One of the most fascinating founding fathers was Gouverneur Morris. Outside of his unique first name, wooden peg leg, and personal sexual exploits (which would easily make headlines today), Morris made crucial contributions to America’s founding. In fact, his writing of the preamble of the United States Constitution earned him the nickname “Penman of the Constitution.”
Early Life
Gouverneur Morris was born on January 31, 1752, at the family estate known as “Morrisania,” located on the northern bank of the Harlem River in New York. He was the son of Lewis Morris Jr. and Sarah Gouverneur, who was a Huguenot and the source of his first name.
At the age of 12, Gouverneur attended King’s College (Columbia University) and graduated four years later in 1768. In 1771, he received a masters degree, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1775. On May 8, 1775, he was elected to the New York Provincial Congress and worked closely alongside the patriots. Interestingly, Gouverneur’s half brothers both played very different roles in the American Revolution: Lewis Morris signed the Declaration of Independence and Staats Long Morris was a loyalist and served as a major general with the British Army during the war.
Contributions to the American Revolution
In January 1778, the 25-year-old Gouverneur joined the Continental Congress as a delegate from New York. As a member of congress, he became a staunch advocate for the army and sought to enact reforms for it.
In 1779, Gouverneur was not re-elected to congress and decided to stay in Philadelphia to work as a lawyer and merchant. A carriage accident in 1780 left him with numerous broken leg bones. His physician was not in town at the time and his attending physician recommended the amputation of his leg, to which Morris agreed (it was later believed that his leg could have been saved).
In 1787, he was elected to the Constitutional Convention and he joined those who favored a strong centralized government. He gave 173 speeches, the most of any delegate at the convention. These speeches occasionally included his outspoken opposition to slavery. Towards the end of the convention, Gouverneur served on the Committee of Style and Arrangement (alongside 3 others and chaired by William Samuel Johnson of CT). It was he who wrote and polished much of the final draft, to include the preamble. His efforts earned him the nickname “Penman of the Constitution” and James Madison once wrote:
The finish given to the style and arrangement of the Constitution fairly belongs to the pen of Mr. Morris.
James Madison
From 1792 to 1794, Gouverneur served as the Minister Plenipotentiary to France. He remained in the country during the “Terror” and was once attacked by a mob, which he dissuaded from hanging him by brandishing his wooden leg in hand and (falsely) exclaiming that he had lost the limb fighting for American liberty. He returned to the United States in 1798 and served in the Senate from 1800 to 1803. In 1811, Morris chaired a commission that redesigned Manhattan Island and gave it the grid-like organization that still exists today.
An Intriguing Personal Life & Strange Death
Perhaps the most interesting part of Gouverneur’s life were the many love affairs he had in both France and America, prior to his marriage to housekeeper Anne “Nancy” Randolph when he was 57. As mentioned, a 1780 carriage accident led to the amputation of his leg; however, it was rumored that his severe injury was a result of leaping from a window to escape the husband of a woman he was seeing. During his years in Paris, he had a three-year affair with French novelist Comtesse Adélaïde de Flahaut, who was also frequented by Charles Talleyrand.
If the many stories of Morris’ sexual escapades aren’t enough, the way in which he died certainly is. On November 6, 1816, Morris died from an infection he got after he attempted to clear a blockage in his urinary tract by using a piece of whale bone. To make his death even stranger, he died int he exact same room in which he was born at his family estate. Morris was buried at St. Ann’s Church in the Bronx, where he remains to this day. Buried nearby is his half-brother and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Lewis Morris.
Sources:
- https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/forgotten-founders-gouverneur-morris
- https://www.loc.gov/collections/continental-congress-and-constitutional-convention-from-1774-to-1789/articles-and-essays/to-form-a-more-perfect-union/gouverneur-morris/
- http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/gouverneur_morris.html
Recommended Book:
“Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris- The Rake Who Wrote the Constitution” by Richard Brookhiser