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See also:MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR (1752–1816) , See also:American statesman, was See also:born in the old Morrisania See also:manor See also:house, in what is now the See also:city of New See also:York, on the 31st of See also:January 1752. He graduated at See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
King's See also:College (now See also:Columbia University) in 1768, studied See also:law, and was admitted to the See also:bar in 1771. New York, then in the midst of the See also:political disturbances which preceded the out-break of the See also:War of American See also:Independence, offered a See also:good opportunity for a public career, and Morris had the aristocratic connexions which tradition required.' An extreme aristocrat
I His See also:great grandfather, See also:RICHARD MORRIS, having fought in See also:Cromwell's armies, emigrated to See also:America on the restoration of See also:Charles II., and founded the manor of Morrisania, in what was then New Nether-See also:land. His grandfather, See also:LEWIS MORRIS (1671–1746), inherited this
in his political views, he distrusted the democratic tendencies of the Whigs, but a See also:firm belief in the See also:justice of the American cause led him to join their ranks. His See also:half-See also:brother, Staats See also:Long Morris (1728–1800), was a Tory, fought in the See also:British See also:army, and became a See also:major-See also:General. Gouverneur served in the New York Provincial See also:Congress in 1776–1777, was perhaps the leading See also:advocate in that See also:body of a See also:declaration of independence, and after the Congress had become (See also:July 1776) the " See also:Convention of the Representatives of the See also:state of New York," he served on the See also:committee of that body which prepared the first draft of the state constitution. He served in the See also:Continental Congress in 1777–1779, and was enthusiastic in his support of See also:Washington. In 1778 he was selected chairman of the committee to treat with See also:Lord See also:North's conciliation commissioners, and as such presented the famous See also:report, adopted by a unanimous See also:vote of Congress, which declared that the recognition of independence must pre-cede any negotiations for See also:peace. He settled in See also:Philadelphia as a lawyer, and in See also:February 1780 he published in Philadelphia a See also:series of essays on See also:finance, in which he criticized the issue of legal-tenders, denounced See also:laws passed for the benefit of the debtor class, and urged the See also:people to tax themselves for the See also:common good. From 1781 to 1785 he was assistant to See also:Robert Morris (q.v.), See also:superintendent of finance. In 1782 he prepared an elaborate report on the coinage, suggesting the use of the decimal See also:system and of the terms See also:dollar and cent. With some modifications introduced by See also:Jefferson, notably the See also:adoption of a higher unit of value (the dollar instead of one-tenth of a cent), this See also:plan constitutes the basis of the See also:present American system. Morris was one of See also:Pennsylvania's representatives in the constitutional convention of 1787, and took an active See also:part in the debates. His See also:influence was weakened, however, by his cynicism and by his ultra-aristocratic views. He favoured a strong executive holding during good behaviour, an aristocratic See also:senate appointed by the See also:president for See also:life, and the restriction of the See also:suffrage to See also:free-holders. The struggle which the frontier settlers of Pennsylvania had made in the state legislature to secure unlimited issues of See also:paper See also:money and the enactment of laws favourable to the debtor class prejudiced him against the See also:West, and he tried to introduce into the constitution a clause guaranteeing forever the political supremacy of the states See also:east of the Alleghanies. He was instrumental in securing the executive See also:veto and in defeating the proposal that the legislature should elect the president. He also gave able support to the nationalistic and See also:anti-See also:slavery factions in the convention. He was the member of the committee of revision selected to draft the constitution in its final See also:form, and that document is a See also:monument to the vigour and simplicity of his See also:literary See also:style. In 1787 he bought Morrisania from Staats Long Morris, and returned to New York to live.
He went to See also:France in February 1789 on private business, and remained abroad for nine years, passing most of the See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time in See also:Paris, See also:London, and the See also:German capitals. In 1792 he acted as See also:financial See also:agent in a daring See also:attempt to secure the See also:- ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli
escape of the king and See also:queen from Paris. He was appointed See also:United States See also:minister to France in 1792, and was the only representative of a See also:foreign See also:country who remained at his See also:post throughout the Reign of Terror; but his See also:ill-concealed attitude of hostility to the Revolu-
manor and also a large See also:estate from his See also:uncle in See also:Monmouth See also:county, East See also:Jersey. He was an influential advocate of the surrender of the proprietary See also:government of the Jerseys to the See also:Crown (1702), became a member of the New Jersey See also:Council in 1703, was suspended by See also:Governor Cornbury in 1704, was elected a member of the See also:Assembly in 1707 and led that body in opposition to Cornbury, was reappointed to the Council under Governor See also:Lovelace in 1708, was again suspended in 1709 by Lieut.-Governor Ingoldsby, was made President of the Council in 1710 under Governor See also:Hunter, and in 1711, during Hunter's See also:administration (1710-1719), of which he was a staunch supporter, was made a justice of the supreme See also:court of New Jersey. He was See also:chief justice of New York from about 1720 until 1733, was sent to See also:England by the popular party See also:late in 1734 to present their grievances to the kung, and was governor of New Jersey from 1738 until his See also:death on the 21st of May x746. Gouverneur Morris's See also:father, LEWIS MORRIS (1698-1762), closed a long public career as See also:judge of the See also:vice-See also:admiralty court of New York; his See also:mother was descended from a See also:French See also:Protestant refugee, who had come to America to escape the persecution of See also:- LOUIS
- LOUIS (804–876)
- LOUIS (893–911)
- LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
- LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
Louis XIV.
tion gave offence, and in return for the recall of See also:Genet, at the See also:request of the United States, the French government, in 1794, asked for the recall of Morris. Business and See also:pleasure, however, still detained him in See also:Europe for four years longer. He returned to New York in 1798, resumed the practice of his profession, re-entered politics, and sat in the United States Senate as a Federalist from x 800 to 1803. As See also:early as ISol Morris became interested in projects for improving the communication between the See also:Hudson See also:river and See also:Lake See also:Erie, and from 1810 to 1816 he was chairman of the See also:board of See also:canal commissioners, which after exploring the country prepared plans for the Erie Canal. He was bitterly opposed to the war of 1812, and openly advocated the formation of a See also:northern confederacy to escape the See also:rule of the "See also:Virginia See also:dynasty." He died at Morrisania on the 6th of See also:November 1816.
His half-brother, LEWIS MORRIS (1726–1798), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was educated at Yale, served in the Continental Congress from 1775 until early in 1777, and went on a See also:mission to the western frontier in 1775 to win over the See also:Indians from the British to the American See also:side. He joined the army as brigadier-general of See also:militia in See also:June 1778, and served in the New York Senate in 1777–1781 and 1784–1790.
See The See also:Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris (2 vols., New York, 1888), edited by See also:Anne See also:Cary Morris; Jared See also:Sparks, Life of Gouverneur Morris (3 vols., See also:Boston, 1832), the first See also:volume being a See also:biography and the second and third containing Morris's See also:miscellaneous writings and addresses; and See also:Theodore See also:Roosevelt, Gouverneur Morris (Boston, 1888), in the " American Statesmen " series.
End of Article: MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR (1752–1816)
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