“This magistrate is not the king. The people are
the king.” Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris |
At the end of the Constitutional Convention, Morris was
assigned to the Committee of Style. This
committee’s task was to take the work of the Committee of Detail and compose a
clear and coherent constitution.
For example, the preamble from
the Committee of Detail read:
"We the people of the States of New Hampshire, Massachussetts,
Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and
Georgia, do ordain, declare, and establish the following Constitution for the
Government of Ourselves and our Posterity.”
Morris volunteered to take this
draft home and prepare a more polished version. He did a masterful job. Beyond
organizing the document and language clarification, Morris wrote a short, but eloquent
preamble.
We the People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the
Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish
this Constitution for the United States of America.
James Madison, another member of the committee, gave Morris credit for "the finish given to the style and arrangement of the Constitution."
Morris was only thirty-five years old at the
convention. He was wealthy, a graduate of Columbia, and spoke several
languages. During the war, he had served in the militia and then Congress.
Originally a New Yorker, he moved to Philadelphia after losing reelection to
Congress.
Richard Brookhiser titled his biography of
Gouverneur Morris, the Gentleman
Revolutionary, but the subtitle might have been more accurate if it read: the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution. He was
a character. For example, he lost a leg in a carriage accident, but reveled in
telling strangers that he lost it jumping from a lady’s balcony. William
Pierce, another delegate, wrote, “Mr. G. Morris is one of those genius’s in
whom every species of talents combine to render him conspicuous and flourishing
in public debate: he winds through all the mazes of rhetoric and throws around
him such a glare that he charms, captivates, and leads away the senses of all
who hear him.”
Perhaps his speaking prowess was one reason why he
spoke more (173 times) than any other delegate at the convention. The other
reason was that he was a man of firm opinions.
- He was a strong proponent of separation of powers, with effective checks and balances. “[T]o minimize potential for corruption, power had to be divided between the president and the Senate. As the president was to nominate ... and as the Senate was to concur, there would be security.”
- He was an ally of James Madison and fought against splintering the nation. Only Alexander Hamilton may have been a stronger nationalist.
- He supported gun ownership. “Americans need never fear their government because of the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.”
- Morris did not always get what he wanted. He was an abolitionist, saying he would gladly pay taxes to free all Africans, and called slavery the “curse of heaven.”
- He wanted both the House and Senate to be proportional by population, and supported the popular election of the president.
- Before the Bill of Rights, he fought for a Constitutional guarantee that anyone could practice their chosen religion without interference.
Gouverneur Morris was a
patriot, who contributed substance as well as style to our Constitution. Near
death, he wrote, “You may, then, opening your mind’s eye, behold your friend as
he descends, with tottering steps, the bottom of life’s hill … looking back, I
can with some little self-complacency, reflect that I have not lived in vain.”
No, he did not. We should
remember him every time we read, We the
People …
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