They are words that every schoolchild learns. They inspire us. They also frame our values as a nation.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
They are the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. But who wrote these words? Most people would guess Thomas Jefferson. But they would be wrong. They were written by Gouverneur Morris (pronounced guh-var-neer)
Gouverneur was born into a wealthy (and landowning) family in 1752 in New York City. His family owned what is now the Bronx. He trained as a lawyer. His half-brother was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Another half-brother fought for the British in the Revolutionary War.
Early on, Gouverneur was an advocate for independence, opposing his family’s wishes. He was named to the Continental Congress and was the youngest signer of the Articles of Confederation. He also was the deciding vote, keeping George Washington as the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army when some members of the Continental Congress wanted him removed and court-martialed.
After he became a strong advocate for a central government, he was voted out of office. When the Constitutional Convention was formed in 1787, he was selected as Pennsylvania’s delegate. He became known as the penman of the Constitution.
His views on the shape of the new government were quixotic. He believed in an aristocracy and was fearful of giving citizens the right to vote. He did not believe that future states should be given the same status as the original 13 states. But he also opposed slavery and was in favor of religious freedom.
He spoke more than any other delegate at the Constitutional Convention. His influence was equal to or greater than those whose names are more well known.
After American independence, Gouverneur continued in service to the new government. When the U.S. again returned to war in 1812, he became an advocate for the dissolution of the union and scrapping the Constitution. He was fearful of the rise of slavery and wanted the non-slave states to break away.
He died in 1816 from internal injuries caused by his clumsy attempt to remove a blockage in his urinary tract.
* * *
“The admission of slaves into the Representation when fairly explained comes to this: that the inhabitant of Georgia and S.C. who goes to the Coast of Africa, and in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity tears away his fellow creatures from their dearest connections & damns them to the most cruel bondages, shall have more votes in a Govt institutes for protection of the rights of mankind, than the Citizens of PA or N. Jersey who vies with a laudable horror, so nefarious a practice.”–Gouverneur Morris expressing his views on slavery.