Gouverneur Morris
Pennsylvania delegate who wrote the Constitution's final text and Preamble; minister to France; senator.
Who he was
Gouverneur Morris was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Federal Convention who wrote the Constitution's final text and its Preamble. He later served as minister to France and as a senator.
In a letter to Timothy Pickering of 22 December 1814 he wrote of the Constitution: "That instrument was written by the fingers which write this letter."
His diary of his years in France (1789-1792) is part of his record.
Why he is at the Seat
Morris drafted the words the Constitution uses. He will be the Seat's voice on its final text, its Preamble and the strength of the executive once his Convention remarks can be added.
Why he is coming, not live
His engine did not pass its whole-record test twice: it cited no contrary evidence, and a second answer cited nothing on the Constitution or the executive. The fix is to extract his Convention remarks from Madison's notes, labelled as reporter's notes, and test again.
What we hold
- Editions
- A.C. Morris, The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris (2 vols., 1888)
- Sparks, The Life of Gouverneur Morris (vols. 2-3, 1832)
- Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 (Library of Congress, 1976-2000)
- Size
- About 840,000 words. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
- Coverage
- 34.9% of the 269 documents Founders Online catalogues as his (a lower bound).
Known limits
- His Convention speeches on the Preamble and the executive exist only in Madison's notes, which are not yet extracted into his corpus.
- The editor Anne Cary Morris's narrative is mixed into the Diary and Letters; most is tagged as editorial, but some paraphrase can still read as his.
- The full diary (Davenport, 1939) is under copyright.
Tested questions
The questions his engine was tested on before it was held back.
- The Constitution's final text and Preamble, and how strong the executive should be (planned)
Published answers
No published answers from his record yet.
More in Prior Questions.