The public services of Gouverneur Morris to 1787 . hecombined a practical knowledge of his ov;n and past governmentswith a fair insight into the constitutional theories on which thosegovernments were founded. He cam^e to the convention an intimiatefriend oftwo of its most important members, Alexander Hamiltonand Oeorge ;7ashington. Morris had various class and sectional in-terests T/hich in a large part guided his actions, but we find thathis class and special interests were mu-^n less influential in hiscase than with of the of the convention, and thatcomparativly sioeaking he c
The public services of Gouverneur Morris to 1787 . hecombined a practical knowledge of his ov;n and past governmentswith a fair insight into the constitutional theories on which thosegovernments were founded. He cam^e to the convention an intimiatefriend oftwo of its most important members, Alexander Hamiltonand Oeorge ;7ashington. Morris had various class and sectional in-terests T/hich in a large part guided his actions, but we find thathis class and special interests were mu-^n less influential in hiscase than with of the of the convention, and thatcomparativly sioeaking he can be numbered with the most disinter-sted and unselfish of the delegates . Morriss great aim throughout the \7h0le conventionv;as to establish a firm, stable, and enduring government, toeliminate state attachments,,and to render the national authority supreme. His views as to the best means to that end did not alwayscoincide with the views of the raicrity, for we often find Morris inthe minority. Yet he never became an obstructionist . On nearly. fvery proposition which he advanoed on proportional representationhe was defeated; yet he bowed to the will of tho Liajority nny rash statements as to never confederating on such terrasv/hich were so often heard from some of the other members. Some havecharged that Morris was a monarchist, and that he did not desireto establish a stable, strong, democratic government as much as hedesired to establish a monarchy. Lodge in his article on Ilcrrissays that the charge is unjust fl). In reality the charge arisesfrom a misconception of the word monarchist. In the conventionthe v;ord ronarchic was not always applied to a form of governmentwhose sovereign wa;3 a hereditary king, but was commonly appliedto any form of government which had a strong, single executive. Randolph opposed a one man executive because ofits monarchic tendencies (2). Gerry was afraici to trust the exec-utive with the a-opointivo power because that was a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmo, booksubjecttheses
