Gouverneur Morris: An Independent Life

Description

A plainspoken, racy patrician who distrusted democracy but opposed slavery and championed freedom for all minorities, an important player in the American Revolution, later an astute critic of the French Revolution, Gouverneur Morris remains an enigma among the founding generation. This comprehensive, engrossing biography tells his robust story, including his celebrated love affairs during his long stay in Europe. Morris’s public record is astonishing. One of the leading figures of the Constitutional Convention, he put the Constitution in its final version, including its opening Preamble. As Washington’s first minister to Paris, he became America’s most effective representative in France. A successful, international entrepreneur, he understood the dynamics of commerce in the modern world. Frankly cosmopolitan, he embraced city life as a creative center of civilization and had a central role in the building of the Erie Canal and in laying out the urban grid plan of Manhattan. William Howard Adams describes Morris’s many contributions, talents, sophistication, and wit, as well as his romantic liaisons, free habits, and free speech. He brings to life a fascinating man of great stature, a founding father who receives his due at last. Contents Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION. Redeeming Mr. Morris PART I. BACKGROUND CHAPTER 1. The Pedigree CHAPTER 2. A Profession PART II. REVOLUTION CHAPTER 3. Things Fall Apart CHAPTER 4. “The Great Question of Independency” CHAPTER 5. Breaking the Fetters PART III. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CHAPTER 6. The Continental Congress, 1778–1779 CHAPTER 7. Money Matters CHAPTER 8. The Convention PART IV. EUROPE CHAPTER 9. Paris, 1789 CHAPTER 10. Business as Usual CHAPTER 11. A Presidential Mission CHAPTER 12. Minister to France PART V. SETTLING DOWN CHAPTER 13. The Long Journey Home CHAPTER 14. On Native Ground Notes Bibliography Index