The Extraordinary Mr. Morris

xix, 483 pp. A biography as filled with life and the zest for life as was its revolutionary days hero, Gouverneur Morris. Morris' life was tied to, or rather voyaged freely along with all the main currents of his day. Statesman, financier, at home in Europe's artistic and intellectual worlds as well as his own American one; gay, unfettered by the more mundane worries of his contemporaries; a lavish appreciator of beauty; active, handsome; - he was an important figure in the founding of United States government and a man who predicted the despotism of Napoleon before Edmond Burke. His lightheartedness and the foibles that were often an issue of his woman-and-party-filled life, incurred the wrath of co-workers, among whom were such notables as Tom Paine and Jefferson; on the other side of the Atlantic, during his ministership to France he was well acquainted with Talleyrand and Madame de Stael. Fascinated by his person and his period, Swiggett combines his feelings with his skill effortlessly. His work is well documented, fast moving, endowed with the descriptive power that often quite excitingly recaptures the gay social life, the political frustrations, the scandals, the stirring ideas that characterized Europe and America at the turn of the 18th century and the life of one of the epoch's true men-of-the-world. Gouverneur Morris I (30 January 1752 – 6 November 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the United States Constitution and has been called the "Penman of the Constitution."[1] In an era when most Americans thought of themselves as citizens of their respective states, Morris advanced the idea of being a citizen of a single union of states.[2] He represented New York in the United States Senate from 1800 to 1803. Morris was born into a wealthy landowning family in New York City. After attending Columbia College, he studied law under Judge William Smith and earned admission to the bar. He was elected to the New York Provincial Congress before serving in the Continental Congress. After losing re-election to Congress, he moved to Philadelphia and became the assistant superintendent of finance of the United States. He represented Pennsylvania at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, where he advocated a strong central government. He served on the committee that wrote the final draft of the United States Constitution. After the ratification of the Constitution, Morris served as Minister Plenipotentiary to France. He criticized the French Revolution and the execution of Marie Antoinette. Morris returned to the United States in 1798 and won election to the Senate in 1800, affiliating with the Federalist Party. He lost re-election in 1803. After leaving the Senate, he served as chairman of the Erie Canal Commission.