Governeur Morris

ABOUT GOVERNEUR MORRIS

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 Constitution and has been called the "Penman of the Constitution."

A gifted scholar, he 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 and attained admission to the bar in 1775. He was elected to the New York Provincial Congress before serving in the Continental Congress.

He was one of the most outspoken opponents of slavery among those who were present at the Constitutional Convention. His great-grandson, also named Gouverneur Morris (1876-1953), wrote pulp novels and short stories in the early 20th century. Several of his works were adapted into films, including the famous Lon Chaney Sr. film The Penalty in 1920.

He was born into a wealthy landowning family in what is now New York City. After a series of affairs, including the French novelist Adelaide Filleul and the American poet and novelist Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton, at 57 he married Ann Cary Randolph, whose brother was married to Thomas Jefferson 's daughter.

As a delegate to the Continental Congress, he worked alongside George Washington to reform the military. While in France on business and as Minister Plenipotentiary to France from 1792 to 1794, he witnessed the French Revolution, and was sympathetic to the deposed queen Marie Antoinette .