United States, are guided by the purpose of perfecting our covenant, carrying out justice, securing domestic calm, providing national defense , promoting the common good, and the happiness of freedom ourselves and our descendants to preserve, establish and establish this constitution for the United States of America. ") Morris was called the Penman of the Constitution . So he was basically secretary to the constituent assembly. While during this time the American consciousness of a confederation with sovereign states was strong, Morris thought in the category of a unified union, i.e. of a federal state.

life and career

Morris had been a student at King's College (now Columbia University ) since 1764 . He left school in 1768 and graduated in 1771.

On May 8, 1775, Morris was elected to the New York Provincial Congress as a member of Westchester County (now Bronx County ) . This meeting was not legally legitimized. The MPs, like most, worked towards the colony's independence. These endeavors not only sparked opposition from his own families, but also from his mentor, William Smith . The 25-year-old Morris was an integral part of the New York Constitution of 1777.

After the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, the British sacked New York City. The family property on the other side of the Harlem River , seen from Manhattan , was also affected. His mother, a supporter of the loyalists , gave the estate to the British. With his property now in the hands of the enemy, he also lost his right to stand as a candidate for the New York Congress. Instead, he was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress .

He took his place on January 28, 1778 and was immediately elected as a member of the Committee for the Coordination of Military Reform. After eyeing the Valley Forge camp , he became the Continental Army spokesman in Congress. He signed the original constitution in 1778.

A year later, in 1779, he lost re-election to Congress. The reason was probably his vehement support for a strong central government, while the people of New York favored rather strong states. Due to his defeat, he moved to Philadelphia to work as a merchant and lawyer.

In 1780, Morris allegedly lost his left leg in an accident with a carriage, which was replaced by a wooden prosthesis. In fact, the jump from a great height while fleeing from a jealous husband should have been the cause. Morris had numerous affairs, according to his own diary entries.

In Philadelphia he took on the duties of assistant to the chamberlain from 1781 to 1785. In 1787 he was a representative at the Philadelphia Convention before returning to New York a year later.

During his time in Philadelphia he became acquainted with Robert Morris , who, despite having the same surname, was not related to him. Robert Morris worked with George Washington to ensure that he could attend the constituent assembly.

During the Philadelphia Convention he supported George Washington , who like him preferred a strong central government. On his committee, chaired by William Samuel Johnson , he served as the one who probably had the greatest share in the drafting of the constitution.

As an aristocrat, Morris believed in the need for an oligarchic form of government. He wrote the quote: "There never was and there will never be a civilized society without an aristocracy " ("there never was, nor ever will be a civilized society without an aristocracy "). He was skeptical of a democratic form of government because he thought that there would be a sale of votes in favor of the wealthy. In this respect, in his opinion, only the landowners or wealthy should have voting rights. Morris also rejected the accession of western states because the savagery of these states did not produce sensible statesmen.

Morris had made 173 speeches in the Constituent Assembly. Morris was considered a "believing rationalist" because he believed not only in a guiding God, but also in religiously mediated morality. However, he did not excel as a religious person. He insisted on adherence to principles. He was an advocate for religious freedom . Governor Morris also fought against slavery .

In 1789 he came to France as a merchant and served there as ambassador from 1792 to 1794. His diary entries document the events of the French Revolution . When he returned to the United States in 1798, he became a member of the US Senate for the Federalist Party in April 1800 and stepped into the vacancy of the seat that had arisen due to the resignation of James Watson . He held the seat from May 3, 1800 to March 4, 1803, but lost it in the re-election of February 3, 1803.

After his defeat he became chairman of the Eriekanal Commission from 1810 to 1813. The Eriekanal accelerated the growth of New York considerably and ultimately also ensured the rise as a financial metropolis. Morris said: "the proudest empire in Europe is but a bubble compared to what America will be, must be, in the course of two centuries, perhaps of one" ( the proudest empire in Europe is nothing but a bubble compared to that what America will be, must be, within the span of two centuries, possibly one )

In 1811, along with lawyer John Rutherfurd and surveyor Simeon De Witt, Morris was part of the three-person commission that laid down the basis for the development of Manhattan (so-called Commissioners' Plan of 1811 )

family

At the age of 57, he married Anne Cary ("Nancy") Randolph, sister of Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr. , husband of Thomas Jefferson's daughter , Martha Jefferson Randolph .

Morris died on the Morrisania family estate . He is buried in the cemetery of St. Ann's Episcopal Church in the Bronx. The Morris couple's son, Governor Jr. , eventually became head of a railroad company.

Morris managed to acquire sizeable estates in north New York. In addition to the Town of Gouverneur in St. Lawrence County , the Village of Gouverneur is also located in the same parish .

His half-brother, Lewis Morris (1726–1798), had signed the Declaration of Independence . Another half-brother, Staats Long Morris , was a Loyalist and a general in the British Army . His nephew, Lewis R. Morris , was a member of the Vermont and United States Congress. His great-nephew was William M. Meredith , Treasury Secretary of the United States under the Zachary Taylor presidency . Morris' great-grandson was also called the Governor (1876-1953) and was a writer. Among other things, a work in the film The Penalty was adapted.

In 1943 a Liberty freighter was named SS Gouverneur Morris . The ship was scrapped in 1974.

literature

• Richard Brookhiser: Gentleman Revolutionary: Governor Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution . Free press. New York 2003, ISBN 0-7432-2379-9
• Alan Pell Crawford: Unwise Passions: A True Story of a Remarkable Woman — and the First Great Scandal of Eighteenth-century America . Simon & Schuster. New York 2000, ISBN 0-684-83474-X (A biography of Morris's wife.)
• Jerry Fresia: Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution & Other Illusions . Cambridge: South End Press 1988
• Melanie Randolph Miller: Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris and the French Revolution (Potomac Books, 2005)
• The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, Minister of the United States to France; Member of the Constitutional Convention , ed. Anne Cary Morris (1888). 2 vols. online version
• Howard Swiggert: The Extraordinary Mr. Morris . Doubleday & Co. New York 1952

Web links

Commons : Governor Morris  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Gouverneur Morris in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Biography filed with the United States Army Center of Military History (English)
• Mintz, Max, Governor Morris, George Washington's War Hawk , Virginia Quarterly Review , Autumn 2003.
• Letters of Gouverneur Morris (English)
• Governor Morris, Jr. Papers, 1853-1879 New-York Historical Society (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ “Governor” was his first name, not his title
2. ^ Library of Congress: Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789
3. ^ Robert K. Wright, Jr., Morris J. MacGregor, Jr .: Governor Morris. In: Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution. United States Army Center of Military History, pp. 112-114 , accessed February 14, 2017 . 
4. ↑ American National Biographies "Governor Morris"
5. ↑ Gouverneur Morris, Theistic rationalist, Gregg Frazer. Page 26 . Allacademic.com. Retrieved on March 19, 2010.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
6. ↑ Catherine Drinker Bowen. Miracle at Philadelphia. 1986 edition. P. 236.
7. ^ Toward An American Revolution . Cyberjournal.org. Archived from the original on June 7, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 19, 2010. 
8. ↑ Catherine Drinker Bowen: Miracle at Philadelphia. 1986 edition. P. 178.
9. ↑ Gouverneur Morris, Theistic rationalist, by Frazer Gregg . Allacademic.com. Retrieved on March 19, 2010.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Will Wilkinson, July 2004 issue: The Fun-Loving Founding Father. Governor Morris, the first modern American. Will Wilkinson, Reason Magazine, July 2004 . Reason.com. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
11. ↑ St. Ann's Episcopal Church ( January 11, 2010 memento )
12. ↑ Browse By Author: M - Project Gutenberg . Gutenberg.org. July 1, 1916. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
13. ^ Governor Morris . Imdb.com. May 1, 2009. Retrieved March 19, 2010.