Gouverneur Morris Papers: Diaries Project, 1799-1816

FAIN: RQ-50601-11

New York Historical Society (New York, NY 10024-5152)
Melanie Randolph Miller (Project Director: November 2010 to August 2024)

Participating institutions:
New York Historical Society (New York, NY) - Applicant/Recipient
Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) - Participating Institution

Preparation for publication of the second volume of the diaries of New York politician and founding father Gouverneur Morris. (36 months)

This is the second stage of a larger undertaking to publish the papers of Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816). Morris was a Founding Father, a major contributor to the federal Constitution, the U.S. minister to France during the height of the French Revolution, and a U.S. senator. The first stage consisted of transcription and annotation of Morris's diaries written from 1794, after he was recalled from his position in Paris, until the end of 1798, when he returned to the United States after several more years of travel through Europe. These diaries have been accepted for publication by the University of Virginia Press, and will be published in hard copy and online. This proposal contemplates continuation of this important work with transcription and annotation of Morris's diaries from 1799 to 1816, the year of his death.

Associated Products

The Diaries of Gouverneur Morris: New York, 1799-1816 (Book)
Title: The Diaries of Gouverneur Morris: New York, 1799-1816
Author: Gouverneur Morris
Editor: Elizabeth Hines, Editorial Assistant
Editor: Melanie Randolph Miller, Editor
Editor: Hendrina Krol, Associate Editor
Abstract: On January 5, 1799, a day that was "cold and like for Snow," Gouverneur Morris left the city of New York after dinner and then, as he recorded in his diary, went "to my House at Morrisania, where I arrive at Dusk after an Absence of above ten Years." Those ten years had been spent in the ferment of the French Revolution and traveling the roads of a Europe at war with France. Now, back in the United States, this Founding Father began what would be yet another extraordinary chapter in a remarkable life. From the turn of the century—which ended with the death of Washington—until his own death in November 1816, Morris saw the first stages of fulfillment of his youthful predictions about America's rapid growth and advancement. He made his own signal contributions, promoting the sale of huge tracts of land in upstate New York and planning development to encourage settlers to move and begin its transformation; planning and advocating for construction of the Erie Canal; and leading the commission in charge of the design of the Manhattan street grid, which has for two hundred years shaped the most powerful city in the world. He also experienced the transition from a national government dominated by the Federalists to one in which the Democratic-Republicans, with Thomas Jefferson as their standard-bearer, took power, consolidated it, and from 1801 through the remainder of Morris's life, dictated the country's course. Morris could not stop this inexorable change to the political landscape, but expressed in his usual powerful and incisive language the outrage he felt at the policies and diplomatic ineptitude of Jefferson and Madison and the resulting economic setbacks to the nation, which culminated in the War of 1812.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/diaries-of-gouverneur-morris-new-york-1799-1816/oclc/964299884&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat Listing
Secondary URL: http://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4689
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780813939797
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Constitutional Vision of Gouverneur Morris (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Constitutional Vision of Gouverneur Morris
Author: Liberty Fund Colloquium
Abstract: This was a three-day colloquium held to discuss Morris's views on and contributions to the US Constitution and constitutional theory in general. Participants, all political scientists or historians, reviewed a compilation of Morris's writings and his contributions to the Constitutional Convention, his observations on the French Revolution and the failure of its constitution, the War of 1812 and the Hartford Convention. It was led by Prof. Dennis Rasmussen of Syracuse University. Insights gained from the publication of Morris's diaries were sought and reviewed during the discussions, and all participants left with a much deeper understanding of Morris's importance in our Founding and appreciation of his extraordinary life.
Date Range: August 26-29, 2021
Location: Portland Maine
Primary URL: https://www.libertyfund.org/conference/the-constitutional-vision-of-gouverneur-morris/

Eighth Annual Salmon P. Chase Distinguished Lecture & Faculty Colloquium (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Eighth Annual Salmon P. Chase Distinguished Lecture & Faculty Colloquium
Author: Supreme Court Historical Society
Author: Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Abstract: This was a one-day colloquium at Georgetown Law School's Center for the Constitution, held to discuss papers regarding Gouverneur Morris's contributions to the Constitution and his life. The principal paper (and public lecture, given prior to the meeting) was by the Dean of the Lawschool, William Treanor, discussing Morris's actions during the Constitutional Convention and in the final drafting of the document. Other papers addressed Morris's views on slavery, his constitutional nationalism, his general views on human nature and politics and, in the paper by the Diaries project, the importance of documentary editing in making Morris's work accessible to scholars and the public, with examples from the diaries highlighting the significant omissions and errors in the 19th-century editions that have diminished appreciation of his genius and contributions.
Date Range: November 17 and December 3, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Primary URL: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/constitution-center/chase-lecture-and-colloquium/chase-lecture-colloquium/

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