MORRIS, Gouverneur, American states man: b. Morrisania, N. Y., 31 Jan. 1752; d. there, 6 Nov. 1816. He was graduated in 1768 from King's College (now Columbia Univer sity) ; after study of the law was licensed in 17'1 to practise as an attorney; did excellently well at the bar ; and during the earlier difficul ties between Great Britain and the American colonies maintained a conservative attitude and was eager to effect a compromise. Finally, however, he identified himself with the patriot cause and was elected from Westchester County to the provincial congress of New York (1775). In this assembly he became the leader of the patriotic party and made an able speech favoring the adoption of the recommendation of the Continental Congress that the colonies establish new governments. A delegate to the constitutional convention of New York, he was chosen to the committees for drafting a plan for the constitution — in which Livingston and Jay were also prominent — and for establishing a State fund. In 1777-80 he was a member of the Continental Congress, and almost immedi ately upon taking his seat was appointed one of a committee of five to visit Valley Forge and examine the condition of the troops. Early in 1779 he was made chairman of the important committee for receiving communications from our ministers abroad, and from the envoy of France. In this capacity he drew up the draft of instructions to the ministers which was adopted by Congress and formed the basis of the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain. In February 1780 he began the publication in the Pennsylvania Packet of a series of essays on American finances, in which he endeavored to show the wisdom of the colonists submitting to a reasonable taxation and outlined a scheme for such assessment. These essays influenced his appointment in 1781 as assistant financier to Robert Morris, a post he successfully filled until 1785. He was really the founder of the
national coinage, though his plan was later mod ified by Jefferson and Hamilton; he introduced the decimal notation and devised the word °cent* to indicate one of the lesser coins. In 1787 he was a delegate to the constitutional convention, and there he advocated a strongly centralized government, and finally revised the draft of the instrument. He was in France in 1788-91 for the transaction of private business, witnessing the stirring events of the French Revolution, and of which he kept a diary, and in 1791 was appointed by Washington a con fidential agent to treat with Great Britain re garding certain unfulfilled articles of the treaty of peace. In 1792-94 he was minister to France, and in 1800-03 was United States Senator, fill ing a vacancy. He supported the Louisiana Purchase, but opposed the abolition of direct taxes and of the judiciary system. In 1810-13 he was chairman of the Erie canal commission; in the entire plan for this waterway, which he wished to make large enough for ships, he was a leader. He was keen in intellect, an excellent orator and rendered notable services to America. During the War of 1812 his ultra Federalist views led him into positions that were extravagant and unwise. He pronounced funeral orations on Washington, Hamilton and Clinton; published pamphlets and addresses; and latterly contributed to newspapers political satires in both prose and verse. Consult Sparks, 'Life' (1832) ; Roosevelt, 'Life' (1888: 'Ameri can Statesmen> series) ; Morris, A. C., 'Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris' (1888).