From Publishers Weekly
This biography ought to rehabilitate an appealing, major if second-ranking figure of the early nation. Gouverneur Morris has been overlooked, surmises Brookhiser (America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918), because he was among "the solid rather than the glittering." If so, Morris had a more penetrating mind, a more buoyant disposition and a more lusty character than most of his contemporaries. He may have been a rake, but he appears to have been a lovable and admirable one-a thoughtful lover (greatly loved in return by women, including Talleyrand's mistress, whom he shared with the Frenchman), a keen observer of history, an early opponent of slavery, and an optimistic and unembittered man despite grievous bodily injuries. More important, he played key roles in the nation's first years. We owe the Constitution's great preamble, as well as many of the document's key phrases and all of its style, to Morris's pen. Observing the French Revolution up close in Paris and serving as ambassador to France at the height of the Terror, he recorded what he saw in a classic diary. The author's characteristic strengths are on display here, no doubt because he's writing of another of the founding generation's conservative figures, his longtime subjects. Sometimes letting facts suffice for interpretation, Brookhiser, a senior editor for the National Review and a columnist for the New York Observer, leaves a reader unsure of where to place Morris, how to understand his significance. But no one will fail to be charmed by this man of fortitude and achievement who "savored life."Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Acclaimed historian Brookhiser provides an absolutely delightful biography of America's least renowned Founding Father. Revisiting the life and times of Gouverneur Morris, he has also added a new chapter to the history of the Constitution. Born to an aristocratic New York family, Morris was exposed to the politics of both the loyalists and the revolutionaries at an early age. Opting to throw his weight behind the cause of liberty, he became a member of the Constitutional Convention, reshaped and reworded the proposed Constitution, and penned the celebrated Preamble. Equally as interesting as his political contributions was his colorful private life. An inveterate womanizer, the witty, fashionably attired, one-legged Mr. Morris entertained a string of mistresses across two continents. The third installment in Brookhiser's series of tributes to the Founding Fathers (Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, 1996; Alexander Hamilton, American, 1999) offers another fascinating portrait of a man at the crossroads of American history. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Since 1996, Richard Brookhiser has devoted himself to recovering the Founding for modern Americans. The creators of our democracy had both the temptations and the shortcomings of all men, combined with the talents and idealism of the truly great. Among them, no Founding Father demonstrates the combination of temptations and talents quite so vividly as the least known of the greats, Gouverneur Morris. His story is one that should be known by every American -- after all, he drafted the Constitution, and his hand lies behind many of its most important phrases. Yet he has been lost in the shadows of the Founders who became presidents and faces on our currency. As Brookhiser shows in this sparkling narrative, Morris's story is not only crucial to the Founding, it is also one of the most entertaining and instructive of all. Gouverneur Morris, more than Washington, Jefferson, or even Franklin, is the Founding Father whose story can most readily touch our hearts, and whose character is most sorely needed today. He was a witty, peg-legged ladies' man. He was an eyewitness to two revolutions (American and French) who joked with George Washington, shared a mistress with Talleyrand, and lost friends to the guillotine. In his spare time he gave New York City its street grid and New York State the Erie Canal. His keen mind and his light, sure touch helped make our Constitution the most enduring fundamental set of laws in the world. In his private life, he suited himself; pleased the ladies until, at age fifty-seven, he settled down with one lady (and pleased her); and lived the life of a gentleman, for whom grace and humanity were as important as birth. He kept his good humor through war, mobs, arson, death, and two accidents that burned the flesh from one of his arms and cut off one of his legs below the knee. Above all, he had the gift of a sunny disposition that allowed him to keep his head in any troubles. We have much to learn from him, and much pleasure to take in his company.
About the Author
Richard Brookhiser is the author of America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918 (2002), Alexander Hamilton, American (1999), Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington (1995), and The Way of the WASP (1991), all published by Free Press. He is a senior editor at The National Review and a New York Observer columnist. He contributes to such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, American Heritage, and The New York Times. He lives in New York City.
Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, The Rake Who Wrote the Constitution FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Since 1996, Richard Brookhiser has devoted himself to recovering the Founding for modern Americans. The creators of our democracy had both the temptations and the shortcomings of all men, combined with the talents and idealism of the truly great. Among them, no Founding Father demonstrates the combination of temptations and talents quite so vividly as the least known of the greats, Gouverneur Morris." "His story is one that should be known by every American - after all, he drafted the Constitution, and his hand lies behind many of its most important phrases. Yet he has been lost in the shadows of the Founders who became presidents and faces on our currency. As Brookhiser shows in this sparkling narrative, Morris's story is not only crucial to the Founding, it is also one of the most entertaining and instructive of all. Gouverneur Morris, more than Washington, Jefferson, or even Franklin, is the Founding Father whose story can most readily touch our hearts, and whose character is most sorely needed today." "He was a witty, peg-legged ladies' man. He was an eyewitness to two revolutions (American and French) who joked with George Washington, shared a mistress with Talleyrand, and lost friends to the guillotine. In his spare time he gave New York City its street grid and New York State the Erie Canal. His keen mind and his light, sure touch helped make our Constitution the most enduring fundamental set of laws in the world. In his private life, he suited himself; pleased the ladies until, at age fifty-seven, he settled down with one lady (and pleased her); and lived the life of a gentleman, for whom grace and humanity were as important as birth. He kept his good humor through war, mobs, arson, death, and two accidents that burned the flesh from one of his arms and cut off one of his legs below the knee." Above all, he had the gift of a sunny disposition that allowed him to keep his head in any troubles. We have much to learn from him, and much pleasure to take in
SYNOPSIS
The author of several books on the US founding fathers portrays the politics and pleasure-loving life of the rarely credited draftsman of the Constitution's final form and author of its "We the people" preamble, during the American and French Revolutions. The cover likeness shows his wooden leg. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
The Washington Post
Without a wasted word or a false sentiment, Brookhiser smoothly and insightfully guides readers through two dramatic revolutions. He makes the most of a genial and mercurial protagonist, who could spice his own folly with keen perception. — Alan Taylor
Publishers Weekly
This biography ought to rehabilitate an appealing, major if second-ranking figure of the early nation. Gouverneur Morris has been overlooked, surmises Brookhiser (America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918), because he was among "the solid rather than the glittering." If so, Morris had a more penetrating mind, a more buoyant disposition and a more lusty character than most of his contemporaries. He may have been a rake, but he appears to have been a lovable and admirable one-a thoughtful lover (greatly loved in return by women, including Talleyrand's mistress, whom he shared with the Frenchman), a keen observer of history, an early opponent of slavery, and an optimistic and unembittered man despite grievous bodily injuries. More important, he played key roles in the nation's first years. We owe the Constitution's great preamble, as well as many of the document's key phrases and all of its style, to Morris's pen. Observing the French Revolution up close in Paris and serving as ambassador to France at the height of the Terror, he recorded what he saw in a classic diary. The author's characteristic strengths are on display here, no doubt because he's writing of another of the founding generation's conservative figures, his longtime subjects. Sometimes letting facts suffice for interpretation, Brookhiser, a senior editor for the National Review and a columnist for the New York Observer, leaves a reader unsure of where to place Morris, how to understand his significance. But no one will fail to be charmed by this man of fortitude and achievement who "savored life." (June 3) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
The preamble to the U.S. Constitution begins with the words "We the people" and continues with other stirring phrases, all written at hectic speed by a man whom the general public has largely forgotten: Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816). Penned by well-known journalist Brookhiser, the author of two well-received earlier biographies (Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton: American), this brief but reliable and well-written biography should help to rescue Morris from his undeserved oblivion. The paradoxical Morris was a bon vivant who enjoyed the finer things in life, including the favors of numerous ladies both in America and in Europe. That a later carriage accident left him with a peg leg dampened neither his spirits nor his attractiveness to the opposite sex. But Morris was also a talented writer, skilled businessman and attorney, and ardent patriot. Brookhiser expertly traces all the phases of Morris's career, from the New York Provincial Congress and the Continental Congress in the 1770s, through his writing of the first draft of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, to his years at U.S. minister to France during its revolution and his later disillusionment with the very government he had helped to create. This book belongs in all public and academic libraries.-T.J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Third in National Review senior editor Brookhiserﾽs series on the heroes of the American Revolution (Founding Father, 1996; Alexander Hamilton, American, 1999). Gouverneur Morris was less celebrated in his own day than either Hamilton or Washington, but not for want of trying: he had an endlessly high regard for himself, chased women on two continents, led a life of wealth and influence before and after the Revolution (the seat of his family estate stretched from the Harlem River to Long Island Sound, and as a lawyer he commonly earned fees of $10,000 a pop), and was altogether satisfied with his abilities and accomplishments. The scion of French Huguenot and Dutch forebears, Morris enjoyed an aristocratic heritage that "represented something that existed nowhere else in the Thirteen Colonies [but New York]--an old world of European settlement that preceded the arrival of Englishmen." For all that, Morris was quick to choose the Continental side when the war came, and unwavering in his devotion to the American cause. Although his leanings were fundamentally conservative, Morris championed religious freedom, disagreeing with fellow Federalist John Jay that "Americans were a united people . . . professing one religion"--which, Brookhiser points out, meant not Christianity but Protestantism--and holding vigorously that "matters of conscience and faith, whether political or religious, are as much out of the province, as they are beyond the ken of human legislatures." Brookhiser also asserts, intriguingly, that Morris mistrusted democracy and favored national over statesﾽ rights--and that he foresaw the Civil War as early as 1812, when he urged New York and New England to break away from theslaveholding states. As the lead author of the Constitution, Morris had ample opportunity to insert his views on such matters. Brookhiser might have done more to examine the text with an eye to that question, but this remains a balanced and thoroughly interesting study of the man and his time all the same. Agent: Michael Carlisle/Carlisle & Co.
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