View source for Gouverneur Morris

{{short description|American Founding Father and politician}}
{{other people}}
{{redirect|Governor Morris}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Gouverneur Morris
| image               = Portrait of Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), 1817.jpg
| caption             = Portrait of Morris, 1817
| signature           = Signature of Gouverneur Morris.jpg
| jr/sr               = United States Senator
| state               = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| term_start          = April 3, 1800
| term_end            = March 3, 1803
| predecessor         = [[James Watson (New York)|James Watson]]
| successor           = [[Theodorus Bailey (politician)|Theodorus Bailey]]
| order1              = 4th
| minister_from1      = United States
| country1            = France
| term_start1         = June 3, 1792
| term_end1           = April 9, 1794
| predecessor1        = [[William Short (American ambassador)|William Short]]
| successor1          = [[James Monroe]]
| president1          = [[George Washington]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1752|1|31}}
| birth_place         = [[The Bronx]], [[Province of New York]], [[British America]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1816|11|6|1752|1|31}}
| death_place         = The Bronx, [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[St. Ann's Episcopal Church (Bronx)|Saint Ann's Episcopal Church]], [[The Bronx]]
| party               = [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]
| alma_mater          = [[Columbia University|King's College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]], [[Master of Arts|AM]])
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Ann Cary Randolph Morris|Ann Cary ("Nancy") Randolph]]|1809}}
| children            = [[Gouverneur Morris II]]
}}
'''Gouverneur Morris'''  ({{IPAc-en|g|ʌ|v|ər|n|ɪər|_|ˈ|m|ɒr|ɪ|s}} {{respell|guh|vər|NEER}} {{respell|MOR|ris}};<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Brookhiser |first=Richard |date=Spring 2002 |title=The Forgotten Founding Father |url=http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_2_urbanities-the_forgotten.html |magazine=[[City Journal (New York City)|City Journal]] |location=New York, NY |publisher=[[Manhattan Institute for Policy Research]] |access-date=2015-01-15 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194653/http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_2_urbanities-the_forgotten.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a [[Founding Father of the United States]], and a signatory to the [[Articles of Confederation]] and the [[United States Constitution]]. He wrote the [[Preamble to the United States Constitution]] and has been called the "Penman of the Constitution".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/constit.html|title=Documents from the Constitutional Convention and the Continental Congress|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> While most Americans still thought of themselves as [[Citizenship|citizens]] of their respective states, Morris advanced the idea of being a [[Citizenship of the United States|citizen of a single union of states]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/morrisg.htm|chapter=Gouverneur Morris|publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]]|url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/ss-fm.htm|title=Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution|first=Robert K. Jr.|last=Wright|year=1987|id=CMH Pub 71-25|access-date=2009-06-02|archive-date=2019-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009074857/https://history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/ss-fm.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was also one of the most outspoken opponents of slavery among those who were present at the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Congress]]. He represented [[New York (state)|New York]] in the [[United States Senate]] from 1800 to 1803.

Morris was born into a wealthy landowning family in what is now [[New York City]]. After attending King's College (now [[Columbia University]]) he studied law under Judge [[William Smith (judge, born 1728)|William Smith]] and earned admission to the bar. He was elected to the [[New York Provincial Congress]] before serving in the [[Continental Congress]]. After losing re-election to Congress, he moved to Philadelphia and became the assistant [[Superintendent of Finance of the United States|U.S. Superintendent of Finance]]. He represented Pennsylvania at the 1787 [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] in which he advocated a strong central government. He served on the committee that wrote the final draft of the United States Constitution.

After the ratification of the Constitution, Morris served as [[United States Ambassador to France|Minister Plenipotentiary]] to France. He criticized the [[French Revolution]] and the execution of [[Marie Antoinette]]. Morris returned to the United States in 1798 and won election to the Senate in 1800. Affiliating with the [[Federalist Party]], he lost re-election in 1803. After leaving the Senate, he served as chairman of the [[Erie Canal Commission]], which constructed the [[Erie Canal]], and was one of the commissioners that created the [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]] to establish New York's street grid.

==Early life==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Lewis Morris.svg|175px|thumb|right|Coat of Arms of Gouverneur Morris]]
Morris was born on January 31, 1752, the son of [[Lewis Morris (speaker)|Lewis Morris Jr.]] (1698–1762) and his second wife, Sarah Gouverneur (1714–1786). Morris's first name derived from his mother's surname; she was from a [[Huguenot]] family that had first moved to [[County of Holland|Holland]] and then to [[New Amsterdam]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/gouverneur-morris/ | title=Gouverneur Morris [1752–1816] | publisher=New Netherlands Institute | access-date=17 June 2014}}</ref> In both [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[French language|French]], ''Gouverneur'' means "Governor".

Morris's half-brother [[Lewis Morris]] was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Another half-brother, [[Staats Long Morris]], was a Loyalist major-general in the British Army during the American Revolution, and Morris's grandfather, [[Lewis Morris (governor)|Lewis Morris]], was the chief justice of New York and [[List of colonial governors of New Jersey|British governor]] of [[New Jersey]].

His nephew, [[Lewis Richard Morris]], served in the Vermont Legislature and in the United States Congress. His grandnephew was [[William M. Meredith]], who was [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]] under [[Zachary Taylor]].

Morris's father, Lewis Morris, was a wealthy landowner and judge.

Gouverneur Morris was born on the family estate, Morrisania, on the north side of the [[Harlem River]], which was then in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]] but is now part of [[the Bronx]].  Morris, a gifted scholar, enrolled at King's College (now [[Columbia University]] in New York City) at age 12. He graduated in 1768 and received a master's degree in 1771. He studied law with Judge [[William Smith (judge, born 1728)|William Smith]] and attained admission to the bar in 1775.

==Career==
[[File:Gouverneur Morris Portrait Alonzo Chappel circa 1850-60s.png|200px|thumb|right|Portrait of Gouverneur Morris by American painter [[Alonzo Chappel]] (circa 1860s)]]
On May 8, 1775,<ref>''ANB'' "Gouverneur Morris"</ref> Morris was elected to represent his family household in southern [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]] (now [[Bronx County, New York|Bronx County]]), in the [[New York Provincial Congress]]. As a member of the congress, he, along with most of his fellow delegates, concentrated on turning the colony into an independent state. However, his advocacy of independence brought him into conflict with his family, as well as with his mentor, [[William Smith (judge, born 1728)|William Smith]], who had abandoned the Patriot cause when it pressed toward independence. Morris was a member of the [[New York State Assembly]] in [[1st New York State Legislature|1777–78]].

After the [[Battle of Long Island]] in August 1776, the British seized New York City. Morris's mother, a [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]], gave his family's estate, which was across the [[Harlem River]] from [[Manhattan]], to the British for military use.

===Continental Congress===
Morris was appointed as a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]] and took his seat in Congress on 28 January 1778. He was selected to a committee in charge of coordinating reforms of the military with [[George Washington]]. After witnessing the army encamped at [[Valley Forge]], he was so appalled by the conditions of the troops that he became the spokesman for the [[Continental Army]] in Congress and subsequently helped enact substantial reforms in its training, methods, and financing. He also signed the [[Articles of Confederation]] in 1778 and was its youngest signer.

In 1778, when the [[Conway Cabal]] was at its peak, some members of the Continental Congress attempted a no-confidence vote against George Washington. If it had succeeded, Washington would have been court-martialed and dismissed as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Gouverneur Morris cast the decisive tie-breaking vote in favor of keeping Washington as Commander-in-Chief.<ref>"The True George Washington," written by Paul Leicester Ford, published by J. Lippincott, the printing of the year 1900</ref>

===Lawyer and merchant===
[[File:WLA nyhistorical Wooden leg of Gouvernour Morris.jpg|thumb|Wooden leg of Gouverneur Morris. New-York Historical Society.]]
In 1779, he was defeated for re-election to Congress, largely because his advocacy of a strong central government was at odds with the decentralist views prevalent in [[New York (state)|New York]]. Defeated in his home state, he moved to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], to work as a lawyer and merchant.

In 1780, Morris had a carriage accident in Philadelphia, and his left leg was amputated below the knee. Despite an automatic exemption from military duty because of his handicap and his service in the legislature, he joined a special "briefs" club for the protection of New York City, a forerunner of the modern [[New York Guard]].

=== Public office and Constitutional Convention ===
[[File:RobertAndGouverneurMorris.jpg|thumb|Gouverneur Morris and [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]]. [[Charles Willson Peale]], 1783.]]
[[File:Constitution We the People.jpg|thumb|Morris wrote the [[Preamble to the United States Constitution]].]]
In Philadelphia, he was appointed assistant [[Superintendent of Finance of the United States|superintendent of finance of the United States]] and served under [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] (no relation).<ref>{{cite book |last=Raphael |first=Ray |date=2009 |title=Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=toWzDnM9JDEC&pg=PA404 |location=New York, NY |publisher=The New Press |page=404 |isbn=978-1-59558-327-7}}</ref> He was selected as a Pennsylvania delegate to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] in 1787. During the Convention, he was a friend and ally of Washington and others who favored a strong central government.  Morris was elected to serve on the Committee of Style and Arrangement, a committee of five (chaired by [[William Samuel Johnson]]), which drafted the final language of the proposed constitution. Morris has been credited by most historians with authorship of the final version of the preamble, including changing the opening line "We, the People of the States" to "We, the People of the United States."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/pre-1-2/ALDE_00001234/ |title=Historical Background on the Preamble |website=Constitution Annotated |publisher=Library of Congress |location=Washington, DC |access-date=March 19, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/forgotten-founders-gouverneur-morris |title=Forgotten Founders: Gouverneur Morris |last=Mosvick |first=Nicholas |date=June 8, 2020 |website=Constitution Center.org |publisher=National Constitution Center |location=Philadelphia, PA |access-date=March 19, 2023}}</ref>  [[Catherine Drinker Bowen]], in her 1966 book ''[[Miracle at Philadelphia]]'', called Morris the committee's "[[amanuensis]]," meaning that it was his pen that was responsible for most of the draft and its final polished form.<ref>Bowen, Catherine Drinker. ''Miracle at Philadelphia.'' 1986 edition. p. 236.</ref><ref>Chernow, Ron. ''Alexander Hamilton.'' Penguin, 2004. p. 239.</ref>

It is said by some that Morris was "an [[aristocracy (class)|aristocrat]] to the core," who believed that "there never was, nor ever will be a civilized Society without an Aristocracy."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cyberjournal.org/authors/fresia/|title=Toward An American Revolution|publisher=Cyberjournal.org|access-date=2010-03-19|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607102331/http://cyberjournal.org/authors/fresia/|archive-date=2010-06-07}}</ref> It is also alleged that he thought that common people were incapable of self-government because he feared that the poor would sell their votes to the rich and that voting should be restricted to property owners. [[Duff Cooper]] wrote of Morris that although he "had warmly espoused the cause of the colonists in the American War of Independence, he retained a cynically aristocratic view of life and a profound contempt for democratic theories."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Talleyrand|last=Duff Cooper|first=Alfred|publisher=Grove Press|year=2001 |orig-year=1932|isbn=0802137679|location=New York|pages=43}}</ref>

Morris opposed admitting new western states on an equal basis with the existing eastern states for fear that the interior “wilderness” could not furnish "enlightened" national statesmen.<ref>Bowen. p. 178.</ref> Madison's summary of Morris's speech at the Convention on 11 July 1787 stated that his view "relative to the Western Country had not changed his opinion on that head. Among other objections it must be apparent they would not be able to furnish men equally enlightened, to share in the administration of our common interests." His reason given for that was regional: "The Busy haunts of men not the remote wilderness, was the proper School of political Talents. If the Western people get the power into their hands they will ruin the Atlantic interests."<ref>Quoted in [[Akhil Reed Amar|Amar, Akhil Reed]], ''America's Constitution: A Biography'', New York: [[Random House]], 2005, p. 87.</ref> In that fear, Morris turned out to be in the minority. Jon Elster has suggested that Morris's attempt to limit the future power of the West was a strategic move designed to limit the power of slaveholding states because Morris believed that slavery would predominate in new Western states.<ref>Jon Elster, ''Securities Against Misrule,'' (2013), pp. 79–80</ref>

At the Convention, he gave more speeches than any other delegate, a total of 173. As a matter of principle, he often vigorously defended the right of anyone to practice his chosen religion without interference, and he argued to include such language in the Constitution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/8/1/1/2/pages281125/p281125-25.php|title=Gouverneur Morris, Theistic Rationalist|author=Gregg Frazer|page=26|publisher=Allacademic.com|access-date=2010-03-19}}</ref>

During the Convention Gouverneur Morris boarded at Miss Dally's boarding house, along with Alexander Hamilton and Elbridge Gerry.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.statutesandstories.com/blog_html/breaking-news-long-sought-receipt-from-the-constitutional-convention-has-been-located/ | title=Breaking News: Long-sought receipt from the Constitutional Convention has been located – Statutes and Stories }}</ref> Based on this discovery, an application was submitted to the State of Pennsylvania to install a historic marker on Market and 3rd Street in Philadelphia to honor Miss Dally and the location where the "Penman of the Constitution" boarded.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.statutesandstories.com/blog_html/miss-dallys-boarding-house-historic-marker-application/ | title=Miss Dally's boarding house: Historic Marker Application – Statutes and Stories }}</ref> Researchers have theorized that the five-member Committee on Style and Arrangement, which included Gouverneur Morris, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, may have met at Miss Dally's boarding house between September 8 to September 12, which would have been the most convenient location for all five delegates.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.statutesandstories.com/blog_html/committee-on-style-venue-hypothesis-miss-dally-part-iv/ | title=Committee on Style Venue Hypothesis: Miss Dally Part IV – Statutes and Stories }}</ref>

===Opposition to slavery===
[[File:Foundation of the American Government by Henry Hintermeister.jpg|thumb|right|Gouverneur Morris signs the Constitution in [[John Henry Hintermeister]]'s 1925 painting, ''Foundation of the American Government''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Raymond H. |title= George Washington: American Symbol|chapter= The Marketing of an Icon |year=1999 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eLxsfeV43-wC&q=foundation+of+the+American+government%2C+John+Henry+Hintermeister&pg=PA117 |page= 117 |publisher=Hudson Hills |isbn=9781555951481 |quote= Figure 56 John Henry Hintermeister (American 1869-1945) ''Signing of the Constitution'', 1925...Alternatively labeled ''Title to Freedom'' and the ''Foundation of American Government''...".}}</ref>]]
Gouverneur Morris was one of the few delegates at the [[Philadelphia Convention]] who spoke openly against domestic slavery. According to [[James Madison]], who took notes at the Convention, Morris spoke openly against slavery on 8 August 1787 and stated that it was incongruous to say that a slave was both a man and property at the same time:

{{blockquote|<poem>He [Morris] never would concur in upholding domestic slavery. It was a nefarious institution. It was the curse of heaven on the states where it prevailed. Compare the free regions of the Middle States, where a rich & noble cultivation marks the prosperity & happiness of the people, with the misery & poverty which overspread the barren wastes of Va. Maryd. & the other States having slaves.... Proceed southwardly, and every step you take, through the great regions of slaves, presents a desert increasing with the increasing proportion of these wretched beings.

Upon what principle is it that the slaves shall be computed in the representation? Are they men? Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they property? Why, then, is no other property included? The Houses in this city [Philadelphia] are worth more than all the wretched slaves which cover the rice swamps of South Carolina.</poem>}}

According to Madison, Morris felt that the U.S. Constitution's purpose was to protect the rights of humanity, which was incongruous with promoting slavery:

{{blockquote|The admission of slaves into the Representation when fairly explained comes to this: that the inhabitant of Georgia and S. C. who goes to the Coast of Africa, and in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity tears away his fellow creatures from their dearest connections & damns them to the most cruel bondages, shall have more votes in a Govt. instituted for protection of the rights of mankind, than the Citizen of Pa. or N. Jersey who views with a laudable horror, so nefarious a practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1909&layout=html#chapter_112488|title=James Madison, The Debates in the Several State Conventions of the Adoption of the Federal Constitution vol. 5 [1827]|author=James Madison|year=1787|access-date=2009-07-29}}</ref>}}

===Minister Plenipotentiary to France===
[[File:Gouverneur Morris 1789.jpg|thumb|''Gouverneur Morris'' portrait bust by [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]], 1789, Paris.]]
Morris went to [[France]] on business in 1789 and served as [[United States Ambassador to France|Minister Plenipotentiary to France]] from 1792 to 1794. His diaries during that time have become a valuable chronicle of the [[French Revolution]] and capture much of that era's turbulence and violence and document his affairs with women there. Compared to [[Thomas Jefferson]], Morris was far more critical of the French Revolution and considerably more sympathetic to the deposed queen consort, [[Marie Antoinette]].<ref>Antonia Fraser, ''Marie Antoinette: The Journey,'' (2002), p. 476; Vincent Cronin, ''Louis and Antoinette,'' (1974), p. 295.</ref> Commenting on her grandfather's sometimes [[Tory]]-minded outlook of the world, Anne Cary Morris stated, "His creed was rather to form the government to suit the condition, character, manners, and habits of the people. In France this opinion led him to take the monarchical view, firmly believing that a republican form of government would not suit the French character."<ref>Anne Cary Morris, ed.,"The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris; Minister of the United States to France; Member of the Constitutional Convention, etc.," (1888), Vol. I, p. 15.</ref>

Morris was "the only foreign representative who remained in his post throughout the worst days of [[Reign of Terror|the Terror]]."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Talleyrand|last=Duff Cooper|first=Alfred|publisher=Grove Press|year=2001 |orig-year=1932|isbn=0802137679|location=New York|pages=43–44}}</ref> On one occasion, when Morris "found himself the center of a hostile mob in favor of hanging him on the nearest lamppost, he unfastened his wooden leg, brandished it above his head, and proclaimed himself an American who had lost a limb fighting for liberty," upon which "[t]he mob's suspicions melted into enthusiastic cheers" (even though, as noted above, Morris had in fact lost his leg as a result of a carriage accident).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Talleyrand|last=Duff Cooper|first=Alfred|publisher=Grove Press|year=2001 |orig-year=1932|isbn=0802137679|location=New York|pages=44}}</ref>

While Morris was minister, the [[Marquis de Lafayette]], who had been an important participant in the [[American Revolution]], was exiled from France and his family imprisoned, and [[Thomas Paine]], another important figure, was arrested and imprisoned in France. Morris's efforts on their behalf have been criticized as desultory and insufficient.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.americanheritage.com/representative-america | last=Whitridge | first=Arnold | title=A Representative of America | journal=American Heritage | date=July 1976 | volume=27 | issue=4 | access-date=12 June 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Moncure D. | last=Conway | author-link=Moncure D. Conway | title=The Life of Thomas Paine | publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons | date=1893 | url=http://thomaspaine.org/aboutpaine/life-of-thomas-paine-vol-ii-by-moncure-conway.html}}</ref>  After a change of the French government and after Morris was replaced as minister, his successor, [[James Monroe]], secured Paine's release.

===U.S. Senate===
He returned to the United States in 1798 and was elected in [[United States Senate special election in New York, April 1800|April 1800]], as a [[Federalist Party|Federalist]], to the [[U.S. Senate]], filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[James Watson (New York)|James Watson]]. Morris served from May 3, 1800 to March 3, 1803 and was defeated for re-election in [[United States Senate election in New York, 1803|February 1803]].

===Later career===
On 4 July 1806, he was elected an honorary member of the New York [[Society of the Cincinnati]].

After leaving the Senate, he served as Chairman of the [[Erie Canal Commission]] from 1810 to 1813. The [[Erie Canal]] helped to transform New York City into a financial capital, the possibilities of which were apparent to Morris when he said that "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."<ref>{{cite web|author=Will Wilkinson from the July 2004 issue|url=https://reason.com/2004/07/01/the-fun-loving-founding-father-2/|title=The Fun-Loving Founding Father: Gouverneur Morris, the First Modern American|work=Reason|date=July 2004|access-date=2010-03-19}}</ref>

He was one of the three men who drew up the [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]], which laid out the [[Manhattan]] street grid.<ref name=remarks>Morris, Gouverneur, [[Simeon De Witt|De Witt, Simeon]], and [[John Rutherfurd|Rutherford, John]] {{sic}} (March 1811) [https://urbanplanning.library.cornell.edu/DOCS/nyc1811.htm "Remarks Of The Commissioners For Laying Out Streets And Roads In The City Of New York, Under The Act Of April 3, 1807"]. Accessed May 7, 2008.</ref>

Morris's final public act was to support the [[Hartford Convention]] during the [[War of 1812]]. He even pushed for secession to create a separate New York-New England Confederation because he saw the war as a result of slaveholders, who wanted to expand their territory. In the words of the biographer [[Richard Brookhiser]], "The man who wrote the Constitution judged it to be a failure and was willing to scrap it."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brookhiser |first1=Richard |title=Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution |date=2003 |publisher=Free Press}}</ref>

Morris was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1814.<ref>[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistm American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]</ref>

==Personal life==
{{see also|Ann Cary Randolph Morris#Bizarre Plantation scandal}}
[[File:The Great north side, or, Borough of the Bronx, New York (1897) (14578228560).jpg|thumb|Morris's home in 1897]]
Until he married late in life, Morris's diary tells of a series of affairs. His lovers included the French novelist [[Adelaide Filleul]] and the American poet and novelist [[Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton]].<ref name=morrismorton>{{cite magazine |last=Brookhiser|first=Richard | date=Spring 2002|title=The Forgotten Founding Father|url=https://www.city-journal.org/html/forgotten-founding-father-12246.html|magazine=City Journal|access-date=December 4, 2018}}</ref>

In 1809, at age 57, he married 35-year-old [[Ann Cary Randolph Morris|Ann Cary Randolph]] (1774–1837), nicknamed "Nancy," who was the daughter of Ann Cary and Thomas Mann Randolph Sr. and the sister of [[Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Roosevelt |first=Theodore |date=1888 |title=Gouverneur Morris |url=https://archive.org/details/gouverneurmorri00roosgoog |quote=Gouverneur Morris married randolph. |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/gouverneurmorri00roosgoog/page/n394 340]}}</ref> Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. was the husband of [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s daughter, [[Martha Jefferson Randolph]]. Nancy lived near [[Farmville, Virginia]], with her sister Judith and Judith's husband, Richard Randolph, on a plantation called ''Bizarre''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kierner |first=Cynthia A. |date=2004 |title=Scandal at Bizarre: Rumor and Reputation in Jefferson's America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tNtbygLbDz4C&q=cary+randolph+bizarre+scandal |location=Charlottesville, VA |publisher=University of Virginia Press |page=vii |isbn=978-0-8139-2616-2}}</ref> In April 1793, Richard Randolph and Nancy were accused of murdering a newborn baby who was said to be Nancy's; presumably, she had been having an affair with Richard.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clinton |first=Catherine |date=1982 |title=The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WUZfGVMwkX4C&q=nancy+richard+randolph+bizarre+affair&pg=PA114 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Pantheon Books: Random House |page=114|isbn=9780394722535 }}</ref> Richard stood trial and was defended by [[Patrick Henry]] and [[John Marshall]], who obtained an acquittal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kirschke |first=James J. |date=2005 |title=Gouverneur Morris: Author, Statesman, and Man of the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkqBV79cVMkC&q=%22gouverneur+morris%22+%22married%22+%22randolph%22&pg=PA263 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books: St. Martin's Press |page=263 |isbn=978-0-312-24195-7}}</ref> Richard Randolph died suddenly in 1796; both sisters were suspected, but nothing was proven.<ref>Kirschke, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MkqBV79cVMkC&q=%22richard+randolph%22+death+wife+judith+suspected&pg=PA263 Gouverneur Morris]'', p. 263</ref>  Nancy remained at ''Bizarre'' after her brother-in-law's death but Judith asked her to leave in 1805.<ref>Kierner, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tNtbygLbDz4C&q=%22nancy+randolph%22+%22judith%22+%22leave%22+%22bizarre%22+%221805%22&pg=PA92 Scandal at Bizarre]'', pp. 91–92</ref>

Nancy traveled north and lived in Connecticut before she agreed in 1809 to work as a housekeeper for Morris, whom she had known previously.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hines |first=Emilee |date=2009 |title=It Happened in Virginia: Remarkable Events That Shaped History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUrDCAAAQBAJ&q=%22nancy+randolph%22+%22bizarre%22+%22connecticut%22&pg=PA47 |location=Guilford, CT |publisher=Morris Book Publishing, LLC |page=47 |isbn=978-0-7627-5424-3}}</ref> They soon decided to marry; Morris was apparently undisturbed by the rumors that had caused Nancy to leave Virginia.<ref>Kirschke, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MkqBV79cVMkC&q=%22gouverneur+morris%22+%22marriage%22+%22rumors%22&pg=PA264 Gouverneur Morris]'', pp. 263–264</ref>  By all accounts, their marriage was a happy one;<ref>{{cite book | last=Morris | first=Seymour Jr. |date=2010 |title=American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made it Into the Textbooks |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yBTfN12_9bEC&q=%22gouverneur+morris%22+%22marriage%22+%22happy%22&pg=PA121 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Broadway Books: Random House |page=121 |isbn=978-0-307-58760-2}}</ref> they had a son, [[Gouverneur Morris Jr.]], who went on to a long career as a railroad executive.<ref name="nrhpinv_ny">{{cite web|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=645|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: St. Ann's Church Complex|date=October 1979|access-date=2011-01-12|author=Elizabeth Spencer-Ralph and Gloria McDarrah|publisher=[[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319063104/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=645|archive-date=2012-03-19}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Morris died on November 6, 1816, after he had caused himself internal injuries and an infection while using a piece of whale [[baleen]] as a [[catheter]] in an attempt to clear a blockage in his [[urinary tract]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Adams|first=William Howard|title=Gouverneur Morris: an independent life|year=2003|publisher=Yale University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYxgEf7VbMcC&q=Gouverneur+Morris++whalebone&pg=PA323|isbn=0-300-09980-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kirschke|first=James J.|title=Gouverneur Morris: author, statesman, and man of the world|year=2005|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-312-24195-X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkqBV79cVMkC&q=Gouverneur+Morris++whalebone&pg=PA265}}</ref> He died at the family estate, Morrisania, and was buried at [[St. Ann's Episcopal Church (Bronx)|St. Ann's Church]] in [[The Bronx]].<ref>[http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/arch/buildings/St_Ann_church.html Lehman College Art Gallery]</ref>

Morris's great-grandson, also named [[Gouverneur Morris (novelist)|Gouverneur Morris]] (1876–1953), was an author of [[pulp novels]] and [[short stories]] in the early 20th century. Several of his works were adapted into films, including the famous [[Lon Chaney, Sr.|Lon Chaney]] film ''[[The Penalty (1920 film)|The Penalty]]'' in [[1920 in film|1920]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/m#a1721|title=Browse By Author: M – Project Gutenberg|publisher=Gutenberg.org|date=1916-07-01|access-date=2010-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://imdb.com/name/nm0606563/|title=Gouverneur Morris|publisher=imdb.com|date=2009-05-01|access-date=2010-03-19}}</ref>

Morris established himself as an important landowner in northern New York, where the [[Gouverneur (town), New York|Town of Gouverneur]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n139 140]}}</ref> [[Gouverneur (village), New York|Village of Gouverneur]], and [[Morristown (village), New York|Village of Morristown]] in [[St. Lawrence County, New York|St. Lawrence County]] are named after him.

In 1943, a United States [[Liberty ship]], the [[SS Gouverneur Morris|SS ''Gouverneur Morris'']], was launched.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/koregon.htm |title=Kaiser Oregon Shipbuilding |publisher=shipbuildinghistory.com |access-date=2009-11-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212214302/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/koregon.htm |archive-date=2009-12-12 }}</ref> She was scrapped in 1974.

==See also==
* [[France–United States relations]]
* [[Influence of the American Revolution on the French Revolution]]

==References==
{{further|Bibliography of the United States Constitution}}
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Brookhiser|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Brookhiser|title=Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution|year=2003|publisher=Free Press|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/gentlemanrevolut00rich/|isbn=0-7432-2379-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Crawford|first=Alan Pell|title=Unwise Passions: A True Story of a Remarkable Woman—and the First Great Scandal of Eighteenth-century America|year=2000|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=0-684-83474-X|url=https://archive.org/details/unwisepassionstr00alan}} (A biography of Morris's wife.)
* {{cite book|last=Fresia|first=Jerry|title=Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution & Other Illusions|url=https://archive.org/details/towardamericanre00fres|url-access=registration|year=1988|publisher=South End Press|location=Cambridge}}
* Heyburn, Jack (2017). [https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jcl/vol20/iss1/5/ "Gouverneur Morris and James Wilson at the Constitutional Convention,"] ''University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law''. vol 20: 169–198.
* Miller, Melanie Randolph, ''[https://archive.org/details/envoytoterrorgou0000mill Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris and the French Revolution]'' (Potomac Books, 2005)
* Miller, Melanie Randolph, ''[https://archive.org/details/incautiousmanlif0000mill/page/n5/mode/2up An incautious Man: The Life of Gouverneur Morris]'' (ISI Books, 2008)
* Ricard, Serge. (2017) "Memoir of a Republican Royalist: Gouverneur Morris, Chronicler and Actor of the French Revolution." ''Canadian Review of American Studies'' 47.3 (2017): 353-372.
* {{cite book|last=Swiggert|first=Howard|title=The Extraordinary Mr. Morris|year=1952|publisher=Doubleday & Co.|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/extraordinarymrm00swig/page/n9/mode/2up|id=loc 52-5540}}, popular history
* Whitridge, Arnold. "Gouverneur Morris in France." ''History Today'' (Nov 1972), pp 759–767 online.

===Primary sources===
* ''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. [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Book.php?recordID=0215.01 online version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807124218/http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Book.php?recordID=0215.01 |date=2020-08-07 }}
* ''[https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735054859644/viewer#page/6/mode/2up The Life of Gouverneur Morris, with Selections from his Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers; Detailing Events in the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and in the Political History of the United States]'', ed. Jared Sparks (1832). 3 vols. Boston: Gray & Bowen.

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/morrisg.htm Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129202517/https://history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/morrisg.htm |date=2021-01-29 }} from the [[United States Army Center of Military History]]
{{CongBio|M000976}}
* Mintz, Max, [https://web.archive.org/web/20071008042447/http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2003/autumn/mintz-gouverneur-morris-george/ "Gouverneur Morris, George Washington's War Hawk"], ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', Autumn 2003. {{JSTOR|26440831}}.
* [http://www.familytales.org/results.php?tla=gom Gouverneur Morris Letters]
* [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/morris.html Gouverneur Morris, Jr. Papers,1853–1879] [[New-York Historical Society]]
* [https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4079134 Gouverneur Morris Papers], Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, NY

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[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to France]]
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[[Category:Morris family (Morrisania and New Jersey)|Gouverneur]]
[[Category:New York (state) Federalists]]
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