The Gouverneur Morris Papers: April 2021

These are additional images of the bust made by Houdon in 1791 in Paris, from a life mask he took of Morris on June 9, 1789. (See the diary entry.)

All about Gouverneur Morris

Things everyone really should know about Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816)

1. He was a significant contributor to the U.S. Constitution, drafting its final version and writing the Preamble, beginning with the resounding words, "We the People."

2. He was (in our opinion but most agree) the most engaging Founding Father next to Benjamin Franklin, and one of the most talented: he was a great writer, a great speaker, and he had a wonderful sense of humor, one that George Washington, his friend, appreciated.

3. He was U.S. minister (ambassador) to France from 1792-94, during the height of the French Revolution, replacing Jefferson. His service to our country during the Terror is unequalled in diplomatic history, and deserves recognition, respect -- and further study.

4. Hamilton's wife called Morris her husband's "best friend," and when Hamilton died, Morris gave the eulogy and worked to assure the financial security of his family.

5. He was a visionary proponent of the Erie Canal, and headed the Canal Commission.

6. He headed the commission that designed the "grid" of the streets of Manhattan.

There's more -- much more! and we'll be writing about it.

Melanie R. Miller, editor
Hendrina Krol, associate editor
Gouverneur Morris Papers

Literature and Links

LITERATURE.
Morris’s diary has been published in three parts:

-Beatrice Cary Davenport, ed., Gouverneur Morris, Diary of the French Revolution, 1789-1793 (1939), 2 volumes.
-Melanie R. Miller, Hendrina Krol and Elizabeth Hines, eds., Diaries of Gouverneur Morris, European Travels, 1794-1798 (2011).
-Melanie R. Miller, Hendrina Krol and Elizabeth Hines, eds., Diaries of Gouverneur Morris, New York, 1799-1816 (expected publication 2018).

-Citations from letters come from Morris’s letterbooks in the Gouverneur Morris Papers at the Library of Congress in Washington.

-For pictures and details on settling of upstate New York, see e.g., Franklin Benjamin Hough, A History of Jefferson County in the State of New York (1854); Hough, A History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties (1853) and Hough, A History of Lewis County (1860).

-For information on the Le Ray family, see Thomas J. Schaeper, France and America in the Revolutionary Era, The Life of Jacques-Donatien Leray de Chaumont, 1725-1803 (1995).

The Gouverneur Morris Papers

More Views of Houdon's bust of Morris

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