Gouverneur Morris: The Forgotten Founding Father
by Theresa DeCicco
Education & Public Programs Associate Theresa DeCicco details the life and work of the “forgotten Founding Father” Gouverneur Morris, who influenced not one, but two historic Revolutions.
Referred to as the “Penmen of the Constitution” for his eloquent writing of the United States Constitution’s preamble, Gouverneur Morris is often excluded from the nation’s pantheon of Founding Fathers–largely due to his promiscuous reputation and Federalist opinions. A man of wit and humor, Morris was nevertheless a Founder whose temptations and talents influenced two significant Revolutions.
Old Morrisania, Morrisania. Courtesy of The New York Public Library Digital Collections. In the New York City borough of the Bronx, the Morrisania neighborhood is named after the Morris family’s former Estate.
Morris was born in 1752 into a prominent, land-owning family at the Morrisania Estate in the present-day Bronx. A native New Yorker, he was educated at Kings College, now Columbia University, and became a lawyer just as the American rebellion erupted into the War for Independence. The American Revolution divided the Morris family; Gouverneur’s distant relatives supporting the rebels fighting for independence while his mother and sisters remained staunch Loyalists. Though he was initially apprehensive, Morris devoted himself fully to the Patriot cause and grew into an instrumental figure in the war and its outcome.[1]
In 1778 Morris served as a New York delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. On one of his earlier assignments, he visited George Washington at the Continental encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The two men quickly struck up a friendship, and were in constant correspondence for many years, discussing their mutual desire to create a centralized government for the new nation. After witnessing the terrible conditions at the encampment, Morris frequently advocated for the Continental Army and Washington until his term in Congress ended in 1779.
During the latter half of the war, Morris assisted Robert Morris (no relation), the “Financier of the Revolution,” in overseeing the United States’ finances under the Articles of Confederation. The two statesmen worked to reform the nation’s fledgling financial system, drafting a blueprint for a national bank in the process.[2]
Gouverneur Morris and Robert Morris (1783) by Charles Willson Peale depicts Gouverneur Morris (left) and Robert Morris (right). Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
Morris’s peers revered his intelligence, oratory prowess, and wit. His peg leg, which he received from a carriage accident in 1780, augmented his charm. Morris’ doctor was out of town at the time of the accident and, the doctors who attended to him insisted that the leg be amputated. Morris consented, but perhaps too quickly. On his doctor’s return, he stated that Morris’ leg could have been saved. The possibility of unnecessary loss didn’t weigh on Morris, as he supposedly joked to a friend, “I am almost tempted to part with the other.”[3] The injury never stopped Morris, as he continued to travel, enjoy high society, and stand at the forefront of revolutionary politics.
Morris returned to Philadelphia in 1787 as a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Giving a total of 173 speeches, Morris was the most outspoken representative at the Convention.[4] He ardently advocated to abolish slavery while aware that his family profited from enslaved people’s labor. In an anti-slavery speech, he condemned his home state of New York:
“Travel through the whole continent and you behold the prospect continually varying with the Appearance and disappearance of slavery. The moment you leave the eastern states [New England] and enter New York, the effects of the institution become visible; passing through the Jerseys and entering Pennsylvania [Pennsylvania enacted gradual abolition in 1780] every criterion of superior improvement witnesses the change.”[5]
Morris’s voice lent shape to the governance of the United States under the forthcoming Constitution; he also spoke in favor of including the freedom to practice religion without interference to the Constitution.[6] Skeptical of the belief in popular sovereignty, he held the firm belief that while the House of Representatives represents the citizenry, the Senate should be composed of established men who owned property to balance out the House.[7] He worked to establish the Electoral College and shaped much of the structure of the executive branch.
Morris’s most significant contribution to the Convention was his writing. In early September 1787, the Convention assembled a five-person Committee of Style and Arrangement to formalize and arrange the Constitution’s language. Comprised of men such as Rufus King, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, the Committee delegates the arduous task of crafting the Constitution’s main text to Morris. He finished his draft in four days.[8]
Unlike Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence thirteen years earlier, Morris was not writing from his conscience. Bound by the resolutions of the Convention, Morris both polished and simplified the text. As the principal author of the Constitution’s preamble, the opening words were of Morris’ influence, changing “We, the People of the States” to “We, the People of the United States.”[9] In 1831, James Madison remarked, “The finish given to the style and arrangement of the Constitution, fairly belongs to the pen of Mr. Morris.”[10]
Signers of the Constitution (1866) by Thomas Pritchard Rossiter. Gouverneur Morris can be seen in the bottom right corner, wearing his peg leg and seated in the front row. This image is part of Fraunces Tavern Museum’s digital exhibition Valuable.
The convention to ratify the Constitution took place over nine months, and Morris had no part in the process. When asked by Hamilton to partake in a series of essays pushing for ratification, Morris declined.[11] Without Morris’ pen, Hamilton recruited James Madison and John Jay to write the articles, later known as The Federalist Papers. At the close of the Constitutional Convention, Morris removed himself from public affairs, instead choosing to attend to private business with his old partner Robert Morris.
Morris’s business dealings with Robert Morris first brought him to Paris, France, in the winter of 1788-89. He arrived in a new social atmosphere, equipped with letters of formal introduction from George Washington. In return, Washington asked that Morris purchase him a watch with “a plain handsome key.”[12] Washington’s written introductions served Morris well as he eased into Parisian society. As the shadow of revolution now loomed over the French state, Morris would come to witness and record the darkest days of the oncoming French Revolution.
From 1789 to 1798, Morris kept a detailed diary of his time in Europe. He wrote without pretense about events, people he met and their conversations, European court culture, and his opinions on French politics and the French Revolution. A portion of his entries detailed his romantic affairs with women of French high society. A lifelong bachelor, Morris was impressed by and admired the political savvy and salon culture of society women.[13] Of all his affairs, his relationship with the novelist Adélaïde de Flahaut was the most documented. Morris viewed Flahaut as an intellectual equal, but the French Revolution sent the lovers down different paths.
Portrait of Gilbert Motier the Marquis De La Fayette as a Lieutenant General, 1791. Courtesy of Nouvel Éclairage sur L'Histoire.
Some of Morris’ first associates in Paris were fellow American Revolutionaries. Thomas Jefferson, the American Minister Plenipotentiary to France, and Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, met with Morris during his first months in Paris. Morris also crossed paths with the Franco-American hero, the Marquis de Lafayette. As the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard of France and principal author of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen,” Lafayette placed himself in a precarious position in the French Revolution's early days. When reflecting on two kinds of ambition, Morris wrote of Lafayette’s demeanor consisted of “the one born of pride, and the other of vanity, and his partakes most of the latter.”[14]
Morris was a frequent guest at Jefferson’s home in France. At first, their common interest was their taste in fineries. Morris wrote in his diary, “[Jefferson] keeps a good table and excellent wines which he distributes freely and by his hospitality to his country-men."[15] Yet, as political unrest grew, the two men developed different viewpoints Jefferson supported the oncoming Revolution in France. In a letter to George Washington, Jefferson wrote, “the nation [France] has been awaked by our revolution, they feel their strength, they are enlightened, their lights are spreading, and they will not retrograde."[16] Morris, on the other hand, proclaimed, “our American example has done [the French good]; but like all novelties, liberty runs away with their discretion, if they have any. They want an American constitution…without reflecting that they have not American citizens to support that constitution.”[17]
As the French Revolution drew closer, Morris grew increasingly critical of the situation. He believed the Revolution would fail due to the French upper classes' lack of political strength and experience, which was unlike what he saw with the American Revolution's founding generation. [18] Morris went further, stating the Revolution would end in despotism, either through royal or revolutionary tyranny.[19] He was correct in his prediction, as France would later experience both. Jefferson left France in September 1789 to assume his role as the first Secretary of State in the United States.
An assignment given by President Washington to gauge British sentiments toward American policy took Morris to London, England, from February to November 1790. Upon his return to Paris, he observed the darker turn the Revolution was taking. King Louis XVI and Lafayette were waning in respect and command, and more radical parties began gaining traction. In regards to Lafayette and his decreasing authority, Morris commented, “if the sea runs high, he will be unable to hold the helm.”[20]
Morris became an informal advisor to King Louis XVI during the twilight months of his reign.[21]Although Morris was highly critical of the King during his first arrival in Paris, he began to send helpful letters to the King and draft speeches, which the King would never speak. In February 1792, after some debate in the Senate, Morris was appointed the new United States Minister to France. Even in his new role, he continued to help the royal family, involving himself in plans to help them escape France. His actions proved unsuccessful when, on August 10, 1792, Morris heard cannons fire at a distance. Revolutionaries had stormed the Tuileries Palace and imprisoned the royal family. On January 21, 1793 King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine.
A terracotta bust of Gouverneur Morris (1792) by sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. When visiting Houdon’s workshop in Paris, Morris stood in as a body model for the sculptor’s statue of George Washington. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Morris became the American Minister Plenipotentiary to France just as the Revolution turned even more violent. The following year, the Revolution entered a period known as the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), in which many French aristocrats or those suspected of treason were publicly executed. Even as a public official, Morris was subject to questioning. In one incident, the local French militia searched Morris’ home for suspected arms. The militia found no weapons, but he was hiding aristocrats, including his loved Adélaïde de Flahaut and her son, who were at his home during the search.[22] Using bribes and his office's power, Morris helped many aristocrats and intellectuals escape the guillotine. Morris stayed in the position until 1794, leaving France to tour Europe.
Morris toured Europe for four years, visiting different European courts and engaging in missions to help release former acquaintances from imprisonment. He traveled to London, where in a stroke of fate, Morris was presented to King George III,the same monarch he fought independence from during the Revolutionary War. [23] Morris also lobbied for Lafayette’s freedom from the Austrian government, who captured the Frenchman during his escape from France in 1792, but his efforts were in vain. Lafayette was released from the Olmütz prison in 1797 after a clause was added to the Treaty of Campo Formio calling for his release. In October 1798, Morris sailed from Hamburg, Germany to New York, putting his European tour to an end and returning to the country he helped build.
On his return, Morris entered public office as an elected Senator from New York. Remaining active in the public sphere, served as the Chairman of the Erie Canal Commission from 1810 to 1813 and assisted with the Commissioner's Plan of 1811, which created the Manhattan street grid system.
During the War of 1812, Morris supported the Federalist Party. Bitterly opposed to the war, Morris believed New York and the New England states should secede from the United States. He viewed the war of 1812 as a play by the southern states, looking to expand their political power through the 1783 three-fifths compromise. The position significantly damaged his reputation, with the consequences now reflected in his historical memory. Morris passed away on November 6, 1816 at his Morrisania Estate. He is buried in St. Ann’s Episcopal Churchyard in the Bronx.
Gouverneur Morris was the “Penman of the Constitution,” witness to the politics and warfare of two Revolutions, and a Founder who nevertheless impacted and shaped the events of his lifetime.
Bibliography
Adams, William Howard. Gouverneur Morris an Independent Life. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
Brookhiser, Richard, and Andrew Klavan. “The Forgotten Founding Father.” City Journal, January 27, 2016. https://www.city-journal.org/html/forgotten-founding-father-12246.html.
Brookhiser, Richard. Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution. New York, NY: Free Press, 2004.
Hindley, Meredith, Greg Barnhisel, Steve Moyer, James Panero, and Sam Kean. “Ungoverned Passion.” The National Endowment for the Humanities. Accessed April 1, 2021. https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2012/marchapril/feature/ungoverned-passion.
LaBrecque, Annabel. “Gouverneur Morris.” George Washington's Mount Vernon. Accessed April 1, 2021. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/gouverneur-morris/.
Mosrick, Nicholas. “Forgotten Founders: Gouverneur Morris.” National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org. Accessed April 1, 2021. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/forgotten-founders-gouverneur-morris.
“Founders Online: From Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 4 December 1788.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed April 1, 2021. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-14-02-0111. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 14, October 8 1788 – March 26 1789, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958, pp. 328–332.]
“Founders Online: James Madison to Jared Sparks, 8 April 1831.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed April 1, 2021. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-2323.
Footnotes
[1] Richard Brookhiser, “The Forgotten Founding Father,” City Journal, The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc., Spring 2002, https://www.city-journal.org/html/forgotten-founding-father-12246.html
[2] Annabel LaBrecque, “Gouverneur Morris,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, n.d., https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/gouverneur-morris/
[3] Richard Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution. (New York, NY: Free Press, 2004), 61.
[4] Nicholas Mosvick, “Forgotten Founders: Gouverneur Morris,” Constitution Center, June 8, 2020, https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/forgotten-founders-gouverneur-morris
[5] Brookhiser, “The Forgotten Founding Father.”
[6] Brookhiser, “The Forgotten Founding Father.”
[7] Mosvick, “Forgotten Founders: Gouverneur Morris.”
[8] Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary, 87.
[9] Ibid.
[10] James Madison to Jared Sparks, 8 April 1831,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-2323
[11] Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary, 93.
[12] Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary, 98.
[13] William Howard Adams, Gouverneur Morris: An Independent Life, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 180.
[14] Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary, 103.
[15] Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, “Gouverneur Morris (Physiognotrace),” n.d., https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/gouverneur-morris-physiognotrace
[16] From Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 4 December 1788,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-14-02-0111
[17] Brookhiser, “The Forgotten Founding Father.”
[18] Brookhiser, “The Forgotten Founding Father.”
[19] Ibid.
[20] Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary, 115.
[21] Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary, 124.
[22] Brookhiser, Gentleman Revolutionary, 133.
[23] Meredith Hindley, “Ungoverned Passion,” The National Endowment for The Humanities, March/April 2012, https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2012/marchapril/feature/ungoverned-passion
