An Incautious Man: The Life of Gouveneur Morris

by Miller, Melanie Randolph

• ISBN13: 9781933859729
• ISBN10: 1933859725
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-01
• Publisher: Isi Books

Summary

InAn Incautious Man, historian Melanie Miller provides a succinct but sophisticated recounting of the life of one of our lesser-known but most engaging Founding Fathers: Gouverneur Morris. One of George Washingtonrs"s "surrogate sons," Morris played a profound role in ensuring the success of the American Revolution and the creation of the Constitution. Miller provides readers a look behind the closed doors of the Constitutional Convention, where Morrisrs"s crystalline but passionate eloquence gave the debate a vitality that remains both enthralling and keenly meaningful for those of us whose lives have been decisively shaped by the results of that deliberation. In 1792, Morris replaced Thomas Jefferson as the American minister to France. His experience there during the Terror is unparalleled in diplomatic history. As Miller tells it, Morrisrs"s time in France is a story of conspiracy to help the king escape, of friends imprisoned and murdered, of seized ships and complex problems that had no precedent in the young nationrs"s history. Upon his return to the U.S., Morris served a brief stint in the Senate before going on to secure the building of the Erie Canal and to direct the design of the Manhattan network of streets we know today.

Author Biography

Melanie Randolph Miller began her professional career in aeronautical engineering before going on to law school and finally to obtain a doctorate in American history. She is the editor of the Gouverneur Morris Papers: Diaries Project and the author of Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris and the French Revolution.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
"I Am Not a Cautious Man"
A New York Birthright	p. 1
A Vernal Morning	p. 13
"This is the Seed Time of Glory as of Freedom"	p. 23
The Accident	p. 37
The Public Credit	p. 51
The Constitution	p. 59
France	p. 83
"A Pleasing Woman"	p. 97
London	p. 111
Return to Paris	p. 123
The King Falls	p. 139
Into the Terror	p. 161
Return to America	p. 191
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 217
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.