 | Gouverneur Morris: An Independent Life Subjects: Morris Gouverneur 1752–1816; Statesman -- United States -- Biography; United States. Constitution -- Signers -- Biography; United States -- History -- Revolution 1775–1783 -- Biography; New York (State) -- History -- Revolution 1775–1783 -- Biography; ; In Richard Brookhiser's just-published biography of Gouverneur Morris (Forecasts, Mar. 24), he makes the man appealing. Adams (The Paris Years of Thomas Jefferson) goes further: he makes Morris significant in a more searching, thorough and authoritative work. Morris was a man "unapologetically comfortable with himself" who stepped onto the political stage in 1775, a rare urbanite among the nation's founders, an early opponent of slavery and champion of religious tolerance. Wielding one of the great pens of his era and matching in edgy brilliance perhaps only Alexander Hamilton, he helped write New York's first constitution, made substantive contributions to the Constitution of 1787 (centrally shaping the American presidency, drafting the epochal preamble and styling the whole document) and served as ambassador to Britain and then France during the tumultuous early years of the French Revolution. Back in the U.S., he helped lay out New York City's grid system and influentially promoted the Erie Canal. Because of Morris's involvement in so much, Adams's book is really half a history of an entire epoch, and yet it never loses its focus on Morris. Unlike Brookhiser, who strains to make Morris attractive as a generous-spirited "rake," Adams allows Morris's nature to emerge from his hugely significant acts. The result is a compelling portrait of an admirable conservative who today would be brought down by his nonideological approach to issues if not by his stylish philandering. This full, sympathetic, engrossing yet clear-eyed biography of a near-great forgotten founder, a work whose graceful prose only enhances its deep scholarship, will now be the standard biography of its subject. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved William Howard Adams is also the author of The Paris Years of Thomas Jefferson, published by Yale University Press. |
