Lewis Morris | |
|---|---|
 Morris painted byJohn Wollaston (c. 1750) | |
| New York State Senator from the Southern District | |
| In office July 1, 1783 – June 30, 1790 | |
| In office September 9, 1777 – July 1, 1781 | |
| Member of theContinental Congress from New York | |
| In office 1775-1777 | |
| Member of theNew York Provincial Congress | |
| In office 1775-1777 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 8, 1726 Morrisania,New York, British America |
| Died | January 22, 1798(1798-01-22) (aged 71) Morrisania,New York, U.S. |
| Party | Federalist |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 10, includingRichard |
| Parent(s) | Lewis Morris Katrintje Staats |
| Relatives | Staats Long Morris (brother) Richard Morris (brother) Gouverneur Morris (half-brother) Robert Hunter Morris (uncle) Lewis Morris (grandfather) John Rutherfurd (son-in-law) |
| Alma mater | Yale College |
| Known for | Signer of theDeclaration of Independence |
| Signature |  |
Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an AmericanFounding Father, landowner, and developer fromMorrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S.Declaration of Independence as a delegate to theContinental Congress from New York.[1]
Morris was born on April 8, 1726, at his family's estate, Morrisania, presently part of Bronx County, in what was then theProvince of New York. He was the third Lewis Morris in theMorris family. He was the son ofLewis Morris (1698–1762) and Katrintje "Catherine" Staats (1697–1731). After his mother died, his father married Sarah Gouverneur (1714–1786).[2] He graduated fromYale College in 1746,[1] and upon his father's death in 1762, he inherited the bulk of the estate.
Morris' father had seven children, including his siblings,Staats Long Morris (1728–1800) andRichard Morris (1730–1810), and his half-siblings, Mary Lawrence,Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), Isabella, and Catherine. His uncle wasRobert Hunter Morris (1700–1764), thegovernor of Pennsylvania. His cousin by marriage wasWilliam Paterson (1745–1806), thegovernor of New Jersey and father-in-law ofStephen Van Rensselaer, thelieutenant governor of New York, who was the brother ofPhilip Schuyler Van Rensselaer,mayor of Albany, New York.Anthony Walton White (1750–1803), aContinental Army general, was his cousin through Morris' aunt, Elizabeth Morris (1712–c. 1784).
His great-grandfather, Richard Morris (died 1672), immigrated to New York throughBarbados after being part ofOliver Cromwell's army in theEnglish Civil War of 1648. He purchased the first tract of land inthe Bronx that became the basis for the Morrisania manor. Richard and his young wife died, leaving behind an infant son,Lewis Morris (1671–1746). Richard's brother, Colonel Lewis Morris, also of Barbados, came to Morrisania to help manage the estate owned by his infant nephew. Col. Morris and his wife were childless.
When he came of age, Lewis Morris expanded and patented the estate. He married Isabella and went on to serve as the 8thcolonial governor of New Jersey.[3] Morris was a popular governor who championed land owning rights for the colonists.Morristown, New Jersey, was named for him.[4][5]
In 1769, he was elected to theNew York General Assembly. In 1774, as theRevolution drew near, he resigned from the Admiralty Court.[1]
When active revolution began, he was a member of theNew York Provincial Congress, the revolutionary government, from 1775 until 1777. That body, in turn, sent Morris to theContinental Congress for those same years. While in Congress, he was an active supporter of independence and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. When warned by his brother Staats Morris, who was a general in the British army, of the consequences that would follow his signing of the rebellious document, Morris stated, "Damn the consequences. Give me the pen."[6]
In 1777, Lewis returned to New York, became a county judge of Westchester County, and was appointed a member of theNew York State Senate representing the Southern District, which consisted ofKings,New York,Queens,Richmond,Suffolk andWestchester counties. He served in the1st New York State Legislature, which began on September 9, 1777, until the end of the4th Legislature, on July 1, 1781.[1]
His eldest three sons served during theRevolutionary War and had distinguished military careers.
Beginning on July 1, 1783, he returned to the New York State Senate and served in the7th Legislature through to the end of the13th Legislature, ending on June 30, 1790.[1] In 1788, when the New York convention met to ratify the U.S. Constitution, he was one of the delegates. Morris was aFederalistpresidential elector in the1796 election and cast his votes forJohn Adams andThomas Pinckney.
In 1784, Morris was elected an honorary member of the New YorkSociety of the Cincinnati. On May 1 of the same year, he was appointed to the firstBoard of Regents of the University of the State of New York and served until his death,[1] when he was replaced bySimeon De Witt.[7]
On September 24, 1749, Lewis married Mary Walton (1727–1794), a member of a well-known merchant family. Maria was the daughter of Jacob Walton and Maria (née Beekman) Walton.[8] They had ten children:[9]
After the war, Morris had to rebuild the family estate, which had been looted and burned by the British when they occupied New York. In 1790, he offered the land, now part of theSouth Bronx neighborhood of Morrisania, as the site of the U.S. capital. He died on the estate and is buried in the family vault beneathSt. Ann's Church in the Bronx.[13]
Through his eldest son, Lewis V. Morris, he was grandfather to Lewis Morris (1785–1863) and Sabina Elliott Morris (1789–1857). Lewis Morris (b. 1785) was the father ofCharles Manigault Morris (1820–1895), aConfederate officer. Sabina married her first cousin, Robert Walter Rutherfurd (1788–1852), the son of John Rutherfurd and Helena Morris, and was the mother ofLewis Morris Rutherfurd (1816–1892), a pioneeringastrophotographer who took the first telescopic photographs of the moon and sun, as well as many stars and planets.
Through his son, Staats Morris, his great-grandson was Daniel François van Braam Morris (b. 1840), a Dutchman and governor ofCelebes in theDutch East Indies. A great-granddaughter of his grandfather, Lewis Morris, named Mary Antill was married to Gerritt G. Lansing, himself a brother of CongressmanJohn Lansing. John Lansing's daughter, Sarah, was married to Edward Livingston, a great-grandson ofPhilip Livingston.
Lewis Morris is portrayed byRonald Kross in the 1969 Broadway musical1776 and byHoward Caine in the1972 film. In the fictional account, although Morris was chairman of the New York delegation to the Second Continental Congress, he abstained ("courteously") on every vote, claiming that theNew York Provincial Congress never gave Morris explicit instructions on anything. However, whenGeorge Washington noted in a dispatch that Morris's estates were destroyed by the British, but his family was taken to safety in Connecticut, Morris abandons his lack of instructions and moves to sign the Declaration.
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