Liberty Fund is pleased to present this single-volume collection of Gouverneur Morris’s writings. This edition will be a welcome addition to scholars of American and French history as the volume contains many writings that have never before been published.
Morris served as Deputy Superintendent of Finance during the American Revolution, in which capacity he devised the system of decimal coinage. He was a prominent member of the Constitutional Convention, where he spoke more frequently than any other member and, as a member of the Committee on Style and Arrangement, put the Constitution in its present form and authored its Preamble. As a private citizen in Paris, and later Minister to France (1789–94), Morris was a firsthand witness of the French Revolution. On his return to the U.S., he served as a U.S. Senator, was a prime mover in the creation of the Erie Canal, and took a leading role as a critic of the Jefferson and Madison administrations. Providing his unique perspective, this is a wonderful and accessible single source that illuminates the political and economic thought of Gouverneur Morris.
702 pages.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
To the Inhabitants of the Colony of New-York
3
Oration on the Necessity for Declaring Independence from Britain
4
Public Letters to the Carlisle Commissioners
5
Proposal to Congress Concerning the Management of the Government
6
Report of the Committee on the Treasury
7
Some Thoughts on the Finances of America
8
To the Quakers, Bethlemites, Moderate Men, Refugees, and Other the Tories Whatsoever, and Wheresoever, Dispersed
10
“An American” Letters on Public Finance for the Pennsylvania Packet
11
Righteousness Establisheth a Nation
12
Observations on Finances: Foreign Trade and Loans
13
Ideas of an American on the Commerce Between the United States and French Islands As It May Respect Both France and America
14
Address to the Assembly of Pennsylvania on the Abolition of the Bank of North America
15
The Constitution of the United States
17
Observations on Government, Applicable to the Political State of France
18
Memoir Written for the King of France, Respecting the New Constitution
19
Observations on the New Constitution of France
20
Notes on the Form of a Constitution for France
21
Remarks upon the Principles and Views of the London Corresponding Society
22
Oration on the Death of George Washington
23
Speeches in the Senate on the Repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801
24
Letters to the New York Evening Post on the Louisiana Purchase
25
Funeral Oration for Alexander Hamilton
26
Oration on the Love of Wealth
29
An Answer to War in Disguise
30
Notes on the United States of America
32
On the Beaumarchais Claim
33
To the People of the United States
35
Letters to the Evening Post on Albert Gallatin’s Plan for Enforcing the Non-Importation Act
36
Erie Canal Commission Report
37
An Address to the People of the State of New York on the Present State of Affairs
38
Discourse Before the New-York Historical Society
39
Oration Before the Washington Benevolent Society
41
Oration on Europe’s Deliverance from Despotism
42
To the Legislators of New York
44
To the Bank Directors of New-York
45
Address on “National Greatness”
To Secure The Blessings Of Liberty: Selected Writings of Gouverneur Morris is in the following collections: