num_pages: 272
description: Since 1996 Richard Brookhiser has devoted himself to recovering the Founding for modern Americans. The creators of our democracy had both the temptations and the shortcomings of all men combined with the talents and idealism of the truly great. Among them no Founding Father demonstrates the combination of temptations and talents quite so vividly as the least known of the greats Gouverneur Morris. His story is one that should be known by every American -- after all he drafted the Constitution and his hand lies behind many of its most important phrases. Yet he has been lost in the shadows of the Founders who became presidents and faces on our currency. As Brookhiser shows in this sparkling narrative Morris's story is not only crucial to the Founding it is also one of the most entertaining and instructive of all. Gouverneur Morris more than Washington Jefferson or even Franklin is the Founding Father whose story can most readily touch our hearts and whose character is most sorely needed today. He was a witty peg-legged ladies' man. He was an eyewitness to two revolutions (American and French) who joked with George Washington shared a mistress with Talleyrand and lost friends to the guillotine. In his spare time he gave New York City its street grid and New York State the Erie Canal. His keen mind and his light sure touch helped make our Constitution the most enduring fundamental set of laws in the world. In his private life he suited himself; pleased the ladies until at age fifty-seven he settled down with one lady (and pleased her); and lived the life of a gentleman for whom grace and humanity were as important as birth. He kept his good humor through war mobs arson death and two accidents that burned the flesh from one of his arms and cut off one of his legs below the knee. Above all he had the gift of a sunny disposition that allowed him to keep his head in any troubles. We have much to learn from him and much pleasure to take in his company.
language: English
title: Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution
publisher: Free Press