Gouverneur Morris (30 January
1752 - 6 November 1816). Born into a prominent New York family (his grandfather
was a royal governor of New Jersey and his father a judge in the British
imperial system), he attended King's College (Columbia) and read for the
law. Not one of those who protested against British measures in the 1760s
and early 1770s, he cast his lot with the patriot cause after fighting
broke out. Elected to the revolutionary legislature in New York, he helped
draft the New York constitution. Morris advocated an end to slavery, a
strong governor (putting him at odds with the general fear of executive
tyranny), religious freedom for Catholics, and property qualifications
for voting-in sum, he was an elitist and a paternalist. Morris served in
the Continental Congress during the war, and played a major role in drafting
policy on peace negotiations, western lands, army reform, and taxes and
financial policy (cooperating with George Washington and Robert Morris
in these endeavors). His efforts led to the establishment of the (private)
Bank of North America, for which he was the attorney after the war.
Pennsylvania elected him a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
At Philadelphia he argued for a more high-toned government (among other
measures, he wanted an upper house appointed for life), as well as for
the abolition of slavery. He played a major role in debates over the executive,
and consistently, having lost on crucial points, accepted the compromises
the less extreme nationalists (led by Madison) advocated.
Immediately after the war he traveled to England and France to pursue
a number of business and diplomatic interests for himself and the new nation,
and for the rest of his life was a committed member of the Federalist Party.
Sources: the best of many studies is Max M. Mintz, Gouverneur
Morris and the American Revolution (1970). Jared Sparks published a large
selection of his papers in 1832 (Life of Gouverneur Morris....).