Thomas Morris (January 3, 1776December 7, 1844) was an American politician from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

who served in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

and was a member of the Democratic Party. In the

1844 presidential election The 1844 United States presidential election was the 15th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 1 to Wednesday, December 4, 1844. Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest turning on the controv ...

, he was the vice presidential nominee of the anti-

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

Liberty Party.

Biography

Morris was born in

Berks County, Pennsylvania Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware Ri ...

, and enlisted as a Ranger to fight the Indians in 1793. He settled in western Ohio two years later. Morris began practicing law in

Bethel, Ohio Bethel is a village in Tate Township, Clermont County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,711 at the 2010 census. Bethel was founded in 1798 by Obed Denham as Denham Town, in what was then the Northwest Territory. Bethel is the home of th ...

in 1804.

Career

On May 12, 1806, shortly after the beginning of the 1806–1807 term of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

, Morris contested the election of David C. Bryan and was awarded the seat from Clermont County. Morris served in the Ohio State House of Representatives for Clermont County from 1806–1807, 1808–1809, 1810–1811, and 1820–1821.) He served as Justice of the Ohio State Supreme Court in 1809. He was then a member of the Ohio State Senate for Clermont County from 1813–1815, 1821–1823, 1825–1829 and 1831–1833. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1833, and served a single term. He did not seek re-election. He was nominated to the Vice Presidency by the Liberty Party in 1844 under James G. Birney. The ticket came in third after Democratic candidate James Knox Polk and Whig Party candidate Henry Clay.

Family life

Morris was the father of Isaac Newton Morris and Jonathan David Morris.

Death

He died December 7, 1844 and is interred in Early Settlers Burial Ground, Bethel, Clermont County, Ohio USA.

Legacy

Author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and prominent

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstruc ...

argues in his seminal book ''Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men'' that Sen. Morris is one of the most significant figures in the

anti-slavery movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and the "first political martyr of the anti-slavery cause when he was denied re-election to the Senate because of his abolitionist convictions." He also argues that Morris "awakened (

Salmon Chase Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus ''Oncorhynchu ...

) to the character of the Slave Power and to the need for political organization to combat its influences," leading the way for the term ''Slave Power'' to enter the American political jargon and paving the way for the creation of the Republican Party.

Quotes

* "Who taught me to hate slavery and every other oppression? Jefferson, the great and good Jefferson! Yes, Virginia Senators, it was your own Jefferson, Virginia's favorite son, who did more for the natural liberty of mankind, and the civil liberty of his country, than any man who ever lived in our country - and it was he who taught me to hate slavery; it was in his school I was brought up. If I am, sir, an Abolitionist, Jefferson made me one; and I only regret that the disciple should be so far behind the master both in doctrine and in practice."The Life of Thomas Morris
/ref>

References

External links

*
Benjamin Franklin Morris, ''The Life of Thomas Morris: Pioneer and Long a Legislator of Ohio, and U. S. Senator from 1833 to 1839'' (Cincinnati, Ohio: Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Overend, 1856).
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Thomas 1776 births 1844 deaths People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Ohio Democratic-Republicans Ohio Jacksonians Jacksonian United States senators from Ohio Democratic Party United States senators from Ohio Ohio Libertyites Liberty Party (United States, 1840) vice presidential nominees 1844 United States vice-presidential candidates Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Democratic Party Ohio state senators Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court People from Bethel, Ohio