The public services of Gouverneur Morris to 1787 . sion of the power of theexecutive(3). Until about the time of the birth of Morris, there wasno thought of democracy among the oOlonistp, who were content tofollow the aristocratic leaders. In ?7estchester five-sixths of thepopulation lived on the manors, and the elections were determinedby the Philipses, the Gortlands, and the Morrisesf4). The Assemblydid not represent the people, but only a class who, in protectingtheir own interests against royal encroachments, were protectingthe interests of the whole colony. Of course this war not donein t
The public services of Gouverneur Morris to 1787 . sion of the power of theexecutive(3). Until about the time of the birth of Morris, there wasno thought of democracy among the oOlonistp, who were content tofollow the aristocratic leaders. In ?7estchester five-sixths of thepopulation lived on the manors, and the elections were determinedby the Philipses, the Gortlands, and the Morrisesf4). The Assemblydid not represent the people, but only a class who, in protectingtheir own interests against royal encroachments, were protectingthe interests of the whole colony. Of course this war not donein the name of class interests, but rather under the guise of thegeneral welfare of the people. On the other hand, the aristocraticclass Trere just as much opposed to any extension of privilegeto the unfranchisedf who composed a majority of the people), as fl)Becker,Political Parties in the Province of New York, )Sparks,Gouverneur Morris, 1,) Ibid, I, 2. , (4) Becker, Political Parties in the Province of New York, 14, ==========___===== 5 they were opposed to yielding any of their own privileges to thecrown. Yet, they were always supporters of government and theBritish Constitution as represented in their own institutions. In was into this social class of a powerful landed ar-istocracy that Gouverneur !^orris was born, and the inheritance ofthree generations made his alignment with them the more secure. Lewis Morris, his father,died when the hoy was onlytwelve, hut he left ample provision for the care of his rife andthe education of hia son. His mother was a Gouverneur, one of theFrench -tiugenots, and it may he the French strain which gave himthat satirical sense of humor, making him so different from thealways serious and ponderous men of his period. Of his early hoy-hood there is only the record of tradition, which has it that hewas not overly fond of hooks, hut rather sought pleasure in out-door sports. Morris went to Kings College in the City of Kew York,whence
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