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Senate Years of Service: 1800-1803 Party: Federalist
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MORRIS, Gouverneur, (half brother of Lewis Morris and uncle of Lewis Richard Morris),
a Delegate and a Senator from New York; born in Morrisania (now a
part of New York City), N.Y., January 31, 1752; instructed by private tutors;
graduated from Kings College (now Columbia University), New York, in 1768;
studied law; admitted to the colonial bar in 1771 and commenced practice in New
York City; member, New York provincial congress 1775-1777; lieutenant colonel
in the State militia in 1776; member of the committee to prepare a form of
government for the State of New York in 1776; member of the first State council
of safety in 1777; member, first State assembly 1777-1778; Member of the
Continental Congress in 1778 and 1779; signer of the Articles of Confederation
in 1778; moved to Philadelphia in 1779; appointed assistant superintendent of
finance 1781-1785; Pennsylvania delegate to the convention that framed the
Constitution of the United States in 1787; returned to live in New York in
1788; went to Europe on business in 1789; Minister Plenipotentiary to France
1792-1794; returned to the United States in 1798; elected in 1800 as a
Federalist to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the
resignation of James Watson and served from April 3, 1800, to March 3, 1803;
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1802; chairman of the Erie Canal
Commission 1810-1813; author on legal and political subjects; died in
Morrisania, N.Y., November 6, 1816; interment in St. Annes Episcopal
Churchyard, Bronx, N.Y.
BibliographyDictionary of American Biography; Morris,
Gouverneur.
The Diary of Gouverneur Morris. Edited by Anne Morris. 2 vols.
1888. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970; Brookhiser, Richard.
Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, The Rake Who Wrote the
Constitution. New York: Free Press, 2003; Adams, William Howard.
Gouverneur Morris: An Independent Life. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2003.
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